Yeah, I knew. Wish they had something a little more exciting though, it was just boring after a few minutes. Wasn't too bad when the ride was in rehearsals, stayed on that screen for 20 seconds or so. Didn't even notice the first holding section, though it may have been unnoticeably short.
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Thorpe Park 2017: DBGT: Rise of The Demon
- Thread starter Ketz
- Start date
ThemeParkCrafter
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Th13teen
There was a moment in the 2nd one where my companion was about to take off his headset because he thought the ride was over
Plastic Person
TS Member
Some thoughts on DBGT, having finally had the chance to ride it at the very end of the day a few weeks back.
First of all, I really like dark rides, and I really like most of this dark ride. I don't really think that it can be particularly faulted up until the half way point. The sense of anticipation in the pre-show was palatable, Derren's introduction is brilliant, and although it might be seen as too cerebral, the transition onto the floating train and into the tube car is brilliantly played and actually quite magical. This is the best stuff Merlin have done in years, up there with Disney and Universal in my opnion, or even Punchdrunk theatre productions.
The first train ride is really absorbing, and again, incredibly cool when the car suddenly 'accelerates'. Even though I knew what was coming, I was screaming and wincing as soon as that girl appeared at the window, as were my friends, and pretty much everyone else on board the carriage. The tension and suspense is racked up perfectly. Again, I don't think the designers are getting enough credit for this.
The train crash falls just on the right side of corny, and the actors/staff really sell it (at the moment.)
Unfortunately, I don't have much good to say about the return leg. I can totally see why the park opted for a 'go big or go home' ending, but it's frustrating in the opposite way to how the first leg is frightening and engaging. The demons ripping the side of the train off is a good moment, and the vista of the explosions is nice too. But the creatures getting up in your face is just silly, makes little cogent narrative sense, and is worse, repetitive. The graphics are woeful, and the 'gas' sequence when awaiting the next train to clear unloading is absolutely tedious. The fall into hell is completely unconvincing, and the final surprise is utterly predictable.
On the other hand, arriving back exactly where you started is a neat trick, one which nobody notices. The ride system for this must be amazing! A colleague was convinced we just got out of the train from a different door, went round the side, and got back in. He was totally oblivious to the complex system of three other vehicles, waltzing around each other. Which is both impressive, and unfortunate, given that the effect is lost on seemingly everyone.
I must admit, the ride is, if nothing else, completely unique to the world in terms of story, tone and system. In terms of technology, the park have obviously massively overreached, and I imagine there's a solid book to be written about what went wrong behind the scenes. Nonetheless, I did really enjoy it, despite it's shortcomings in storytelling. It's a noble effort.
First of all, I really like dark rides, and I really like most of this dark ride. I don't really think that it can be particularly faulted up until the half way point. The sense of anticipation in the pre-show was palatable, Derren's introduction is brilliant, and although it might be seen as too cerebral, the transition onto the floating train and into the tube car is brilliantly played and actually quite magical. This is the best stuff Merlin have done in years, up there with Disney and Universal in my opnion, or even Punchdrunk theatre productions.
The first train ride is really absorbing, and again, incredibly cool when the car suddenly 'accelerates'. Even though I knew what was coming, I was screaming and wincing as soon as that girl appeared at the window, as were my friends, and pretty much everyone else on board the carriage. The tension and suspense is racked up perfectly. Again, I don't think the designers are getting enough credit for this.
The train crash falls just on the right side of corny, and the actors/staff really sell it (at the moment.)
Unfortunately, I don't have much good to say about the return leg. I can totally see why the park opted for a 'go big or go home' ending, but it's frustrating in the opposite way to how the first leg is frightening and engaging. The demons ripping the side of the train off is a good moment, and the vista of the explosions is nice too. But the creatures getting up in your face is just silly, makes little cogent narrative sense, and is worse, repetitive. The graphics are woeful, and the 'gas' sequence when awaiting the next train to clear unloading is absolutely tedious. The fall into hell is completely unconvincing, and the final surprise is utterly predictable.
On the other hand, arriving back exactly where you started is a neat trick, one which nobody notices. The ride system for this must be amazing! A colleague was convinced we just got out of the train from a different door, went round the side, and got back in. He was totally oblivious to the complex system of three other vehicles, waltzing around each other. Which is both impressive, and unfortunate, given that the effect is lost on seemingly everyone.
I must admit, the ride is, if nothing else, completely unique to the world in terms of story, tone and system. In terms of technology, the park have obviously massively overreached, and I imagine there's a solid book to be written about what went wrong behind the scenes. Nonetheless, I did really enjoy it, despite it's shortcomings in storytelling. It's a noble effort.
Jordan
TS Contributor
Blimey!
I've not been able to ride DBGT, but I find it astonishing that a Merlin attraction could come close to Punchdrunk standards!
cptnmingo
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- How can I pick just one?
My Wife & I went on Weds 27th July and had a great day despite a few ride breakdowns. Our main goal was in fact to ride DBGT which we achieved despite it breaking down once while queuing. I don't like to give too much away for those that haven't but I agree with some of the other posts in this thread about which aspects of the ride are the best. The actors, it has to be said, complete the experience. In particular one guy at the start of the queue who was obviously told to be a "grumpy conductor" was doing a great job entertaining us while the line wasn't moving by shouting at guests trying to take photos of him.
The ride itself is obviously split into three stages, I found the first part the most exciting and engaging and really enjoyed it. As above, I feel part three was lacking a bit but still pretty entertaining! It's the first U.K ride that I can see would feel completely at home within the likes of Universal Studios etc. They've obviously gone all in here and it is such a shame the ride is having teething problems with overheating lately. I would really love to know how it works, the mention above of three trains moving around has my interest piqued?
We made a vlog of our day which I'd like to share below for those that are interested, we managed to ride a few other things too despite some rides breaking down. I hope to return one day when STEALTH IS ACTUALLY OPEN! (GRR)
The ride itself is obviously split into three stages, I found the first part the most exciting and engaging and really enjoyed it. As above, I feel part three was lacking a bit but still pretty entertaining! It's the first U.K ride that I can see would feel completely at home within the likes of Universal Studios etc. They've obviously gone all in here and it is such a shame the ride is having teething problems with overheating lately. I would really love to know how it works, the mention above of three trains moving around has my interest piqued?
We made a vlog of our day which I'd like to share below for those that are interested, we managed to ride a few other things too despite some rides breaking down. I hope to return one day when STEALTH IS ACTUALLY OPEN! (GRR)
Sazzle
TS Administrator
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Afternoon chaps. Saw in the general TP thread that DBGT is now unavailable until Fright Nights?
Checked the official site today and it is indeed "currently unavailable" but there is no indication of a date when it will reopen.
Any rumours floating around? Sounds like a bit of a nightmare for the park!
Checked the official site today and it is indeed "currently unavailable" but there is no indication of a date when it will reopen.
Any rumours floating around? Sounds like a bit of a nightmare for the park!
RyanY
TS Member
Wonder how long that'll last. I wonder how many days Thorpe have had all 5 major coasters and DBGT open at the same time this season. Can't be that many considering the problems they've have with DBGT and Stealth.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Finally got to ride DBGT on Tuesday so here are my thoughts!
Overall my feelings are very mixed; the theming and ride system are very impressive however I didn't find it that scary and came off somewhat underwhelmed. Let's start with the positives though. The theming is by far the best that Merlin have done so far, I cannot fault any of it from enterting the building through to leaving the shop. I was not expecting the large set peice in the middle of the attraction featuring the train crash. The ride system is also very impressive and a very good illusion.
The VR works well to an extent. The quality is pretty decent and it does a very good job of making you feel alone in a carraige full of other people. The first journey on the train as it were is definitely creepy and did work well. I would agree with what some others have said in here though that the ride falls apart somewhat after this. As I said the mid-ride set peice is impressive but I didn't think it was overly clear why we had all be rushed into there, in fact I felt the entire ride lacked explanation/narrative for certain things (not least why we had to put on VR headset whilst on a London Underground train). I was surprised to get back on the train yet my main memory from this second train journey was spending a good few minutes sitting in a greeny mist with a weird creature appearing every so often, wondering to myself if the ride had broken or not. From reading some posts here it appears this is a fairly common issue with the ride. The final scene of falling down through the earth is a little bit predictable for my liking and when you've ridden something such as Spiderman at Universal which probably has the best freefall effect in the world it has got a lot to live up to.
I've always thought that this would turn out to be a marmite ride and I think it is. People are scared by different things therefore a ride designed to scare you (which is what Derren says it is at the start) is always going to end up working on some people and not on others. From that point of view it is a risky route to take for a theme park ride.
I'd probably give it a 5/10 - some impressive features but nothing to make me come off with a feeling of wow I want to do that again. There is room for improvement though which I hope is what does happen.
Overall my feelings are very mixed; the theming and ride system are very impressive however I didn't find it that scary and came off somewhat underwhelmed. Let's start with the positives though. The theming is by far the best that Merlin have done so far, I cannot fault any of it from enterting the building through to leaving the shop. I was not expecting the large set peice in the middle of the attraction featuring the train crash. The ride system is also very impressive and a very good illusion.
The VR works well to an extent. The quality is pretty decent and it does a very good job of making you feel alone in a carraige full of other people. The first journey on the train as it were is definitely creepy and did work well. I would agree with what some others have said in here though that the ride falls apart somewhat after this. As I said the mid-ride set peice is impressive but I didn't think it was overly clear why we had all be rushed into there, in fact I felt the entire ride lacked explanation/narrative for certain things (not least why we had to put on VR headset whilst on a London Underground train). I was surprised to get back on the train yet my main memory from this second train journey was spending a good few minutes sitting in a greeny mist with a weird creature appearing every so often, wondering to myself if the ride had broken or not. From reading some posts here it appears this is a fairly common issue with the ride. The final scene of falling down through the earth is a little bit predictable for my liking and when you've ridden something such as Spiderman at Universal which probably has the best freefall effect in the world it has got a lot to live up to.
I've always thought that this would turn out to be a marmite ride and I think it is. People are scared by different things therefore a ride designed to scare you (which is what Derren says it is at the start) is always going to end up working on some people and not on others. From that point of view it is a risky route to take for a theme park ride.
I'd probably give it a 5/10 - some impressive features but nothing to make me come off with a feeling of wow I want to do that again. There is room for improvement though which I hope is what does happen.
RyanY
TS Member
Managed to get my first rides on it yesterday and I can only echo the thoughts of many other. The VR technology just isn't ready and isn't ready and has so many glitches. On my first ride I was quite impressed with how alone it made you feel on the train and to some extent the subtleness of the first section does work. On my second ride the headset was calibrated correctly and view I got was as if my head was resting on the seat which really takes you out of the experience. Also on my second ride the second half of the VR had my view to the left and facing left which made the second half even worse than it is in the first place.
The second half is laughable, where in the first half you can hear the odd scream from others, in the second nobody makes a noise. It looks like they got PS2 to do the rendering for it, and in both rides I spent about 1-2 minutes just looking at what I think was a green gas with one of the creatures popping his head through every so often. The middle section is well done and works quite well, especially on my second ride where I was towards the back of the group where I saw the infected actor which did scare a few people.
Overall I think the theming is excellent and the ride system has the potential to host a really good experience but the technology just isn't there and the second half is just downright awful. Hopefully we see this get updates over the closed season and beyond because if so we could have a really good experience in our hands, but right now it's quite disappointing.
The second half is laughable, where in the first half you can hear the odd scream from others, in the second nobody makes a noise. It looks like they got PS2 to do the rendering for it, and in both rides I spent about 1-2 minutes just looking at what I think was a green gas with one of the creatures popping his head through every so often. The middle section is well done and works quite well, especially on my second ride where I was towards the back of the group where I saw the infected actor which did scare a few people.
Overall I think the theming is excellent and the ride system has the potential to host a really good experience but the technology just isn't there and the second half is just downright awful. Hopefully we see this get updates over the closed season and beyond because if so we could have a really good experience in our hands, but right now it's quite disappointing.
bluesonichd
TS Member
Was there on Friday night... 50 Mins from start to finish!
50 mins since walking through the curtain to getting out
50 mins of my life wasted
this ride needs bulldozing ! what a waste of space
50 mins since walking through the curtain to getting out
50 mins of my life wasted
this ride needs bulldozing ! what a waste of space
Starts walking to your house with a burning torch.Was there on Friday night... 50 Mins from start to finish!
50 mins since walking through the curtain to getting out
50 mins of my life wasted
this ride needs bulldozing ! what a waste of space
Was there on Friday night... 50 Mins from start to finish!
50 mins since walking through the curtain to getting out
50 mins of my life wasted
this ride needs bulldozing ! what a waste of space
You mean to say that your ride experience lasted longer than your actual queuing time???