Attraction Source Forum

Be gone with it..

Personally, the Galactica theme is fantastic for the ride to work with, but more theming elements should be added to enhance the area further. Such as near misses, tunnel retheme to match what was on the VR with lighting. Apart from that the ride is fine and still packs somewhat of a punch.

But the VR needs to go, it was decent when it first came out, but was quickly outdated and boring, I’d rather see where I’m going and enjoy the views than watch a 360p animation :lol

GALACTICA

Blast through an advanced space travel portal to another dimension. We've combined the experience of our iconic flying rollercoaster with cutting-edge Virtual Reality. Now you can become a space tourist through this unique combination of physically flying coupled with the breathtakingly emotional journey of travelling through space.

With the closed season upon us, how would you review Galactica at the Alton Towers Resort?
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World's first roller coaster to combine at least 6 queues, into 2 stations, have long barely moving lines, yet somehow still manage to send out empty trains.

Scaling back the VR seemed like it would have been a good idea, given the lower interest in it in the previous year and general unreliability of it. But of course, as soon as it got reduced to the back 3 rows, guests suddenly wanted to experience it. :lol

I wonder if the increased interest in the VR was caused by Alton Towers' success in getting people back into the park, who perhaps hadn't visited for several years, so the VR was new to them?

I don't see the VR going next year, unless its reliability is deemed too far gone. It drew people in and is still a marketing point for people who haven't ridden it. Once people get bored with it again this season or next, maybe they'll re-theme it all again.

Well, there were rumblings of the VR being removed this season, I wonder if this is true and if any changes will be made to the ride. (For example I can’t see them playing the preshow if the VR is gone)

I've never experienced actual Galactica. The idea of wearing VR on this coaster sort of ruins the coaster for me. Plus, given DBGT and how off their headsets are, I'd rather not risk it setting of my motion sickness. I do like the idea of Galactica, but it was a complete waste of money. They should have just kept Air. But I must say, I do like the portal. Its very photographic!

I hope they keep VR. I've never used it though.

I want them to keep it because it makes the queue massive. But as soon as you reach the first member of staff they say "Non VR riders move past the queue!". So I never have to wait for more than 15 minutes to ride, even if the queue board says 70 or more.

There is that element to it, but queueing can also be very frustrating as bypassing the VR riders usually happens towards the front of the line. As a result, you still find yourself queueing for longer than needed, whilst watching empty trains go around!

I do like the Galactia theme, but work is needed to enhance the rides capacity!

Justin wrote:
I do like the Galactia theme, but work is needed to enhance the rides capacity!

I have a solution: remove the VR.

They’ve had three seasons to get it working correctly, and they’ve failed. I can’t even bare to join the queue line anymore unless the ride is walk-on. They’ve created a level of faff that should never have existed in the first place, and if the rumours of VR being removed are true, it won’t be a day too soon.

I do agree, but realistically, will it be removed? I know the end of year questionnaire could suggest its removal, but if it isn't, then a solution must be found to combat the queuing issue.

I think the portal theming, night lighting and station is superior to Air, just not so much the VR aspect. I'm not too sure what will become of the VR this season onwards if I'm honest, I mean Kraken probably dropped theirs after a couple of years for a reason.  

I can fully understand the decision to add the VR. It was probably the best ride at the park to do it on. I think it was a clever idea and in year one it worked sort of. If Merlin/Towers wanted the VR to thrive, they would have sunk the money into the attraction in year 2 and 3, which they didn't, so it did basically become a massive waste of time and effort. There was nothing wrong with Air though!

VR and Galactica gave the resort what they needed for a season, a fairly cheap new marketable ride to bring in visitors. Time to remove the VR and return the attraction back to Air.

Rename it too, or keep the Galactica branding?

Personally, as much as I loved Air, I do like the area more as Galactica! The only thing I miss is the Air shop, but we have RCR to compensate!

They can't get rid of the Galactica theme surely? Can't imagine what the area used to look like back when it was Air. The portal and soundtrack are awesome!

I'm not a big fan of the VR, but there is nothing wrong with the Galatica branding, and you can use the station more, and maybe some design around the track, to still sell the space element of the theme.

I think they would keep the Galactica theming and name but just redo (turn off) the introduction videos within the station. Its very unlikely we would see any additional theming to emphasis the space theme.

the other option of course is that we theme it for StarGate SG-1, is already got a StarGate, and I would love to see a SG-1 ride.

wamdue wrote:the other option of course is that we theme it for StarGate SG-1, is already got a StarGate, and I would love to see a SG-1 ride.

Noooooo! Towers are, at the moment, IP free on their big coasters and its better that way. I like Glacaticair the way it is. No changes to the theme. Just get rid of the VR and turn the lift hill into a launch. But that won't ever happen so, just remove the VR

But, very few people are going to know what SG-1 is, so I promise not to tell Merlin, if you don't

wamdue wrote:the other option of course is that we theme it for StarGate SG-1, is already got a StarGate, and I would love to see a SG-1 ride.

With Stargate SG1 finishing in 2007, and the last spin off - Stargate Universe - finishing in 2011, it wouldn't make any sense to theme the ride to that IP, no matter how much the portal may look like a Stargate :P
I have to agree that the best way forward is to strip the VR from the ride, but keep the Galactica name and theme, with a few changes to fill in the small gaps which would be left from places which reference the VR. I also think that removing the VR will go some way to restoring some atmosphere to that end of Forbidden Valley as I always found it eerily quiet with the ride going round but nobody screaming as they had the VR headset on and were therefore too focused on what was on the screens meaning they didn't make any sound.