Nirya
Well-Known Member
1. One thing I did notice that the Chess Room succeeds at is creating an environment where you want to talk to the people in your party prior to lining up. I ended up switching from an engineer up to gunner on one ride because the lady who had gotten gunner wanted the "easier" position of engineer just so she could experience the ride. So I don't necessarily believe that having mixed parties creates an issue for the roles. I'm more of the opinion that because pilot is such a sought-after position, it makes the other positions less-desirable. Maybe shifting some responsibilities from pilot to the engineers (like the jump to lightspeed?) would help, or giving a bit more to do to those positions.
4. I'm a firm believer that a good story can overcome a lot of other issues. Just as some personal examples, I took my parents to Universal, and while my mom could only do Forbidden Journey once because it caused her to get nauseous (and this did not appear to be a singular problem but maybe the biggest flaw of a ride I absolutely adore), she did still love her experience. Similarly, my dad was able to nitpick Transformers down to the ride vehicles because the story did not engage him. My point is, if the story is good, riders are more likely to forgive minor flaws in the experience, so having a more engaging story would go a long way to fixing the overall ride experience.
