Virtual Reality- Yay or Nay?
- Thread starter LiveForTheLaunch
- Start date
GuyWithAStick
Captain Basic
I mean Batwing and MAYBE Apocalypse, but otherwise, yeah, their one good coaster is going to be even longer a line now.
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Let's say it's the closest thing they have to a good ride. You put the VR experience on a ride with the least popularity (see New Rev at SFMM) not on your intamin hyper. Anyway I bailed early (3pm), picked up my friend I'm traveling with, and gunned it down i95 and spent the last hour at KD.
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Pink Cadillac
Giga Poster
C'mon operations can't be that bad 
[tweet]https://twitter.com/sfneonline/status/743863686222188545[/tweet]
tweet
Has been open just a week I know but what annoys me is in the opening ceremony, they were keenly going on about how the ride was voted best on the world six times (or w/e); so out of all the rides in the park, why choose this one!! :evil:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/sfneonline/status/743863686222188545[/tweet]
tweet
Has been open just a week I know
but what annoys me is in the opening ceremony, they were keenly going on about how the ride was voted best on the world six times (or w/e); so out of all the rides in the park, why choose this one!! :evil:
Hutch
Strata Poster
So I tried Superman: The VR Ride earlier today. My first experience with VR goggles too.
I'm not sure if I'm even qualified to give an opinion because, going up the first airtime hill, the thing :xcensoredx:ed up and I was staring at darkness the rest of the ride.
But that was enough for me. So I say, **** that!
So it worked for a bit on the lift hill and going down the first drop, and it tbh it was kind of cool while it lasted. But the graphics weren't good and the whole thing was blurry (you'd think that these things would have a good resolution). It was enough to give me a sense of what the entire ride would be like. I figured it would be pretty cool and a unique experience (well, maybe not unique now that a lot of parks are doing it, but you know what I mean), but I never imagined it would be anywhere as enjoyable as the real thing.
The fact that it broke during my ride wasn't the only thing that ruined the whole thing for me. The dispatch times made the wait pretty long and slow, as expected. The queue was never shorter than an hour, even in the morning near opening. Dispatch times were 5 minutes each, which was actually a lot better than I thought, but still not acceptable. At least it wasn't some 2-3 hour queue.
I don't know if anyone's figured out an efficient way to handle VR ride dispatches (or if there is one). Anyone wearing VR had to be checked to make sure it was working properly. It's kind of like an extra restraint that the ride ops needed to check (first seat belt, then restraint, then VR). The one I first put on actually didn't work at all, so I was given another one (the one that also stopped working on the ride). Then you're just sitting in the train stationary few more long minutes, ready to go and waiting for dispatch.
I also wasn't sure if I had mine tight enough while riding. It felt tight enough when I first adjusted it in the station, and any tighter would've begun to hurt. But it was moving around a lot while on the ride. I became focused on holding onto the thing and tightening it while riding. I shouldn't have to deal with that.
So after waiting an hour+ to try it out only for it to not work, I wasn't in any rush to try it again, unless the queue was 15 min or less. But it will never that short of a wait again because when you combine the most popular ride in the park with Six Flags operations and VR, you get long lines. So I'll stick with no VR thank you very much, but it will still be very annoying to simply riding the ride. They should've at least put the VR on another ride in the park because anything other than Superman or Wicked Cyclone isn't worth waiting more than 20 min for. Leave the good stuff alone.
At least Wicked Cyclone remained quiet today, so I was able to get plenty of rides in on the better coaster anyway.
I'm not sure if I'm even qualified to give an opinion because, going up the first airtime hill, the thing :xcensoredx:ed up and I was staring at darkness the rest of the ride.
But that was enough for me. So I say, **** that!
So it worked for a bit on the lift hill and going down the first drop, and it tbh it was kind of cool while it lasted. But the graphics weren't good and the whole thing was blurry (you'd think that these things would have a good resolution). It was enough to give me a sense of what the entire ride would be like. I figured it would be pretty cool and a unique experience (well, maybe not unique now that a lot of parks are doing it, but you know what I mean), but I never imagined it would be anywhere as enjoyable as the real thing.
The fact that it broke during my ride wasn't the only thing that ruined the whole thing for me. The dispatch times made the wait pretty long and slow, as expected. The queue was never shorter than an hour, even in the morning near opening. Dispatch times were 5 minutes each, which was actually a lot better than I thought, but still not acceptable. At least it wasn't some 2-3 hour queue.
I don't know if anyone's figured out an efficient way to handle VR ride dispatches (or if there is one). Anyone wearing VR had to be checked to make sure it was working properly. It's kind of like an extra restraint that the ride ops needed to check (first seat belt, then restraint, then VR). The one I first put on actually didn't work at all, so I was given another one (the one that also stopped working on the ride). Then you're just sitting in the train stationary few more long minutes, ready to go and waiting for dispatch.
I also wasn't sure if I had mine tight enough while riding. It felt tight enough when I first adjusted it in the station, and any tighter would've begun to hurt. But it was moving around a lot while on the ride. I became focused on holding onto the thing and tightening it while riding. I shouldn't have to deal with that.
So after waiting an hour+ to try it out only for it to not work, I wasn't in any rush to try it again, unless the queue was 15 min or less. But it will never that short of a wait again because when you combine the most popular ride in the park with Six Flags operations and VR, you get long lines. So I'll stick with no VR thank you very much, but it will still be very annoying to simply riding the ride. They should've at least put the VR on another ride in the park because anything other than Superman or Wicked Cyclone isn't worth waiting more than 20 min for. Leave the good stuff alone.
At least Wicked Cyclone remained quiet today, so I was able to get plenty of rides in on the better coaster anyway.
Bat Fastard
Hyper Poster
^^^^ That is exactly how my first experience went. When you combine that with ridiculous dispatch times, I say **** this. I hope it dies soon.
S
SimonSays99
Guest
I like to ride coasters without VR. I may see it happening at smaller family or powered coasters which are mostly not much themed, exiting and mostly quite old. Next to that VR should always be optional.
Bat Fastard
Hyper Poster
So I just rode Superman Krypton Coaster at Fiesta Texas. And all I have to say is **** VR. I **** HATE THIS SO MUCH. We didn't do VR, but we attempted to get front row THREE **** TIMES. Didn't get it a single time. I know they don't put VR in the front, but the VR changes how they load and sort people in line. Front row wait was empty. We asked for front row. They say "Sorry, go to the back." I say "Why the hell can I not do front, there's nobody there!" And "Sorry, we load from the back." So some people who were way behind us in line got front row on the same train as us. Not to mention the terrible operations. They should seriously reconsider how they do this, because it seriously pisses me off so much. Maybe set aside 2 rows (or 4 on the coasters that have 2 seat rows) in the middle for VR. If you want to do VR, you have to wait for those rows ONLY. Everyone not riding with VR can pick their seat and not potentially be screwed out of a row they want. When you load every row except front row (they put VR people in the back on Krypton) with VR people, operations are horrendous. Having only 8 people max with VR would speed up operations. If you're a GP sheep and want to do VR, you gotta wait longer. But because of this BS VR, people who just want to ride for the coaster itself have to wait in a longer line. I really **** hate this and hope it goes extinct soon. Rant done.
Hobbes
Mega Poster
Going to join the Nay crowd.
I rode the VR Superman at SFNE yesterday and it was pretty crappy experience all around. I can agree with just about all the complaints people have posted. There were 5 and a half minutes between dispatches at best (which isn't as bad as others have mentioned, but is still terrible), so the wait was over an hour and a half on a line that would have probably taken 20 minutes or so normally. The first headset I was given was broken so it had to be replaced. Like others have mentioned, the headsets seemed to come loose during the ride. I tightened mine three or four times while riding. My friend's overheated and shut off halfway through the ride. Overall the VR just ruined capacity and worked very inconsistently.
And even if it had worked smoothly, I still think the concept is just inherently stupid. I want to see the world around me as I ride, not a screen (not to mention that the quality of the visuals was pretty poor). I just don't see the point. If I want to ride a simulator, I'll go ride a simulator. Let the coaster be a coaster.
I rode the VR Superman at SFNE yesterday and it was pretty crappy experience all around. I can agree with just about all the complaints people have posted. There were 5 and a half minutes between dispatches at best (which isn't as bad as others have mentioned, but is still terrible), so the wait was over an hour and a half on a line that would have probably taken 20 minutes or so normally. The first headset I was given was broken so it had to be replaced. Like others have mentioned, the headsets seemed to come loose during the ride. I tightened mine three or four times while riding. My friend's overheated and shut off halfway through the ride. Overall the VR just ruined capacity and worked very inconsistently.
And even if it had worked smoothly, I still think the concept is just inherently stupid. I want to see the world around me as I ride, not a screen (not to mention that the quality of the visuals was pretty poor). I just don't see the point. If I want to ride a simulator, I'll go ride a simulator. Let the coaster be a coaster.
Finally tried it, and it needs to f**k right off.
I did it on Superman at Six Flags America. The park was dead, but I'd stupidly prebought a fast pass and still waited 30 minutes for each of the two rides I had, first without, then one ride with.
It takes a stupid amount of time to get the headsets working, with people constantly having to change them, calibrate them etc. Then, a lot of people were returning to the station and complaining that it didn't work. These people were offered rerides, holding up the queue further.
Staff hate it. HATE. IT. They're stressed as hell with having to deal with the constant time wasting and complaints.
When I tried it on the second ride, I had to switch the headset 3 times before I got it to work. The graphics are crap. To make things worse, towards the end if the ride, I smacked my head really badly on the back of the seat in front, hard enough to crack the screen on the headset. Obviously this wouldn't have happened without the headset since there's no sense of surprise with the layout, and the headset itself extended enough to make contact with the back of the seat in front.
I should have kicked off big time, but still had 6 creds to get and figured if I went through the process of complaints and first aid, I likely wouldn't have been able to polish the rest of the park off.
Anyway, it needs to go. The experience isn't worth the hassle.
I did it on Superman at Six Flags America. The park was dead, but I'd stupidly prebought a fast pass and still waited 30 minutes for each of the two rides I had, first without, then one ride with.
It takes a stupid amount of time to get the headsets working, with people constantly having to change them, calibrate them etc. Then, a lot of people were returning to the station and complaining that it didn't work. These people were offered rerides, holding up the queue further.
Staff hate it. HATE. IT. They're stressed as hell with having to deal with the constant time wasting and complaints.
When I tried it on the second ride, I had to switch the headset 3 times before I got it to work. The graphics are crap. To make things worse, towards the end if the ride, I smacked my head really badly on the back of the seat in front, hard enough to crack the screen on the headset. Obviously this wouldn't have happened without the headset since there's no sense of surprise with the layout, and the headset itself extended enough to make contact with the back of the seat in front.
I should have kicked off big time, but still had 6 creds to get and figured if I went through the process of complaints and first aid, I likely wouldn't have been able to polish the rest of the park off.
Anyway, it needs to go. The experience isn't worth the hassle.
TMCoasters
Mega Poster
Nay, nay. and more nay. Only VR coaster I've been on is Superman The Ride, and I have no interest in trying it again. It creates massive queues (turns 30 minutes into upwards of an hour and thirty minutes) and ruins the ride experience. I ride coasters for the coaster itself, not to watch a movie. Also the phones overheat very often, and on a hot day, it's a 50/50 shot that the VR will even work.
SaiyanHajime
CF Legend
There is no reason why any person in a decision making position wouldn't have been able to predict what happened to Gavin at SF. Why the hell is that even possible.
davidm
Strata Poster
I've got some friends who are "in marketing" (at least one of them was pretty senior in a global co) - but they are just my pals I go to the pub with.
A common theme of our pub-based-conversations (when old-gits like us sit around moaning about the state of the world) is that it is all the fault "marketing" and then the pub-conversation is reduced to me blaming my friends for everything.
And this VR-nonsense is all the fault of marketing over operations (in fact over anything!).
Awful; let it end now please.
A common theme of our pub-based-conversations (when old-gits like us sit around moaning about the state of the world) is that it is all the fault "marketing" and then the pub-conversation is reduced to me blaming my friends for everything.
And this VR-nonsense is all the fault of marketing over operations (in fact over anything!).
Awful; let it end now please.
Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
Just did my second VR coaster and I'm even more sold on it now. Did Cedar Point's Iron Dragon VR and I have to say, most of my issues with Six Flags VR were fixed right away.
Instead of putting VR on Millennium like Flags would have done, they put it on Iron Dragon. This is one of their least popular coasters that provides a mild and enjoyable experience at best, nothing world class. However, it also has decent capacity, something that might be able to take a capacity challenge with CP's incredible operations and not a Eurofighter or anything.
So John and I got our time, we went up, and sat down. They gave us a headset similar to the Six Flags one but with elastic straps. It added maybe a minute to our dispatch to make sure that we had our headsets on. However, the annoying thing was that we had to be looking straight forward when we put it on or it would calibrate wrong, something even SFNE didn't have to deal with, supposedly because it was a different program. They didn't really have to help people though simply because it was so easy to put on. All it really added was the ride ops asking, "do you see a horse and a town?"
So you start off as a guy sitting in a horse-drawn carriage in a medieval town. The ride starts with your horse making a right and heading up a (lift) hill. At the top, orcs crash through a palisade on your left and a dragon shows up out of nowhere, knocks the bridge down, kills your horse (didn't see it happen but Ben says it's there if you look to the right, apparently it's really graphic), and grabs you and takes you with it. Throughout the ride you're flung around mountains, castle towers, and other incredible landscape. Finally, at the end of the ride, the dragon releases you into the water and your wagon splashes down to a stop.
My only problem with the actual VR is that it seemed to have some very minor calibration issues. At the end of the ride, my guy was splashing into the water a bit to the left from what in reality was forward. However, considering how this is a beta test and how that was my only issue, it could have been way worse. Better choice from an operations standpoint, better graphics, better everything. All in all, this is how VR needs to be done. Put it on less popular coasters with decent capacity, use simpler straps that can hold up on a mild family coaster, and use the technology to make coaster experiences set in fantastical environments that could never exist otherwise and you have a winner with VR. Once CP gets this going, I'd like to see this technology appear on Carolina Goldrusher, Jaguar, and maybe KI Bat and a few others.
On a related note, I did a commercial shoot for CP this week and one of the things I filmed on was Iron Dragon rocking a VR headset (without a phone though, basically they blindfolded us for the shoot lol) so keep an eye out for my sexy face modeling a Samsung Gear in any Iron Dragon VR promo material.
Instead of putting VR on Millennium like Flags would have done, they put it on Iron Dragon. This is one of their least popular coasters that provides a mild and enjoyable experience at best, nothing world class. However, it also has decent capacity, something that might be able to take a capacity challenge with CP's incredible operations and not a Eurofighter or anything.
So John and I got our time, we went up, and sat down. They gave us a headset similar to the Six Flags one but with elastic straps. It added maybe a minute to our dispatch to make sure that we had our headsets on. However, the annoying thing was that we had to be looking straight forward when we put it on or it would calibrate wrong, something even SFNE didn't have to deal with, supposedly because it was a different program. They didn't really have to help people though simply because it was so easy to put on. All it really added was the ride ops asking, "do you see a horse and a town?"
So you start off as a guy sitting in a horse-drawn carriage in a medieval town. The ride starts with your horse making a right and heading up a (lift) hill. At the top, orcs crash through a palisade on your left and a dragon shows up out of nowhere, knocks the bridge down, kills your horse (didn't see it happen but Ben says it's there if you look to the right, apparently it's really graphic), and grabs you and takes you with it. Throughout the ride you're flung around mountains, castle towers, and other incredible landscape. Finally, at the end of the ride, the dragon releases you into the water and your wagon splashes down to a stop.
My only problem with the actual VR is that it seemed to have some very minor calibration issues. At the end of the ride, my guy was splashing into the water a bit to the left from what in reality was forward. However, considering how this is a beta test and how that was my only issue, it could have been way worse. Better choice from an operations standpoint, better graphics, better everything. All in all, this is how VR needs to be done. Put it on less popular coasters with decent capacity, use simpler straps that can hold up on a mild family coaster, and use the technology to make coaster experiences set in fantastical environments that could never exist otherwise and you have a winner with VR. Once CP gets this going, I'd like to see this technology appear on Carolina Goldrusher, Jaguar, and maybe KI Bat and a few others.
On a related note, I did a commercial shoot for CP this week and one of the things I filmed on was Iron Dragon rocking a VR headset (without a phone though, basically they blindfolded us for the shoot lol) so keep an eye out for my sexy face modeling a Samsung Gear in any Iron Dragon VR promo material.