After all these problems I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if the VR was scrapped next year. It makes me wonder why the resort wanted to replace the headsets anyway? Seems like the old ones worked better!

Easter Egg Discovered!

So here's a picture of Air's Tunnel concept art...

Credit TowersStreet

And here's a picture of Galactica's VR Video...

Credit Alton Towers YouTube

Anyone notice the arrows?

Well spotted! It's a shame that they don't do anything with the tunnel though.

Galactica seems out of action long term!?

https://queue-times.com/parks/1/rides/4619

I hate to be a miserable one and one not open for change but the day they decided to put VR on this ride is the day they killed it. I wouldn't mind but it genuinely isn't even that good a VR experience, I went on it with the new headset not couple of weeks ago and it still doesn't work correctly. The idea is good I loved that but operations wise its a complete disaster.

It's still saying open from 10am every morning on ride times, and every morning after 10, still unavailable, frustrating! Just say it's closed from the beginning, its less disappointment.

Hi guys
Was on park yesterday and spoke to a few members of staff about galactica and they just said they are having to wait for parts but they don't know how long it's going to be, they couldn't elaborate anymore than that unfortunately.

Does anyone remember if Air had this many technical problems? I mean, Galactica seems like it's had a fair bit of bad luck, in comparison to some of the other rides... if it's not the VR causing problems, it the actual ride! Let's hope that it's sorted soon and that's it for the rest of the season.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed before but I was wondering why did they remove the single rider queue for Galactica that Air had?
And I'm really sorry. I don't remember many down periods for Air but I wasn't at the park that much and it was tooo long ago for me to remember...

Robert W wrote:

Does anyone remember if Air had this many technical problems? I mean, Galactica seems like it's had a fair bit of bad luck, in comparison to some of the other rides... if it's not the VR causing problems, it the actual ride! Let's hope that it's sorted soon and that's it for the rest of the season.

It's always had a few more problems than the likes of nemesis, it's a much more complex ride concerning the carriages, being that your hoisted into the flying position from a normal sitting position, so a relatively complex ride has now been made twice as complicated.

Galactica reopened today.

Yay! It's been closed so much I'd actually given up on it completely!

How's it running now? Has the VR improved?

Rode it today and i honestly couldn't tell the difference between today's and last seasons when it was last working for me

Are we all a fan of Galactica, or would you like something to replace it? I guess the area would be too small for a new rollercoaster. Out of all the rides at Alton Towers, Galactica I skip, hope whatever improvements they made during its close have created a better VR experience than before

ColossusInferno wrote:

hope whatever improvements they made during its close have created a better VR experience than before

I may be wrong but I don't think the closure was down to the VR and in the time it was closed I highly doubt anything major was adjusted.

I went on it in May I believe with the new headset and audio was hit & miss, the VR visuals were the same. The only difference I found was the straps were a lot better.

I don't like VR on Galactica simply because its the most unusual train to have them on & given how you are positioned you are limited to what you can see while in VR. I skip it as well as I feel its not worth waiting for with the longer load times.

I believe the closure was due to the mechanics of Galactica and not the VR as this was sorted earlier in the year. 
To be honest, I love Galactica, especially the position it holds you in, but as long as they offer both the VR and option to ride without, then the resort is on to a winner with families! While I am yet to ride with VR this year, although I've had many rides as Air, some report that loading times have improved?

At the resort today and the loading procedures for Galactica were long and slow, possibly worse than last year... at one point the train was literally just parked in the station, fully loaded with guests ready to go but there was nothing happening apart from the staff skipping about everywhere, as if to make it look like they were doing something...

Robert W wrote:

At one point the train was literally just parked in the station, fully loaded with guests ready to go but there was nothing happening apart from the staff skipping about everywhere, as if to make it look like they were doing something...

Are you sure it wasn't to do with timing with the other station? I've never heard about or seen them use the block brake on the lift hill since VR was implemented, so that could be why.

Robert W wrote:

At the resort today and the loading procedures for Galactica were long and slow, possibly worse than last year... at one point the train was literally just parked in the station, fully loaded with guests ready to go but there was nothing happening apart from the staff skipping about everywhere, as if to make it look like they were doing something...

That is surprising. I really hope they review procedures and speed things up!
I suppose for many hosts they would have had limited experience of VR operations before as it has been out of action!