Attraction Source Forum

I was on park yesterday and rode Galactica twice, it worked perfectly both times. Although there were a fair few empty seats due to headsets not working.


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DrKelman wrote:Visit Alton Towers today and i was finally able to ride Ai... i mean Galactica. :lol Me and my friend rode at the very back on the first seat that you see and i have to say i wasn't that impressed, i'd definitely give it a 4/10. The image was very grainy even when i turned the wheel at the top to adjust it and (probably my own fault for not adjusting the strap) i was constantly worried that my VR goggles were going to fall off so i held them up all the way through the ride causing me to move my head a lot and see black squares at the sides. My friend didn't have any problems in fact he said it was great and his VR goggles were fine, but i am willing to give it another go when i next go and visit Alton Towers in July and hopefully it's much better for me, i just won't be riding at the back again!

If you ever have any problems with bluriness, be sure to wipe the lense as it still has the liquid from the wipes on. That should sort it!

When I visited last time they seemed to have a much better routine of wiping first and then drying with a cloth. The first few months they seemed to just haphazardly use one or the other in no particular order, which did seem to defeat the purpose of sanitizing them in the first place.

Been reading this forum for a while now but never actually posted.

Visited the park yesterday and first time on Galactica. After reading this thread, it didn't fill me with confidence but I was pleasantly surprised.

Arrived at Galactica around 11ish and the queue time was advertised as 45 minutes but it was only 10. All photobooths were working and quite impressed with the theming. Employees seemed to be quick with the changeover and we boarded on row 4. Our headsets worked perfectly fine, with no black box in sight (I was looking out for them). It did shock me how heavy the headsets are though, and it only slipped at one stage of the flight.

When we arrived back, we did not wait at all on the brake run and was greeted quickly by staff asking if everything was OK with it. I'm assuming this is standard but still pleasantly surprised!

I never used to bother with air but was definitely worth heading over.

There we points during the day where it was shut but was reopen by the time we headed back over around 15:50. Queue said 45 mins again, and it was about that. The guy got very annoyed when I said I didn't want our photos again but never mind.

At this stage, there were lots of empty seats so I'm guessing this is why the hold up was. We boarded on row 5 this time.

Problem with the left speaker this time, and it started getting quite fuzzy as we were going through (it was fine at the beginning) but nothing too major. Again we spent no time at the brake run and greeted asking if everything was fine.

Overall, it is not a bad ride but will be interesting to see queue times over summer. I think I've been pretty lucky after seeing some reviews!

I've never had a problem with Galactica, however yesterday my my friend encountered problems just after the fly-to-lie element when his screen went black and came up with the Galactica logo.

Just spent yesterday and Friday at AT and had a fab time and this ride did not disappoint! The first time I rode it on Friday I was mind blown! From the moment the ride started (the lift climb) I could just hear myself yelling "this is amazing!" over and over haha. I rode it a total of 3 times and didn't really encounter any issues (but there seemed to be some black sections at the sides of the screen and it was a little out of sync on my third ride). On our second ride, my husband's cut out at the lava section and went black for the rest of the ride. When he mentioned it to the member of staff, he apologised and give him a priority pass - woohoo! Although I have to say that you do feel a little torn when you get to sit front of ride - do you use the visor or not? We used the visor but I do love a front seat POV. Maybe next time I'll persuade myself to go visorless (but it will be hard).

My first ride on Galactica resulted in a black screen, so I took the visor off and just rested it on my forehead. I think your first experience is your best and I agree with your statement that it is mind blowing! I did a similar thing and kept saying "Wow".

I've had many other rides on Galatica now and love it (gone back through the ranks) but I have noticed more black areas whilst riding. I don't know if this is due to the syncing of the headsets when they ask you to look forward. Syncing seems to be out more when you are seated further from the back.

Rode Galactica again today. On the first ride, the headset was a few seconds out of sync, and it really killed the experience. I felt like it was a lot less immersive than my first ride, but that being said my first ride was in sync, and it was my first ride as Justin said, so it will probably be the best ride on it I'll have on it for a while. I noticed the black box this time, and I think it might have something to do with the focus wheel. I had mine all the way in one direction because I found that the most focused (I don't have glasses/contact lenses), but whether that has anything to do with it I'm unsure.

The ride hosts are also willing to let you ride without the VR, I was asked if I would like to wear the VR on one of my rides. On my second ride (using the priority pass I was given), I rode at the front with no VR, which I preferred to having VR to be honest.

TL;DR - VR was meh and out of sync, they're letting you ride without VR, overall experience was 6.5/10.

KoasterKraver wrote:

DrKelman wrote:Visit Alton Towers today and i was finally able to ride Ai... i mean Galactica. :lol Me and my friend rode at the very back on the first seat that you see and i have to say i wasn't that impressed, i'd definitely give it a 4/10. The image was very grainy even when i turned the wheel at the top to adjust it and (probably my own fault for not adjusting the strap) i was constantly worried that my VR goggles were going to fall off so i held them up all the way through the ride causing me to move my head a lot and see black squares at the sides. My friend didn't have any problems in fact he said it was great and his VR goggles were fine, but i am willing to give it another go when i next go and visit Alton Towers in July and hopefully it's much better for me, i just won't be riding at the back again!

If you ever have any problems with bluriness, be sure to wipe the lense as it still has the liquid from the wipes on. That should sort it!

I didn't think of that lol, i'll make sure to do that on my next visit and if it doesn't solve it then a trip to the Opticians is in order

Having ridden all rows, I would advise not to go in rows: 1,2,6,7 Because they are badly out of sync, and it ruins the ride, My first ride was lucky enough to to be in row 4, the prime row, and I was amazed, it was immersive and though blurry, it was still great.

I think if coasters are built first hand with the base as VR, then they'd be a lot better, however Galactica was stuck on, and though good, I don't think the VR is necessary.

Despite that I think it's a little touch to change things up a bit, a unique experience, that I'd made in sync in all rows, would be awesome.


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I've found in my experience that just how out of sync the ride is, depends on how long the Galactica logo stays on your screen for as you leave the station. I've noticed some times it goes straight into the animation on the back rows, but other times it stays on the logo until you reach row 1 or 2.

Just a theory but it seems as though the ride has real trouble with its Bluetooth checkpoints. I'm assuming some rows and seats fall slightly out of range due to radio wifi interference, obstructions and other factors, which would explain such a wide variance in experience. Hopefully they can sort this in the closed season and boost their range and signal. If they're using the Galaxy S6 inside the kit as well, they're actually know for having notoriously bad Bluetooth range which probably doesn't help matters.

I've always had a good experience on Galactica, I also like the fact it can be updated so you get a new experience.

Does anybody know when new planets may be added? Last I saw was a poster saying departing soon when I was on park last week.


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The posters have been there at least since the first time I rode it in May, so it's anyone's guess, I'm intrigued how's they will do it though. Hopefully give you a choice of destination rather than trying to crowbar them all in

I rode Galactica for the first time yesterday afternoon, row 7 seat 2 and was more than dubious as I can get motion sick, and found it absolutely incredible, the video quality was fantastic (TIP would be to make sure that you really do tighten the headstrap as I spent 90% of the ride clinging onto the headset was I wanted to see what happened), the only bit I noticed had a bit of a glitch was during the 2nd half of the ride, there seemed to only be half of the VR footage and a lot of black screen. I wouldn't ride it with VR all the time, as I still love it as Air and being able to see where you're going, but as an occasional ride, it does change the monotony of reriding.

Are they less strict about keeping the headset off now?

KoasterKraver wrote:Are they less strict about keeping the headset off now?

Yes, they will let you ride without VR, in one case I was even asked if I want to ride it with VR.

Adam.W wrote:

KoasterKraver wrote:Are they less strict about keeping the headset off now?

Yes, they will let you ride without VR, in one case I was even asked if I want to ride it with VR.

I thought one of the staff told me it but wasn't sure as the station was loud

Went on Galactica twice last week and both times were great, had no problem with syncing although the first time I did struggle to hear the audio over the noise of the coaster. Second time the goggles did come away slightly on the first inversion which caused the video to blur. I was able to readjust the headset and had no further issues. Overall though thought the ride was great and the VR worked really well!

It blew my mind the 1st go, by the third I think I prefer it as Air, I prefer real not VR.

I'm going to review the attraction off of my best experience, as my initial experience was ruined by lack lustre staff.

I feel like Galactica is an ok experience. Firstly, the area now has a lovely feel to it - especially with the portal over looking the grounds! However once you get into the station all atmosphere that Air once had is now completely wiped away, and you're left with a boring and dull station. The pre-show I have decided is the most annoying pre-show ever, we know you're called Eve, you don't need to say it every two minutes!

The headsets were quite uncomfortable when in the sitting position, however in the fly position this was much more bearable. I found the experience better when I held the headphones to my ears and the visuals honestly weren't as bad as I expected, and so I honesty thought the VR experience matched that of Air. However that's the issue, the investment hasn't made the ride any better. It's nice to have the option, however the ride relies too much on the VR element to be impressive, while other areas are severely lacking in a good standard of immersion. Just as before the retheme, Galactica gets a 6 out of 10 from me, and once the VR inevitably gets removed from the ride due to running costs, my rating will not change.