Six Flags to add virtual reality to nine roller coasters this season

Must resist making a joke about something that has been on thousands of faces... must resist..

Timber-Rider said:

I have put my hand in gum on a roll bar in the blue streak at Cedar Point.

A roll bar? Man, Blue Streak is more extreme than I thought.

This doesn't do it for me but I won't knock it for others. I do think the future potential of this may be interesting. Kids these days are pretty tech savvy. Imagine some type of at home experience where you could log on and design your own virtual world/ride experience that would then interact with the ride of your choice.

THAT is an upcharge opportunity I think kids today would shell out money for without thinking twice. The only thing my son would enjoy more than playing that ridiculous Minecraft game is actually getting to go INTO the Minecraft world he just created.

So, you log onto the CP/Six Flags website, choose the ride, and then design an experience (similar, maybe, to designing your "car" on Test Track) and then you go to the park, they scan your phone and upload your design into a headset, and off you go. Of course, every teenage boy would be designing an experience where the first drop on Magnum dropped you into a valley of cleavage...but you get the idea.

Lord Gonchar said:
Regarding the general hygene of this - how is it any different than any VR-style helmet that's been in use at arcades and theme parks for two decades? Why is it suddenly gross on a coaster? Or have we become such germaphobes that the culture in general has changed?

I don't think it's suddenly gross on a coaster or that anything has necessarily changed. I imagine the same people who think it's gross in the arcade and other settings think this is gross and those who don't are ok with this, too.

Timber-Rider said:

The thing I worry about most is gum. Has anyone ever seen the gum trees at Cedar Point, or the gum wall on batman the ride at Great America. Hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of gum every year. I see these goggles as good places for spoiled kids to leave their gum. I have put my hand in gum on a roll bar in the blue streak at Cedar Point. GROSS!!!

This made me smile from beginning to end. Imagining the "inevitable" VR headsets covered in hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of gum. Too funny!

Yeah, I would hope it's only hundreds...

kpjb said:

Better than bedbugs, I guess.

The new hotel fear is peepholes. Seriously.

Every time the news runs a story, suddenly every idiot with too much time on their hands is worried about the latest hotel threat.

A while back it was the false info that said your personal info was stored on room keys. (remember that) People flipped and would literally try to refuse a key. Good luck getting into your room.

Then the bedbug stories hit and everyone was convinced they found bedbugs in their room. My wife even had people bring pieces of fuzz to her insisting it was a bedbug.

Now with the Erin Andrews story being a big headline, suddenly peephole complaints are a thing. You'd be amazed at how in the last week or so, suddenly there are all kind of peephole issues, even thought he hotel has literally never received a peephole complaint since she started there.

People are easy. Find a way to take advantage of that fact and win big.

"Ha ha ha... peepholes...ha!"... Peepholes are REAL, man! That's right. Yeah, I know a guy. My cousin's neighbor's best friend's fiance... saw a peephole once and was never the same again. Years of therapy. And still...every door he looks at...peepholes................... The front doors are the worst. *Shudder*

Yeah, but you keep making your silly jokes.

High five? No? It's like I don't know any of you anymore. What's happened to Coasterbuzz?

;-)

If anyone chooses to spy through a peephole at me then they do so at their own risk. When they go to bed that night they are going to feel like they have bedbugs because they are going to have the hebejeebees.

Whats the difference between wearing the goggles and going bowling or skating where you have to rent the shoes or skates?

I was invited to sfne yesterday for media day in the park and got to try the VR. I was only able to try dare devil dives program as supermans is still being developed and won't be out until June. I put the headset on and tried to shake it loose but it stayed on tight. You have to tap the side of the goggles to start the program. There was a couple spots i felt a little dizzy but i wasn't on the actual ride. You do become engrossed in the video and its interactive so you can shoot at things by tapping the right side of the goggles which operates your guns. It gets to a point where you wouldn't think your on a ride but simply playing a video game. I can't wait to try it on superman in june. They have to add sensors on supermans circuit so they will keep the timing of the video to coincide with the track layout. So for instance someone sitting in the front seat would see a different shot then someone in the back seat because the train is in a different spot. Its pretty complex of a system. Sfne added speakers up the lifthill to add
audio to the experience.

Seems to me there is a difference between something you wear on your feet (with socks) and something you put on your head/face.

gamerguy said:

Whats the difference between wearing the goggles and going bowling or skating where you have to rent the shoes or skates?

I don't walk on my face. Usually.

All these idiots complaining about the VR goggles, what part of "they are optional" do you not understand?

Having an opinion makes you an idiot? Takes one to know one, or something.

I actually am an idiot. Just not about this. ;-)

Yeah, having an opinion doesn't make an idiot just because it doesn't concur with someone else's opinion.

You're wrong.

Lord Gonchar said:

kpjb said:

Better than bedbugs, I guess.

The new hotel fear is peepholes. Seriously.

Every time the news runs a story, suddenly every idiot with too much time on their hands is worried about the latest hotel threat.

A while back it was the false info that said your personal info was stored on room keys. (remember that) People flipped and would literally try to refuse a key. Good luck getting into your room.

Then the bedbug stories hit and everyone was convinced they found bedbugs in their room. My wife even had people bring pieces of fuzz to her insisting it was a bedbug.

Now with the Erin Andrews story being a big headline, suddenly peephole complaints are a thing. You'd be amazed at how in the last week or so, suddenly there are all kind of peephole issues, even thought he hotel has literally never received a peephole complaint since she started there.

People are easy. Find a way to take advantage of that fact and win big.

Have the hotel hand out sticky notes Put them on inside of peephole problem solved.

Now to work on that pesky world peace thing.

Cedar Fair has entertained the thought of doing VR, so I'm sure they're waiting to see what the response is for Six Flags. Personally, I might try it once just for the novelty, but most of the coasters I ride are great as is.