Wednesday, October 19, 2016
What's the next big thing in theme park ride technology?
www.themeparkinsider.com: New technology gives theme parks new ways to tell their stories. From tubular steel roller coasters allowing Arrow and Disney to send riders sliding down the Matterhorn, to flight simulators allowing Disney to send people on tours of the Star Wars universe, to factory robot arms allowing Universal to make enchanted benches fly through the wizarding world, theme parks have found wonderful new ways to entertain fans by embracing new ride tech.
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THis idea of augmented reality is fascinating. I like how the article opened discussing that virtual reality is popular, but may not become the new hit technology. I really appreciate that the industry is not wanting to go completely digital. As stated in the article, I think part of the magic involded with themed/amusement parks is the tangible decoration. The environment of a park is the majority of the magic. While waiting for Space Mountain, it is pretty cool to be engaged in the environment you are about to embark into. I can't imagine having to do the experience with glasses or some sort of visual lense. I know everyone is very excited about what technology can bring to art, but where does that leave good old fashion craftsmanship? If everything is digital , or digitially enhanced, that eliminates jobs, certain freedoms, and part of the charm of amusement parks. I am not a fan of roller coasters, so I spent most of my time in the waiting areas surrounding them. I think it is amazing that roller coasters aren't what makes a theme park, it is the experience, the surroundings. When you start tampering with that, it becomes a slippery slope and, in my opinion, ruins the charm.
AR sounds like the perfect response to all the problems I have with VR technology in theme parks. Just like the author of the article, I don't personally think VR is necessarily a huge plus in the theme park ride experience. I don't want to wait for hours and hours in line just to look at a screen while experiencing a physical ride, because in the end it's just a screen. Adding highly immersive and detailed physical worlds that work harmoniously with the VR so that neither one detracts from the other sounds much more like something I would be willing to invest my time and money to experience. Blending the real world with the virtual one is something that the arts and entertainment industry have struggled with for a long time now, so it makes sense that the themed entertainment world would be facing the same struggles. In fact, the transition from VR to AR reminds me a lot of the struggles that media has in the live theater industry. The use of media in show is often criticized for detracting from the performance or simply not adding anything to it. Perhaps media in theater needs to follow the same inspiration as AR in theme parks.
I clicked on this article because I really enjoy amusement parks, and I’m interested to see where the future of rollercoasters might be heading. I agree with the article when it says that a virtual reality rollercoaster isn’t the best option, because what attracts patrons to theme parks is the experience that they can’t get anywhere else. I like the distinction that the article makes between reality and augmented reality; to “show VR animation in a way that allowed people to keep seeing all that wonderfully themed physical space in the park around them? That's augmented reality, and that might be the next big thing in theme parks.” I think if amusement parks only used virtual reality, they would see a decrease in attendance, especially since virtual reality for video game consoles is becoming more common. I’m looking forward to visiting a theme park where augmented reality is not only common, but may be the new standard.
As an avid theme park lover, this article excites me greatly! I have grown up in Disney land, and Universal Studio's so this is one of my favorite topics. I am in fact, an old soul and as much as I love technology, I am not anxiously awaiting technology to take away the physical intricacy of theme parks I hold so dear to my heart. Yes, that alone requires technology, but I would be saddened to find that "parks" become more "sit down and put on glasses areas." I enjoy physical wonder. That being said, I think I could be swayed into getting on bored the argumented reality boat with more research.
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Hold up, I love VR and love commenting and learning more about VR because I think it’s really cool, but using VR for roller coasters seems really silly. Like I can see a roller coster game or something being made for at home VR use, but at a theme park you are literally surrounded by real roller coasters and rides, so why would you want a VR one. Like, I suppose from the theme park’s standpoint you can make whole rides take up one small room, so it’s really efficient and cheap, but it’s just so counter intuitive. Augmented reality on the other hand is much more on track. Combining the computer programmed with the real is a more interesting and challenging to solve than simply making the whole ride virtual reality, even if the article says that making VR things is harder. It’s a different king of hard because while the programming of virtual reality is more intense, coming up with an effective idea and successfully creating it with augmented reality sounds a lot more challenging.
I like the idea behind VR, I like the idea of augmented reality even more. With both of them I think they need to be adopted by more industries so they can become more widespread and accessible to more people. But VR roller coasters? Really? On the other hand, doing what Universal is doing and using it to create some kind of Halloween/horror event sounds like a clever idea and a good way of using the technology. I think the author of the article makes a good point though that the problem with VR in theme parks is that it comes at the cost of the environment that has been carefully crafted around you. That might not matter at some parks but at ones like Disney or Universal where they’ve gone to the effort to create an immersive environment that’s not ideal. Augmented reality would be a really cool addition to those worlds, it needs to be developed further but it could create some amazing possibilities once it become more widespread.
I’m not concerned about VR hurting what themed entertainment does best, because so far the VR I’ve seen in themed entertainment has worked really well. However, I do agree that VR is best used to add to the physical world created by themed entertainment rather than instead of it. Specifically, this article makes me think of Toy Story Midway Mania, which was one of the highlights of my most recent trip to Disney. I didn’t feel like I was watching a screen, I felt like I was really in the world, and it was super fun. I think AR, because it is combined with the physical world (as this article discusses, and as themed entertainment has done) provides a flexibility that is not allowed by the limitations of the physical world. That isn’t to say I’d want themed entertainment to use AR or VR in everything, there is something cool about things being actually physically real, but I think used strategically, AR/VR can add a lot to an attraction.
Looking at the title of this article, my brain instantly flew to VR since I experienced my first virtual reality coaster a few months ago and loved it – and it is because of this that I slightly disagree with the author (has he tried a VR coaster yet?). Having VR on the ride made the VR so much more real. Though we were not seeing the theme park itself, we got to experience the real feelings of wind and g-force while being thrown around in a virtual world. It was amazing and so much more believable than any other VR experience that I’ve ever had. I think the augmented reality idea is interesting but too futuristic. I think the closest thing we have currently to glasses that can do that are Microsoft’s Hololens or Google’s Google Glass, the first of which costs $3,000 and is in developer mode and the second of which I don’t believe is even accessible yet. I tried the Hololens a few days ago, and while it was extremely cool, it definitely wasn’t to the caliber that it could be at, especially if it is planning on being used in an amusement park setting (which I still don’t think is the case). Technology moves fast, but only so fast. I understand that Pokemon Go! has done a lot to make people believe in AR, but an AR headset is not quite the same as adding a Pokemon onto a phone screen while the camera is turned on. I honestly still believe that VR coasters are the modern way to go. Maybe, in a decade, it will turn into AR, but technology currently does not seem to be there just yet.
I completely agree that augmented reality is far more interesting than virtual reality. Particularly for theme parks. It complements the physicality of the space and has uses outside of rides, not just on them. In addition, one of the best things about experiencing theme parks is experiencing it with other people. Virtual reality, for all of its awesome features robs you of this experience. Being able to look around and see the smiles on everyone’s faces is awesome. Flying is pretty cool, flying with your best friend is a memory you’ll share for the rest of your life. That being said augmented reality is incredibly difficult to pull off well. I’m hoping somebody is working hard on it though because when it gets here it is going to be awesome. Honestly it’s probably easiest to do in a theme park as well since you control the entire environment.
The theme park industry, like all others, will continue to evolve over time as new technology is discovered. Whether that is for better or worse we will have to wait and see. I completely agree the wonder and magic of theme parks is in the transformation of the physical environment. VR being the future of the industry would be slightly disappointing. It's integration as a new genre of attraction is fine so long as it doesn't begin to take over the tradition theme park structure. I'd rather not arrive at Disney World only to put on a head piece and walk around all day. I guess AR is a better approach. Implemented well it could be extremely effective. I would challenge theme park designers to go past the AR we know as putting on a something in your face that alters the world we see. I honestly hate the idea of putting anything on face in order get a complete experience. Is there a way to get this AR effect by actually augmenting the physical space?
I agree that in the case of actual, physical theme parks, Augmented Reality seems to be the only logical next step to go. Imagine walking through Diagon Alley with your wand in hand and casting a spell, and, to your surprise, a bolt of light emerges from the tip of your wand and performs whatever task you needed done. The seamless layering and compositing of virtual objects is not easily done, but companies like Microsoft's HoloLens, and projects by Oculus and Google are doing amazing work in the area.
One thing to consider though, is that true virtual reality, with complete sensory feedback, which is eventually what we are going to get, completely negates the need for an actual physical theme park. When your entire world can be created by software, why should anything be physical at all? That is the question to think about.
I've made my position clear on VR vs. AR in my comments before, but let me reiterate that I believe AR is the far superior choice for a theme park. There is, of course, the fact that the lands are beautiful and detailed and real- something that you don't really find in any other environment (except if you were in the real Wizarding World, etc.). It would be a crime to do away with all the work of very talented scenic artists, as well as take away the real physical experience of being in that place that was once in your imagination or on your screen. But even further than that, it would be a crime to rob the theme park experience of what I believe to be the most important part: spending time with others. When every member of your family, or your group of friends, or your couple, is wearing a bulky VR headset that blocks out the world around them, the theme park becomes an individual experience. There is no togetherness, no bonding, and, a long way down the road, a little less empathy for each other. I absolutely applaud any theme park or museum or other themed environment taking the risk and financial burden of augmented reality, because I absolutely believe it is the most exciting and least disruptive way to evolve technologically.
I realized I posted the wrong comment here, this is the correct one. I have thought for a while (well, as long as I’ve been aware of VR in theme parks), that it takes away from the thrill of actually seeing real things as opposed to seeing things on a screen. I am glad this columnist agrees. I like his idea of augmented reality. I think there is a lot you can do to enhance physical scenery and environments to make them even better and a lot of that would need to be done with technology. I do not totally understand how glasses can coexist with physical scenery but I think seeing something projected onto scenery could have a really intense effect. Some sort of extremely detailed and precise projection mapping would be amazing in themed environments and having those images superimposed over scenery through glasses could be a cool alternative to projection mapping. I believe that is the concept of AR but I still can’t really tell.
"Virtual reality robs theme parks of their greatest strength in the entertainment business — the creation of intricately decorated, immersively themed physical spaces that can't be experienced anywhere else. When all visitors see is a VR screen, theme parks lose the value of the physical environments they've spent so much money to create."
I completely agrees with this article. Though virtual reality is an amazing steps in technology advancement and advancement in the arts, it cannot be what every theme park changes over to. If all the physical wonder of universal studios is exchanged with a moving picture, patrons will lose interest. The wonder of Harry Potter World is the idea of a huge life size world of the movie that one can actually walk around, touch, taste and experience. If theme park elements are replaced with virtual reality screens and goggles why pay the money to go to the park. I can buy googles at home of simply watch The Goblet of Fire. Virtual Reality can be an important part of advancement of theme parks but it is most definitely not the future. This author hit it head on with this artful and informative article.
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