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Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaurant

SaiyanHajime

CF Legend
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

But worst thing for me, was the reaction of the GP, they were **** ing buzzing over it. Practically wetting themselves over how good they thought it was....
Oh no. :(

See, like... If that's the case, if the reception is overall good and people are visiting to experience it, then it doesn't matter how bad it actually is.

I talked about this before in the Valravn topic... A quiet day when everything has zero wait - when the offputting queue length is a non-issue - is the only way to assess what the general public really care about. Measuring queue length is problematic, because some rides have better throughputs than others. And measuring throughput on a day where queues are present is just... Well, that's just measuring which ride has the best possible throughput. What we need to see is what guests choose to ride when a park is so dead the majority of attractions are waiting for people all day. Whatever rides have the highest throughput at the end of a day like that are important. There are other messy factors, such as their location in the park, but I'd argue that is part of their design and desirability.

My prediction would be that whilst Galactica would have a high "want to ride it" number, the repeat rides would be poor. That doesn't make it inherently bad, as something like Hex would be the same. Rides like Nemesis, Runnaway Mine Train and original Air would, imo, have had the highest throughputs at the end of a completely dead day... Simply because they are the most repeatable, the highest quality overall enjoyable experience, and their design is of exceptional quality to bring people towards them.
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Going to be heading to AT Sunday & Monday so will be able to give my thoughts on it - having rode it lots as Air (also one of my first 'big' rides when i was younger) I grew to like it as Air - however it was rarely a re-riding coaster - Would always go on it once when around Nemesis, but even when rides are a walk-on I would prefer other rides so wouldn't waste my time on it as such.

Turnaround times also don't look great. Just checked on RideTimes (accuracy a bit dubious) and it showed Galactica as 30mins, Smiler at 5mins, everything else as 0 mins (Hoping its this quiet next Monday!!) - However 5 minutes later Galactica was on 15mins, similar to smiler (everything else 0 mins).

Maybe I just refreshed my page after it had updated, but Galactica was 30mins for most of the day until 15:30ish, so maybe as explained above, people are going straight for it (with it being the new ride etc) and then come 3 oclock once people have ridden it once, are heading towards the other rides for the rest of the day. Also could show the extensive turnaround for each train! (Lets hope its a bit quicker come their peak season!!)
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Done it again today and once again absolutely loved it! Also tried it backwards and that was a very strange but awesome experience too!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 

cjbrandy

Hyper Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I did Galactica today, it was trippy and exciting but not perfect and must be refined in the future to iron out its flaws. The cool Imascore soundtrack and colourful visuals made it very very fun.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

^ What's wrong with the floors? I can understand people not enjoying the VR, but I think we're bring picky now. I'm sure the floors are the same as from when it was Air? I never noticed them; just assumed they were concrete.
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

^I think he meant flaws, but you know, autocorrect ducks.

Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

owentaylor121 said:
Done it again today and once again absolutely loved it! Also tried it backwards and that was a very strange but awesome experience too!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Sorry, tried it backwards, am I missing something here? (New to forum so apologies if so! :oops: )

How were the queues ^^ :)
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

JSMarsden said:
owentaylor121 said:
Done it again today and once again absolutely loved it! Also tried it backwards and that was a very strange but awesome experience too!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Sorry, tried it backwards, am I missing something here? (New to forum so apologies if so! :oops: )

How were the queues ^^ :)
Yeah if you ask the operator if you can go backwards they will turn the VR so what you see on the VR is you going backwards, it's brilliant because it really does feel like your going backwards even though your not!
And queues varies, at 4pm it was walk on, the rest of the day about 30 to 40 mins! Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are much busier though.
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

owentaylor121 said:
JSMarsden said:
owentaylor121 said:
Done it again today and once again absolutely loved it! Also tried it backwards and that was a very strange but awesome experience too!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Sorry, tried it backwards, am I missing something here? (New to forum so apologies if so! :oops: )

How were the queues ^^ :)
Yeah if you ask the operator if you can go backwards they will turn the VR so what you see on the VR is you going backwards, it's brilliant because it really does feel like your going backwards even though your not!
And queues varies, at 4pm it was walk on, the rest of the day about 30 to 40 mins! Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are much busier though.

Ah thats quite cool, didn't realise it was possible! May give it an ask since it's not got raving reviews yet!

Ah, RideTimes was showing walk ons for all rides with Galactica and smiler about 30mins - was hoping it would be a little quieter on the Monday! (I'm going on Sunday and Monday!)
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

JSMarsden said:
owentaylor121 said:
JSMarsden said:
owentaylor121 said:
Done it again today and once again absolutely loved it! Also tried it backwards and that was a very strange but awesome experience too!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Sorry, tried it backwards, am I missing something here? (New to forum so apologies if so! :oops: )

How were the queues ^^ :)
Yeah if you ask the operator if you can go backwards they will turn the VR so what you see on the VR is you going backwards, it's brilliant because it really does feel like your going backwards even though your not!
And queues varies, at 4pm it was walk on, the rest of the day about 30 to 40 mins! Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are much busier though.

Ah thats quite cool, didn't realise it was possible! May give it an ask since it's not got raving reviews yet!

Ah, RideTimes was showing walk ons for all rides with Galactica and smiler about 30mins - was hoping it would be a little quieter on the Monday! (I'm going on Sunday and Monday!)
Sunday will be fairly busy, nothing bad though and Monday will be fine, wouldn't go by queue times, it was only The Smiler and Galactica pulling a queue and even then it was nothing bad, with Smiler being walk on most of the day.
 

cjbrandy

Hyper Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

gavin said:
^ What's wrong with the floors? I can understand people not enjoying the VR, but I think we're bring picky now. I'm sure the floors are the same as from when it was Air? I never noticed them; just assumed they were concrete.

FFS autocorrect!! I am not an idiot, can't believe I missed it

Also I shall add that any ridetimes website may be unreliable, at 3:30 yesterday Galactica said "15 min wait" at the entrance but we walked straight onto a half empty train.
 

owentaylor121

Giga Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

cjbrandy said:
gavin said:
^ What's wrong with the floors? I can understand people not enjoying the VR, but I think we're bring picky now. I'm sure the floors are the same as from when it was Air? I never noticed them; just assumed they were concrete.

FFS autocorrect!! I am not an idiot, can't believe I missed it

Also I shall add that any ridetimes website may be unreliable, at 3:30 yesterday Galactica said "15 min wait" at the entrance but we walked straight onto a half empty train.
This. We also just walked onto the train later on in the day, however about half 11/12, we did wait 45 mins!
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

My Review of it:
Rode twice on Sunday, Twice on Monday.

1st Ride Sunday: Queued up in the morning around 10:15 (just joined back of the queue when they were let in to ride) about a 20min queue. Was impressed until I flipped onto my back and the full VR went black. Gave it a few seconds and then took it off my face (was thinking , here we ******* go....) - got a free fast pass (which i grumbled about as I was with the other half so thought, why would i want this when theres 2 of us) - turns out once I had learned to read, its for upto 2 people!

2nd Ride Sunday: Queued about 5 minutes this time (must have hit it at good times!) and I must say, a solid 8/10. Really does add to air - the sync for me was flawless, nothing at all wrong with it, no black squares at the sides etc. Was impressed.

1st Monday: Again, impressed by it, was tempted to ride as Air/backwards as we hit the front row (pointless on VR) however once I put the headset on etc, I decided to ride it again with headset on! Again, really good ride, feels like your going faster and the sound just adds to the experience. However, got a few black patches on the sides of the VR (think it was around the ice planet)

2nd Monday: Exactly same as first ride of the day, walked straight on also.

Overall 7.5/10. IF they could get it to run flawlessly, with every seat working (no VR's going off, out of sync etc) then it would be an 8/9. However, I wouldn't have liked to have queued for longer than 30mins for the VR to break (possibly longer in the summer!) - if they can get it fully working then it's a great upgrade for AIR!


Rollercoaster Restaurant:

Went there on Sunday evening with the other half. Out of 10, probably 7/10.

You have 1 tablet between the 2 of you, and order by seat number. We both looked through the menu to see what we wanted, however I ordered my burger, and by the time she had pressed to order her main meal and drink, my burger and drink were already coming down! Took another 2 minutes to come down.

Total time waiting from ordering was no more than 5 minutes for both meals -> which makes me wonder how on earth they cook it so quickly (pre-prepared on hot plates i guess?) She also said her rice tasted like it had been microwaved :(. After paying £48 for 2 drinks (1 being a water) 2 main meals, and 1 sharing desert, i felt a little short changed.

Yes the roller coaster theming and the way you order/the way your food comes is good. But I didn't expect a full evening meal to take under 30 mins (Dinner menu should come slower!). £14 burger (roller coaster burger) wasn't particularly great, the ice cream sharer wasn't anything special, and the other half had nothing to rave about with hers too.

In all honesty, yes it was quick with the food, but just too quick (that is possible!). Prices - touch too high for what you get etc. Yes, Ipad this, roller coaster that (plus your in a themepark) but near enough £50 for a beer, water, 2 mains and a desert is steep, simply because the food wasn't worth that. (We left our reviews/thoughts with a staff member under galactica on the way out!)

Nothing to rave about, left a touch disappointed in all honesty :cry:
 

zazobo

Hyper Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

Such a shame you didn't have a good experience at the roller coaster restaurant JS.

I went for lunch on the opening day and was pretty impressed. You're right though, it's very pricey for the quality and food does come suspiciously fast..
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

zazobo said:
Such a shame you didn't have a good experience at the roller coaster restaurant JS.

I went for lunch on the opening day and was pretty impressed. You're right though, it's very pricey for the quality and food does come suspiciously fast..

I absolutely understand the speed in the afternoon (especially in the summer when I guess people will be queuing outside - would be great if it came that quickly in the day). But for a booked, evening meal with only bookings/hotel guests turning up (considering it was half empty) they should take their time a bit more, and freshly prepare the food. There was no way both meals were made fresh, and charging £14 for a burger and chips with a bit of bacon and burger sauce, is IMO steep (especially because I know it wasn't freshly made, no way!) - Chips were also warm (thats being nice). And a Bombay Curry can't be made within 2 minutes either - Understand that the curry could be made on mass with the rice in a pot too, but both were suspiciously quick - took the quality off the food straight away and made me dubious from the start.

Probably wont be going back till 2017 now anyway as the 2 days at AT got me a touch bored (no queues over 2 days, ran out of things to do come 12pm on the Monday)
 

zazobo

Hyper Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

You're right- I wonder if after some feed back they'll make some amendments.

I had two days in the park last weekend too, it was so quiet we ventured into the gardens to fill some time!

I thought the park was on good form though. Staff were super enthusiastic and most coasters running multiple trains despite it being really quiet.
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

zazobo said:
You're right- I wonder if after some feed back they'll make some amendments.

I had two days in the park last weekend too, it was so quiet we ventured into the gardens to fill some time!

I thought the park was on good form though. Staff were super enthusiastic and most coasters running multiple trains despite it being really quiet.

Agree with you on that one, Galactca was sent around with empty trains, as was smiler, oblivion ec. Staff all happy and attentative and great few days well spent! Even ventured into the gardens like yourself on both days, one from Forbidden Valley to X Sector, and the other - we followed the bath opposite battle galleons and went past a nice abandoned house, and past a small lake to come up beside the monorail station in FV. (Can't believe I have always walked via katanga kanyon from mutiny bay to get to FV all this time! DOH!)

Galactica should hopefully good once they update a few bugs and get everything working again though! Was a positive addition to Air I believe - was dubious at the start but its changed my mind!
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

I'm shocked that the food is mass-produced, reheated s**te.

Absolutely stunned.
 

JSMarsden

Roller Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

gavin said:
I'm shocked that the food is mass-produced, reheated s**te.

Absolutely stunned.

Take it you found it crap as well? I guess a burger from the Fried Chicken shop in Xsector is probably better value for money than RC Restaurant (£6, compare to £14, and I got warmish chips!)
 

zazobo

Hyper Poster
Re: Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaur

JSMarsden said:
zazobo said:
You're right- I wonder if after some feed back they'll make some amendments.

I had two days in the park last weekend too, it was so quiet we ventured into the gardens to fill some time!

I thought the park was on good form though. Staff were super enthusiastic and most coasters running multiple trains despite it being really quiet.

Agree with you on that one, Galactca was sent around with empty trains, as was smiler, oblivion ec. Staff all happy and attentative and great few days well spent! Even ventured into the gardens like yourself on both days, one from Forbidden Valley to X Sector, and the other - we followed the bath opposite battle galleons and went past a nice abandoned house, and past a small lake to come up beside the monorail station in FV. (Can't believe I have always walked via katanga kanyon from mutiny bay to get to FV all this time! DOH!)

Ha.. we did the EXACT same routes as you and in the same order.. was a nice change though!
 
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