Justice League dark ride at Six Flags Texas (video)

[WalleyWorld]

wow! The new Justice League dark ride at Six Flags over Texas looks unreal.

Very close to Universal Studios quality. Love the animatronics and other practical effects - very cool! You can tell that Sally learnt a lot from creating MW's version, especially on how to integrate the game/shooting component a lot better. A good blend between screens and practical effects as well. Instead of shooting at 'stars', your shooting at real villains, thugs and robots on screen, giving you points. A bit jealous that this is at a Six Flags park and not in Movieworld. Looks like a really solid addition. Edited May 20, 2015 by Luke

[Zanstabar]

While that does look amazing, our ride suited our needs. Sure, another E-Ticket would've been great, especially as a dark ride, but we just needed a family friendly dark ride of a similar calibre to the classic Fantasyland rides at Disneyland, which IMHO is what we got. Maybe for the next E-Ticket Attraction, VRTP could give Sally Corp a ring and try to bring a more 'thrilling' dark ride here.

As for the effects, many of them look on par with ours, although I'm getting a real "Spider-Man" vibe throughout the whole ride. Looks great and another reason for me to go back to Texas one day!

[jjuttp]

Bloody hell, still absolutely no Aquaman love? wouldn't be that hard to implement.

On another note, Herald look amazing.

[Flea]

While that does look amazing, our ride suited our needs.

I disagree. Our JL falls short. This version is what we needed. The animated sequences are fast paced and full of action, you're not shooting starfish, atmospheric effects (the mist screen into the room effect was awesome) and the cars spin. I've ridden JL with many first timers and their response is ALWAYS a firm "meh".

[jjuttp]

One of my main quip's with JL was how it felt like there was too much space around the vehicle, as opposed to SFoT, which is mostly narrow hallways and helps set the theme in a bit more.

[Zanstabar]

I disagree. Our JL falls short. This version is what we needed. The animated sequences are fast paced and full of action, you're not shooting starfish, atmospheric effects (the mist screen into the room effect was awesome) and the cars spin. I've ridden JL with many first timers and their response is ALWAYS a firm "meh".

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying JL is the be all and end all but for our budget, sizing requirements and various other constraints, I think they did a remarkable job. $9,000,000 got us what may be the best dark ride in Australia. Maybe in a couple of years time when the ride goes down for a major rehab, they might spice up the ride a bit and bring it on par with the overseas counterpart.

[GoGoBoy]

I have been very keenly following the construction of two Sally Corp Justice League-themed dark rides over in the States at Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St Louis. As a dark ride fan, any new ride of this type sparks my interest. But particularly so with this one, with Movie World being the recipient of Sally's first attempt at creating a JL shooting dark ride.

Anyway, the first ride to open at SFOT had its media day yesterday and a few POV videos have been released. It looks really fantastic, and is something quite special for Six Flags, which is notorious for minimal theming. It is like a combination between Universal's Spiderman, Transformers and Movie World's own JL. I don't think it had the budget of either Spider or Transformers, but it appeals to me more than either of these rides. It combines the usual screens with the interactive gameplay and motion-based ride vehicles by Oceaneering that move along to all of the action (unlike JL at Movie World). But perhaps most importantly of all, the ride relies heavily on actual physical sets, props and effects. This is the area Sally excels in and certainly sets the ride(s) apart from the very screen-heavy Transformers, and even Spiderman to a lesser extent. Here's the vid (warning: terrible sound recording):

Edited May 20, 2015 by GoGoBoy

[joz]

I think the only part of our JL that is below par is the lack of a decent final. Apart from that I honestly don't see much difference aside from the story and the motion bases. And you know what? Our ride doesn't have motion bases for budget and space reasons, and IMHO it doesn't really suffer for it.

[BNErider]

The ride looks great! I've always been a big fan of JL @ MW but everyone I visit with feels it's just average because it doesn't have a moving base. I know it'd be a greater cost, but I definitely think it would have been worthwhile expanding the ride area and using cars with a simulated platform.

JL @ SF definitely has a really cool Superman/Transformers vibe at a fraction (I'm assuming) of the budget!

Edited May 20, 2015 by ash.1111

[Richard]

To me Justice League is an average ride that's really well themed, and it's the ride system where it falls short. Things like the starfish don't bother me a whole lot -- they made a call to not want human/gun-based violence, which is fair enough -- but trundling along in those dinky cars just sucks the energy out of the ride.

Oceaneering type vehicles would no doubt have added significantly to the ride's budget, but I feel that the end result would be a hugely popular and enjoyable family ride that could well be Movie World's flagship ride, rather than an easily forgotten, nicely themed ride.

[Gazza]

All said, I wouldn't mind a motion base dark ride here at some point in the future. What riding DarKastle (And Recalling back to Transformers, Spiderman, and Indiana Jones) made me realise is that the ride motion in itself is fun, and the sets and screens are really just the icing IMO.

The Six Flags ride looks fun purely from all the twirling and tilting it is doing, and the compact sets and tight spaces I reckon would emphasise the sense of instability you get on these rides (Say when you ride Indy and it feels like the car is going to tip over)

If I were building one at an Australian park I'd.

1) Be selective about set design...Face the ride vehicle to minimise the number of walls you need to theme.

2) Bifuricate the track at a couple of points, and have duplicated sets of curved screens with extended motion simulator type sequences (Similar to the way Transformers does it)

3) Rapid fire pacing...Really push the ride system and throw guests around as they pass from scene to scene. Younger visitors in particular would get something out of all that bouncing and tilting.

4) Don't skimp on the sound system. Eg have a look at the part of Spiderman where you escape Dr Octopus. The sound system plays some pretty heavy engine growling and tyre screeching which makes it seem like the vehicle you are in is really labouring, again making the ride feel faster and more thrilling than it actually is: https://youtu.be/-MgPOFZvRNA?t=122