Busch Gardens Williamsburg announces VR attraction for 2018

They're using the Europe in the Air ride system to create a VR motion simulator

I think it's kind of funny how he mentioned that they've "always been limited by the off-board video...". Questor's video was onboard; it wasn't a screen on the wall, separate from the vehicle, which is why it was so much more effective than Corkscrew Hill, and I assume Europe in the Air which I never rode. Questor's enclosed vehicle where the screen was effectively the windshield made it work very well; the latter rides had the Days of Thunder effect: a bunch of seats bouncing around in front of a big and rather obvious projection screen. VR headsets should help in that regard.

Seems a little like stepping on your new-for-2017 star attraction to be announcing for 2018 THIS early....no?

Well, I would think not when your 2017 attraction is a roller coaster and your 2018 attraction is a VR experience. And it's already March, meaning by now most families have long since planned their summer vacations, and most season pass purchasers for 2017 have already purchased.

What would this impact, exactly?

Is the roller coaster going to get jealous? ;)

Plus Europe in the Air, won't be open in 17 so there's that. InvadR opens in a month and there will be no shortage of interest.

Im glad that a park has decided to dedicate a non-coaster experience to VR, all seats, all the time. A theater venue makes better sense to me and the coasters are left alone.

Days of Thunder had an additional problem in that the film was intercut, so it looked like you were watching a movie...but with inexplicably bouncing seats.

So, Gator, I presume you are alluding to the whole Mean Streak situation...but note that in this case if I am reading the comments right, I guess the Reflectone theaters won't be operating in 2017, so this announcement explains the loss of that attraction.

As I understand it, the motion bases are the same ones used for Questor, but reconfiguring the attraction for Corkscrew Hill dramatically reduced the weight as it removed not only the box, but also the projection equipment. Furthermore, getting the all-mechanical film projector off the bottom of the box also corrected other issues relating to the reliability of the projection system...it's tough on any projector to bang it around like that. But of course taking away the box has certain trade offs. Switching to a 'VR' system means not just the screen can go away, but also the other dozen or so people riding with you!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I'm not familiar enough to know what operating systems for these kind of attractions are/were out there, but I never cared much for them. I always felt like I was stuffed into a jostling kleenex box with a bunch of others, forced to believe the action was actually coming from a tiny window with a clunky curtain. Our Dave hits the nail on the head when he talks about VR conveniently eliminating the actual surroundings- hell, you could put the ride in a warehouse with all the lights on and the riders would never know. To me me it's a prime opportunity to "update" these existing, outdated attractions with new, modern technology, and it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
All of a sudden this VR thing is looking attractive to me, much more so than on a coaster like Superman SFNE. (Which as far as I'm concerned needed no help whatsoever in the first place.).

And Mr. Gator, you really needed a winky face for the slow ones like me. ;^)

RideMan said:

So, Gator, I presume you are alluding to the whole Mean Streak situation...

No, hadn't really considered it in relation to any other parks, just that I'd more likely wait until at least after Invadr's intialy excitement wears off before announcing the 2018 attraction.

On the other hand, I can see it in the context of "why is attraction X down" when in fact it's undergoing a refurb into a "new" attraction.No one was asking why Twister was down when Jimmy Fallon was plastered all over the walls.Which bring us to...

RCMAC said:

Plus Europe in the Air, won't be open in 17 so there's that. InvadR opens in a month and there will be no shortage of interest.

Im glad that a park has decided to dedicate a non-coaster experience to VR, all seats, all the time. A theater venue makes better sense to me and the coasters are left alone.

Hooray for VR on rides like this and Acrophobia and less-popular coasters like SLCs...give people more reason to ride something like that and stop hurting capacity on in-demand rides like SFNE's masterpiece...