Virtual reality takes theme park rides to new heights

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Virtual reality takes theme park rides to new heights

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Gyro Drop, left, one of the most popular rides at Lotte Word. 1. The ride has become a whole new experience as riders wearing VR devices see their drop from a new point of view. 2. An image of the futuristic city riders see in their goggles. 3. Passengers ride the French Revolution roller coaster at the park. 4. The video of a medieval setting features birds flying and fights with enormous monsters. [LOTTE WORLD]

A new type of entertainment for thrill seekers has arrived at Lotte World, one of the most popular amusement parks in Korea, as it has introduced wearable VR devices designed for passengers on its rides.

To make their not-so-new rides more exciting, the park in Songpa District, southern Seoul, adds cutting-edge virtual reality technology. The new devices are not just for new visitors, but also to attract those who think they have already experienced everything that there is to do at the park.

Passengers wear the goggle-like devices and watch a video played on a screen, instead of looking at the person sitting next to them or the view of the rest of the park, which may be too familiar to the frequent visitors.

Riders of Gyro Drop, an attraction that drops people from the top of a tower that’s about 70 meters (230 feet) high, will wear VR goggles, which create the feeling that they are falling from a much higher point. What they see on screen is an image of a futuristic city, and they will be rescued from what seems to be an endless fall by a robot popping out from one corner of their point of view.

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If that sounds too scary, passengers can also choose not to wear the VR goggles, and enjoy the ride as usual.

The new way to enjoy the same rides is thanks to the success of the VR experience that rolled out for the popular roller coaster French Revolution at the end of November. An official from Lotte World said the line to get on the ride is longer than ever and sometimes the wait time is over two hours.

The images seen by the riders of French Revolution is an animation adventure for passengers of all ages. Participants find themselves in a medieval setting where they run with a hammer and jump from rope to rope to get from one point to another. While the Gyro Drop is made for thrill seekers, French Revolution is better for putting oneself into a fantasy world.

To keep riders from getting bored while they wait for the roller coaster to return to the starting point safely, they can also play a game on the device. By simply tapping the right side of their goggles, one can shoot stones to catch flying birds. In the first month after the arrival of the VR add-on, about 120,000 people have been on the ride.

Thanks to the positive response from parkgoers, the theme park has chosen to continue applying VR technology to other facilities it has such as the aquarium or the folk museum.

“Change is always a scary thing, but we can’t step forward without a change,” said Park Dong-ki, CEO of Lotte World, adding that the park should continuously introduce competitive attractions popular with visitors of the theme park.

BY LEE SUN-MIN [summerlee@joongang.co.kr]




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