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Alton Towers' Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restaurant

Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

One concern I do have is what the rider sees during their ride.

On the two VR coasters I've done, if I look right I see what's out to my right. If I look down, I see what's below me (or mouse feet in Europa Park's case!). On Air, my head naturally faces downwards as I ride; I don't like riding bending my head backwards to look forward. Does this mean that I'll be constantly looking at the ground and will miss stuff happening in front, above and to the side of me?
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Ian said:
One concern I do have is what the rider sees during their ride.

On the two VR coasters I've done, if I look right I see what's out to my right. If I look down, I see what's below me (or mouse feet in Europa Park's case!). On Air, my head naturally faces downwards as I ride; I don't like riding bending my head backwards to look forward. Does this mean that I'll be constantly looking at the ground and will miss stuff happening in front, above and to the side of me?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was thinking. Hopefully they will have thought of this and only a slight tilt upwards of your head will point the screen to the horizon.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

That astronaut fellow Chris Hadfield doing the PR duties this morning...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/altontowers/status/709366618804101120[/tweet]
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

^ Interesting padding on the hand rails and on the 'lap' part of the restraint. Guessing this is where the VR headset sits and will be put on from? With it affixed to both sides of the handles?

Don't know if the operations of this have been discussed yet!
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

I think the VR actually looks quite cool.

I'd still love to hear more about how they're gonna load people onto this in a reasonable amount of time.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

12819222_10153834375791201_8586644755935421016_o.jpg


Like this?
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Just reading through the comments and you can already tell nobody cares about the VR.

It's not all 'OMG IT'S SO COOL' it's like, 30% that, 40% 'I wanna ride it without these headsets as a proper ride' and 30% 'ewwww, dirty'.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

I really don't like the fact that they have hardly added any of that proposed theming! The only piece they have added is the portal, what happened to all the new rock structures? 3 million for Glacactica my arse!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

I don't know, Chris Hadfield's fee was probably a lot, not to mention hiring those incredibly life-like space suits and lugging them places to promote it.

And how much does a Karcher washer go for nowadays? Not to mention the water bill after! It all adds up! :p
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

owentaylor121 said:
I really don't like the fact that they have hardly added any of that proposed theming! The only piece they have added is the portal, what happened to all the new rock structures? 3 million for Glacactica my arse!
Click to expand...


I feel you. I think that Portal looks terrible to be honest. The dark blue mixed with the coaster's light blue colour scheme just doesn't work. At all. And if that's as far as the 'theming' goes then I genuinely think they should of just done without. It's like a tacky fairground attempt at theming.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Maybe if they'd painted the **** thing it wouldn't stand out so much.

TBH I don't think 3mil is that far off - not with some of the marketing stunts they've done too. They've all sucked, but they don't come cheap.

It's not really a case of just stick some headsets on, you need to add tech to the trains etc.

That's not to say there's not much, much better ways to spend £3mil.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Hello all, Long time reader first time poster...

MAP holder, Alton Towers Fan and themepark Lover :)

Bit of info wonder if anyone can spread any light.. A friend of mine has just had a delivery to Alton to the address "Project Surf, Alton Towers"

My friends not too knowledgeable on towers despite my interrogation but says and i quote "near a carpark round the back", I may be looking too much into this but ive never heard of project surf?

:3
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Erm, I found this write up of Galactica, it's pretty detailed so avoid if you don't want the full rundown - Gizmodo Review

This extract was interesting...
Fortunately, Tim Briggs, an Alton Towers staff member, told me that the content could and would be altered and improved over time. This means that Galactica may be completely different in a year’s time, without any of the track changing in the slightest. Great news for Alton Towers, bad news for thrill-seekers’ wallets.

My final criticism concerns timings. Relatively speaking, the boarding process took a long time. A lot longer than the ride itself. As well as strapping each rider in and ensuring they wear and optimise their high-tech gear correctly, Galactica's team of attendants also needs to wipe down the Gear VR headsets with disinfectant between rides.

Briggs told me that one attendant would be responsible for kitting out each row of riders, which makes Galactica the most manpower-dependent attraction at Alton Towers. However, while the extra hands would no doubt speed up the process, he admitted that it wouldn't be the quickest attraction to prepare at the theme park.
Click to expand...
Bolded bit. That's a lot of staff for one attraction. Seems like one of the reasons there has been so many other closures could be to staff this.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

A minimum of what, 24 members of staff including hosts, ops, batchers, and relief for breaks. They closed Sub-Terra for needing less than half that!

I can see this lasting 2-4 seasons before they give up.
 
Re: Alton Towers submits planning permission

Yep, that's a stupid amount of staff. There's no way they'll maintain this.

At the BEST I think you'll see one side be VR and one not in a year or two.

It's going to kill capacity as well, on an already slow ride.

It's just, ugh. So, ugh.
 
Re: Alton Towers - Galactica VR coaster/Rollercoaster Restau

We'll all just have to pay that £35 (minimum) to avoid the queue... and still wait 15 minutes at the station.
 
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