Rode Sunday with my son, nobody riding due to cold and rainy. ZERO working effects. Only the noises. No beams. No fire. No statue.
Escape From Pompeii
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
Not running the fire is bad enough, but running the ride with no effects at all is inexcusable. I’ve had a few rides with zero effects too. Effects like the beams and the statue should hardly cost anything to operate.
Assuming this ride isn’t on the chopping block (which might be a bold assumption), I wonder what the ROI would be in investing in a “B Mode” for when ridership/attendance is too low to justify running the fire effects that day. I’m thinking some projection, fog, and maybe water effects in the main show room that simulate fire and still give something cool to look at when the fire is turned off.
Of course, if they made that investment, it would probably mean the death of the fire effects altogether.
Assuming this ride isn’t on the chopping block (which might be a bold assumption), I wonder what the ROI would be in investing in a “B Mode” for when ridership/attendance is too low to justify running the fire effects that day. I’m thinking some projection, fog, and maybe water effects in the main show room that simulate fire and still give something cool to look at when the fire is turned off.
Of course, if they made that investment, it would probably mean the death of the fire effects altogether.
If they really invested into projection mapping, fog effects, and lighting that sold the story of the attraction, I wouldn't mind giving up the fire personally. The fire is a huge "wow" effect for guests and that can likely never be replicated with other effects, but on the flip side, the fire effects are costly to run, costly to maintain, and costly to staff. I can fully understand the park wanting to move away from them and I think it would be reasonable to do so.
If Nessie's tunnel turns out horribly, maybe I'll change my mind here, but, in theory, I'm not opposed to a Escape from Pompeii v2 with lighting, media, moving props, audio, etc only.
If Nessie's tunnel turns out horribly, maybe I'll change my mind here, but, in theory, I'm not opposed to a Escape from Pompeii v2 with lighting, media, moving props, audio, etc only.
I think you could “create” the effect though. Volcanos are more heat events so heating coils and a bubble effect in the water with steam would be nice spiritual replacement to the fire.
When I worked at Pompeii in 2009, the midchute operator was responsible for presence buttons that enabled the fire effects. If you accidentally lifted pressure too much, the buttons would disable all effects for the rest of the cycle. The fire effects sometimes would also fault out and stop. In these events, we would call controls and notify them the boat was "no show" and they would be offered an opportunity to stay on the boat and ride again. It wouldn't surprise me that process has entirely been abandoned nowadays. We did have times maintenance would shut off a specific fire effect for the day, but never the entire show.
Rode again yesterday, once again ZERO affects going. Only the sounds. Tons of school groups so there was a constant stream of people even though the line was short.
The other day when i rode it the effects didn’t work and they gave everyone on the boat a reride. They had a spiel play that said something along the lines of “guests in the boat returning to the station, you did not receive a full show, if you would like to stay on you may ride it again.”
It sounds more Luke the Mike picking up feedback then a sound that you likely would have heard in person.
Yep, it’s something at the top of the lift.
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If I remember correctly I think the lift motor is at the top of the lift. So perhaps a lift motor replacement?
Whatever work was going on, they must be complete!
Escape from Pompeii opened sometime today in the afternoon.
Escape from Pompeii opened sometime today in the afternoon.
That's just plastic to keep the cold out.
It would be nice if they could automate the interior effects so that it doesn’t rely on a staff member.
Are any of the effects automatic? That’s an interesting quirk of Pompeii I don’t remember hearing. Would love to be the operator that gets to set off the effects, sounds like a ton of fun!
I thought everything was photo-eye or other sensor driven, the op is there to monitor the fire effects and/or irresponsible guest behaviors (standing up in the boat, reaching out into the water, etc)?
The operator triggers the fire effects. When the boat enters the show area, the operator will get a green light and they hold their palms on the black buttons and the fire sequences activate and if they release the sequence stops and the fire will auto shut off. The other effects are automatic.
View attachment Pompeii Fire Controls Video.MP4
View attachment Pompeii Fire Controls Video.MP4
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