mezza wrote:

Justin wrote:

An interesting article from Digital Spy regarding the operations of Galactica.

Galactica Tested: Alton Towers' new VR coaster isn't out of this world
The future is here, but is it really the future of theme parks?

http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/feature/ ... his-world/

It's funny how the overall gist of this review is very reminiscent of the general reception to Air when it first opened in 2002: It's a great, groundbreaking innovation that allows the experience of flight in a new way, but it feels a little unfinished, has a lot of niggles (Air was very unreliable in its first year), and ultimately, isn't quite as thrilling as it could be.

Knowing Digital Spy and how it's quality of reporting and articles have gone downhill over the last 12 months I wouldn't be surprised if they just copied and pasted from a previous article about Air and just modified it a bit!

You shold never really trust reviews, as its all just down to someones opinion. I for one can't wait to try it out.

Very true, but reviews can be useful to see where general consensus lies and can help folks decide if it's something that may appeal to them. In line with the personal opinion thing I think you'll love it because I found it overwhelming and awesome, even with the low rez phones. Hope you get chance to try it soon

Went on Galactica for the first time today, didn't have any thoughts or opinions beforehand and no real idea on what it would feel like and what to expect...
All I can say upon hitting the brake run at the end was how overwhelmed with emotions I felt, my brain hadn't fully processed what had just happened and I really didn't know what to do with myself for about 5 mins after :'D What an experience that was, It'll never feel the same again as that first ride today but wow, I hope everyone feels even a quarter of what I felt when you take your first flight. Mind=Blown!

As for the general atmosphere in the area, It's so strange watching "Air" trains fly around the track with nobody making a peep, totally engrossed in the VR everyone seems to forget your on a coaster, it's very odd.

Mattfat1 wrote:

Went on Galactica for the first time today, didn't have any thoughts or opinions beforehand and no real idea on what it would feel like and what to expect...
All I can say upon hitting the brake run at the end was how overwhelmed with emotions I felt, my brain hadn't fully processed what had just happened and I really didn't know what to do with myself for about 5 mins after :'D What an experience that was, It'll never feel the same again as that first ride today but wow, I hope everyone feels even a quarter of what I felt when you take your first flight. Mind=Blown!

As for the general atmosphere in the area, It's so strange watching "Air" trains fly around the track with nobody making a peep, totally engrossed in the VR everyone seems to forget your on a coaster, it's very odd.

great review!

Mattfat1 wrote:

As for the general atmosphere in the area, It's so strange watching "Air" trains fly around the track with nobody making a peep, totally engrossed in the VR everyone seems to forget your on a coaster, it's very odd.

In space, no one can hear you scream

I'm personally going to miss Air and just simply riding it, however I don't think I can say much as I haven't rode it as Galactica yet, and hey, I may like it

Mattfat1 wrote:

Went on Galactica for the first time today, didn't have any thoughts or opinions beforehand and no real idea on what it would feel like and what to expect...
All I can say upon hitting the brake run at the end was how overwhelmed with emotions I felt, my brain hadn't fully processed what had just happened and I really didn't know what to do with myself for about 5 mins after :'D What an experience that was, It'll never feel the same again as that first ride today but wow, I hope everyone feels even a quarter of what I felt when you take your first flight. Mind=Blown!

As for the general atmosphere in the area, It's so strange watching "Air" trains fly around the track with nobody making a peep, totally engrossed in the VR everyone seems to forget your on a coaster, it's very odd.

I completely agree with this post. And I'll add my experience and thoughts too...

I went on Galactica on Thursday - it is amazing and I can't wait until they introduce more VR worlds for it. The soundtrack booming out around the ride is fantastic, very atmospheric, uplifting, spacey, modern and feels like its part of a film soundtrack - which of course isnt a bad thing! To me, part of it sounds like The Bourne Identity and the vocal parts sounds like music from Gravity; two films I love! BIB - I do agree that it is very strange to hear a fully loaded craft going round the track with no screaming!

Loading and unloading was slow but not as slow as I expected. Be prepared to have to adjust your headset around your head but be quick about it - the second time I rode it I'd only just finished adjusting it when they dropped the floor and tilted the seats! After the seats are tilted back after riding, the attendant wipes each one in turn and puts them back in the holder before the restraints are unlocked.

Anyone worried about the cleanliness of the headsets - don't be - when you put them on there is a smell of bleach/disinfectant...

There are a few things to improve though. Here's a list of things I think they could do:

VR itself: I did see the black borders on the screen that others have mentioned on my first flight and it was a bit off putting, but on my second one I never saw that at all. So that has to be related to individual headsets - maybe a configuration issue when you're told to look ahead so it can calibrate the screens.

Theming. While excellent, there is room for improvement. In the station...atmospheric with the overall light level and lighting, tv screens and music but it does still look like the Air station with new external walls and a few extra lights. The theme of the ride is space travel and you're made to think you're boarding a spacecraft in a spaceport. But the station doesn't really reflect that. All the craft seat tilting mechanism above the track is still on show - why not hide that with panels behind the Galactica Gate signs - then all you see is the craft's seats. The inside of the new external wall is corrugated just metal like a shed. Maybe make it more space-like - LEDs, projections, fake monitors etc. The floor is still concrete and cladding it with metal to match the loading floor under the crafts would really improve the spaceport feel.

Outside on the ride. I don't want to spoil it but there is part of the VR that implies heat. Don't know what point of the physical track that is on but if it's possible how about having the craft going through a blast of hot air at that time. Second time I rode it I was almost wishing this when that part came. Mind you, thinking about it, that probably wouldn't work once there are more flights to choose from.

Overall though, I think you can tell I loved this ride and as long as they continuously improve the whole experience and not just the VR, I think Galactica has massive potential for years to come.

Anyone else see the pixels due to the low resolution before you take off, I did a lot of adjusting and it was still quite low res, so I don't think it was due to my eyesight (which I did think it was at the start) but other people with contacts, who could see clearly described it the same to me, like reallly on the lift, near the bottom of the VR, you couldn't see very well if it was low down.

Other than that it was really good! The VR seemed good after the lift because you are flying around and you can't tell its low res after that, just on the lift when you look down at the small details.

Best part was back row for realism as it felt like you were flying upwards as you are dragged over the top of the lift. Made the fly to lie seem longer as well to me, and the whole ride itself to be fair. Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I ride it more than I usually would if they let us remove the headsets? Yes.

To me galactica with and without VR feel like to completely different rides. Not sure which I prefer now though!

I do think it would be better if they built different effects into the ride, like freezing cold air, warm air, possibly some others. (Just what they could add to the first video). And then have an announcement when you have the headsets on, or added to the preshow video, or have staff tell you 'you will be visiting Nero 5 and Kepler 9. Enjoy your intergalactic adventure' or something similar. Would be something so simple, but enhance the experience so much more!

If they do bring out more destinations, put them in a different video, add fire and ice, maybe other effects around the ride, altering around the ride depending on which video to your train gets. (This is what the ride needs, and why I said have the whole train go to the same destination).

As if you had a different destination to everyone else on the train, the effects wouldn't have the impact they usually would have for everyone. Basically have different effects you could feel off ride, differing depending on the destination.

The staff interaction telling you where you're going and to enjoy your flight or something similar, and different effects that you could feel around the ride like fire and ice would increase the ride from a 7/10 (my own opinion) to a 9/10. It would make what feels like the complete experience off ride, be the complete experience in the station and on the ride.

Oh yeah, I think there was someone who got off a couple of trains before me playing up a bit, and complaining about something. Anyway I heard staff talking to another staff member, what he said was something along the lines of 'its not rocket science is it' about the GP complaining or something. All that went on in my head was rocket science = space = Galactica

When I went on Galactica yesterday I noticed (as I have before to some extent) that the VR headsets are already getting grubby inside and there is hair on the lenses that you can see when watching the video. I feel this could be avoided if the headsets were 'deep cleaned' at the end of the day (I'm assuming they don't do this by how dirty they are getting. I think considering the ride has been open for under a month, it is already really dirty. I don't want to imagine what it'll be like in a year [emoji53]


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LiamWhitehurst wrote:

When I went on Galactica yesterday I noticed (as I have before to some extent) that the VR headsets are already getting grubby inside and there is hair on the lenses that you can see when watching the video. I feel this could be avoided if the headsets were 'deep cleaned' at the end of the day (I'm assuming they don't do this by how dirty they are getting. I think considering the ride has been open for under a month, it is already really dirty. I don't want to imagine what it'll be like in a year [emoji53]


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yeh, starting to think VR rides aren't viable in the long term.

Departing soon...











Credit to TowersStreet Facebook.

Excellent stuff, they're quite interesting destinations. Looking forward to it

A quick review from me, but I must say that I am very impressed with Galactica and it has pushed the ride up in my rankings!

Over the 4 days that I was on park, operations were good. It must have been a very rare occasion, but on the Thursday I was able to walk on to the ride 4 times in a row without queuing. Of course it was not like that all the time and I did have to queue for a while over the weekend, but it is worth it! As mentioned, for many your first ride will take your breath away. I loved how the soundtrack to Galactica added to the overall VR experience. The ride now offers something unique and different to the resort.

The staff are very friendly and helpful to the headsets are working correctly and the station improvements are most welcomed. Of course output has been reduced but I think this was a great development for Alton Towers!

I look forward to seeing how the ride evolves.

I experienced Galatica for the first time today.

I'm not a fan of Air.

But my verdict on Galatica....

...Wow! Amazing!

I'm intrigued how they are going to incorporate the new planets, the VR sequence is already too crammed with only Kepler 9 and Nero 5!
I think they may be upgrading the technology to include a way to choose an individual planet?

You'll likely just have a random planet each time you ride.

I believe it will work in the way you pick one or two destinations while looking around the Galactica logo as you do currently, I did think that looked rather like a VR menu when I rode it. This will work by looking at a destination for a period of about 3-4 seconds select where you want to go. There is no question about the fact that this would work perfectly as many games that are VR exclusive already utilise this idea.

I rode Galactica yesterday: I'll cover the main points of the general experience.

Firstly, the queue was very slow moving, it was running on one station, and still took a 45-60 from only by the shop, no extensions open.

The screens are fairly pixelated, the wheel doesn't do much but you could certainly tell if it's focusing or not by looking at the bluriness at the edge of the galactica logo.

The ride concept and experience was generally brilliant, much better than what a motion simulator would have been.

The audio was good and the ride was thrilling throughout.


Also, those saying the Galactica music was too bassy, I disagree with you, it is mostly a futuristic orchestral piece with the odd bit of helix.

The station music is the helix style bit that we heard in the app.

Many reactions I've seen on Twitter etc seem quite negative!