Johannesburg’s Gold Reef City Theme Park boasts Africa’s first 4D riThe Theme Park offers entertainment for the whole family, rides and live entertainment. But if the real roller coasters are not your cup of tea, the 4D Ride can provide a rollercoaster for the senses.
Gold Reef’s “4D Ride’ is an interactive experience. Not only do images jump out off the screen in the best 3D quality, but there is also the motion of the seats, wind, vibration and a range of scents which add extra dimension to the whole experience.
Installed initially in 2006, the ride was updated this year with the help and guidance of Digital Fabric, who were the original consultant company for the project.
Explains Gavin Olivier of Digital Fabric: “The system is based on Christie 3D projection, BSM video servers, Nexo audio, Crestron control and Kraftwerk motion bases and effects systems.’
Theme Park visitors gain free access to the 4D Ride with their entrance pass. The ride seats 96 people and can be turned around in less than 10 minutes during peak times, essential when you have close to a million visitors a year. The films are not long, typically between nine and 12 minutes, which is usual for attraction films.
Although the attraction has seen minimum downtime over the years: “The writing was on the wall regarding select key items, such as the Christie projectors needed replacing and the now discontinued Mediasonic video servers, were presenting a risk of breaking, resulting in down time,’ says Olivier.
Originally the system had Christie DS+8K projectors. “This was before affordable full HD projectors,’ points out Olivier. “In order to fit the native HD content in, we overshot the 16:9 screen with the unused portion of the SX+ projection chips. It was a compromise, but it looked great – and for six years did the job.
“With the advent of the Christie HD-M series projectors which use cheaper lamps sets, it was a no-brainer to switch. In the process the ride achieved full HD and the difference between the cost of the previous Xenon lamps and the new UHP lamps will pay for the projectors within a few years. Christie veteran Andi Rogers of Fifty South supplied and fitted the new projectors and made the required modifications to the mounts and cabling.’
As far as the rest of the system was concerned the video servers were the weakest link. The park wanted to have a fool proof solution and, since the Mediasonic 9200 video players have been discontinued, Digital Fabric chose a single Brainsalt Media stereo server with redundant drives and power supplies as a replacement and coupled this with a BSS Soundweb BLU100 for audio routing and processing to augment the existing Nexo audio system. “The existing PS10 amplifier and speaker combo were still in perfect shape and needed very little attention,’ adds Olivier.
The whole system is still driven by a Crestron controller. The original unit has been re-programmed with a simplified layout to suit the new equipment and functionality using the existing operator touchscreen and large format X-Panel interface in the control room.
The entire upgrade was implemented in just five weekdays, up and running again in time for the busy weekend schedule.
