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Imagine all on-and-off-ride media across a park was
able to independently tailor every individual’s story,
depending on where they are and the choices they
make – and even their emotional responses. Holovis is
delivering this revolutionary approach to park-goers
Ride and Realm creates an ongoing storyline for guests throughout the entire park
The attractions industry is being transformed by the use of storytelling and innovation to create some of the most immersive and narrative-driven experiences visitors have ever seen. Since the rise in popularity of media-based attractions, the ability to put guests at the heart of a powerful narrative and take them on adventures has changed guest expectations and boosted demand for significantly better all-immersive, multi-sensory attractions. They want engaging and unique experiences, not just a thrill.
Experience design firm Holovis knows this only too well and has been developing a recipe for taking immersive storytelling a step further by giving guests the ability to experience their own personalised interactions and engagements – and the secret to this lies in real-time technology.
“Real-time technology is driven by content rendered live from a game engine, rather than having a pre-rendered film with a fixed path and narrative that it always follows,” explains Peter Cliff, creative director at Holovis. “This opens up a whole new world for guests, allowing them to interact and influence connected experiences throughout a venue, not just at one specific attraction or experience. Each guest has their own journey and based on the decisions they make or paths they choose to take, the world around them reacts differently each time, every time.
“Unlike a game that plays out on a second screen, be that a computer, phone or in VR, the compelling approach Holovis delivers, through our Extended Experience platform, is having this take place in a real-world setting with physical objects and real-time media reacting differently for each guest based on their own interactions as well as the data collected.”
Ride and Realm Holovis brought its Extended Experience technology to the traditional dark ride attraction to create Ride and Realm (R&R), the world’s first guest and data driven real-time dark ride attraction. R&R gives guests the ability to choose their own adventure and then personalises the experiences they have based on these interactions and the data collected, with specific AI and analytics working behind the scenes to enhance the overall affect.
“It begins with a real-time game-driven attraction, using onboard interactive devices to put control in the hands of the guest,” continues Cliff. “However, as guests leave the ride for the first time, there are a number of ways that the adventure continues to play out around the park. This includes through tracking technologies with no visible guest engagement required, therefore making the experience frictionless, through phone apps with AR experiences and physical devices utilised throughout the park. These all allow gameplay to continue throughout the day and even afterwards at home, triggering complex multi-threaded narratives that continue the guest’s journey as the story unfolds.”
Guests must solve puzzles, find clues in physical locations to unlock achievements and ‘level-up’ and engage with physical entities, or even cast members, before returning to the starting point, where the experience on the dark ride will have evolved to reflect their progress, making it a unique attraction all over again.
“Ride and Realm is a near limitless experiential platform that is always different, truly re-ridable, and scalable. Whatever guests do within the ride or across the whole park has a real-time impact on their adventure as it unfolds before them. This is more than just gamification and non-linearity; this is letting guest control and determine their own destiny whilst being at the heart of a multidimensional and compelling narrative.
“Holovis is now working with clients who want the capability expanding further so that all park-wide media, both on and off their rides, reacts differently for every individual, depending on where they are in their game and the evolving storyline. This is a true revolution in theme park-wide personalisation. This is what creates memories that guests will talk about for years to come,” says Cliff. “In this age of social media and the increasing demand for everything to be connected, this solution results in highly rich content being shared by guests continuously throughout their journey, further supporting and enhancing the parks social communications and brands.”
Technology driven Behind the scenes, Holovis’s team of software engineers has been developing advanced data capture and artificial intelligence analytics, as part of the Extended Experience platform, that allow the story to become personalised to each guest based on their physical, intellectual and emotional reactions.
“We can now use our tracking technologies to measure reactions in highly personalised ways, with patents pending around our latest solutions. Artificial intelligence is being used to understand emotional responses from our audiences and to further adapt the story and the intensity of the attraction to their own preference. Our machine-learning systems are also being applied to interactivity platforms in order to learn about people’s responses, so we can, for example, alter the difficultly of the gameplay to keep them involved and engaged based on their individual skills and abilities, making the attraction far more inclusive for all.”
Cliff says: “This is the power of real-time-everything and we’re just at the beginning of telling this story.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
People profile: Damien Hirst
Turner Prize-winning artist Damien Hirst exhibits a series of spot paintings and huge sculptures at a Norfolk stately home
People profile: Penka Kouneva
Movie and video game composer Penka Kouneva moves into the world of attractions with the Heroes and Legends exhibit and VR installations
Industry Opinion: Zoos & Aquariums
WAZA’s Sabrina Brando on providing animals with opportunities for choices, stimulating environments and enriching activities
Interview: Sultan Al Dhaheri
With the launch of Warner Bros World and
the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, the Department
of Culture and Tourism’s Sultan Al Dhaheri
explains how investing in attractions is
helping the emirate meet its tourism goals
Animal sanctuaries: Paws for Thought
The UK’s Big Cat Sanctuary is the subject
of a recent BBC documentary. Managing
director Giles Clark explains how the
facility works – and introduces Maya
the jaguar and Willow the cheetah
Science Centres: Getting Engaged
Researchers Dr Amy Seakins and
Dr Heather King explain how science
capital empowers science centres
to engage wider audiences in STEM,
plus European initiatives in action
Digital art: Light Fantastic
Tokyo-based digital art collective teamLab is
on a mission to change the way we interact
with and experience art. Magali Robathan
reports on the group’s installation work
and their upcoming museum launch
In a world where imbalance often accumulates quietly, Wildsmith unveils its newest
wellbeing innovation: Silent Loads, an approach designed to meet the needs of modern spa
guests with precision and depth. [more...]
Imagine all on-and-off-ride media across a park was
able to independently tailor every individual’s story,
depending on where they are and the choices they
make – and even their emotional responses. Holovis is
delivering this revolutionary approach to park-goers
Ride and Realm creates an ongoing storyline for guests throughout the entire park
The attractions industry is being transformed by the use of storytelling and innovation to create some of the most immersive and narrative-driven experiences visitors have ever seen. Since the rise in popularity of media-based attractions, the ability to put guests at the heart of a powerful narrative and take them on adventures has changed guest expectations and boosted demand for significantly better all-immersive, multi-sensory attractions. They want engaging and unique experiences, not just a thrill.
Experience design firm Holovis knows this only too well and has been developing a recipe for taking immersive storytelling a step further by giving guests the ability to experience their own personalised interactions and engagements – and the secret to this lies in real-time technology.
“Real-time technology is driven by content rendered live from a game engine, rather than having a pre-rendered film with a fixed path and narrative that it always follows,” explains Peter Cliff, creative director at Holovis. “This opens up a whole new world for guests, allowing them to interact and influence connected experiences throughout a venue, not just at one specific attraction or experience. Each guest has their own journey and based on the decisions they make or paths they choose to take, the world around them reacts differently each time, every time.
“Unlike a game that plays out on a second screen, be that a computer, phone or in VR, the compelling approach Holovis delivers, through our Extended Experience platform, is having this take place in a real-world setting with physical objects and real-time media reacting differently for each guest based on their own interactions as well as the data collected.”
Ride and Realm Holovis brought its Extended Experience technology to the traditional dark ride attraction to create Ride and Realm (R&R), the world’s first guest and data driven real-time dark ride attraction. R&R gives guests the ability to choose their own adventure and then personalises the experiences they have based on these interactions and the data collected, with specific AI and analytics working behind the scenes to enhance the overall affect.
“It begins with a real-time game-driven attraction, using onboard interactive devices to put control in the hands of the guest,” continues Cliff. “However, as guests leave the ride for the first time, there are a number of ways that the adventure continues to play out around the park. This includes through tracking technologies with no visible guest engagement required, therefore making the experience frictionless, through phone apps with AR experiences and physical devices utilised throughout the park. These all allow gameplay to continue throughout the day and even afterwards at home, triggering complex multi-threaded narratives that continue the guest’s journey as the story unfolds.”
Guests must solve puzzles, find clues in physical locations to unlock achievements and ‘level-up’ and engage with physical entities, or even cast members, before returning to the starting point, where the experience on the dark ride will have evolved to reflect their progress, making it a unique attraction all over again.
“Ride and Realm is a near limitless experiential platform that is always different, truly re-ridable, and scalable. Whatever guests do within the ride or across the whole park has a real-time impact on their adventure as it unfolds before them. This is more than just gamification and non-linearity; this is letting guest control and determine their own destiny whilst being at the heart of a multidimensional and compelling narrative.
“Holovis is now working with clients who want the capability expanding further so that all park-wide media, both on and off their rides, reacts differently for every individual, depending on where they are in their game and the evolving storyline. This is a true revolution in theme park-wide personalisation. This is what creates memories that guests will talk about for years to come,” says Cliff. “In this age of social media and the increasing demand for everything to be connected, this solution results in highly rich content being shared by guests continuously throughout their journey, further supporting and enhancing the parks social communications and brands.”
Technology driven Behind the scenes, Holovis’s team of software engineers has been developing advanced data capture and artificial intelligence analytics, as part of the Extended Experience platform, that allow the story to become personalised to each guest based on their physical, intellectual and emotional reactions.
“We can now use our tracking technologies to measure reactions in highly personalised ways, with patents pending around our latest solutions. Artificial intelligence is being used to understand emotional responses from our audiences and to further adapt the story and the intensity of the attraction to their own preference. Our machine-learning systems are also being applied to interactivity platforms in order to learn about people’s responses, so we can, for example, alter the difficultly of the gameplay to keep them involved and engaged based on their individual skills and abilities, making the attraction far more inclusive for all.”
Cliff says: “This is the power of real-time-everything and we’re just at the beginning of telling this story.”
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
People profile: Damien Hirst
Turner Prize-winning artist Damien Hirst exhibits a series of spot paintings and huge sculptures at a Norfolk stately home
People profile: Penka Kouneva
Movie and video game composer Penka Kouneva moves into the world of attractions with the Heroes and Legends exhibit and VR installations
Industry Opinion: Zoos & Aquariums
WAZA’s Sabrina Brando on providing animals with opportunities for choices, stimulating environments and enriching activities
Interview: Sultan Al Dhaheri
With the launch of Warner Bros World and
the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, the Department
of Culture and Tourism’s Sultan Al Dhaheri
explains how investing in attractions is
helping the emirate meet its tourism goals
Animal sanctuaries: Paws for Thought
The UK’s Big Cat Sanctuary is the subject
of a recent BBC documentary. Managing
director Giles Clark explains how the
facility works – and introduces Maya
the jaguar and Willow the cheetah
Science Centres: Getting Engaged
Researchers Dr Amy Seakins and
Dr Heather King explain how science
capital empowers science centres
to engage wider audiences in STEM,
plus European initiatives in action
Digital art: Light Fantastic
Tokyo-based digital art collective teamLab is
on a mission to change the way we interact
with and experience art. Magali Robathan
reports on the group’s installation work
and their upcoming museum launch
A recent survey by the UK Spa Association (UKSA) into the industry’s approach to cancer care
has revealed that almost half of participating respondents (46 per cent) are unaware that
cancer is a disability and guests with a cancer diagnosis must be given
Mexican operator, Solmar Hotels and Resorts, is hosting a series of events in celebration of
Global Wellness Day, including a Temazcal ceremony at its Playa Grande Resort and Spa in Los
Cabos.
Mandarin Oriental has announced a standalone residence brand, Mansions, which will debut at
Emirates Palace, Mandarin Oriental Mansions, Abu Dhabi, in 2029.
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
Swire Hotels’ luxury hospitality brand Upper House has revealed it will roll out its two-day
House of Healing retreats at its three hotels in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
In a world where imbalance often accumulates quietly, Wildsmith unveils its newest
wellbeing innovation: Silent Loads, an approach designed to meet the needs of modern spa
guests with precision and depth. [more...]
