Thorpe Park - Derren Brown's Ghost Train

[Horras64]

They have taken the https://mindswanted.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; down. If you type try and go onto the website it leeds you here: https://www.thorpepark.com/rides/derren ... ring-2016/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dom]

I think that as the competition has now ended, there is no real need for the Minds Wanted website, as it was just a place for the competition really, so it makes sense for them to take it down.

[Horras64]

I wonder how/if they'll release the winners publicly, or only privately. In the Terms and Conditions it states that the winners will be announced by the 22nd, so I guess they will announce it publicly on the DBGT page on the Thorpe Park website.

[Dom]

I would imagine they would contact the winners directly. But i guess now that the competition has ended, we should focus on the attraction itself..... not that we actually know an awful lot. :lol

[Horras64]

I think, that as we have speculated over two different outcomes, however we haven't really come to a conclusion as to how it is determined in which one you experience. When MindsWanted was first launched I was at my dinner table with my family, speculating over what the ride might be. We came to a conclusive theory that the ride would present you with a choice of some sort. (Which in this case would determine the side of the tunnel if we continue from previous theories) OR the experience of which you face in the tunnel. (As if the choice / vote determined WHICH tunnel you were to enter, it could possibly end up disastrous to queuing times and ride times etc.)

Onto what the vote / choice would be. It may be a choice springing from a story told previously in the experience, and the vot determined how the story ended. Or maybe he presents you with a choice of A or B, and (Knowing Derren's shows and performances etc.) he would attempt to influence you into one or the other. This would seem optimistic, however, the whole thing's an illusion, so we could be presented with a view of two different tunnels which we would supposably choose which one you would go into, then the switch track / simulator, simulates you moving into the chosen tunnel, but you would just be entering the one most compatible with queue times and the current train which is tunnel. (Labeling of the tunnel would be determined by which tunnel the previous one went into, OR you're not told which tunnel is which and then the previous step occurs, having it SEEM like a free choice, but it's not)

This seems very confusing, and I'm still trying to figure out how the choice simulation would work, no matter how elaborate it may have to be.

This is how it would work:



I have show how if A was selected then it would simply move left and then up. However if B was selected then this is what I speculate would happen:

The two tunnels. A + B would move right, this is possible as in the diagrams shown before, there was an empty space to the tunnel's right, moving space? And this would allow for the train to simulate going into the correct tunnel, but actually it's going into A, but they'll get the B experience. AND VISA VERSA.

This is the image showing the immersive tunnel, and then a space on it's right:



The budget on this experience is huge and there hasn't really been a reason why. Maybe this is it? I'm not an expert but please say if I've got something wrong.

[abigsmurf]

I believe they said in the press releases that your outcome and ride experience could be completely different from the person next to you so it wouldn't work having different tunnels for different endings.

I believe the two tunnels is just a fairly mundane entrance and exit. Looking at the position of the emergency exits, if you make the assumption they'll always be on the same side of the ride vehicle, then is seems to show that the train loops around.

It splits the ride into 3 distinct sections: onload + start of tide, then the tunnel, then the offload. so you could potentially have 3 trains running at once.

I believe the pit also serves a purpose of having the trains arrive at the loading point; the empty trains arrive at the loading point by dipping down to an opening that's kept out of view to people entering the warehouse. Guessing there's been some trickery that keeps any track or transfer mechanisms out of view to riders.

[ASturge21]

Despite the massive budget the ride machinery will be basic with the cash spent on the illusion of the ride.

Sent from my GT-S7275R using Tapatalk

[Owen]

Just because you have the same ending as the person next to you doesn't mean that your whole experience will be the same, so you could experience the same ending while having a different beginning - meaning a different experience overall.

[simononestop]

Looks like it could be a circle
load on > in the entrance to the tunnel > out the exit
yes this could mean 3 trains going at once? (3x 20 = 60?)
(loading on - going into tunnel - coming out of tunnel & unloading)

also I think they mean every one sees a different experience as you can look around 360 so you may not see the same an another person.

f there are different endings then I think the whole simulation will be different (like 3 different movies that cycle round in the VR)

[Horras64]

OK, I see how it wouldn't really work unless your ending / beginning were to be the same as everyone else.

I also thought that the double sided tunnel could be used as a way of increasing capacity, allowing there to be 3 trains at once, all at different stages of the experience. If the tunnel were to be double sided. (Two trains in it at once)

[mark_h]

I believe they said in the press releases that your outcome and ride experience could be completely different from the person next to you so it wouldn't work having different tunnels for different endings.

For that to happen the end (and probably most of the rest of it) would have to be full personal VR (sound and vision), possibly with personal motion simulation.

If that were the case why go the expense of having a ride mechanism, instead use a set of simulator rooms.

[Owen]

Where it says you will have a different experience to the person sat next to you I can see it meaning that each headset will be programmed with a different set of animations, but the way these animations are planned out will most likely be more or less the same. I say this because it seems as though you will be seeing others on the ride, meaning you will also be seeing their reactions. If they start reacting five or ten seconds before you, it's going down to take away from the realism of the ride, the ending will then tie to whatever animation you have gotten and so it works universally for everyone. You also have to remember that if riders choose their own head sets then it's not gaurnteed you do not get the same of the 12 experiences as the person next to you, as each train of 60 will have 5 of each experience.

[Horras64]

From how Derren says: "You ride with friends but you experience it alone" could only really be achieved with each individual being somehow isolated from another. Maybe the carriage is split into different sections, like on a subway train where there's a small wall between a section of seat, maybe you experience one journey with a group of people in that same part of the carriage, however I don't know the width of the train to see if it would work. This also seems unlikely as when you ride something with friends you would sit next to each-other, with this it wouldn't seem to work, unless all the journey's were perfectly aligned to give scares etc. at the same time, as said previously by Owen.

[Horras64]

They have transferred the "Dark Secret" Information from mindswanted.co.uk to the Thorpe Park page on Derren Brown's Ghost train here: https://www.thorpepark.com/rides/derren ... ost-train/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some of the links on the page don't work, so I guess the site is under live maintenance, or they're making a new page or something.

[jonny9403]

Images like this really make me believe we're going to be stuck in a tunnel with a "train" top right for the last one

[Horras64]

Images like this really make me believe we're going to be stuck in a tunnel with a "train" top right for the last one

With the first image it looks like we would be investigating the tunnel, by how Derren is holding the lamp. Maybe this is where we'll get any of the 12 different experiences. And maybe depending on '?' The train either kills us in the tunnel. Shown by how Derren holds the skull. Or we escape it. The third image shows the 5 crosses in front of the train. I guess we either experience the 'reality' of the train hitting us is the incepted illusion of the train coming towards us.

[phildenholm]

I'm fairly sure this and most of the other pictures with derren in them were all taken in aldwich tube station, it's an abandoned station near Covent Garden. I understand the speculation but some of it is based upon pictures that are not taken in the actual ride it's self, sorry not trying to pop any bubbles

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Horras64]

I'm fairly sure this and most of the other pictures with derren in them were all taken in aldwich tube station, it's an abandoned station near Covent Garden. I understand the speculation but some of it is based upon pictures that are not taken in the actual ride it's self, sorry not trying to pop any bubbles

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Of course they won't be taking pictures in the ride, it's mainly for clues and theming. Also they always do something for a reason like the skull etc. The images portray a possibility to how the ride might work.

[Dom]

I wouldn't read to much into the images. They are just promotional images, which could not actually hold any clues to what the attraction will be like. If you want to know what is confirmed than i suggest checking out the SouthParks Derren Brown's Ghost train page.

[theparklifekid]

Do we know when the park will announce the MINDS WANTED winners?