Back on March 8, 2017, Knott’s Berry Farm and VRstudios announced the first permanent installation of a free-roaming, multi-player VR experience in a U.S. theme park. The experience is located inside the Knott’s Berry Farm Boardwalk Arcade. A new custom and industry first virtual reality (VR) experience, “VR Showdown in Ghost Town” made its debut on April 1 for the opening of the Boysenberry Festival.
The immersive and interactive VR attraction invites guests to embark on a time travel adventure, which transports them to a futuristic version of Knott’s western town of Calico. Players are met by robotic creations and embark on a daring mission with other groups of players to defend the town.
The one-of-a-kind immersive experience perfectly combines virtual reality and a competitive gaming realm that captivates guests. Armed with state-of-the-art wireless virtual reality headsets and futuristic blasters, multiple players compete against one another for the highest score and bragging rights, as part of this immersive adventure, while striving toward shared team goals. At the end of the VR competition, guests are able to view and compare scores with their fellow opponents.
“We are always looking for new and exciting ways to entertain our guests,” said Christian Dieckmann, Cedar Fair’s Vice President of Strategic Growth. “By using a free-roaming system, we can take full advantage of the capabilities of VR and let our guests be the stars of the show. A majority of people have not yet experienced VR, and we anticipate there will be a lot of interest from guests to have their first taste at our park.”
Review: Knotts VR Showdown in Ghost Town
We took part in the Knotts VR Showdown in Ghost Town and thought it was a really great and FUN experience! The technology worked really well for a great immersive experience. The staff were very well trained and really helpful. The VR itself was like being in a first person shooter type video game.
The experience is rather fast paced with the robot cowboys confronting you almost immediately. We would have really liked to explore Ghost Town more and see if there were any cool hidden gems, but we also understand the game experience needs to move guests along so as not to create too long of a backup.
We think the VR Showdown in Ghost Town is a great new experience for Knott’s Berry Farm and look forward to trying it again on subsequent visits. We could also see this experience easily being copied at some of the other Cedar Fair parks, like on the Cedar Point Frontier Trail or in Kings Island’s Rivertown district.
VR Showdown is currently an introductory $6.00 fee per person.
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