Attraction Analysis

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Morgan
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Thought I'd try something a bit different to help the winter pass a bit quicker. There's not a huge amount to speculate upon this closed season, so I thought I'd open a discussion about individual design elements that make our favourite attractions so great. It can be anything, from a quick paragraph on why you think a certain inversion makes a coaster so much fun, or a full blown essay about how it all comes together. It's a bit crazy, but I thought it'd be a fun thing for people to write and learn about if they so wish.

I'll start...

Project 42 and Dread
It's been clear over the past few years that Alton Towers have really perfected the scare-maze formula. Even though 2015 was an incredibly hard time for the Resort and the company in general, it didn't stop the Entertainments team from redefining what they thought was possible within their Halloween attractions, with the debut of Sub-Species: The End Games and The Haunting of Molly Crowe. These two new additions to the Scarefest lineup proved their excellence in all fronts of production, and they continued to build on their strengths with subsequent haunts such as The Welcoming: Be Chosen and The Attic: Terror of the Towers.
Despite the lacklustre reviews from the previous two seasons, Project 42 stands out to me as the culmination of all their efforts. Even though it doesn't quite match up to the intensity or have the adaptable scripting of the other mazes, it excels in phenomenal lighting and sound design. Whilst there's nothing overly complex about either, they both help build and sustain a sense of dread- right from the walk into the compound, up until the infamous finale sequence. The value of the production is so phenomenally done that, upon my first run this season, I was genuinely left speechless. 
Just like any other attraction, Project 42 starts to build it's world before you've even handed over your ticket. Virtually all themed attractions imply a basic mood and driving force to the experience that follows with an ambient score, often coupled by the reactions of various guests. Some 20mins of audio was produced for the plaza and queue alone, which is comparable to a major e-ticket coaster. The rather lengthy suite utilises several different melodies and instruments across it's run-time to convey as many moods as possible, even though you're only likely to hear one or two sections. If you manage to hear multiple, it helps establish a sense of depth within the world. Some parts have an up-beat melody with beeping and light piano sounds that reinforces the urgent, medical nature of the attraction. But then the melody fades out to a more atmospheric drone, and a distorted tune, which really helps convey that something has gone horribly wrong- before the urgency and stature kicks back in with some rather bodacious horns. But it's not just instruments that tell the story- subtle usage of Morse-Code and Geiger Counters help create a rich and incredibly detailed piece of audio, rather than just "music". It's these sound effects that bring an extra dimension to the area.
But what most guests remember about their first encounter with the area is the finale audio, which leaks out of a temporary tarp structure. The audio that leaks is simple enough- it's essentialy long bassy bullets to replicate gunfire, the commands of various shouting soldiers, and the occasional loud horn to stitch it all together. What really makes it impactful, however, is the sheer volume of the piece. Upon approaching Forbidden Valley from areas such as Gloomy Wood or the Skyride station virtually opposite, you can feel the bass rumbling through the trees. It's eerily beautiful yet foreboding hearing a mysterious rumbling in the distance, and when you realise that it's coming from Project 42, the atmosphere suddenly becomes incredibly intense. It plays so loudly that it really dominates the entire area and beyond; it creates a high level of fear and anticipation purely by sound.  You haven't even entered the maze yet, but the prescence of the finale audio really makes a great first impression. You know that at some point in your journey through the maze, you'll stumble into that room and discover what horrors lurk within. This really stays with you, and helps craft a memorable experience.
After a quick briefing and video explaining that you're entering a Military Medical Lab to hunt for a missing cure for a deadly disease, the maze itself begins. It starts with a long, almost un-eventful walk into the warehouse where the real terrors lie. Whilst the set isn't particularly amazing here,  it's the sound design that tells the story. The piece in this section is slow, yet feels "advanced" and "medical", with electronic beeping and beat. The pacing encourages a slower guest flow as they consider the "mission" they have been given, and the music almost has a gleam of hope to stir ambition- even if there's a hint of apprehension.
Of course, this hopefulness is wiped as you enter the compound. The second section takes you through a small decontamination tent, and then through a winding path in the locker room. Upon entering the main building, the first visual that guests get is a haunting, long corridor with blue ambient lighting, flashing reds, and a very subtle "work" light that flickers above. The small space isn't overly bright nor dark, but the transition from the sunlight of the walk to the deep, dim blues is honestly breathtaking. The audio in here is what really helps build upon the hints of dread and hopelesness implied in the preshow spiel. It gives off a melancholic vibe with the large amounts of bass without a real melody as such, coupled with a light sounding echo of other electronic instruments. What really makes this area scary is the sudden and loud, almost static-sounding rumbling that shakes the floor. Every time this extended note plays, you can feel it in your bones. It's very unsettling, and when married up with the beautiful lighting, it creates phenomenal tension, despite very little happening around you.
Passing through a tight airbag, you emerge into Animal Testing. The first part takes place in almost complete darkness, but with small flickering lamps highlighting the broken cages, and an occasional bright flash to highlight the rest of the space. The main part of this scene continues with the blue hues, but they start to flicker as it becomes clear that something has gone horribly wrong, and the score matches. This scene looses some of the gripping bass of the previous, but instead employs an "airy" feel that really helps highlight dread. I often find myself comparing the audio in this scene to the overall tone of the 2002 Drama/Horror Film, 28 Days Later. The entire film has this quiet, yet very prominent sense of sadness as the cast try to survive and come to terms with this new, bleak world they live in. The audio in the Animal Testing portion of Project 42 evokes a similiar mood. As you walk through, you can tell that something has gone entirely wrong, and that there's nothing you can do to change that. There's also a sad, humbling loneliness to this scene, as you feel like you're the only humans who have a chance at rescuing the cure, and that you're the only living things around. Everything feels surprisingly dismal, and you can really tell that the Phalanx Operatives have tried everything they can to stop the virus from spreading, but that their efforts were useless. Just like the previous rooms, the audio continues to tell the entire story via a subtle subtext. Even if it lacks huge effects and "scares", it's incredibly well done, and almost scary how they found a way to sustain the mood without being "in your face" about it. 
The quieter tone of the attraction changes completely in the Laboratory. Intense reds bleed as you walk in, with the occasional flash of blue to help highlight the grotesque corpse in the MRI Scanner. The immediate change to predominantly reds tells us that the tone and pace is about to change, and the music reflects that. Gone are the slow echoes and drones- we are introduced to a moderately paced, grungey piece as an announcement warns us that the quarantine has been breached. It's here where the dread turns to threat- whilst we've seen the aftermaths of accidents, we feel as if we are about to experience one first hand. The louder audio and leaking air realises your fears- you've considered the hopeless, sad aspect, and now it's time you faced the infected for yourself. The beat doesn't get stupidly fast, but it's enough to let us know that things are changing within the world, and that things are about to get pretty intense.
Entering the next room, the pace changes once again as you get the feeling that we have to abandon all hope- the cure is missing, and we have to get out. The path is interrupted by a crash of palletes, meaning you have to duck down to continue. A multitude of reds and blues seep through the gaps in the walls, and when paired with some haze, it oozes atmosphere and character. There's also a great timed effect here- a large air cannon goes off as a white strobe triggers, accompanied by some loud screaming and the sound of gunfire. You never really see what's happening, but the audio tells us all we need to know. And speaking of audio- this scene uses a more urgent variant of the tune from the Lab. The beat is far sharper, and the faster tempo really makes us feel like you need to forget the mission and escape from the compound. Screw the mission- it's now about survival.
A smaller room with a dim strobe follows, before it feels like you've taken a wrong turn. Long vines and plants creep from above as it becomes clear that the facility has been abandoned for quite some time. The sincere reds continue, but now with hints of green to emphasize the vegetation. Everything here sounds weirdly wet, which is a great contrast to the previous two scenes. We've gone from a more mellow start, to energetic guitars, then back to something whispery and unusual. It's such a stark change in environment, and some of the fear comes from a sense of confusion. It's clear that the stringent nature of the complex has been tossed aside here, and because the area is so different to the rest of the maze, you really feel unsafe. It feels like anything can happen here- and the lack of care is somewhat shocking.
The intensity and madness really starts to come into play with the next scene. Gone are the meticulously placed spotlights- instead, you proceed into a strobey room. There's so little time to look around here- behind the cages are the warped outlines of what were once humans. The flashing light doesn't give you quite enough time to process everything, and really makes you clamber around for the way out. And, of course, the music mirrors this. The score looses all melodies again to really play up the suspsense with sharp strings and a Shephard Tone- where the notes are seemingly getting higher and higher, and it feels like it will never end. This technique really gets your nerves up and makes you anxious. You get the feeling that something is coming for you, but because of the endless nature of the soundtrack and the strobes, you can't tell where and when something is going to happen, and just what is going to attack. It is here where the tension hits it's crescendo- you need to get out as quickly as possible because of a deep feeling that's built up over the entire attraction that something is coming for you, but finding an exit is seemingly impossible.
Your journey is almost over- but not before it culminates, quite literally, with a bang. At last, you stumble into the incredibly intense and ear-bleedingly loud finale that can be heard for miles around. The volume really takes you back as well- a rumbling bass matches the lighting patterns, and really establishes this finale as a total sensory overload. Powerful strobes attack you from above, from seemingly random places at unknown intervals. Instead of pointing the light at a particular object to draw attention to it- the lights flash directly at you. The motivation behind this scene isn't just "strobes because scary"- the strobes imitate a violent flurry of gunfire. And by staging the lights up high, it feels as if we are worthless scum down below. Up there are the savious, looking down at us hellions. Despite our best efforts, we have succumbed to the infection. The mission was a failure- although extreme, the only way to make sure that the infection doesn't spread is by eliminating those with the disease, and the risk of you escaping with them and spreading it further isn't worth the challenge. Nothing can be done to save us from the mutation.
And just as quickly as it began, it's all over. Despite it's short run time at an average of 6mins per run, Project 42 offers one of the most richly detailed scare experiences around. Whilst they could've kicked things off with a sharp scare and continued with predictable jumps, they opted to design something a bit slower, and this choice really helps seperate Project 42 from their other mazes. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a good old fashioned haunted house experience, it's really nice to see some experimentiation going on. At the end of the day, horror isn't just an intense reaction to a sudden surprise. It's the slow, brooding fog that infects your brain over time. It's a tension that builds and builds, and makes you shiver with anticipation, breaking you into a cold sweat. It's the unusual, horrible feeling that makes you breathless and like you need to give up.
I think the reason that Project 42 is often panned is because it opts for a slow-burning affair, and the characterization doesn't allow for any amazing improvisation. It's a staple of modern mazes that actors talk back to guests and encourage them to engage- but unfortunately, the thematization of Project 42 doesn't allow for that. It's a bit frustrating that, in a park with mazes where you're often complemented and asked questions about your beauty, all Project 42 has to offer is a more generic snarl. The lack of human scripting means it's not everyones cup of tea, and I totally respect that- but I just feel it's unfair to call it bad purely because of that. The lighting and sound design is so well thought out, and you've got to commend them for wanting something slower, and for trying someting different. After all- if all the Scarefest mazes were the same style, it'd get boring. But now, we have a little slice of everything. We have the intense, touchy madness of Sub-Species, the theatrical and story based Attic, the cheeky combination of both in Altonville Mine Tours, and of course, the slow study of dread in Project 42. 
If Project 42 returns for another season, I urge you to go in not expecting scares, but with an open mind, ready to soak up the atmosphere and subtle nuances like the big nerdy sponge that you are. If you toss aside the jumps and characters, you will find a phenomenally told story through lighting and sound design that will leave you breathless. 
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Dungeon-X-Smile
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Hi so! Ages ago I wrote an essay on Derren Brown's Ghost Train. If I remember, the topic was something like what was something you learnt over your summer vacation. Haven't read over it in years but thought it was appropriate for this topic. 

During this summer, I went on a ride described as a “one-way ticket on a horrifying journey into the chilling depths of the unknown.” The experience was recently added to the lineup of rides at Thorpe Park, a theme park situated just outside of London known for it’s spine-tingling attractions. Thorpe Park recently paired with the famous British conjuror, Derren Brown, to bring us Derren Brown’s Ghost Train. Derren Brown’s Ghost Train is astate-of-the-artattraction that merges VR, actors and holograms. But alas, using new technology can be problematic. Managing to be exciting, interesting, frightening and disappointing simultaneously, it’s a unique and thought provoking experience that you learn a lot from. 


Derren Brown is a conjuror who specialises with psychological magic, who has starred in a wide range of TV shows and theatrical performances. Studying psychology at university, it’s very clear that he has a firm grasp on the human mind, and how it ticks, which couldn’t be more perfectly summed up than in the stunning pre show. The pre show contains Derren Brown monologuing about the history of fear. He uses words in a way which causes intimidation, as your mind starts to anticipate what will happen next. The use of words which do not talk about the attraction itself, more the experience of fear. This means that instead of some boring exposition or throwing us straight  into the action, the ride takes time to set a scene in a poetic style. By not making it purposely about the ride, he manages to create suspense for what’s about to happen. With the knowledge that he has presented to you, you start to assume that he knows what he’s doing, which causes fear and anticipation for what’s about to come. Another scene that is expertly crafted to create fear is the final scene, in which you are herded like sheep off of the ride and into a gift shop. As the group moves through,andbecause it’s a large group, you assume that’s why it takes so long to leave. But as the entire train has emptied into the room, the lights cut and red light glows from the floor. Suddenly, an incredibly realistic and terrifying animatronic appears, seemingly from thin air, and roars, before the spotlight on it cuts and the creature disappears. It uses surprise in such a way that there is no way of telling it’ll happen. Since you think that the ride is over, your guard is completely gone, whichcatches you andcauses one to be completely stunned long after. 


Since Derren Brown addresses that this ride won’t scare everyone in his opening monologue, there are elements added to interest and excite. The most stunning of these is when you first encounter the Ghost Train itself. A beautiful, stunning, ruby red,Victorian train hangs from the roof, seemingly suspended by thick, metal chains. Once you step aboard, although, it turns into a classic London underground train. There is this marvelous attention to detail, with these adverts that are placed around the train,seeming eerily realistic, and yet if you look at them closer, they are easter eggs to his old shows, which I rather enjoyed. There were some spectacular easter eggs hidden around the attraction which I found rather fun to point out or notice. Another thing that proves their attention to detail was the first VR segment. They included this very interesting part where the actors change depending on which VR headset you claim. There are two characters:one who walks onto the train and another who is infected with a mysterious virus. I believe that they had around 5 actors who they would mix and match the combination of who walked onto the train and who was infected. I found this incredibly ingenious, because the effect was that when you come out, you realise that everyone in your party remembered something else. I love this effect and found it incredible and interesting, and certainly a trick I would use in the future. And finally,even though it’s the most obvious, the technology is incredible. I can’t believe a company would take such a jump with the technology, creating an attraction the likesof whichI’ve never seen before. It’s so exciting to ride it becauseyou know thatthis will be the future, but this feels like the first of its kind. 


But alas, because it’s new technology, it’s full of bugs and issues. The first major problem is the constant breakdowns. Because it’s such an involved ride, things are always going wrong. It’s garnished a ‘loving’ nickname within the community, “Derren Brown Bus Replacement Service”. If having an expensive ride wasn’t enough, because of the breakdowns, Thorpe Park has to pay out £ as apology for the ride always closing. If that wasn’t enough, the VR scenes are lacking. There are two VR segments:one before and one after a redundantlive-actionsegment, and both seem a little underwhelming. It’s very clear that just because something is new, not always is it worth putting it in a ride. Derren Brown’s Ghost Train is an impressive ride, but the VR is very disappointing because there is just this element that is missing from it, and I believe this is because of how bad the actors are. The actors in the second VR segment are incredibly atrocious, and do not sell the scene you are witnessing. I feel like although it would seem like such a small thing, the fact that the actors in the second film are so bad manages to take you out of the scene all together. And I’m not sure why, but I didn’t feel too scared in the second VR section. Ithink perhaps it is because alarge portion is that the train is in mist, and you don’t know where it is, but I feel like this was a cheap move to create the perfect scene for jumpscares and to get a good yell when the actors touch you.But,if you’re like me and don’t really care for jumpscares, I felt rather uninterested. Just because I jumped doesn’t make it a good scare, which is why I love the pre show but hate the last scene. 

In conclusion, althoughit isa good ride, I believe thatDerren Brown’s Ghost Traintries too hard to be too many different things. It wants to be a VR ride, but it also wants to have live-action segments. It wants to use intelligence to scare you, but it also wants to be dumb. In my opinion, I believe that it tries to accomplish one scare from each style of fear, which doesn’t work because,althoughsomemight find one part of the ride good,not everybody willlike the rest. Through this experience, I learnt about the craft of a ride, and what types of fear works best on me. I also learnt a lot about special tricks used in the ride and what works and what doesn’t. But the most important thing I learnt was that Derren Brown’s Ghost Train tried to scare everyone, using a wide range of different styles. Because of this, I believe most people instead found it jarring and found themselves drawn to certain parts over others.
Swarm Chris

Something a bit more general, I watched an interesting video this morning on the construction of backyard roller coasters. What appear to be fairly, try and hope designs, actually have a very large amount of engineering behind them, and demonstrate some of the fundamental structural and mechanical requirements of building a roller coaster and testing is safety.

For example, the difficulties that arise as soon as you want your track to turn, from just a train design perspective, where the front axis needs to be able to move in several degrees of freedom, whilst the back has to be more rigid to prevent the whole thing tipping over.

There's also quite a nice section at the end about how forces act differently for different people, in particular based on their height and distance their head is away from the track. They provide an extreme example showing how if designed incorrectly, a train entering a badly designed loop could cause a rider's head to immediately stop moving forwards, rotate around the loop, and then immediately speed up to that of the rest of the train. All I could think was, well that explains SAW then.
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Derren Brown's Ghost Train and the Importance of Audience

As with any market, the themed entertainment industry is a competitive one that is always developing, and there is always someone hard at work trying to dazzle guests with something fresh and exciting. Throughout the past decade, there have been major advancements in roller-coaster technology, allowing for previously unthinkable concepts to become that of reality. Many turn their eyes to the likes of Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point for pure thrills, whilst others gaze upon Phantasialand's Taron, which merges unpredictable forces with theming of a cinematic scale- something that had rarely been done before.

Of course, theme-parks are not just a place for quick rushes of adrenaline- many visit purely to immerse themselves in another world, and the landscape here has changed as well. Attractions such as Symbolica at De Efteling offer guests a choice in narrative as they pass through The Court of Hearts, and occasionally on-board interactive elements, allowing them to seamlessly feel as if they can impact their journey through the palace. This sense of freedom has also helped re-establish walkthroughs as well. In the past, guests were welcome to interact with the surroundings of the attraction, but by utilising live actors, parks can deliver something far more impactful. Sub-Species: The End Games at Scarefest gives guests the oppurtunity to not only freely roam the sewers at their own pace, choosing each route when given the chance, but to converse with the characters, thus deeply defining depth within the experience. 

These performances within scare-attractions start to blur lines when it comes to experiences outside pre-established parks, and it is here where some could be more comfortably labelled as Fringe Theatre. It is commonplace for such experiences to offer a much more intimate and psychological layer across a lengthy 30min+ trip into the darkest depths of ones brain.

Whilst more "touristy" attractions such as The London Dungeon do technically class as "Immersive Theatre", the phrase tends to be thrown about more in relation to a piece that is richer and mature. It doesn't fit within a theme-park style environment due to it's avant-garde nature. If we take that definition into account, my first encounter with the form was Phobiarama, directed by Dutch artist Dries Verhoeven. I naively agreed to go in expecting something more akin to a scare-maze, but what was waiting was in fact something so subversive and surreal that it both shocked and inspired me. Over the course of a 45min ride in a plain white room, Phobiarama explored the bitter rhetorics of politicians and the negative perception that ethnic profiling can have on society. Although it's message was hardly subtle, it was a profound, theatrical test; truly terrifying, whilst conveying deeper meanings that worked itself into your brain. 

Across the small selection of Immersive Theatre pieces I have experienced, I have always felt greatly challenged by what I have just witnessed. Upon exiting Coma, a recent production by the remarkable sound-engineers of Darkfield, a close friend of mine was passing through the area, and I physically couldn't describe to them what I'd just been through. Such attractions aren't afraid to have you questioning reality and what makes up the world, and thus, some time for contemplation afterwards is necessary. Performances such as those by Darkfield fester within, and never let you go. Whilst scare-mazes are unsettling and frightening in their own right, they cannot compare to the perilous panic of mixing such horrors with stark, pragmatic cynicism.

It is no wonder then that it is a rare phenomenon for a theme-park to undertake the challenge of designing such an experience. Immersive Theatre is already a relatively niche market, but when taken out of Arts Festivals and into a more commercial and "tacky" atmosphere, finding the groove for something so psychological and bizzare only amplifies the struggle for attention. One attraction that frequently appears on my radar is The Clinic at Walibi Holland. Whilst I have not been lucky enough to encounter it for myself, my understanding of it is that it takes you on a journey through your own life and death, questioning morality and teasing existentialism on the way. A popular review cites that The Clinic is among some of the most creative and theatrical attractions within a tradtitional setting, and I myself believe it is some achievement that Walibi Holland have managed to merge the tiny niche market with the brash and popular scare-attraction. 

When analyzing such experiences, it becomes relatively clear to me that these experiences rarely interest the masses. The majority of guests visit a theme-park to escape the worries of the modern world, and to have unparalleled fun with their friends and family. Therefore, it isn't unusual that most parks wouldn't dare to open something as mature as Phobiarama or The Clinic. An attraction more akin to Immersive Theatre would likely garner little interest from the public as they tend to be slow and less exciting than a roller-coaster. It could also possibly bring negative publicity, as few parks would allow their public image to potentially be tarnished by something that is often controversial. At the time of writing, Darkfield's Flight is experiencing a limited run in Nottingham, and some locals seem to be displeased about it's incredibly dark nature.

However, despite the risks, Thorpe Park decided to give the format a shot, not as a temporary installation for their annual Fright Nights event, but as a major e-ticket ride experience. The result was Derren Brown's Ghost Train, originally opening in Summer 2016. Promising that the attraction would "completely rewrite the rules of what a theme park attraction [could] deliver", Ghost Train was easily one of the most highly anticipated attractions of the decade. Not only would Thorpe Park be getting their long-awaited dark-ride, but by inviting Derren Brown with his daring intelligence to be part of the design team, fans were eager to see what psychological tricks would await them. Marketing teased that they would be able to play a role within the world, and the experience would have them "questioning where perception ends and reality begins". It was clear that Ghost Train was something unseen within the industry at the time; a step away from camp fun to more serious, gripping entertainment.

Although the attraction had an incredible premise, after the intitial excitement of a big new ride had passed, Ghost Train seemed to polarise audiences more than any other. Whilst one could easily appreciate the scope of such a project, it seems that nowadays, most people tend to dislike the attraction. Now, there are many reasons why it could be considered a failure- you wouldn't be wrong to mention how it's yet another sinister theme in a park that already has plenty. There's plausibility in saying how the technology involved was ahead of it's time and how VR isn't suited for constant use. I agree with both of these, but I personally believe that it is the style of story-telling and the nature of the experience that hurt it the most.

To fully understand what went wrong, we must take a brief, surface-level look at what a typical run-through entails. After a short introduction from Brown himself explaining the science of fear, we ascend to a Victorian platform in order to view a train carriage that is mysteriously floating above the ground. This holds little relevance, as we enter the carriage to discover that the interior mocks a modern Metro. We take a seat, don a VR headset, and we are introduced to one of three characters who explain to us that a mysterious corporation is drilling for oil alongside the line, and that a dangerous gas is seeping into the network and causing a hideous infection among the populace. An infected individual "breaks in" to the train, meaning we have to take off our VR headset and leave the train entirely. Actors demand us to stick together as we prepare to evacuate the underground by contouring a tunnel, but after a crash, we are urged to head back onto a different train. With our bums back on seats and VR headsets covering our eyes once more, we witness some grotesque creature crawling along the carriage, before we drop into a fiery inferno down below.

Now, whilst I could easily spend the rest of the essay discussing why the story is incoherent due to the sudden and several changes in focus, I've argued that many a time, and would rather concentrate on why the political arc doesn't work.

For the sake of the piece I will try to remain impartial and keep my personal views on the subject matter out of this, but there's no doubting that the idea of having audiences questioning the moralities of fracking is certainly a daring and thought-provoking one. It's clear that Brown wanted to create a piece of Immersive Theatre that stayed with guests for as long as possible, but most people leave the attraction with a glum look on their faces. Now, why is that? One such answer lies within the audience.

Like most theme-parks, Thorpe Park focusses on entertaining the masses with rides and shows by offering attractions that are wholly enjoyable and fun. On top of this, the park caters primarily for a teenage/young adult audience. People of this age bracket go to theme-parks to mess around with their mates, above all else. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but ask yourself this- if you wanted a night of banter with "the lads", would you choose to see a serious show bursting with metaphors over a screening of some hilarious comedy movie? The same logic applies to theme-parks. Would you rather question your political beliefs, or endure a high-octane ride on a roller-coaster?

Unfortunately, I think part of the ride's downfall lies within the audience. It's a sad thing to admit on their behalf, but it feels as if Thorpe Park didn't understand what their guests wanted. We live in a time where most parks favour the use of external, Intellectual Properties for inspiration and thematization. Particularly in the past decade, Thorpe have loved to utilise IPs in investments, as seen in various Saw and Walking Dead rides and mazes, to name just a few. A new dark-ride is a rarity, too. Ghost Train was the first brand-new, major installation within a UK park in well over a decade. It should be no surprise then that to get the project off the ground, Thorpe would need to bring in some other brand or company to base it upon. With his work only getting more and more popular, Derren Brown was obviously a popular candidate for the "ride treatment". Brown certainly came up with some incredible ideas, but his style of story-telling and sometimes existential ideas aren't wholly suited for theme-parks- not yet, at least. A piece of Immersive Theatre based upon fracking would certainly work within an Arts Festival alongside Phobiarama and Flight. Perhaps Thorpe should've considered that Brown, whilst an amazing designer in his own-right, wouldn't be able to satisfy the fun-loving audiences that they aim for. Maybe Thorpe should have tested the format with a smaller budget attraction or as a temporary installation before jumping the shark and risking millions of pounds on an un-proven concept.

I think another issue with the style of story is the content itself and the amount of time the story is told in. In a theme-park environment, designers and operators must remain conscious of crowds. A popular attraction should be able to process over a thousand riders per hour if they intend on keeping queue times ample. When it comes to Immersive Theatre, this is less of a concern, seeing as they recieve relatively low footfall even on popular days, and each experience requires some length to really work. Darkfield's Seance clocked in at a length of 20mins with a theoretical throughput of 60pph, and whilst I adored the creepy and intimate feel of the finale, I felt like there wasn't enough time to really explore the world we had been immersed in. By the time the attraction had gotten under my skin, the lights came up and it was time to leave. In order for the experience to have a strong impact, attractions such as this are far better suited to slow-burning, at times almost labourious lengths. This obviously comes at the cost of capacity, but allows for a far richer journey. Whilst Phobiarama teases it's meaning before you've even entered, the audience are unaware of it's true intentions until some 25mins in.

Discounting the introduction, Ghost Train has approximately 10-15mins to set up and deliver it's punches in an attempt to keep throughput modest. Whilst clever writing and design could have meant they were able to get their anti-fracking message across with weight without risking capacity, this is far easier said than done. Both Coma and Phobiarama had significant silences to really let the words and actions sink in- the latter, in fact, having some 10mins without any speaking whatsoever. Ghost Train's first act is entirely talk, which is no crime in itself- but the style of writing leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of subtly building up a sense of mystery and sub-conciously antagonising the fracking corporation, there is a solid 2mins of messy exposition. The dialogue feels as if it was hastily written in the same vein as a student rushing their homework on the bus. Pieces such as Flight like to tease audiences with sardonic questions, whereas here, we are merely listening to a monologue with all the grace and humour of a news broadcast. It almost feels like "An Introduction to Psychological Entertainment" at times. It's as if we're handed a statement rather than a series of deep and meaningful questions.

Whilst you could argue that this is only the first third of the experience and that the psychological fears could come into play later, the story is suddenly swapped out for a more generic monster movie in the third act, meaning all philisophical and political edges are utterly superfluous. Upon exiting, no-one thinks "ok, maybe we should rethink our stance on fracking". Instead, they leave feeling lectured and bemused. This comes as a result of the audiences wishes from the attraction, the style of scripting, and ultimately, the sudden change in direction that makes the first portion pointless.

As well as being a lover of the theme-park industry, I am also overly fond of psychological entertainment. I often find myself wondering if we may see many more developments at said parks that ask questions, possibly in the style of Immersive Theatre. Perhaps I'm looking into things too deeply, but I believe we've seen the early frame-work being built within scare-mazes. Last year, the newest and most eagerly-anticipated maze at Scarefest was The Attic: Terror of the Towers. I recall my first run-through- upon entering the Nursery scene, our group was thwarted by a delicious, scripted conflict. We had a Nanny crying out that she had nothing to do with the deaths of the children in her care, whilst said children begged us to stay and keep them safe from her. I immediately stopped and questioned whether I should continue through the maze and let the children be endangered, despite the Nannys claims that she was innocent. This level of scripting was previously unseen in mazes- in my limited experience at least- but I thought it was an incredibly brave and bold choice that made it that bit more memorable. Whilst it could have just been a one-off with the actors playing around with their script, it feels as if it was an intentional choice to see how audiences would react to a story where, no matter what you believed, you could be dangerously wrong. It felt like there was no correct answer that favoured everyone morally- something which occasionally appears in Cinema and Theatre. Maybe they were testing to see if this style of psychological horror would work, with intention to develop it further into something more akin to Immersive Theatre.

Let's say, in some phantasmagorical dreamworld, Thorpe Park decided to test the waters with something like The Attic, where the design team behind Ghost Train could see if a more psychological and morally-inept piece could work. Maybe, in this world, we wouldn't have seen Ghost Train appear as they found that their guests didn't react strongly to it. Maybe we could have seen their attractions get more and more mature, culminating in Ghost Train some years later, having learnt what does and doesn't work. As I said earlier, I think Thorpe were over-excited at the prospect of working with Derren Brown and said yes to the first idea they were given.

It's such a shame as I think, with the right amount of R&D time, we could've seen something truly world-class that bridged the gap between Fringe Theatre and theme-parks. Whilst it's always great to see risk-taking within any industry, I wish that Thorpe Park took more time to consider what it was they were building, as who knows- if they did, maybe we would have the most intelligent ride that'd be infamous around the globe- for the right reasons.
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