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Reviews & Reactions - Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster: Next Generation

ejpdtd

By ejpdtd,
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Max Egan
Max Egan

What they should do is have a paid section to the Coaster with awesome theming and better coaster elements and a free section with alright theming and average coaster elements.

lversase
lversase

You can agree with me or not on this one. But it seems like it’s the beginning of the end for Scooby. So the ride is still no where near what was expected (especially after watching the TVC). Eve

MickeyD
MickeyD

Finally got to ride and HOLY SHITBALLS what an absolute Doggy's breakfast!! Wow seriously MW, way to go with this one! A pile of cash successfully wasted in taking the Park's best themed 'experience'

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wikiverse Explorer

wikiverse

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I managed to get a visit in yesterday and finally got to ride this after the re-fit.

To be honest, I didn't think it was great, but I also don't think it is quite as bad as some here have made it out to be.

MickeyD's review was fairly accurate, although for my ride everything seemed to be timed and synchronised as intended. The green-screen effect was technically working well, but it just missed the mark for immersion that I think they were hoping for.  There was also smoke in the Disco Room with some lighting effects that put beams of light directly in front of us on the track.  It looked like there was a white pole in the middle of the track we were about to hit, so that was kinda fun. (To be fair, I think it was a mis-aligned light, but I hope they keep it this way).

Generally though, the ride is far too bright - both the projection and the lighting. All of the hidden dips and turns in the track are now clearly visible, so there are no surprises in the physical sensation of the ride. This means that the ride relies 100% on the effects and projections to create surprise and suspense, and for this reason the ride largely fails to deliver.

One thing I will say though, is that I rode with a first-time rider.  While he wasn't that impressed with the TV screens in the elevator, they did succeed in preventing him from realising that it was an elevator, which made the backward drop more of a surprise.  So, there's a small consolation.

The final room with the projections seemed kind of pointless, and you can see the frozen image waiting to animate before you enter. To be honest, I don't think anyone is going to understand the scrappy-doo/monsters/spooky island story enough to know what the hell this is supposed to be.  I've seen the film and I don't even get it. Why introduce new story elements in the elevator with Scrappy that never get paid off at the end of the ride? Did I miss something?

The queue is also kind of disappointing. The fountain was working, but the removal of the walls and gargoyle statues means there isn't much to look at.  The knights no longer turn their heads (although it's been that way for a while), but it is those kinds of spooky surprises that should make this ride great. Keeping the castle walls and using projection mapping to introduce ghosts/monsters scratching at windows or climbing across the stones would have been a great addition here.

Projectors work well in JL because the ride is interactive and respond to you shooting at them. The 3D glasses also dim the brightness and saturation. They don't really work well on SDSC though, and some well crafted, basic animatronics with strobe lighting would have probably been more fitting. This ride was definitely better suited to low-tech, rather than high-tech effects.

I think there is room for improvement, but I'm not really convinced that VRTP will make any additional changes.  Everything seemed like it was working exactly as they intended during my ride yesterday. Maybe with time, the brightness of the lights and projector bulbs will naturally dim to better level.

Generally everything is just so heavy-handed and trying too hard to impress with high-tech effects. Hopefully as the current effects start to wear out, they will just replace them with some good old-fashioned practical props and mirrors. While the ride isn't a complete disaster, I do agree with the general consensus here that the ride has lost most of it's charm and mystery.

Sometimes, less is more.

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FireBall85 Explorer

FireBall85

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You know now that I seen all the videos about this ride on YouTube I have to be honest the animation on the demons does look pretty sad especially when it shows you the video of you in front of the mirror with these projector demons it does look very fake. I don’t know who Anna made in some of the scenes but they really need to update it soon, because as we all know the Scooby Doo Ryan totally replaced an awesome gremlins ride so they have a lot of weight on their back

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westical Rising Star

westical

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Also rode for the first time yesterday. Not horrendous but plenty they could work on and tweak. Screens in the lift look way out of place, was in the front row and could read a hand written number on the border of the front one. The final room confused me too, not sure the effect worked properly. 

Fountain was working like wikiverse said. 

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MickeyD Experienced

MickeyD

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Projection mapping, similar to video mapping and spatial augmented reality, is a projection technology used to turn objects, often irregularly shaped, into a display surface for video projection. These objects may be complex industrial landscapes, such as buildings, small indoor objects or theatrical stages.

28 minutes ago, westical said:

There are plenty of projections. Whether they’re “mapped” I have no idea. 

 

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themagician Experienced

themagician

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I think @wikiverse review is very true about the ride, just what makes it disappointing for me is there are aspects where they don’t seem like they cared.

As you make your way up to the elevator, if you look at the demons heads that are smashing through the walls, you can clearly see the pole holding them in place, there was no effort at all to hide them, and because of the lighting inside, it makes it more obvious. And the lighting throughout the ride is just off, not being able to see the track in the original version made the ride surprising and fun, now you can see it throughout the whole ride. All the screens mean you can see the buildings structure, wiring, and parts that aren’t themed. If you are going to have lighting like this, the ride needs to be perfect in every way, so that you don’t notice things like this 

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westical Rising Star

westical

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Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, pushbutton said:

I had no idea. I guess I must have learned something new today. Thanks so much for enlightening me.

Allow me to return the favour.

You know projectors aren't the same as projection mapping, right? 

I do. So I’m not sure why you keep saying there are “Just TV screens”. 

Edited by westical
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Jdude95 Rising Star

Jdude95

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There are some projections on the left wall just as you leave the station. The lift has 3 screens, one at the front and two on the left side. There are a couple more projections throughout the ride but I honestly couldn't see anything that would require the surface to be mapped out to be projected on. So no, there isn't much in the way of "projection mapping" on the ride, just general projections and a few new TV screens

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