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If you go to PortAventura this summer, don't miss this world premiere

If you go to PortAventura this summer, don't miss this world premiere

To celebrate its 30th anniversary in style, the PortAventura World resort is not short of good ideas. The warmer weather is coming, and the destination hopes to delight its summer visitors with an unexpected innovation on one of its flagship coasters. Since May 28, the wooden roller coaster El Diablo – Tren de la Mina (or simply Le Train de la Mine in French) has been hosting an experience never before seen on an attraction of this type: mixed reality headsets.

For several years now, major entertainment destinations have been trying to include virtual reality in their rides, Europa Park being certainly the most obvious example. But where virtual reality breaks the charm of a real coaster by replacing our field of vision with digital images, the integration of mixed reality is already more relevant.

Here, the objective is to accompany the classic experience of the attraction by integrating additional interactive elements, using a mixed reality headset. The outside world is transmitted directly into the lenses of the headset and enhanced with 3D elements and animations synchronized with the route of the attraction.

This new way of experiencing the El Diablo attraction is unfortunately not free: you have to pay an additional €4 for a ride on the futuristic coaster. This addition is part of the “PortAventura Neo” initiative aimed at transforming the way people experience a visit to the resort’s parks. It also comes with an evolution of the Hysteria in Boothill experience in the Far West area.

Innovation, immersion and… artificial intelligence

This year, Hysteria in Boothill is getting a well-deserved overhaul. The horror mixed reality ride has revised its narrative to make it clearer for visitors. The visuals have also been reworked for greater immersion, further enhanced by additional physical effects such as vibrations, hot air, real vegetation and more.

PortAventura has revealed, however, that the development of this experience has incorporated “generative artificial intelligence at all stages.” The destination even adds that Tools such as Midjourney, Move AI, Runway, and ChatGPT have made it possible to create characters, voices, and visual content with a level of detail never before seen in a theme park.” An initiative that seems to have good intentions, in order to push the boundaries of what today’s parks can offer.

However,in an industry that is supposed to promote creativity and different art forms for the benefit of immersion, entrusting the park’s innovation projects to generative AI is a bit regrettable. We will have to discover this experience in person to see if artificial intelligence has truly managed to deliver results that meet the usual standards for immersive attractions.

In the meantime, it is already possible to see promotional visuals entirely generated by AI on the PortAventura website, with some images that almost fall into the uncanny valley. This is particularly the case on the El Diablo Neo experience page, where we find an original photo with faces replaced by AI, or scenes supposedly representing mixed reality environments. PortAventura's innovation objectives sell us a dream, the replacement of human artistic activities: a little less.

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