SeaWorld Orlando removes VR from Kraken roller coaster

[londondisney]

Hi everyone, just seen this. anyone know why? It's a shame that I won't get a chance to ride this in the VR format

[ukman]

Notice something wasn't right from when we were there last year Xmas, as we rode it 3 times and two of the occasions it was not possible to use.

[toonarmani]

Originally Posted by londondisney

Hi everyone, just seen this. anyone know why? It's a shame that I won't get a chance to ride this in the VR format

See more...

When we went last year it was taking ages to load passengers and clean everything down after each ride (compared to non VR) so maybe that's the reason.

[gjdjud]

I'm hoping they don't bring it back like they did last time.

[m2k00]

SeaWorld have said it’s gone for good. Poor guest feedback plus the fact it reduced capacity resulting in longer queues is the reason it’s gone.

[londondisney]

thanks, m2k00

[fungomerry]

I found it made the ride seem slower and just not very interesting. Glad it is gone as I love the wobbly legs feeling you get after riding it without vr.

[Pattfisherman]

I’ve never really understood why they introduced it. I feel like it completely takes away the fact you’re on an awesome coaster.

[ratmanscoop]

I do think there's a place for this kind of ride, but VR allows you to do new things with much smaller physical ride infrastructure. On Kraken it just isn't necessary as the coaster is excellent by itself. It also really wasn't designed for it. Coasters with redundant loading bays (ironically, like Manta!) would work better with it which is presumably how Galactica at Alton Towers has succeeded. A single station coaster with VR is madness, really. I'm unconvinced the queue times were too bad with it because SeaWorld simply isn't busy enough for doubling the queue time to cause a major issue, but it wasn't going to be a sustainable strategy long-term. That's fragile equipment to be sent rattling through those inversions hundreds of times a day and VR technology is still in its infancy so it'll become outdated extremely quickly and they'll have to keep updating the headsets, redesigning the means by which they are attached every time they do.

If SeaWorld want to do VR, build it into a simulator sort of building with a ride film on the same lines as Turtle Trek. That sort of attraction would be a great addition to the park. If you're going to go all-out with it, use inverting simulator pods. A large fleet of those, however, is probably more than SeaWorld should be spending on rides right now!

It's disappointing I won't get to experience what this was like, but I can't be too sad about it because I already liked Kraken as it was.

[m2k00]

Even when you have two stations VR on a coaster doesn’t work. Galactica hasn’t been a success at Alton Towers, they have trouble getting it to work. Also has massively increased queue times, what would have been a 10 min queue when it was Air is now an hour+. Plus they had to more than double the amount of staff operating the ride which massively increases the running costs. Rumours point to the VR being removed for the 2019 season.

The reason parks are adding VR to coasters is because in it’s a cheap way to renew and older attraction and have something new to market. However in most cases Adding VR has resulted in lots of technical issues, longer queues and poor guest feedback. Hopefully parks will stop adding it.

There were plans to add it to Kumba at Busch but luckily the issues they had at SeaWorld stopped those plans happening!