Alton Towers 24 April 2016 - Galactica VR Coaster!

[mkingy]

I took a trip to rainy Alton Towers on Sunday, mainly to try out their new VR experience Galactica (formerly AIR) and also see how the park is holding up this season after low attendance last year. I didn't take many photos due to the inclement weather but I've uploaded a few of the better shots that I took at the bottom.

Ride Count: 12
Galactica: 1
Nemesis: 3
Oblivion: 1
Rita: 2
Th13teen: 1
The Smiler: 4

The Park and the Older Rides
This year saw the removal of a few attractions which included Ripsaw, Hex and the Flume and the continued absence of Nemesis: Sub Terra so the park was a little light on things to do outside of the main rollercoasters. Notably the park lacked a indoor attraction to shelter from the rain and even more so from the complete lack of flat rides - it's sad that such a big park is now basically reduced to the standard Pirate Ship, Tea Cups and customary Enterprise model and I think the park would benefit greatly from some high capacity, low cost additions just to give some more value for money.

Otherwise the park in general felt pretty tidy, lots of groundwork in the gardens has been done which makes them feel more open and everything that's being improved (Nemesis on going paint job, refurbishment of Forbidden Valley in general and the Dark Forest plus 60+ more benches (https://twitter.com/altontlc)) definitely feels like some of the 'magic' is being restored.

Smiler seems to be operating fairly well (although it does have a general rattle), Nemesis as good as usual, Rita doesn't have a general rattle (which actually makes it a average ride rather than a really poor one) and Oblivion and TH13teen really haven't changed much from previous years.

Galactica

Galactica Giant Sticker

So we queued up 75minutes for this ride as only 1 station was open, which was probably more than we queued for the rest of the day - but it was new, and I know AIR likes to break down - so we braved the rain for it.

Not a huge amount has changed to AIR themeing wise from the outside - new themeing piece at the bottom of the first drop and some new TV's etc etc. The inside of the station has had a makeover though and looks really good - you feel like you're entering into a space station with a huge TV screen briefing you on what you're about to experience. Not Disney level, but pretty good and immersive enough.

The operators had a pretty decent method running (to ensure that all VR glasses were cleaned prior to the next riders) and seemed well versed which meant once you were in the station - you didn't feel like you were waiting longer for no reason - props to the staff and training on this one.

The ride itself was... reinvigorating. I honestly honestly think this has breathed new life into AIR. The experience was really good and smashed any preconceptions I had about VR on rollercoasters. I think it wouldn't work so well on something faster but how AIR is set up and it's layout lends itself very well to the VR experience. The visuals were fantastic and the 'story' was great to the point where despite having ridden AIR many a time I actually lost myself as to where we were in the layout.

I really enjoyed the ride and I'm looking forward to riding it again later in the year - I think its a solid alteration to an existing ride and from the reactions of the GP around me it really seemed like a hit.

Pictures:

Smiler Cobra Roll

Smiler Duel

Nemesis Loop

Rita Launch

Thanks for reading :]

[Coasterkidmwm]

Glad to know you got lost on the Air experience, that ride's layout always looked a bit...special to me lol.

^^ Hex hasn't been removed, just closed for refurbishment.

[herman116]

Nice to hear that the VR at Galactica is pretty good! Too bad for the closed rides and the rain...

mkingy wrote:

The ride itself was... reinvigorating. I honestly honestly think this has breathed new life into AIR. The experience was really good and smashed any preconceptions I had about VR on rollercoasters. I think it wouldn't work so well on something faster but how AIR is set up and it's layout lends itself very well to the VR experience. The visuals were fantastic and the 'story' was great to the point where despite having ridden AIR many a time I actually lost myself as to where we were in the layout.

Thanks for reading :]

This part is showing how much you enjoyed the ride! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!