Star Wars Virtual Reality Experience Coming to Downtown Disney

Curious Constance

Curious Constance

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
I have news. My youngest nephew made an appointment a couple weeks ago to do this Void thing on Saturday before he heads back up to Stanford on Sunday for the new semester. I have just been invited to be the fourth person, not because I am the hip old uncle, but because he knows I'm a rather good marksman but probably will still make people laugh. I vaguely remember the last video game I played being Frogger on an Atari around 1982. Or maybe it was Asteroids? This should be entertaining.
Click to expand...

Ohhhhhhh! Exciting! I can't wait to hear how it goes!
 
NobodyElse

NobodyElse

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
I have news. My youngest nephew made an appointment a couple weeks ago to do this Void thing on Saturday before he heads back up to Stanford on Sunday for the new semester. I have just been invited to be the fourth person, not because I am the hip old uncle, but because he knows I'm a rather good marksman but probably will still make people laugh. I vaguely remember the last video game I played being Frogger on an Atari around 1982. Or maybe it was Asteroids? This should be entertaining.
Click to expand...

That's the beauty of these installations. If interest in Star Wars wanes, they can re-program it to VR Frogger.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
NobodyElse said:
That's the beauty of these installations. If interest in Star Wars wanes, they can re-program it to VR Frogger.
Click to expand...
I would love to play VR Frogger.
Fascinating fact, Activision's Freeway for the Atari 2600 was originally called Bloody Human Highway where you move a person across the freeway avoiding on coming traffic. The human was changed to a chicken before release.
 
dweezil78

dweezil78

Well-Known Member
phruby said:
I would love to play VR Frogger.
Fascinating fact, Activision's Freeway for the Atari 2600 was originally called Bloody Human Highway where you move a person across the freeway avoiding on coming traffic. The human was changed to a chicken before release.
Click to expand...
iwnaot.gif
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Curious Constance said:
Micechat has a review of the new Star Wars virtual reality experience, which was overall favorable.

http://micechat.com/181648-new-star-wars-experience-opens-downtown-disney-today/

The review I'm REALLY looking forward to though is @TP2000 's!!!
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm back from brunch and The Void with the family. A nice way to send off the youngest nephew back to college (go Cardinal!) to end the busy holiday season.

Full disclosure: I am not a video game guy. I'm nowhere near that demographic. I enjoy Disneyland very much. I like Star Wars like any normal American, but I am not a fanatic and have not seen the latest movie. I have always liked Chewbacca and I know Darth Vader and Stormtroopers are the bad buys, but am only vaguely familiar with any of the other characters of recent movies.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give The Void a 7. I would give it a 6 for Technical Presentation, and give it an 8 for Hospitality, which averages 7.

The Good: The employees here are very helpful, very perky and chatty, and use a lot of themed language while they interact with you. It's fun that we got to go in as a group of 4 and basically have our own private experience as a family. The entry lobby and first rooms are sleek looking, but are not really themed. It's sort of a trendy Boutique Hotel vibe. Once we got to the point in the game where we picked up our guns from the gun rack, the real fun began. I'm a very good marksman (with thanks to my old Marine Corps rifle instructors), so I got to shoot all the bad guys while the kids worked on opening doors and stuff. I had to be dragged away from the bad guys.

The Bad: My visor was floppy, and there is not a pill you can take for that. Your helmet includes a visor, and it took me about five minutes into the game to get it adjusted correctly so I could see. I entirely missed the opening act of riding in the spaceship because everything was blurry. You get fitted with a helmet and a vest that weighs nearly 10 pounds, and I was wearing a sport coat after brunch. I was not told to take my sport coat off, the perky hostess just put the vest on over my coat and then they cinch it down very tight. Luckily I have a good dry cleaner who can get all the wrinkles out, but 10 minutes later I was sweating like a dog. The pre-show video is highly themed and allegedly tells you what you are doing; there is some casket you are supposed to get for some unknown reason. It's one of those things where even if you are paying attention (I was!) the dialogue from the rough-and-tumble captain talking to you on the big screen sounds like "Okay recruits, this quadrant is under attack blah blah blah blah the Force blah blah blah blah the terillium case is very important blah blah blah blah blah Good luck!" Uh, what are we supposed to do again? Shoot bad buys? Is that case thing good or bad? Who knows. The only recognizable Star Wars characters you see are Stormtroopers and a Darth Vader cameo; no Chewbacca, no Han Solo, no Yoda, no Ewoks, not even Billy Dee Williams.

The Ugly: Once you get past the sleek lobby, it gets progressively cheap looking. The suit up room is dramatically lit, but then you are asked to put your phones and loose articles in a big cabinet someone bought at Ikea. There are no lockers, just a bunch of shelves in a big storage cabinet where they are also keeping paper towels, office supplies, and someone's lunch bag. It's one of those things that in hindsight seems very sketchy and insecure, but at the time you are being rushed through the suit up process by a perky hostess so you can't really question it. When we returned our phones and car keys were still there on the open shelf next to the paper towels, so at least no one stole them. The rooms are just a maze of divided plywood walls painted dark blue, and you get a peek at them both entering and exiting the experience. When you feel around it's obvious you are in a plywood maze. At one point you walk over some lava or something but it feels like you are walking on a vinyl bag full of foam; the physical effects are basic Junior High Haunted House level stuff. When Stormtroopers shoot at you it sometimes makes your vest buzz, but all it feels like is wearing a heavy vest with cheesy buzzers embedded in it. The guns have inaccurate aim, and shooting at bad guys always takes repeated shots to get them to die even when your aim lands squarely at their chest and head. Shooting at Darth Vader does absolutely nothing to him. There is no score, the story just sort of ends with the sudden arrival of good guy reinforcements who say Get in the shuttlecraft blah blah blah blah blasters blah blah blah!. Then you are led back to the suit-up room to hope your iPhoneX is still in that big Ikea cabinet and it's over. Buh-bye. At the end sweat was pouring off my forehead and my visor was very gross, I really hope they clean and sanitize the equipment after each sweaty use.

Would I do it again? Nope. Was it fun? Yes, but only because I was with fun family members. If I was paired up with strangers it would be awkward and unknown. The storytelling is rather weak. The visuals are kind of impressive, but it's obvious you are looking at maybe a 720p image in a sweaty floppy visor. It doesn't feel real, it just feels video gamey. I think we are still five or ten years away from this feeling like something truly real.

But hardcore Star Wars fans may enjoy it. Those on a budget or those not enamored with video games may find it not worth the cost.
 
Last edited:
smile

smile

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Okay, I'm back from brunch and The Void with the family. A nice way to send off the youngest nephew back to college (go Cardinal!) to end the busy holiday season.

Full disclosure: I am not a video game guy. I'm nowhere near that demographic. I enjoy Disneyland very much. I like Star Wars like any normal American, but I am not a fanatic and have not seen the latest movie. I have always liked Chewbacca and I know Darth Vader and Stormtroopers are the bad buys, but am only vaguely familiar with any of the other characters of recent movies.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give The Void a 7. I would give it a 6 for Technical Presentation, and give it an 8 for Hospitality, which averages 7.

The Good: The employees here are very helpful, very perky and chatty, and use a lot of themed language while they interact with you. It's fun that we got to go in as a group of 4 and basically have our own private experience as a family. The entry lobby and first rooms are sleek looking, but are not really themed. It's sort of a trendy Boutique Hotel vibe. Once we got to the point in the game where we picked up our guns from the gun rack, the real fun began. I'm a very good marksman (with thanks to my old Marine Corps rifle instructors), so I got to shoot all the bad guys while the kids worked on opening doors and stuff. I had to be dragged away from the bad guys.

The Bad: My visor was floppy, and there is not a pill you can take for that. Your helmet includes a visor, and it took me about five minutes into the game to get it adjusted correctly so I could see. I entirely missed the opening act of riding in the spaceship because everything was blurry. You get fitted with a helmet and a vest that weighs nearly 10 pounds, and I was wearing a sport coat after brunch. I was not told to take my sport coat off, the perky hostess just put the vest on over my coat and then they cinch it down very tight. Luckily I have a good dry cleaner who can get all the wrinkles out, but 10 minutes later I was sweating like a dog. The pre-show video is highly themed and allegedly tells you what you are doing; there is some casket you are supposed to get for some unknown reason. It's one of those things where even if you are paying attention (I was!) the dialogue from the rough-and-tumble captain talking to you on the big screen sounds like "Okay recruits, this quadrant is under attack blah blah blah blah the Force blah blah blah blah the terillium case is very important blah blah blah blah blah Good luck!" Uh, what are we supposed to do again? Shoot bad buys? Is that case thing good or bad? Who knows. The only recognizable Star Wars characters you see are Stormtroopers and a Darth Vader cameo; no Chewbacca, no Han Solo, no Yoda, no Ewoks, not even Billy Dee Williams.

The Ugly: Once you get past the sleek lobby, it gets progressively cheap looking. The suit up room is dramatically lit, but then you are asked to put your phones and loose articles in a big cabinet someone bought at Ikea. There are no lockers, just a bunch of shelves in a big storage cabinet where they are also keeping paper towels, office supplies, and someone's lunch bag. It's one of those things that in hindsight seems very sketchy and insecure, but at the time you are being rushed through the suit up process by a perky hostess so you can't really question it. When we returned our phones and car keys were still there on the open shelf next to the paper towels, so at least no one stole them. The rooms are just a maze of divided plywood walls painted dark blue, and you get a peek at them both entering and exiting the experience. When you feel around it's obvious you are in a plywood maze. At one point you walk over some lava or something but it feels like you are walking on a vinyl bag full of foam; the physical effects are basic Junior High Haunted House level stuff. When Stormtroopers shoot at you it sometimes makes your vest buzz, but all it feels like is wearing a heavy vest with cheesy buzzers embedded in it. The guns have inaccurate aim, and shooting at bad guys always takes repeated shots to get them to die even when your aim lands squarely at their chest and head. Shooting at Darth Vader does absolutely nothing to him. There is no score, the story just sort of ends with the sudden arrival of good guy reinforcements who say Get in the shuttlecraft blah blah blah blah blasters blah blah blah!. Then you are led back to the suit-up room to hope your iPhoneX is still in that big Ikea cabinet and it's over. Buh-bye. At the end sweat was pouring off my forehead and my visor was very gross, I really hope they clean and sanitize the equipment after each sweaty use.

Would I do it again? Nope. Was it fun? Yes, but only because I was with fun family members. If I was paired up with strangers it would be awkward and unknown. The storytelling is rather weak. The visuals are kind of impressive, but it's obvious you are looking at maybe a 720p image in a sweaty floppy visor. It doesn't feel real, it just feels video gamey. I think we are still five or ten years away from this feeling like something truly real.

But hardcore Star Wars fans may enjoy it. Those on a budget or those not enamored with video games may find it not worth the cost.
Click to expand...

Darkbeer1 said:
Great Read. Thank you so much for the detailed report.
Click to expand...

what dark said, exactly -
appreciate your time, detail, and perspective, @TP2000

glad it was worth it in the end and that you had a good time with your family - best of luck to your nephew
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Here is the OC Register's article..

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/...tar-wars-experience-opens-in-downtown-disney/

>>Things to know about The Void Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire
​

  • Groups go in four at a time

  • You need about a half-hour from the time you are admitted to finish the experience

  • No kids under age 10

  • Don’t wear high heels or a fancy hairdo

  • You will need to put on a vest with sensors, a helmet and and a computer backpack

  • You may feel slight motion sickness

  • Buy timed event tickets here for $29.95.<<
 
smile

smile

Well-Known Member
Darkbeer1 said:
Here is the OC Register's article..

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/...tar-wars-experience-opens-in-downtown-disney/

>>Things to know about The Void Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire



  • Groups go in four at a time

  • You need about a half-hour from the time you are admitted to finish the experience

  • No kids under age 10

  • Don’t wear high heels or a fancy hairdo

  • You will need to put on a vest with sensors, a helmet and and a computer backpack

  • You may feel slight motion sickness

  • Buy timed event tickets here for $29.95.<<
Click to expand...

​
  • Blazers and/or sport coats not advised
;)
 
Curious Constance

Curious Constance

Well-Known Member
Ridemakerz is now closed along with Build a Bear. The Dress Shop which is in the middle of the two remains open.

I guess Ridemakerz and Build a Bear will become different things then? We already know about the Burger and shake place coming, is that all we know so far?

1515955355295.png


1515955374973.png
 
Darkbeer1

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Curious Constance said:
Ridemakerz is now closed along with Build a Bear. The Dress Shop which is in the middle of the two remains open.

I guess Ridemakerz and Build a Bear will become different things then? We already know about the Burger and shake place coming, is that all we know so far?

View attachment 256330

View attachment 256331
Click to expand...

All Disney has stated is " new dining", rumor is some sort of bar/lounge to match with Splitsville.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom