Kraken Unleashed

[bob albert]

This will never really be the case as in 10 years time many people will have good quality VR headsets themselves and their use at visitor attractions will become somewhat irrelevant.

People are not going to have a roller coaster in their house. In 10 years regional parks are going to build [physical rides with intense elements with the visuals that can recreate Everest without building a mountain. If it is even 75 percent as good it will be a monster win for regional parks. This is going to be huge.

 

[ChrisFL]

Are they gonna rename it to Kraken:Leashed now?

 

[MakoMania]

People are not going to have a roller coaster in their house. In 10 years regional parks are going to build [physical rides with intense elements with the visuals that can recreate Everest without building a mountain. If it is even 75 percent as good it will be a monster win for regional parks. This is going to be huge.

But why would you want to ride a roller coaster whilst seeing everyday video game VR graphics when you can simply just ride the roller coaster instead. It's something I don't quite understand, Especially when theme parks are trying to differentiate themselves and offer something completely different in order to compete with household recreation.

The VR fad will pass in a few years, just as Brian Morrow said.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

But why would you want to ride a roller coaster whilst seeing everyday video game VR graphics when you can simply just ride the roller coaster instead. It's something I don't quite understand, Especially when theme parks are trying to differentiate themselves and offer something completely different in order to compete with household recreation.

The VR fad will pass in a few years, just as Brian Morrow said.

The only reason that i would say it's helpful, is if regional parks want to tell a story that would be cheap to make and maintain. VR can be useful in some, but definitely not all.

Honestly, I see the future of VR more with practical use at homes or working in creative fields.


And that for SW, I don't see them bringing it back due to the same reason that SFMM dropped their VR system, as it makes the capacity to a crawl and for them, will not be easy to maintain. Especially if they keep spending more capital than they can afford, it will force them to make more and more cuts, like as we see with DarKastles closure, the horrendous quality of SWSDs family attraction last year, and that I suspect we will see it occur with upcoming things in their pipeline.

 

[anihilnation]

I think they will probably just have the VR available on a few seats and leave the rest normal. I was told they have used queue dividers as well when the VR was still up, that really seems to be the bnest option to me. Personally, I think the VR was done very well, but the novelty wears off fast. The headsets aren't that comfortable either, so hopefully they can do something about that as well.

 

[ChrisFL]

But why would you want to ride a roller coaster whilst seeing everyday video game VR graphics when you can simply just ride the roller coaster instead. It's something I don't quite understand, Especially when theme parks are trying to differentiate themselves and offer something completely different in order to compete with household recreation.

The VR fad will pass in a few years, just as Brian Morrow said.

Have you experienced it yourself? I mean, it's basically the same as saying Why ride Gringott's or Spiderman, when you can just ride a regular ride without screens?

Sure, it isn't as interactive or as good as those, but I don't think it's a bad concept, especially for a low-cost way to bring new life to older attractions. Yes, the extended queue timing can be a bad thing, but I think it will improve.

By the way, the thing that I got most excited about beyond anything was that at USJ, Space Fantasy, the indoor rollercoaster now has a Final Fantasy VII VR overlay. I really wish I could go back there soon.

 

[MakoMania]

Have you experienced it yourself? I mean, it's basically the same as saying Why ride Gringott's or Spiderman, when you can just ride a regular ride without screens?

Sure, it isn't as interactive or as good as those, but I don't think it's a bad concept, especially for a low-cost way to bring new life to older attractions. Yes, the extended queue timing can be a bad thing, but I think it will improve.

By the way, the thing that I got most excited about beyond anything was that at USJ, Space Fantasy, the indoor rollercoaster now has a Final Fantasy VII VR overlay. I really wish I could go back there soon.

I haven't experienced Kraken Unleashed, but I have done VR coasters. They're a good idea for a relatively short term low cost attraction, but they won't last.

 

[shiekra38]

VR is normally used as a gimmick, cheaper than an overlay...I know everyone knows this, but I'm not surprised with the temporary nature of VR...If it is indeed gone for good

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Having experienced it with and without the VR, I honestly don't know why so many people (at least on this forum) seem to dislike it; it's genuinely really cool, which is why I'm glad to hear it's coming back. Sure, it slows down the queue, but that's precisely why they created the return-time system for that. Honestly, it seems to me like the VR is actually pretty popular among the 'normal' guests (i.e. the ones from out of town that don't go on these theme park forums and rarely visit Orlando parks), so I doubt SeaWorld would permanently remove it unless it was having serious issues.

 

[cwgator]

While the novelty of this type of attraction is "cool" or "the next best thing", it's just not meant for use on a rollercoaster, at least not at the stage the technology is in. If it would run a normal capacity then fine, do it. It's just not there yet. Even Six Flags stopped using it on their coasters, some in less than a season. They knew it was a gimmick and left it at that.

Sure, there is a "return-time system" for Kraken's version. However, the average guest in the park is lucky to get one ride on it before it's filled up for the day when it's busy (I know this to be true, as I've seen it completely booked by 11am on more than one visit while it was in use). I can only imagine the PR nightmare it was with people arriving after that time to only find out they weren't going to ride at all. It's not like you can reserve it in advance of arrival. You have to be in the park to do so, even by using the phone app. The only exception to using the reservation was within perhaps the first 30 minutes until a line built up. This was how I got a ride on one of my visits (BTW...I never used the VR). That same day within an hour the reserve times were full. Sorry, no ride for you.

The absolute maximum capacity using the VR is about 480 people per hour (or 15 trains total per hour) with 4-minute dispatch time (at best)...and that rarely happened. The one time I actually used the reserve system, I arrived about 5 minutes early for my return time with my group (4 of us). We got in line and it was at least 50 minutes before we sat down on the train, and another 10 minutes to dispatch. At least 2 trains of people came back complaining the VR was not working. They reset the system and sent them all through again for each train...only to find it still wasn't working and reset again before we got on. It still didn't work. The only one who wanted to use it among us, was my 10 y/0 nephew. He was disappointed it didn't work. In that hour alone, they couldn't have sent out more than 128-160 (different) people who were able to ride.

I say just give it up and build a simulator based ride that uses the VR (as they are doing at Busch Gardens Williamsburg). They may just do that in the future if that one turns out to be a success.

 

[anihilnation]

Screamscape reports the reason for its removal is insurance purposes; no company had signed off on the VR being mounted on the trains apparently. Sounds weird though, why would insurance suddenly raise a stink 8 months later?

 

[cwgator]

I'm not sure I buy that or not.

"But unsanctioned mounting hardware would put the park at fault if something bad were to happen, like a mount failing and the VR gear flying off mid-ride, and now you can see why the park's insurance company has became involved."

Wouldn't the same apply to the unmounted VR headsets, which would be more likely to fly off since they aren't attached? (like what Six Flags did)?
I just don't see SW not researching the insurance liability with something like this to make sure they are properly covered. Something is fishy if this is indeed true at all.
Either way I still say do away with it...lol

 

[anihilnation]

I'm not sure I buy that or not.

Wouldn't the same apply to the unmounted VR headsets, which would be more likely to fly off since they aren't attached? (like what Six Flags did)?
I just don't see SW not researching the insurance liability with something like this to make sure they are properly covered. Something is fishy if this is indeed true at all.
Either way I still say do away with it...lol

Exactly my thought. It sounds too odd. What I can see be the case, perhaps, is that the VR hardware being mounted caused issues to said hardware, too much direct vibration.

 

[MakoMania]

nooooooooooooo

 

[happy bunny rabbit]

I never got to ride the VR experience, but I thought it was so unnecessary to remove the previous theming.

I really miss that Kraken head and egg. :'(

 

[UNIrd]

So in the busy summer season, they want to completely obliterate Kraken's throughput again. Trying to find the logic..

 

[anihilnation]

So in the busy summer season, they want to completely obliterate Kraken's throughput again. Trying to find the logic..

Pretty sure they will operate a dual line, one for VR other for non-VR.

 

[UNIrd]

Pretty sure they will operate a dual line, one for VR other for non-VR.

Load and unload though. I would say they should have VR and non-VR trains... but the train behind the non-VR train is still baking in the sun while they take forever to get the VR people off and on that train.

 

[WAJAS]

Load and unload though. I would say they should have VR and non-VR trains... but the train behind the non-VR train is still baking in the sun while they take forever to get the VR people off and on that train.

They installed a canopy over the breaks just before the station a few months ago to fix that problem.

 

[anihilnation]

Load and unload though. I would say they should have VR and non-VR trains... but the train behind the non-VR train is still baking in the sun while they take forever to get the VR people off and on that train.

They should just use less VR rows, at the moment the plan seems to be 3 non-VR rows, whereas it should be the opposite, 3 VR rows and 5 non-VR should be a good balance I think.

I wonder if anything will be changed, better headsets would be nice, I felt they often pinched my nose too much, last time I did the VR it was really painful.