If being thrown around in a metal cart isn’t extreme enough for you, try adding virtual reality to the mix.
Six Flags Magic Mountain is teaming up with Samsung and Oculus VR to add virtual reality technology to its roller coasters. The Los Angles Times reports that patrons of the Valencia, Calif. theme park will be offered VR goggles so that as their bodies are hurled in different directions they can also watch scenes of a midair battle with aliens to intensify the experience.
Magic Mountain is opening a new roller coaster in the spring called New Revolution, which Six Flags says will be “one of North America’s first dedicated Virtual Reality Roller Coasters.” VR technology is also set to be implemented at eight other U.S. locations.
The VR plan eases the pressure to design new roller coasters, which International Theme Park Services president Dennis Speigel told the Times could cost $25 million. Instead, Six Flags will be able rewrite the VR software to create different experiences and continue to attract the same customers.
Six Flags (SIX) isn’t the first park to think of this. VR roller coasters are already being offered at Europa Park in Germany, and an English theme park announced in January that it would be employing the new technology as well.