Iron Dragon VR

I have always been against the idea of adding VR to a rollercoaster. To me, it defeats the purpose of going to an amusement park and riding coasters. Now, if a ride is so bad, maybe. IMO, the music was the only good thing about RRR at Universal. Maybe add it to MF so I can enjoy it. :)

I'm sure it makes a cool experience, and will most likely give it a try given the opportunity just to have a fair opinion.

I don't think VR defeats the purpose of riding rollercoasters at all. You're still riding the coaster, however experiencing it in a simulated environment where you can't see the track.

I agree, you can have the cool visuals of a simulator combined with the movement of a rollercoaster to get an enhanced experience not possible in either a simulator or rollercoaster alone. I find it exciting and hope to get an opportunity to try it.

I'm under the impression that VR will be more of an option for riders, and that will be determined at the entrance of the ride. I'm also under the impression that it will only be for certain rows/cars. Not all of them.

I'm just surprised that the manufacturer hasn't developed a means by which the display can be moved out of the way so that riders could be outfitted with the devices, but still be able to see until they sit down, at which point the display would be shifted into place for the remainder of the ride. That way all the fitting and such could be done before the riders enter the train. Then the only delay would be in getting everybody *out* at the end of the ride.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^Actually they can use the camera from the phone and it will be displayed live on the phone in the headset itself.

I think he meant something attached to the headset. I imagined something like OTSRs for your face, where the screen flips away when the ride stops.

You could potentially use the camera on the device, but the odds of being able to generate a stereo image that is accurate enough to allow the user to climb into or out of a coaster train (especially a tub style train like Iron Dragon) without falling on his face is pretty much nil.

I was thinking about designing the headset so that the screen can be slid or flipped out of the way so that you can see the real world while wearing the device. Kind of like the way clip-on sunglasses can work.

I know I have seen photos of people wearing the things on their foreheads, but I would think that could cause the lenses to fog up, and if there is a chin strap as suggested by an earlier correspondent, that couldn't be secure if the unit is not positioned right.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Interestingly the system on ID is row-specific as to which headset you get to wear. It measures the distance along the track so the headgear does not get out of sync with the position of the train. The row you are in affects the timing pretty dramatically relative to physical loading. (i.e. row 9 on MF vs. row 1) and the VR has to match to prevent (or reduce) Protien Spills...

I'm hoping it's optional as some people I know get dizzy from stuff like this. Like there should be rows in the station where you can choose a seat with VR gear or not.

It was already confirmed to be optional.

Not sure if I missed it here. Does anyone here know how do they start the video on the headset to have it properly synced with the ride? As I recall, when I tried this at the Valravn media announcement, it was set to begin when you put the headset on and after you looked at the right point on the screen, it started automatically.

Assuming this is the same tech Six Flags uses the video was already started when I put my headset on. The motion of the train dispatching activated the motion on the headset and the video continued. While sitting in the station waiting for the dispatch the video was just you sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet. and you could just look around the hanger.

I had the opportunity to try the VR headset on Iron Dragon today and all I can say is that it exceeded my expectations. There were a couple workers with clipboards signing people up for time slots ... We only had to wait 15 minutes before entering the queue the get the headset. The story stated with a horse in front of you (you being in a carriage of sorts) and a dark castle theme around you. The horse is going up a hill when a bridge is taken out and a flying dragon grabs hold of the cart and flys you around. I have rode all of the rides at Universal Studios and I can say this was on par with most of them. I love the Harry Potter rides and the experience was extremely similar. I though it could be gimmicky too, but it was well done! It was great being able to look in all directions and then environment was all there (unlike most simulator rides where you are focused on a screen with props around you). The story went and felt great with the layout and the movement of the trains. I know Cedar Fair has a mine train VR story and I could see that working well with CCMR.

Sounds fun, from that I'm getting a picture of a dark medieval theme and I enjoy those a lot. Was the animation more cartoony (i.e. How to train your dragon) or more realistic (i.e. Smaug in Hobbit)? Or an in-between using a scale of movie dragons ;)

For those interested in trying this out. Currently they are testing the VR on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 3-6pm. This is dependent on any environmental issues or technical issues they may have, also they said that days/times could change at any time as they progress through the testing process.

Also currently only riders ages 13+ can use the VR, and those 13-17 years of age have to have someone over 18 fill out the waiver at the beginning (I didn't check if the person over 18 was required to ride with the 13-17yo).

As you approach the line look for the workers with the Blue shirts on. IF you don't see them (or their plastic boxes with all of their waivers and post ride questionnaires) then check with the worker at the front of the line to see if they are testing that day.

As of this last week they are only testing 1 car (car 4) on one of the trains, so they send 4 people every 10 minutes into the line (they give you a color coded lanyard to keep you with your group/time slot). So if you have a larger group wanting to try it out, you will be split into groups of 4 with 10 minutes between when you are allowed to enter the line.

When told to go in the line, you wait in the regular line and when you reach the top they pull you into a "corral" area next to car 4's lines. They explain the headsets to you and what to do with them. When the testing train comes around they let you out of the Corral and send you into the seats. They ask that you sit down, put on your headset, then pull down the shoulder harness.

They check to make sure you are seeing what they are expecting. They tell you that before the train begins to move, do not move your head around as it can de-sync the headset, and that would suck. They will hopefully get that fixed before this goes full live because if they were sending out a train full of people wearing these, I think you'd get a decent amount of people that wouldn't listen and would complain that it didn't work, and that would slow things down.

I did this twice this past week. Once on Thursday the 29th with my Wife and (67yo) Mother. Both of them loved it and would do it again, though my mother did get a little nauseated from the VR that lasted about 2 hours for her. The second time on Tuesday the 5th with my brother, he loved it as well but had a little vertigo afterwards, but he thinks that was from us previously being at Soak City all day, so sun and mild dehydration to blame, more so than the VR itself.

I myself loved the experience as well. I would suggest it to anyone willing to try it. If you've gotten nauseated or vertigo from VR in the past, you'll probably get (hopefully only slightly) affected by this. I can get Nauseated from VR and experienced it slightly after the first time (for about 15 mins afterwards), and not at all after the second time (probably because I knew what to expect and got to really focus on the details instead).

After you ride they want you to fill out a quick questionnaire about the experience. Graphically it is very good. To answer the question above, the graphics are more "realistic" than cartoony. My only complaint is there is no soundtrack (BGM or sounds/effects). If they could figure the logistics for that out, it would go from a 8-9/10 to a solid 10/10 for me.

Hope this helps everyone thinking about trying it out. I don't want to spoil the story, so I left out details like that. Get out there, test this out, and let them know this is something we want!!!

-Buck

I got to try out the VR today and I loved it. I just wish the ride went faster so you get some wind in your face

Tony just posted about the Iron Dragon VR details. Some of the main takeaways:

• Iron Dragon will operate "normally" from 10 am - 5 pm, and virtual reality rides will take place from 6-9 pm
• To ride with VR, you must make a reservation, and you will be assigned a time to ride that evening
• Since this is a testing phase, there's no audio - just video
• The VR experience is only available from July 15 - August 14, and there are no plans to make this a permanent feature

Tried this yesterday and really enjoyed the added experience to the ride. I loved how they're doing it at the moment with VR only being from 6-9pm. Although I do kinda wish they were attempting two train operation, but I understand why they're keeping it at 1 train during beta testing.

Overall I enjoyed the story more then the action/adventure alien battles on the Six Flags version. I think it added an additional thrill factor to the ride. I don't think I've ever heard as many screams of joy and excitement on Iron Dragon as I did while riding with VR. Almost everyone on my train loved it and it got a MF style round of applause when we rolled back into the station.

Only negative I had was that my riding partners headset literally fell apart during the ride. The cover over the phone came off, it didn't effect her experience with the VR but it scared her having it bounce around during the ride. lol.

I got to try this yesterday, and it was one of the coolest experiences in the park. The only downside was the headset wasn't very comfortable at all.