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RE: Project 2018: Battle for Eire (VR Attraction)

Maybe I've missed it, but does anyone know if they are allowing gopros on the ride? With the 3 point attachment card.
 
RE: Project 2018: Battle for Eire (VR Attraction)

I'm here! :p

As for GoPros, I know they were telling people no during the soft opening. Don't know if that rule will stick or not.

If anyone does manage to film and share the preshows though, you'll have my eternal gratitude.

Thankfully no one needs to film the actual ride video for... reasons. ;)
 
Got a chance to catch this ride today for its opening.  They really didn't advertise that this ride was open elsewhere in the park, which surprised me, although billboards on I-64 state that it is now open.  

I've never really loved the queue in this attraction house.  It provides a nice respite from the summer heat, but you have no context for where you are in the line and what is going on with the ride.  The line didn't move for several minutes after I first got in line, and a large gaggle of folks ended up leaving, telling everyone that the ride was broken as they departed.  This made me think.  Ten years ago I never would've expected a downtime on a BGW ride with no announcement, but today, I wouldn't be surprised.  I remembered that as I entered the queue, a ride attendant was hanging up the Aiphone.  Is it possible that the ride was down and she just let me walk past without telling me?  No, it was far likelier that the ride had been down and had just resumed to normal operations.  Does that mean then that no one had been informed of this downtime?  It seems likely, but worse, I wouldn't be surprised, which really disappoints me.

I grabbed a large sized emerald mask and put it on to find it was surprisingly comfortable and fit well for people of all sizes.  The preshows were decently done, but it definitely felt that the second one was just buying time for the show to end and the theater to empty.  The enchanted lens was surprisingly easy to snap on and sat comfortably on the mask.  Kudos to BGW for the R&D on this one.  They precluded what I think was the easiest pitfall for this attraction: difficulty for people to assemble the VR headsets could have caused all kinds of holdups and longer lines.  I thought this part of the attraction really worked.  I'm not too familiar with VR with the exception of some of the late 90s technology at DisneyQuest, but I thought everything looked pretty good, although the graphics were only of maybe Corkscrew Hill quality.  I do fear that this attraction relies on its gimmicky nature and as technology ramps up, it will fall by the wayside if the park doesn't keep up with it.  As for the ride itself, I think the most I can say is that it was interesting.  The technology was well executed, but the ride was not thrilling, and the fun is derived from the uniqueness of the attraction.  As this ride becomes less unique, I think people will like it less.  The incorporation of the heavy fans from Europe in the Air helped aid the sense of motion.  It was entertaining, but not exceptional.  I appreciate that the park is shooting for a new and unique attraction in its opening, although it does not for me undo the closure of DarKastle which was that kind of ride for a regional theme park.  I would say this will be a decent attraction this year in danger of becoming a footnote in the future.  The park needs to maintain this ride probably year in and year out in a way they never have.

Side note: perhaps I did something wrong, but it felt like I had to look to the right to see most of the action, and I really would've preferred everything relatively centered up.  Again, though, this may have been my mistake as I couldn't wear my glasses, which is another downside of this ride.

All in all, the wait was only about 20 minutes, but frankly, I'm not sure I'd wait longer for this ride.  On slow days I might pop into this ride, but it still isn't as much fun as I remember Corkscrew Hill being.  I didn't notice any signs of the ride not being ready for opening as was talked about on media day, but it was just an average attraction for me.
 
From what I was told yesterday, the ride was plagued with complaints of technical issues.

Sitting outside the ride tons of people were talking about how their headsets blinked in and out all the way through the ride or just simply went black right near the start.

My headset stayed on, but throughout the ride it continuously drifted off-center (considerably down and to the left). In the moment I figured I'd just deal with it so I kept the headset on. Don't do this.

I never get motion sickness from anything. That said, it turns out that when the movement my body is feeling doesn't match up with what I'm seeing in VR, it's a really bad time.

Anyway. I found all of the technical issues yesterday fairly disheartening. We were told on media day weeks ago that they were nearing a fix for the blinking headset problems but, alas, here we are. And now, even worse, headsets are apparently just flat-out going black.

The off-centered headset issue is far from a new one either. On media day the control room had to restart the VR computers twice for Nicole and I's headsets to recenter them before the ride. It appears the underlying issues there haven't been fixed either though.

Also, just a closing note: If you see any of the issues I described above on future Battle for Eire rides, make note of your seat and tell a ride op right after your ride!

One of the big problems with VR right now is that there is basically no method by which the park can monitor the headsets themselves for issues. The only way they can find and patch problems is through timely rider reports.
 
If they were smart and really wanted to get the issues fixed while open to the public without drawing great attention is get numbered cards that match to each seat and have them sitting on the seat as you enter. Say they are for a survey at the end of the ride, as you exit further down the hall so there is enough room for everyone to clear the doors have a card collection area and a brief survey. Limit it to two questions, how was the ride on a scale of 1-10 and did you notice any issues with your ride. That way each cycle they have data on about every seat and after each day can see trouble seats or ones that work good. This would add a few seconds to the load of each ride but worth it to get the bugs out sooner than later.
 
I haven't experienced the ride yet, but my brother and his wife have. They called it dull, headsets were uncomfortable, and basically a once and never again deal.
 
WDWRLD said:
If they were smart and really wanted to get the issues fixed while open to the public without drawing great attention is get numbered cards that match to each seat and have them sitting on the seat as you enter. Say they are for a survey at the end of the ride, as you exit further down the hall so there is enough room for everyone to clear the doors have a card collection area and a brief survey. Limit it to two questions, how was the ride on a scale of 1-10 and did you notice any issues with your ride. That way each cycle they have data on about every seat and after each day can see trouble seats or ones that work good. This would add a few seconds to the load of each ride but worth it to get the bugs out sooner than later.

Wonderful idea!
 
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Has anyone else had problems tightening the emerald masks? The 1st time I road when I turned the adjustment knob on the back, it would not stay in place and loosened back up. The second time I rode the mask worked fine. I wonder how much wear and tear the masks will be able to take with moving parts before they need to be replaced. Does anyone know of any cost estimates for BfE.
 
I just got to ride and I thought it was in the range of "just okay" to "pretty good". It's not something I have to do every time I'm at the park, but if lines are short on a hot day, I can see myself going on it to get a break from the heat. I didn't experience any of the motion sickness that others have mentioned even though I'd always feel slightly sick after EITA. I felt fine after Battle for Eire. My only complaint was that those masks were not in the least bit comfortable. Myself and my family were all able to get the masks on without any problem, but I definitely kept it off until we were about to board after reading what others have said about wearing them for an extended period of time. They felt fine though until I put on the VR headset and it just put a lot of pressure on the bridge of my nose to where I had to constantly adjust my headset various times throughout the ride. That's really my only complaint. The actual video was fine, but mostly forgettable. Ultimately, it's one of those rides that neither gets me excited nor one that I view as a disappointment. It's just kind of there, but I definitely don't have the same "absolutely not" attitude about this as I did when it came to riding Europe in the Air, that's for sure.
 
snowman6996 said:
Has anyone else had problems tightening the emerald masks?  The 1st time I road when I turned the adjustment knob on the back, it would not stay in place and loosened back up.  The second time I rode the mask worked fine.  I wonder how much wear and tear the masks will be able to take with moving parts before they need to be replaced.  Does anyone know of any cost estimates for BfE.

The knob tighter is the same style that has been used in a lot of equestrian helmets for years. Haven been around schooling barns where we had lowner helmets for kids I seen them put through all forms of abuse and they are actually quite robust.

I rode it for the first time today and while U experienced non of the technical difficulties I was also less then impressed with the ride in both length and the excitement level. I really rank it only slightly above EIA.
 
I am probably in the minority, but I prefer EitA.

I actually enjoyed flying over Europe's famous sites, especially the ones I have seen in person. Furthermore, I would argue that the transitions were better than the current version of Soarin in Orlando.

BfE, on the other hand, has virtually no plot, and is quite frankly boring.

Additionally, EitA never physically assaulted my face. While I was not in pain for two hours after "riding" it yesterday (as I was after Media Day), my face was sore and there where indentations on my cheekbones, where the mask sat.

I haven't gotten motion sickness on either, so for me that is a wash.

While I was mostly indifferent to EitA, I actively dislike BfE.
 
I'll be honest, I rode it Saturday with extremely low expectations because of what everyone said....and I really enjoyed it. I think I'm one of the few the mask fits just about perfectly. Since I wear glasses about 50% of the time (and they weigh so much to hold coke bottles) the pressure on my nose didn't bother me.

As far as the storyline, yea it's a little weak. I think a better pre-show that could have set up the ride part would be better. The 'interactive' part wasn't really all that interactive. The movements of the base were far better for my motion sickness than EitA.

My main things they could do better:
~Not require the mask to be on until you walk into the show room
~Stronger pre-show setup
~Quicker load times (I think that will come with time)
~Start up the ride quicker once it's loaded and ready to go. They took about 5 minutes after getting everything on and closing the doors to start up the program.
 
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