Best all time Australian Pre Ride Experience

[TimmyG]

Spawned by another topic, I was wondering what the general thought was about pre show’s and pre show videos, and which one/s get your tick of approval, and why?

Space Probe 7

Bermuda Triangle

Looney Tunes River Ride

Gremlins Ride

Batman adventure : The Ride

Superman Escape

Tower of Terror (Original)

Sky Voyager

Shrek 4D

Lethal Weapon

Arkham Asylum

 

Feel free to add to the list as you see fit. 

[Joshaaye]

All the ones I can think of are already on the list. In particular Shrek 4D & Bermuda Triangle. 2 of my favourites there. I've seen far better these days thanks to YouTube, but for Australia, they were some of my favourites. Especially as a kid, Bermuda triangle pre-show videos and teeming were amazing for setting up the atmosphere.

[Cactus_Matt]

For me, the most immersive (and therefore best?) will always be the Loony Tunes River Ride. No ride has actually ever made me feel like the things were happening were "real" like that ride did. Even re-riding it as an adult for the last time back in 2010 stirred up strong memories of those childhood experiences. It might not measure up to modern Disney-level pre-ride experiences but it was damn close.

[Joshaaye]

19 minutes ago, Cactus_Matt said:

For me, the most immersive (and therefore best?) will always be the Loony Tunes River Ride. No ride has actually ever made me feel like the things were happening were "real" like that ride did. Even re-riding it as an adult for the last time back in 2010 stirred up strong memories of those childhood experiences. It might not measure up to modern Disney-level pre-ride experiences but it was damn close.

You're exactly right. As cheesy & childish as it was, it's possibly the closest Australia has come to "the Disney experience" 

[Brad2912]

Batman Adventure (original) was fantastic, immersive and I believe is really missed. The format would still work today with updated simulators, but obviously won’t happen. 

 

LTRR was also fantastic. 

 

When I think quality pre-ride, I don’t want just a video explaining a backstory, I want an interactive element or queue that takes you through something unique and exciting prior to you even boarding the ride 

[rappa]

I think Batman certainly is the best, and probably Gremlins and Tunes after that.

Burmuda also get's a nod in that it was done very well, but probably not as elaborate as the others above.

 

Shrek was great, but the fact it was just a clone from Universal  kinda doesn't count for me. Tower of Terror (original) get's my vote as the worst haha.

[Slick]

2 hours ago, rappa said:

I think Batman certainly is the best, and probably Gremlins and Tunes after that.

Burmuda also get's a nod in that it was done very well, but probably not as elaborate as the others above.

 

Shrek was great, but the fact it was just a clone from Universal  kinda doesn't count for me. Tower of Terror (original) get's my vote as the worst haha.

This. Both Batman and Gremlins were so insanely memorable and so well executed for their time. How can you not love a big dark ride hiding behind a modest facade? Same with Looney Tunes and Bermuda - both pre-rides setup simple plots that were well executed throughout the rest of the ride. Bermuda would have to be the country’s best dark ride overall. 
 

Pre-ride videos don’t make up for poorly executed pre-rides, at best they’ll make the queue move quicker which means you’ll have to spend less time in a poor pre-ride. In which case, it’s a unanimous vote from me that both Arkham and Sky Voyager have the best pre-ride videos. 🍻

Edited April 27, 2021 by Slick

[themagician]

As a kid I love the pre show for Looney Tunes. The different rooms, sets and story of making your way through the studio and then drilling your way through the earth to begin the journey to finding bugs

Batmans preshow actually made up most of the ride and without it, the ride would have almost been nothing. I actually enjoyed the pre show more than the simulator ride itself.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

10 hours ago, Slick said:

it’s a unanimous vote from me 

Toot! Toot!

[Slick]

3 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Toot! Toot!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

[TimmyG]

[Ogre]

Looney Tunes was something special. The pre show was pretty much an attraction in itself! Reminds me of a "lite" version of the Rise of the Resistance preshow at Disney in retrospect.

The Batman preshow being very atmospheric. I always think of it when queuing for Justice League due to the similar layout (is the JL boarding section where the Batman animatronic was?)

I unfortunately never got to ride Gremlins. Watching videos it looked like a great experience.

I always get a kick out of the Superman Escape preshow video with the fancily dressed people getting into the Train!

Anyone remember the Wild Wild West preshow? "You're looking at a place that could be any place. East or west of the mighty Mississippi" has been permanently ingrained into my head after riding it so many times. I've been looking for the whole video for ages but to no avail.

[Whombex]

The thing I did like about the original version on ToT, was that there were no fewer than 5 (maybe 7?) staff on the ride, including at the entry, queue elevator downstairs, queue elevator upstairs, 2 on load/unload, and rideop.

 

For best pre-show, I liked LTRR, Batman and Gremlins. The Studio Tour didn't have a pre-show, but the immersion and engagement was awesome, especially when someone in your group was selected for one of the shows.

Didn't get to experience the original Bermuda pre-show, and I was too young when I rode Lassiter's to remember if it even had a pre-show.

Giant Drop had a small pre-show, but it didn't last long. Did the control panel and gauges do anything (shake, steam), or was it just a video?

[joz]

Bermuda's preshow wasn't good, but it did set up the ride really well. Toons was almost the exact opposite. Good preshow and made you feel like you were on an adventure, but didn't make a ton of sense.

 

The best is EASISLY the original Batman preshow. If you scrapped the simulators and just put a few extra 'In cave' effects you actually could potentially have had a fully satisfying attraction just with that. If Batman Adventure: The Preshow was at Fox Studios it would have been the headline attraction.

 

Second place to Gremlins, honestly it was almost 2 stand alone attractions in one there.

 

Worst would easily be Lethal Weapon. Giant Drop's was also shit, but also went for all of 20 seconds, so hard to be mad at it. Similar story for Wild Wild West's original preshow.

 

Also not a preshow as such, but the whole ToT thing was strange and unnecessary. I guess it gave a good chance for anticipation to grow but the whole attempt at a story was woeful. On the flipside, again, also not a preshow, but the walk through the wave on Wipeout always got me super pumped as a kid, and even waiting in there was really exciting for some reason.

 

EDIT:

 

Also not an Australian park, but the preshow for Hex at Alton Towers is phenomenal.

Edited April 29, 2021 by joz

[rappa]

Hex fullstop is the poster child on how you turn a basic simple ride into a blockbuster attraction!

 

Movie World needs to buy one for Show Stage already!