Defunct Dark Ride Battle for Eire

[Zachary]

There has been some circumstantial evidence to suggest that the flickering and black-out issues are actually because they are wired headsets. Some people have reported that moving the cord at the top of the headset around a little can sometimes bring back the image and/or stop the flickering.

It's hard to know if this is just pure happenstance or if excessive wear on the wired connection on top of the headset is actually partially to blame.

 

[b.mac]

I'd be very concerned with such a new ride that the wiring for the VR headsets are suffering from excessive wear just from being placed on riders faces and dropped on a rack between cycles. Then and again I saw a guest headbutt the headset trying to put it on, so the guests are probably responsible for some of the damage.

 

[Lord Robert]

The park posted a ride reactions video.

 

[Luke]

I am not a fan of the ride. But I like the dragon.

 

[b.mac]

I am not a fan of the ride. But I like the dragon.

I feel like come Howl-O-Scream all the merch will be on clearance except the dragon plushies. I wish I had a pic but those plushies have seen some shit.

 

[Pretzel Kaiser]

Actually Zimmy, Balor the cyclops IS from an actual Irish mythology monster with the same name and race.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balor

I stand corrected.

It still sucked swamp water.

You need to ride it again now that you have the correct cultural understanding. It will be a much better ride now.

 

[Lord Robert]

Good use of sarcasm. XD

 

[sereniv]

rode this yesterday; ride broke down twice so we ended up waiting about an hour in total. but, as soon as we were sent into the preview rooms I was instantly surprised by the quality of the story pre-show (especially the black light part) and the little soundboard lines they played once you were sitting down in the ride (e.g; I told you not to touch the enchanted lens yet!)

two of the main things that bothered me about this ride and made it less enjoyable for me was that both of the emerald helms didn't really fit my head correctly? like, the small one fit but wasn't snug and same with the large one. neither of them laid against my nose or (fully) my face. due to this, while I was riding I had to hold the lens up because it was too blurry to see anything if I just let it sit normally.
my only other complaint is that the ride feels like it was missing a good chunk out of the actual movie portion...it starts so abruptly with no sense of story whatsoever. the effects are cool, the motions could be a little more swing-y but they're still nice, but I just felt left unsatisfied in the end because it didn't feel anywhere near like I was part of a whole story from start to finish

my boyfriend tried to tell me BfE is a huge improvement and great replacement for CoDK but I can't see it at all...darkastle had a much more developed story, felt five times longer than BfE, and had wonderful effects even into its later years (the final scene where Ludwig causes your carriage to fall from the balcony down to the ground always felt so real to me). but, all in all, I'd say BfE is a nice ride and is certainly very unique theming wise, but nowhere near worth an hour wait and all the hyping up I did for it.

 

[Lord Robert]

Well I guess it was inevitable that someone would make a POV. Even though some views are obstructed from what I saw, I can say with confidence that combining this and the pre-show footage, that this is better than Corkscrew Hill. Why? I personally feel the story actually has stakes in comparison to it's predecessor because in Corkscrew Hill your just witnesses to the entire thing whereas with Battle for Eire, Addie knows her limitations by having her need us to help out and showing the consequences of the Heart of Eire falling in the wrong hands. Plus it's a more visually striking/thrilling adventure with us riding Ollie the Dragon and soaring through the mythical Ireland sky chasing after the Heart (reminds me of How to Train Your Dragon). Sure Balor could've been more developed, but all you need in a villain is for him to be evil and loves darkness so much, it would've been bad if they tried to make him "sympathetic" for that never works most of the time in media so he's okay with the short time we have on the ride. Oh and the music is flat out amazing for it's both appropriate and epic at the same time.

All in all from judging the POV, Battle for Eire is MUCH better than Europe in the Air and even better Corkscrew Hill, but not as deep as DarKastle. Can't wait to finally ride it in person!

 

[CastleOSullivan]

For what it's worth, that video overstates the simulator's range of motion due to the height of the camera. A video from the back row might show the movements more accurately.

 

[belsaas]

Rode Battle for Eire for the first time yesterday afternoon. (Sunday, 22APR2018).

We waited for about 30 min before getting to the Emerald Masks and getting to the first prep area. I'm blind as a bat without glasses, so after putting on my mask I put on my glasses over it, which worked fine. I have a Vive at home, so I know my glasses fit fine inside the headset (they aren't particularly large frames). We then went through the pre-show, which was fine, although we ended up waiting for quite a bit longer than expected, maybe 6-7 minutes. I think there may have been a loading issue with the previous group, but it's hard for me to say.

Once we sat down, and buckled up, I put the headset on, and was pretty hopeful! It seemed fairly in-focus, and fit comfortably on my face, even with the aforementioned glasses. Unfortunately, this hope would not last long. As soon as we began moving, instant nausea struck me, and I was able to watch perhaps the first 15 seconds before closing my eyes and doing deep breathing (the same technique I used in EitA). I managed to open my eyes every once in a while, just to see the scenes as they changed. It seemed like there were some cool environments, but I just could not in any way handle it.

After the ride was over, the crowd erupted into cheering and clapping. It seemed like me and my boyfriend were the only ones who were sick, so maybe I'm just in the unlucky few, but man, I had to sit in Grogan's and just drink some water while we recovered.

At least there was a showing of Celtic Fyre afterward to bring our spirits back up!

 

[Lord Robert]

Here's a behind the scenes video about the amazing score with Colin O'Malley being interviewed.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

^ You beat me to it. Lol

Seriously, that is an incredible video. It’s way more than I would have expected out of Battle for Eire promotional material. Falcon’s Creative typically does a wonderful job of creating behind the scenes videos for their projects that involve big soundtrack production.

I would also recommend watching their soundtrack behind the scenes video for Turtle Trek at SeaWorld Orlando. Aside from hearing the music, you can see the company’s best animation to date, in my opinion. That was also a first of its kind attraction, which sadly makes Battle for Eire look that much more prototype-ish.

 

[Lord Robert]

Turtle Trek's 360 dome movie theater technology is pretty dang good, especially since it opened just opened a few years ago.

 

[Lord Robert]

As luck would have it: on Saturday a friend of mine had a free ticket to spare and i joined him in a visit. With that, I finally rode Battle for Eire in person both the VR and Screen versions and obviously I prefer the VR version (which I tried first) for it's 360 immersion and wind effects that were blowing in the moments it was necessary, I looked all around appreciating the beautiful art direction and hard work that went into it; plus the moments when the characters get close to you helps out. Oh and there was no technical issues with the headset/VR and I could still see everything crystal clear despite me taking off my glasses (I'm near-sighted).

After hearing the clapping and cheering from people after my 3 rides, I can stand by to what I said before about the ride and now that I have experienced it for myself, this is going to be a big hit with the GP and I am so happy that the park finally replaced that god-awful Europe in the Air with Battle for Eire which to me is an extremely fun, solid ride the park can be proud of. Sure the ride can bit a tiny bit longer, but I thought it was paced well enough that I can still remember what happened after it was all over.

Overall I'd give this an 8 out of 10.

 

[acrossdapark]

IMHO this ride was a ginormous waste of time, energy, resources and money for the park.

First time I attempted to ride it broke down after over a hour of waiting in line to get to the front. As the next in the boarding queue all the employees stood around for close to 20 minutes before they finally acknowledged the ride had broken down and to come back later. No quick queue, just come back later.

Second time I actually got to ride, the back story is lame and a waste of time trying to explain what the ride it about and what you will be doing. Almost reminds me of Test Track and building a car before you ride, that only being a slightly better waste of time considering its interactive.

After getting on, the whole boarding process is a joke in the fact it takes them multiple attempts, at least the time I rode to get everyone buckled, answer questions on putting the head gear on and getting to the point it's starting.

The story line is boring, chasing a light orb around for 2 - 3 minutes with a dragon, between being slightly blurry and erroring to remind you to look up, it starts and ends in the same fashion of Flight over Europe.

VR again shows it's a gimmick. It's a one and done ride.

 

[The Hessian]

Rode for the first time saturday so here are my first impressions. I agree that the story could've have been more fleshed out though for what they have it works and I find that the pre show does well. I had no problems with ride operations on the our trip through and concerncing the issue with the blur, I beleive its due to the vr goggles being top heavy because once I tighted my mask to where the goggles weren't pulling it down the VR was fine. So While this no where on the level of Corkscrew I do beleive its a good ride with an interesting story and the VR just works.

 

[lilleape]

Got to ride this yesterday for the first time. Cool concept but not something I would choose to ride again. I got way too motion sick and a headache from the weight of the goggles. Also, the wait path was frustrating for a first-time rider because we had no indication how much longer we would be waiting until we were able to turn the corner and see the room where you put the masks on. The walking tunnel was extremely claustrophobic to me as well.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

After recently bringing a friend who had never been on this or any previous iteration of the simulator ride, I was able to get a fresh perspective on how other (general public) people might view this attraction. My friend most loved the theming leading to the main attraction. On the ride itself, she said she enjoyed the wind effects and the soundtrack. She didn't mention the story, though.

Overall, I would say that her first reactions were in line with my first reactions to Corkscrew Hill, with the added problem of how surprisingly heavy the enchanted lenses were. We both agreed that the ride should start slow to introduce people to the new sensations of wearing the headset, give them time to adjust them further, and better set up the storyline.

This ride and film could be like Corkscrew Hill, but instead, it relies too heavily on the new tech appeal of the VR and leaves everything else second in importance. While Corkscrew Hill had way much more going on story-wise, it was harder to follow with all of the people yelling. On Battle For Eire, the dialogue is so simple that this is not as much of an issue. In fact, that would be a reasonable explanation for why the dialogue seems so weak, especially when it is audible.

Overall, I think she enjoyed it, but, like me, she won't have to ride it unless everything else has long lines and it's very hot outside.

 

[Lord Robert]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it in spite of some issues. For me, this is going to be yet another ride I wouldn't mind riding once or twice with each visit to the park.