Project 2018: Battle for Eire (VR Attraction)

[Lord Robert]

I hypothesize that they tested the masks, but not the VR goggles.

Now this makes me ask this question: has this been a constant problem with VR rides in other parks, or is this problem unique to BGW? Just curious.

 

[Nicole]

The masks were designed for the park. Also, most VR rides use cell phones, not Vives.

 

[Lord Robert]

Thanks for that good answer Nicole. I wonder if the park will say anything about this problem before it opens? I hope they will address this in the best way possible.

EDIT: Anyway. How about that sneak peak POV video? Pretty cool huh?

 

[Zimmy]

Just as a reminder many of us were certain Tempesto was going to be crap... oh wait...

 

[warfelg]

The masks were designed for the park. Also, most VR rides use cell phones, not Vives.

Most Vive users I know of that have glasses say is doable but a struggle. The display on the headsets needs to be too close for some glasses, doesn’t work with big or thick frames, and they said they’ve gotten migraines wearing glasses and using the VR at the same time.

So wouldn’t shock me at all if BGW designed the mask to work with glasses, whoever was supplying the headset said they work with glasses (because technically they do), and when BGW took them they realized not all glasses work.

As a glasses/contacts wearer, I appreciate them putting this statement out there. I wear thicker rimmed glasses, so now I’m not going to even attempts to ride when im wearing my glasses.

 

[WDWRLD]

Oh please WDWRLD, Mach Tower had TONS of different problems from the start. Battle for Eire doesn't seem to suffer the same amount of problems from what I can tell so far.

Drachen Fire, "No that's not a ride you see being built", "that's going away after one year".  I can think of much worse things than, we were hoping you could wear glasses and we found a problem in testing.

I'm willing to bet that what happened was they realized that making that mask comfortable means there was some jostling, and this is to cover themselves from potential lawsuits for not saying it could cause damage.  So the options were: let people wear glasses, get them scratched, get cases over the fact they didn't warn about it OR warn about it, see a tiny percent of people complain, move on.  They take the latter every time.  The percent of people that will say anything negative are likely single digits.

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Every version of this ride on the same ride system has been less than spectacular. There are numerous issues going on, every day there are more problems than solutions and they never could work out the problem on Kracken and just removed them. When you say "I think it was very optimistic to think it would work. Can't be that upset over this IMO" is crazy to me. They have all along said they were designed to fit over glasses, some people will not be able to see anything with out their glasses so they will be forced to watch the screen. I will just keep my opinion and info to my self to not sound pessimistic.

No one has ever done it on a motion simulator, so how has it been less than spectacular if it doesn't exist anywhere else yet?  How can they avoid problems if they didn't know they could exist?

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I personally loved Drachen Fire and rode it hundreds of times. Im not referring to VR on a motion simulator I am referring to the ride itself. When it was changed to Europe in the Air it was touted as being such a huge upgrade for the ride but turned out to be just be another video that wasnt that good after all. My point being its time to do away with the motion simulator and find a new ride for the space.

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Exactly, the poster saying that Battle for Eire will have the same problems that Mach Tower had which doesn't make sense to me. The problems that Battle for Eire WILL have, are going to be far different than Mach Towers problems were, I'm not denying the problems' existence for the upcoming ride, I'm just pointing out the clear differences.

And yes I would rather have the recommendation of people taking their glasses off during the ride will help a lot, in spite of a tiny percent of people complaining about it later (I wish Tempesto did that when I rode it once back in 2015). I'm near sighted myself and whenever I try on a VR Headset I can still see things crystal clear because of how close it is to my face. So this will not be an issue down the road for me and I am still completely excited for the ride despite this.

I never said it was going to have the same problems as Mach Tower, it cant as its a completely different ride. Mach Tower opened in August, months after it was slated to open after having many design issues.

 

[WDWRLD]

Just as a reminder many of us were certain Tempesto was going to be crap...  oh wait...

Everyone said Tempesto would be crap because of the small ride that it is, not because of design flaws.

 

[WDWRLD]

So Busch Gardens has been working to add this VR to the ride system for over a year. They hired a company to do this. There should have been engineering plans and prototypes built that had all the players involved and tested with a wide variety of people before Busch signed off on it and going into production. There shouldn't be surprises like this that they are finding at this point in the build. You say I am being negative but they have had plenty of time to get this right. They shouldn't be down to the wire and still trying to make things work. I would love to walk into the park on a set date, watch the grand reopening and ride the ride and be wowed by something that I was not expecting. But I think its like everything else, done on the cheap and they are promising more than they can deliver.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

I liked it. The motion isn't that intense, but this is the best VR ride I've been on. I expect this ride system to come to BGT and Sea World soon.

That being said, I was lucky enough to ride it with a properly functional set. They still have a lot of bugs with the headsets.

 

[WDWRLD]

Did you notice more movement of the ride system as in they unlocked the full potential of the platform as Larry Giles said?

 

[warfelg]

So Busch Gardens has been working to add this VR to the ride system for over a year. They hired a company to do this. There should have been engineering plans and prototypes built that had all the players involved and tested with a wide variety of people before Busch signed off on it and going into production. There shouldn't be surprises like this that they are finding at this point in the build. You say I am being negative but they have had plenty of time to get this right. They shouldn't be down to the wire and still trying to make things work. I would love to walk into the park on a set date, watch the grand reopening and ride the ride and be wowed by something that I was not expecting. But I think its like everything else, done on the cheap and they are promising more than they can deliver.

Projects like this can often have unexpected things happen along the way. There’s almost nothing that gets built and doesn’t have some changes, hiccups, or anything else go wrong along the way.

And without knowing the cost it’s a little OTT to say it was don’t on the cheap and promised more than they can deliver.

 

[WDWRLD]

So Busch Gardens has been working to add this VR to the ride system for over a year. They hired a company to do this. There should have been engineering plans and prototypes built that had all the players involved and tested with a wide variety of people before Busch signed off on it and going into production. There shouldn't be surprises like this that they are finding at this point in the build. You say I am being negative but they have had plenty of time to get this right. They shouldn't be down to the wire and still trying to make things work. I would love to walk into the park on a set date, watch the grand reopening and ride the ride and be wowed by something that I was not expecting. But I think its like everything else, done on the cheap and they are promising more than they can deliver.

Projects like this can often have unexpected things happen along the way. There’s almost nothing that gets built and doesn’t have some changes, hiccups, or anything else go wrong along the way.

And without knowing the cost it’s a little OTT to say it was don’t on the cheap and promised more than they can deliver.

But its how you overcome those hiccups along the way and still meet your goal.

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

The degree of movement was a lot more, yes.

 

[WDWRLD]

I liked it. The motion isn't that intense, but this is the best VR ride I've been on.  I expect this ride system to come to BGT and Sea World soon.  

That being said, I was lucky enough to ride it with a properly functional set.  They still have a lot of bugs with the headsets.

I hope they take the time to work out the bugs even if it means opening later in the summer. Nothing will be worse than standing in a 2 hour+ line only to get a headset that either stops working all together or is not tracking or blurry.

 

[boston191]

How long does the show last.

 

[Peej1212]

Looks good at night.

It does! Its a great sign

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

I'm not sure how long. If I were to guess it would be sightly shorter that EitA.

 

[warfelg]

I liked it. The motion isn't that intense, but this is the best VR ride I've been on.  I expect this ride system to come to BGT and Sea World soon.  

That being said, I was lucky enough to ride it with a properly functional set.  They still have a lot of bugs with the headsets.

I hope they take the time to work out the bugs even if it means opening later in the summer. Nothing will be worse than standing in a 2 hour+ line only to get a headset that either stops working all together or is not tracking or blurry.

Last page you just said delayed opening for Mach Tower was a problem. Now it isn’t? So which one is it, open on time and have some glitches and have people say things; or delay the opening to get it right and have people say things?

 

[warfelg]

So Busch Gardens has been working to add this VR to the ride system for over a year. They hired a company to do this. There should have been engineering plans and prototypes built that had all the players involved and tested with a wide variety of people before Busch signed off on it and going into production. There shouldn't be surprises like this that they are finding at this point in the build. You say I am being negative but they have had plenty of time to get this right. They shouldn't be down to the wire and still trying to make things work. I would love to walk into the park on a set date, watch the grand reopening and ride the ride and be wowed by something that I was not expecting. But I think its like everything else, done on the cheap and they are promising more than they can deliver.

Projects like this can often have unexpected things happen along the way. There’s almost nothing that gets built and doesn’t have some changes, hiccups, or anything else go wrong along the way.

And without knowing the cost it’s a little OTT to say it was don’t on the cheap and promised more than they can deliver.

But its how you overcome those hiccups along the way and still meet your goal.

Again theirs a lot you can’t account for. While I agree it’s about overcoming the bumps, the bumps don’t mean it’s a mistake or they had plenty of time to get it right.

One of my favorite stories with that is the first Arrow suspended coaster. The track was flat the whole way, and the articulations of the suspended cars was supposed to handle the banking. Even in tests it looked wild but in control. Then when it opened, and new weights and dresses were put on the trains/track, the cars violently and wildly swung all over the place. So they learned they had to bank the track to help the cars be more controlled, increase the piston pressure to control the movement. And out of it we ended up with a coaster of Big Bad Wolf, which many people cherish.

So here with this, you could theoretically measure everything, say glasses fit, realize that in a few cases damage was done, and make the general statement to absolve yourself of the 1/100 case of damage. The VR would work in theory, but 60 people on one computer operating the graphics puts it in strain dependent on certain movements.

And let’s not forget a good part of the year was likely spent on updating hardware for the ride, revamping the qeue, installing new operations items. This was a lot of different teams coming together to give you the ride you’ll see when it opens; and multiple teams integrating everything can have its ups and downs.

 

[Lord Robert]

I liked it. The motion isn't that intense, but this is the best VR ride I've been on.  I expect this ride system to come to BGT and Sea World soon.  

That being said, I was lucky enough to ride it with a properly functional set.  They still have a lot of bugs with the headsets.

So happy to hear that despite early bugs, that the entire ride itself is splendid.

I have some questions for you:

1. How was the ride's story and characters (Pre-show rooms and ride)?

2. Does the rock wall queue have those leaf shades as shown in the concept pictures?

3. What was the ride's score like?