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Today, their was the preview for annual pass holders to experience Symbolica before the official opening this Saturday. If you are interested in my review, you can read it here.

 

Thanks for the review. It sounds great and I'm glad the ride includes some surprises. How would you rate it compared to, say, Mystic Manor?

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Today, their was the preview for annual pass holders to experience Symbolica before the official opening this Saturday. If you are interested in my review, you can read it here.

 

Thanks for the review. It sounds great and I'm glad the ride includes some surprises. How would you rate it compared to, say, Mystic Manor?

 

I haven't been to Hong Kong Disneyland yet, so I am not really able to compare it. But I can compare it to Ratatouille in Disneyland Paris. I liked Symbolica a lot more than Ratatouille. Ratatouille has screens, combined with theming, while Symbolica only has physical theming. And I liked the overall feel and storyline of Symbolica more. Don't get me wrong, Ratatouille is a great ride. But in my opinion, Symbolica just tops it.

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I am slightly disappointed by this - it feels a lot like Mystic Manor, except less fun. Some of the castle's design is very well done though, but it's just not enough for me to travel all the way there just to see it in person. And the three "separate routes" aren't all that different, save for one scene each.

Edited by larrygator
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I must say now I watched those onrides I really dislike it when Pardoes says something. I'm not at all exited I believe it will be beautiful and I will reserve final judgment untill I rode it (Tomorrow.) but I believe I won't rush to ride this.

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Watched the videos and here's a couple of quick thoughts...

 

1. The trackless system doesn't seem to be *that* many trackless "tricks" as rides like Pooh and Mystic Manor do. Was really hoping there would be a room or two where the vehicles would interact more with each other or feel as though there would be some near misses, but other than the section where they split off to their own theme, there doesn't seem to be that much reason for this ride to have used a trackless system.

 

2. The ride itself looks VERY pretty and incredibly well themed! And I love the interactive elements of it pressing the buttons on your vehicle.

 

3. That being said, I honestly found the video to be sort of boring. Maybe it's more exciting in person?

 

Looks like a solid ride though...

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It's definitely true that the ride isn't very thrilling, it's more of a relaxed ride that's about appreciating the atmosphere and theming, which is amazingly done. Now, some people might not find this exciting and would like something a bit more thrilling, but I do think this ride is awesome (definitely better in person).

 

I agree that the trackless ride vehicles might not have been used to the most optimal extent (in the eyes of theme park enthusiasts), but keep in mind that these ETF systems use a wire guided system and not LPS like Disney, which makes it bit more limited. Also, the roundabouts, dead ends and several other situations do use the system quite well, although the main focus of the use of the ride vehicle in this particular ride is of course the immersion and illusion of floating over the floor without a track.

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Watched the videos and here's a couple of quick thoughts...

 

1. The trackless system doesn't seem to be *that* many trackless "tricks" as rides like Pooh and Mystic Manor do. Was really hoping there would be a room or two where the vehicles would interact more with each other or feel as though there would be some near misses, but other than the section where they split off to their own theme, there doesn't seem to be that much reason for this ride to have used a trackless system.

 

2. The ride itself looks VERY pretty and incredibly well themed! And I love the interactive elements of it pressing the buttons on your vehicle.

 

3. That being said, I honestly found the video to be sort of boring. Maybe it's more exciting in person?

 

Looks like a solid ride though...

 

1: There still fixing a lot of things in the ride. The trackless has an added value, they now have amazing themed floors and they can drive in Closed rooms. The trains follows a wire that reduced the possibilities a bit, but there still are some cool parts. Like the dancing part on the end.

 

2: I agree! Your able to turn the fantasy train in the ballroom, that's an really nice effect.

 

3: It's not the full onride, there is an nice photo effect on the end where you see all the animatronics in paintings, and youself (1 minute longer then MM) The ride itself takes about 7 minutes. You really need to visited it yourself, this is an camera view that don't film everything. There a lot of hidden estereggs, like a small trolley of the big carousel. A lot of effects are still not working well, they are still working on it. Today, the reactions were allmost all positive, so it will be better with the day

 

 

All the animatronic pictures will move after some particles effects

 

Full onride with end pictures:

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be] Edited by JooordiW
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It's definitely true that the ride isn't very thrilling, it's more of a relaxed ride that's about appreciating the atmosphere and theming, which is amazingly done. Now, some people might not find this exciting and would like something a bit more thrilling, but I do think this ride is awesome (definitely better in person).

Oh, I didn't mean "thrilling" I just meant that the ride seems boring, that's all. Rides like Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Mystic Manor, and even the original Haunted Mansion are also not "thrilling" but they are incredible rides! As I said, maybe the in person experience will be better, but I was really losing interest in the ride about half way through the video.

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The trains follows a wire that reduced the possibilities a bit, but there still are some cool parts. Like the dancing part on the end.

Oh, so it's not a true "trackless" ride then? A real trackless ride, like Pooh, Aquatopia, and Mystic Manor is all radio controller and the positions of the vehicles are based on GPS coordinates. On a ride like this, that tech goes all the way back to the early 1980s with rides like Universe of Energy and Great Movie Ride which are also technically "Trackless" but actually follow a guide wire under the floor. IMO, that is not a true "trackless" ride as we know it today.

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The trains follows a wire that reduced the possibilities a bit, but there still are some cool parts. Like the dancing part on the end.

Oh, so it's not a true "trackless" ride then? A real trackless ride, like Pooh, Aquatopia, and Mystic Manor is all radio controller and the positions of the vehicles are based on GPS coordinates. On a ride like this, that tech goes all the way back to the early 1980s with rides like Universe of Energy and Great Movie Ride which are also technically "Trackless" but actually follow a guide wire under the floor. IMO, that is not a true "trackless" ride as we know it today.

That's right indeed, this ride is using a wire under the themed floor (http://www.etf.nl/ride-systems/products/etf-mystic-mover). It may has something to do with the bugdet, 35 is a lot of money, but not when you compere it with an Disney darkride.

 

Ofcourse it feels like a trackless ride, people don't see the differents. But there are indeed not that mutch options like the Disney trackless darkrides. Still it's an very cool ride that you really need to see with your own eyes! Perfect for the Efteling target group

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It's definitely true that the ride isn't very thrilling, it's more of a relaxed ride that's about appreciating the atmosphere and theming, which is amazingly done. Now, some people might not find this exciting and would like something a bit more thrilling, but I do think this ride is awesome (definitely better in person).

Oh, I didn't mean "thrilling" I just meant that the ride seems boring, that's all. Rides like Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Mystic Manor, and even the original Haunted Mansion are also not "thrilling" but they are incredible rides! As I said, maybe the in person experience will be better, but I was really losing interest in the ride about half way through the video.

Ah, yes, I get what you mean, I can tell you one thing though, it's not boring in person at all! I have seen quite some criticism on little things, but nobody thinks it's boring. I can see why you would find the on-ride boring though.

 

The trains follows a wire that reduced the possibilities a bit, but there still are some cool parts. Like the dancing part on the end.

Oh, so it's not a true "trackless" ride then? A real trackless ride, like Pooh, Aquatopia, and Mystic Manor is all radio controller and the positions of the vehicles are based on GPS coordinates. On a ride like this, that tech goes all the way back to the early 1980s with rides like Universe of Energy and Great Movie Ride which are also technically "Trackless" but actually follow a guide wire under the floor. IMO, that is not a true "trackless" ride as we know it today.

Yeah, this does follow a wire in the floor instead of LPS coordinates like the newer Disney rides. It's still able to do splits, switches, dead-ends, crossings, but in a more limited way then the LPS systems. IMO, it is still trackless because you don't see a track on the ground and it is still more flexible then a tracked system.

 

BTW, does anybody know if these LPS systems are available on the market, I'm pretty sure that if you're not Disney (or another company with huge budgets to develop their own ride system) the only option for "trackless" you have is wire-guided.

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Mystic Manor uses the wired system as well.

 

I really dislike the voice of Pardoes. Apparently it is some radio DJ. So you spend 34 million to bring every detail to life, but fail to hire a decent voice actor. For such a major part. It's a shame because the voice of the lackey really nails it (same guy as in the Making Of video).

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Mystic Manor uses the wired system as well.

Huh. That's really interesting, because in another article it's said to have used the same system as Pooh...

 

Here's how it works behind the scenes: there are electronic sensors placed throughout the floor of Pooh's Hunny Hunt. A computer, drawing on a local positioning system, communicates with all of the ride vehicles, directing them on unique routes based on the floor sensors. Because of this, up to eight vehicles can exist in one ride scene, in which they all perform the same way, go in different directions or appear to "dance" together.

 

Mystic Manor features a newer version of the technology employed in Tokyo, reportedly functioning on a barcode system (yes, like at the supermarket) that works in conjunction with signals sent via WiFi. In terms of functionality, it's a lot like Pooh: four Mystic Magneto-Electric Carriages are simultaneously dispatched from the load station, you gather together for the first scene and then each car has a slightly different ride experience.

 

We have been given a walking tour of Mystic Manor as well, and they also explained that the ride was controlled via WiFi coordinates given to the ride vehicles. So I'm not sure why in that video they talk about a wire under the floor (which IMO doesn't make a ride trackless as it still follows a track, it's just not a visual one.)

 

Either way I guess it doesn't really matter if the ride experience feels unique.

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Yes, Mystic Manor uses wi-fi to control the vehicles (there's literally a router at the bottom of each vehicle, the kind you see everywhere in real life) I guess by newer version it means Pooh uses something older than wi-fi, IR if I recall correctly, to control the vehicles on which path to follow.

 

For Mystic Manor, there are sensors embedded to the floor to control and tell the vehicles if they are at the right spot and those sensors are wired together to trigger special effects etc. But the vehicles don't follow the wire, they "collect" sensors like how Mario collects the mushrooms. They go towards a certain direction until they reach the next sensor and the next sensor tells the vehicle what to do such as go towards another direction, spin, or tilt (Ratatouille). Occasionally you see metal plates on the floor but those are for quick charging since the vehicles run on battery. The wifi control tells the vehicles which path to take and is responsible for E-stop, reset, adding/removing a vehicle, adding the accessible vehicle to the course, turns on/off all the vehicles etc. By the way, when the system is shut down, all the vehicles are scattered around the ride course, that's a fun view to see.

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All these positive reviews and here I come.

Truth to be told I was underwelmt maybe expected more. It's not bad and the theming is great but the theme choice wasn't great. I really love Droomvlucht but this just didn't click to me. I think families and small children might like it, and when we where with a group and actually where creating fun it was great.

I ended up doing all three tours and the schattetour was the best but that was the ride we actually had fun on.

Honestly I really like the music and the announcement to watch your stuf and the others like those.

 

If I had to rank the Darkrides of the park:

1. Droomvlucht (remains the best after all this time)

2. Fata Morgana

3. Symbolica

4. Carnaval Festival

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^That's pretty interesting. Because I absolutely loved Symbolica. My expectations were high, and it exceeded all of them. In my opinion, the ride gets better the more you ride it because there are so many things to see, and everytime you discover something different you didn't saw the first time. For me, it is clearly the best Dark Ride at the park. But hey, we all have different opinions, and that's what makes it fun right?

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I only did the treasure tour so far. I have mixed feelings.

 

It is very well made, lots of details. Great for small children. I also love the effort they did on the outside to make the building seem smaller than it is.

But on the other hand, I found the inside too plasticy and 'merry'. Also, the little game/selection points might be nice for the people in the front seat, but it is just an annoying hold-up for the people in the back row.

 

In general, It is a high quality ride, but I prefer the more gritty rides like the flying dutchman and the Fata Morgana.

I would prefer if the Efteling sticks with its own darker fairytale style: nobody else does that like they do, while this ride looks like it could be in any Disney park.

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^That's pretty interesting. Because I absolutely loved Symbolica. My expectations were high, and it exceeded all of them. In my opinion, the ride gets better the more you ride it because there are so many things to see, and everytime you discover something different you didn't saw the first time. For me, it is clearly the best Dark Ride at the park. But hey, we all have different opinions, and that's what makes it fun right?

I'm glad to hear a lot of people seem to enjoy it which makes me happy for the fact that it's money well spend. It's just not for me and I can live with that.

 

I collected my thought and did some research as to what's "it" that doesn't allow me to connect. Symbolica is different in almost all aspects to the other Darkrides in the park.

1: Speech: It uses speech which isn't new for the Efteling Fata Morgana also has it but there is a huge difference. FM uses speech in brining their characters to life, we're on a market and people are selling things to us things like that. Symbolica however uses speech in a more story telling vibe, something happens and there is a reaction. It encourages a story that truth to be told isn't there we're just touring a castle. DV and CF don't use speech and both still sell you on whats going on. 

2: Scene's: FM and DV both feel drastically longer while FM is also around 7 minutes and DV is even shorter around 5 and a half minutes. This happens because both rides have grand set pieces as scene's and Symbolica uses small rooms, Panorama is an exception of the rule. These scene's are more to be compared to CF, although CF tries to hide this by excluding hallways like FM and DV have, Symbolica also uses Hallways which are very long and take up half the ride.

3: Split up: The fact that we have three different tours makes for a great idea somebody who doesn't go to much can suddenly be surprised by a different scene they don't remember. This is completely unique for the park, but it's one scene that's not like the others It felt like wasted potential.

4: Interactive: Again completely unique for the park yet even with the touch screens it didn't feel like you where in control except for the treasure tour with the diamond the rest felt programmed, maybe an early bug and I will keep watch of it in the future.

 

So my final conclusion is: It wasn't one thing it where more things. They could have done more but the ride fell short. It might grow on me it might never click, only time can tell.

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