By CHRIS McGOWAN
By CHRIS McGOWAN
VR, AR and VFX continue to enhance the range of rides and experiences in North America, Europe and Asia. Theme parks, malls, entertainment centers, museums, aquariums, zoos, cruise ships and various other venues are using digital magic to present new types of gaming, entertainment and educational attractions.
Falcon’s Creative Group is an Orlando, Florida-based experience design company that has worked on a wide variety of immersive destinations. “Falcon’s Creative Group continues to expand in size, scope and ambition of our projects. We remain dedicated to innovation within the experience economy, constantly pushing boundaries in storytelling, technology and immersive design,” says Jason Ambler, President of Content Strategy & Innovation for Falcon’s Beyond. “Real-time engines like Unreal have become integral to our process, allowing us to create highly dynamic and interactive experiences. Beyond media-based or interactive attractions, we’re embracing personalized, extended experiences that seamlessly connect digital and physical worlds, redefining how audiences engage with entertainment across both location-based and virtual spaces.”
One of Falcon’s efforts is an educational experience for the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida. The zoo commissioned Falcon’s to design and implement a turnkey AR experience for their new “Rainforest Revealed” exhibit. The goal was to educate guests about the seasonal flooding of the rainforest and how the pacu fish play a pivotal role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem. The AR experience was developed utilizing the Unity game engine that communicates with HTC Vive trackers and Lighthouse 2.0 cameras to generate 3D tracking data. The pass-through AR system integrates the real-time virtual content with a live video feed captured from a wireless tablet PC. The AR experience from the tablet is then wirelessly cast to a large external monitor and speaker system.
Falcon’s also moved the platform forward by designing Falcon’s Vision, the first AR headset specifically designed for location-based entertainment. It debuted inside the National Geographic Museum’s award-winning “Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall” exhibition. “This technology has since continued to evolve, and we’re leveraging it for several upcoming projects. Our focus remains on developing immersive, practical AR applications that enhance guest experiences without disrupting operational efficiency,” comments Ambler.
Falcon’s was also a leader in some of the first VR roller-coaster rides. “Several years ago, various operators explored retrofitting attractions with consumer-grade VR and AR headsets which was not ever going to be a sustainable solution in our opinion,” Ambler says. “However, we successfully developed ‘Battle for Eire’ at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which became the world’s highest-capacity VR attraction. We achieved this by rethinking how and where headsets could be interfaced with, significantly improving both capacity and hygiene. We believe the industry will continue shifting toward more custom, seamless and scalable solutions. We’re seeing more custom applications designed to integrate seamlessly into existing experiences rather than retrofitting rides with consumer-grade hardware. The most successful implementations will be those that balance immersion with operational feasibility.”
Ambler notes, “We’re fortunate to be developing both original and licensed experiences. Some of this work includes a joint venture with Raging Power Limited, an arm of Hong Kong-based cultural commerce giant, K11 Group, to develop innovative virtual sea life entertainment experiences throughout China. Additionally, we have a global licensing agreement with The Hershey Company to bring Hershey-themed location-based entertainment venues to life with experiential attractions and retail experiences. We’re also collaborating with Qiddiya Investment Company on an extensive scope of work focused on the master planning and designing of several first-of-its-kind immersive entertainment projects for Qiddiya City, the world’s first city built for play, near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”
Theme park Europa-Park, a subsidiary of Mack Rides based in Rust, Germany, has some 20 themed areas, around 100 attractions, including shows, and 14 roller coasters. It is also a leader in VR experiences and there are several in Europa-Park and next door in the affiliated Rulantica water park. Marcus Ernst, Project Leader for Mack Research, says, “Alpenexpress Coastiality was our first retrofit VR coaster, meaning we upgraded an existing Mack Rides attraction with VR technology. The goal was to give the ride a fresh appeal and extend its operational lifespan. The success of this approach led to the founding of VR Coaster GmbH & Co., which now offers this technology to theme parks worldwide.”
With Eurosat Coastiality, Europa-Park took a step further by incorporating free-roaming VR. Ernst explains, “Guests put on the VR headset in the pre-show, then board the ride without taking it off, seamlessly transitioning into the ride experience. Since 2023, we have been offering a brand-new IP with ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ which includes entirely new VR content.”
YULLBE, a free-roaming VR experience center, was the logical next step for Europa-Park, creating a fully digital VR attraction independent of a physical ride. Ernst comments, “With high capacity and minimal space requirements, YULLBE offers immersive experiences for the whole family and represents the cutting edge of VR technology in themed entertainment.” “Dr. G – Victory on Venus” is a VR experience at YULLBE. Developed in cooperation with five-time Oscar winner Richard Taylor (The Lord of the Rings series, King Kong) and Wētā Workshop artist Greg Broadmore, “Dr. G – Victory on Venus” is a VR adventure that catapults the visitor to Venus where war is raging between the nations of Earth over colonies on our sister planet. Regarding MR, Ernst adds, “Over the past two years, we have been heavily investing in Mixed Reality (MR) as the next evolution of VR. Several attractions now feature MR onboarding using Passthrough MR before transitioning to VR for the main experience. This builds on the ‘roam and ride’ concept pioneered with Eurosat Coastiality.”
“We are [also] actively researching Optical See-Through (OST) AR glasses for rides like the Euro-Tower, as well as for Dark Rides and even entire themed areas. Currently in prototype testing, we are optimistic about launching a permanent and large-scale AR experience in the near future,” Ernst says. “The use of VR, AR and MR in theme parks is rapidly expanding, driven by continuous technological advancements.”
“SpongeBob’s Crazy Carnival Ride,” which opened in 2024 at Circus Circus Las Vegas, is an interactive, immersive ride utilizing extensive VFX designed by Sally Dark Rides, based in Jacksonville, Florida, which has worked on numerous amusement attractions. “For years, we have been looking for a chance to take Sally Dark Rides interactive gaming to the next level. With the new ‘SpongeBob’s Crazy Carnival’ dark ride, we found the perfect opportunity,” says Rich Hill, Sally Rides Chief Creative Officer.
“Basing the ride’s ‘story’ around a carnival in the undersea world of Bikini Bottom [where SpongeBob and his friends live] allowed us to play a series of midway games hosted by SpongeBob SquarePants’s incredible cast of characters,” Rich remarks. “Working closely with our friends at Nickelodeon and Ride Media Productions, the games were built in Unity Game Engine. 4K resolution games are displayed on LED video screens and high-gain screens with laser projectors. Interactive gaming technology is provided by Alterface, using a proprietary camera-based system that allows us to not only blast objects in the digital environment, but also take the gaming off the screen, affecting practical elements in the show sets.”
Rich continues, “For us, VFX has been and will always be an important piece of ride design, as it allows us to give characters who perform in our attractions dynamic action. In the past, those performances would [have been] too expensive to deliver with our animatronics or animated set pieces. [VFX] has proven to be an invaluable tool for creating a full-rounded experience for guests.”
“As you can imagine, creating a superhero attraction like ‘Justice League: Battle for Metropolis’ at Six Flags parks would have been almost impossible without the use of digitally animated scenes. We used a nice mix of animatronics and CG media, but we knew animated media would be an important part of the equation,” Rich explains. “A hallmark of a Sally Dark Ride is delivering a perfect blend of practical sets and scenery and visual effects. We want to blow guests away with the feeling of being in a real, tangible setting while experiencing magical things that their eyes can’t believe.”
“Real-time engines like Unreal have become integral to our process, allowing us to create highly dynamic and interactive experiences. Beyond media-based or interactive attractions, we’re embracing personalized, extended experiences that seamlessly connect digital and physical worlds, redefining how audiences engage with entertainment across both location-based and virtual spaces.”
—Jason Ambler, President of Content Strategy & Innovation, Falcon’s Beyond
Rich notes, “Augmented Reality is a recent innovation that has a lot of opportunity to develop in the theme park attraction world. Having digital video elements viewed on a transparent display overlaid on practical sets and scenery is kind of the perfect format for a dark ride. While Sally Dark Rides hasn’t created a ride that uses AR yet, we have conceptualized a few, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in rides we build soon.”
Tokyo Joypolis is a three-story indoor amusement park in Japan operated by video game heavyweight Sega, and is known for its interactive tech-fueled attractions, including thrill rides with digital enhancements and virtual reality games. One of its attractions is Zero Latency, a multi-player, free-roaming VR game venue. One player can battle zombies, robots or other foes with up to five friends in an immersive shoot-’em-up using cutting-edge headsets and VR technology. With 100+ venues across 25+ countries, Zero Latency, based in Melbourne, Australia, is the largest free-roam VR network in the world and has been played by more than four million players worldwide, according to the firm.
Framestore has worked on many immersive theme-park projects, such as “Jumanji: The Adventure” at Gardaland, Italy. “Jumanji: The Adventure” marked the first Jumanji ride created in a new partnership between Sony Pictures and Merlin Entertainments. Merlin involved Framestore from the concept stage to design. Guests journey through 12 unique scenes, transporting them into the Jumanji universe with animatronics, immersive screens, projection mapped environments, holographic illusions and multi-motion ride vehicles.
Framestore also worked on Samsung’s “A Moon for All Mankind,” the world’s first lunar-gravity simulation VR experience, created in collaboration with NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), using Samsung Gear VR and a custom-built rig. Framestore also worked with Thinkwell Group on “The Twilight Saga: Midnight Ride” at Lionsgate Entertainment World at Hengqin, China, a group VR experience that sees visitors mount motorcycles to join Jacob Black and his wolfpack on a journey through the forest.
The immersive team at Framestore “has been working feverishly on several attractions due in 2025 across a range of attractions and other spaces,” says Framestore Global Head of Immersive Karl Woolley. That includes themed attractions like Universal’s Epic Universe as well as spaces such as museums. “Framestore has been busy with several groundbreaking exhibitions in development around the world,” Woolley notes. “The level at which these exhibits are aiming has reached new heights. Another exciting area of the industry that is growing rapidly is the development of bespoke and unique venue types, which currently don’t fit into any existing category.”
“Our Immersive team often operates at the sharp end of innovation,” says Maximilian McNair MacEwan, Framestore Head of Strategic Partnerships. Over the next couple of years, we are excited to flip that and bring some of our big screen prestige to the theme park industry – think high quality digital humans and recreations of much-loved IPs that are indistinguishable from reality. With breakthroughs in screen technologies, we can now create creatures or elements that feel, convincingly, as though they are in the room with you.”
Quite often, it’s not just one breakthrough that enables an idea to come to life – it’s a series of technologies pooled together and combined with artistry to pull off this trickery. MacEwan comments, “We’ve worked with transparent and lenticular screens in the past with ‘Field Trip to Mars’ VR and AR for LBE and ‘Ascend the Wall for Game of Thrones,’ but these technologies are improving and coming down in cost all the time, meaning you’re far more likely to see them deployed for guest experiences.”
MacEwan explains, “In the past, guest throughput was a blocker to the adoption of some of these technologies, but with underlying advancements in technology and by leveraging AI, we now have options available to the attractions industry that were previously limited to controlled studio environments. For example, motion capture used to need a lot of expensive equipment and a vast array of technology, servers and cables, but we can now live-track humans and other 3D objects on a much smaller and cost-effective footprint, which, combined with real-time generated visuals, [helps us] do some really amazing things.”
“The intersection of real-time technology, immersive media and dynamic guest experiences is evolving faster than ever,” Ambler says. “As we move forward, the key to success will be blending innovation with operational pragmatism – creating experiences that are not only groundbreaking but also scalable and sustainable for years to come.”
