Manufactured by Triotech Into the Deep is one of two dark rides that reside at the recently opened Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia.
The ride is located in the Discovery Springs zone of the park as guests will embark on an underwater expedition to restore life beneath the waves.
If you’re building a dark ride then physical sets are an absolute must to really draw guests into the heart and soul of the story you’re wishing to telling and Into the Deep starts off with quite a lovely queue-line that immerses you in this underwater trench almost before you board your vehicle.
The second you board that vehicle, the immersion for me, sadly, ends there.
These 4-seat motion carts do feature a nice array of movement and 360-degree rotation but armed with a little shooting gun you’re simply taking fire at a variety of high-quality screens featuring a whole array of sea creatures.
These creatures don’t pose a threat, nor is there any story being weaved about why we are randomly shooting at harmless sea creatures but Into The Deep is so screen-heavy that it instantly detaches me from whatever the ride is supposed to be.
There is couple of moments where the ride passes through a physical set such as one featuring some Jellyfish but sadly that doesn’t really hit as it feels quite lazy in its design. We then randomly come face to face with a dragon with zero explanation as to why he’s there before concluding in front of a rather beautiful physical set piece of a magical rock or crystal before going back into the station.
Into the Deep has such a puzzling storyline but stepping away from the dark ride being pretty poor the actual tech that Triotech have designed could be implemented in a much more physical themed environment that would have made it much more thrilling.
The ride spans 26,000 square feet but the screens feel copy and paste and whilst the ride duration is very respectable it feels very repetitive in its execution which is a real shame.
I went into the ride rather hopeful and sadly all the times I rode it I was not only underwhelmed but we broke down every single time I went on it. Keep in mind this was during the parks soft opening event so these teething issues are to be expected but sadly it would need a LOT more work doing to it to bring it up to the level of quality and detail that The Enchanted Greenhouse possesses.
You’d think with such a stellar dark ride like that residing in the park that this would be on par in terms of design, investment and quality but sadly it just wasn’t meant to be.
What Into the Deep is however is a good ride for kids and families to seek some shelter away from those hot temperatures and to get lost for however long in this little shoot-um-up.
So whilst it didn’t hit for me, it’ll certainly be a fun one for the family and any out there competitive enough to rack up a high score to compete with their family or friends.
CLICK HERE to watch the full ride POV
