Dr Archibald: Master of Horror - Review
Dr Archibald is a massive ride that tours the German funfair scene, and then sets up home in Hyde Park for Christmas as part of the annual Winter Wonderland event. It has an incredibly themed facade that shows multiple cars travelling around and through different levels. It looks amazing when lit up at night, as can be see in the pictures below.
The usual virtual reality experience is based around time travel, and transports guests to different fantasy worlds and environments, but for 2026 - a new makeover has been introduced turning the ride into Master of Horror. But was it as horrific as promoted?
After a very long queue (this ride really does not have the greatest capacity at just 2 people per car) we finally boarded and entered what appeared to be an abandoned shopping mall. As with most VR - the footage is no where near lifelike, but is immersive enough to make you feel you are in the environment. The footage timed with the movement of the cars works well, for example, the lift hill up to the next level is portrayed throughout the head set as a broken down escalator.
What we really noticed though, was that the VR was only really aimed at what was happening in front of us. In other VR (for example the Brain Shocker ride at Traumatica) you can look behind you and see the orderly pushing you in your wheelchair. Whenever we looked round in this attraction, we were just greeted by darkness. It's as if there is a headlight on our car and we are only meant to look forward through the gloom.
Along the way we encountered spiders, zombies, killer plants etc and although they were present in the environment they never really jumped out or got up close. The VR could have been used to create some genuine jump scares, but for the most part it was just there to create a spooky atmosphere for us to pass through.
All in, we enjoyed our run through Master of Horror but don't think we would necessarily pay or queue to experience it again. It is a fun use of the technology, and the concept of effective VR on a moving ride vehicle is impressively delivered, but we just weren't scared by it.
The usual virtual reality experience is based around time travel, and transports guests to different fantasy worlds and environments, but for 2026 - a new makeover has been introduced turning the ride into Master of Horror. But was it as horrific as promoted?
After a very long queue (this ride really does not have the greatest capacity at just 2 people per car) we finally boarded and entered what appeared to be an abandoned shopping mall. As with most VR - the footage is no where near lifelike, but is immersive enough to make you feel you are in the environment. The footage timed with the movement of the cars works well, for example, the lift hill up to the next level is portrayed throughout the head set as a broken down escalator.
What we really noticed though, was that the VR was only really aimed at what was happening in front of us. In other VR (for example the Brain Shocker ride at Traumatica) you can look behind you and see the orderly pushing you in your wheelchair. Whenever we looked round in this attraction, we were just greeted by darkness. It's as if there is a headlight on our car and we are only meant to look forward through the gloom.
Along the way we encountered spiders, zombies, killer plants etc and although they were present in the environment they never really jumped out or got up close. The VR could have been used to create some genuine jump scares, but for the most part it was just there to create a spooky atmosphere for us to pass through.
All in, we enjoyed our run through Master of Horror but don't think we would necessarily pay or queue to experience it again. It is a fun use of the technology, and the concept of effective VR on a moving ride vehicle is impressively delivered, but we just weren't scared by it.
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