Galactica - General Discussion

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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stevebrown
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Here's the portal at night that I filmed last week. So much more effective at night!

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Luce
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I've slightly revised my initial opinion, as although I still enjoy it as Galactica, I tried it without the VR twice over the weekend and I was surprised at how much I missed actually seeing the scenery around me. It was nice to be able to experience the ride just as a rollercoaster again and it made a big difference, especially the close to the ground sections of the ride which are some of my favourite elements on a coaster :)
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Adam.W
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stevebrown wrote:Here's the portal at night that I filmed last week. So much more effective at night!

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To say that was impressive would be an understatement. Some seriously good work from Merlin there.
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DeadJack5
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Has anyone noticed the posters in the exit to the ride in the stairs? I don't know if this ha been mentioned before but it's showing new destinations for the ride. Can't remember if it's been said before
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Ladyofthelake
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Deadjack5 wrote:Has anyone noticed the posters in the exit to the ride in the stairs? I don't know if this ha been mentioned before but it's showing new destinations for the ride. Can't remember if it's been said before
I'm afraid those posters are merely theming elements and don't indicate that any new videos are coming to the attraction for definite. The VR videos are quite expensive to produce with each film costing £100, 000. Of course that doesn't mean the Resort will never produce a new video, and I personally would like to see a new destination as having two options would give the VR element a little more variation, I just don't think we can read too much into the posters.
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Deadjack5 wrote:Has anyone noticed the posters in the exit to the ride in the stairs? I don't know if this ha been mentioned before but it's showing new destinations for the ride. Can't remember if it's been said before
The posters have always been there! I hope they do create new destinations, lots more re-ride ability!
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stevebrown
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Adam.W wrote:
stevebrown wrote:Here's the portal at night that I filmed last week. So much more effective at night!

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To say that was impressive would be an understatement. Some seriously good work from Merlin there.
I know, it's such a shame that for 95% of the season it's only seen in daylight.

Maybe they should enclose that area of the track and viewing area so it's completely dark! They could add lights in the roof to create the effect of stars lol :P :D
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Chris
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It's a lovely piece of theming. The mist is great - just hope they can keep it limescale-free in the future.
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Nickolai
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Martin Cooper has uploaded a 25min recording of the Galactica soundtrack - be sure to give it a listen. My favourite part is from 21:50 to 24:10 as it fits the scene just perfectly in the evenings with an orange sky and equally as good at night! :)
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TheDuke
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I don't know which of the galactica topics this best fit but anyway,
I've been thinking about how the VR experience could be changed to extend the life of the ride or for different events in the park, so at scarefest for example you could have a version were you're flying around the nemesis monster. Thoughts on this?
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theparklifekid
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I highly doubt that they will change the VR video for only a few weeks a year, the closest thing they may do is add different 'planets' to explore.

As for extending the life, I think it would be wise to consider the Oculus Santa Cruz in the future. Its basically a cross between an Oculus Rift and Gear VR (which is currently in place), the headset is more powerful, uses internal cameras to judge its position instead of external sensors and apparently has a higher resolution and better stability than a Gear VR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUYDUlGJzM
Heres a quick video showing it off.
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TheDuke
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I highly doubt it too just bringing up an idea and looks good
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NemesisRider
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I found this on the Galactica website:

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https://www.galacticatours.com/our-destinations

Which, when I asked if this was new, prompted an interesting response from Towers on Twitter:

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So, is more coming to Galactica? Maybe more VR sequences created before they realised Galactica wasn't much of a commercial success? Or, is it something like extra theming? Or nothing? I don't really know, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks.
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lewis97
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The 'More Destinations Coming Soon' image on the website isn't new, however Towers' response is intriguing nonetheless.
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DrCalman42
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I've been reading through some of the threads talking about which Secret Weapon should be removed first (or is most likely to be), and Air/Galactica is coming up first in each one. This primarily seems to be because "the theme doesn't fit the area at all, Nemesis makes the area what it is etc." Therefore, I've had an idea for a new scenario for Galactica. As it sticks out like a sore thumb in terms of theming in Forbidden Valley, perhaps it would make sense to take advantage of the space theme and integrate it into the Nemesis story. Maybe connect it to the Phalanx and have you chasing the Nemesis creature as it hurtles towards the resort, or some other connection.

Apologies if this would be better in the general section of the forum.
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Morgan
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I'd rather Galactica and Nemesis stay separate- the Nemesis story is good and all but it's good as it is and I don't feel that involving another coaster would necessarily work. Also the story has been used too much recently for other attractions so a break would be welcome.
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DrCalman42
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Fair point, it does have S-T now and there was the scare zone last October. My idea really was that it maybe would help to draw it together somehow so that the area doesn't have as much of an "us and them" feel. Even something as subtle as a slight colour/music change like with Rita when Th13teen took over Ugg Land and turned it into the Dark Forest.
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jdoughtyqpr
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New teaser with a smiler S. New vr experience for galactica with a smiler theme?
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S.J_O'Grady
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jdoughtyqpr wrote:New teaser with a smiler S. New vr experience for galactica with a smiler theme?
Possibly. This is being debated over on the General Discussions.
Life is a roller coaster. You can either scream every time you hit a bump or you can throw your hands up in the air and enjoy it.
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lewis97
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This article from the Stoke Sentinel confirms that there will be "new headsets on the Galactica rollercoaster" for the 2017 season.
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