Holovis gave guests of the IAAPA show in Orlando, US, a presentation on its new attraction concept, Ride and Realm, recently.

Holovis showcases Ride and Realm

The format aims to give guests the tools to choose their own route in the ride and personalise the experiences they have based on these interactions. It begins with a media based attraction that immerses people in the story and uses on-board interactive technology to put the control in guest’s hands.

As they leave the ride, guests can download an app to extend the narrative into the park, solving puzzles and unlocking achievements, before returning to the starting point, where the experience in the dark ride will have evolved to reflect their progress.

“We want to offer guests a changeable experience each time they ride this system,” said Matt Dobbs, Holovis’ business development officer.

“They ride it through once they get a certain experience, they ride it through again and the experiences changes in a number of different ways,” he explained.

As the customers interacts with the park through the app, their profile increases in points and a player with a higher profile will interact with the ride differently to one of a lower profile.

“The next time they ride it they can unlock a whole host of things that they couldn’t with a lower level profile,” he added.

While most people are expected to have access to a smart phone on which to enjoy the pre and post game app, he believes that a similar system could easily be added to the RFID wristbands that many such sites use.

“There are options like that at our disposal but it is looking like most people will prefer to use their pre-existing devices. And with the merchandising and advertising and everything else like that, which ties in we are happy for people to use the app,” he said. 

Emily Burrows, the company’s PR manager explained that the ride is set up so that different media can be added to it. This is becoming a popular trend, as operators see the value in paying for one ride, but being able to add a number of additional attractions to it. 

“So a ride could have a pirate story one day and then a Halloween one next, and we can use lighting to draw a player’s attention to one area of the ride for one story, but keep it in the dark for the next ride. It’s all about giving our customer’s options,” she explained.

Ride and Realm is a patent pending attraction concept from Holovis.