Intertwixt 11: Theme Park, With Glasses

I stepped back through the portal into Celestial Park at Epic Universe…for the third time this year. I was there for pre-opening previews and to interview Shigeru Miyamoto, and this time I was taking the family.

But for all three times, I had smart glasses on.

Meta Ray-Ban glasses (not the Display ones) have become fantastic vacation glasses for me, particularly at theme parks. They can make phone calls on the fly while carrying food or waiting on a ride line. And they can take quick photos or videos without pulling out your phone - something my older son appreciated, since he said one of the reasons he takes so few photos at theme parks is he wants to just experience it all for himself.

I admire his attitude on that, and I wish glasses could truly be that for me entirely. It’s…not that simple. I do love that the Meta Ray-Bans free me to just look around, be there. Casting spells with a wand, talking to that magical painting in the streets of Paris, or using the Nintendo Power-Up bands to bop on blocks. But it’s also a bit of a cognitive trap. I know I’m recording. And as I turn my head, I’m framing my shots. I’ve become more addicted to making sure I’m recording, grabbing the shot…because it’s always there on my face. As a Vacation Dad, I’m taking more photos than ever. I can’t help it.

Even without a phone, I wonder sometimes if I’m truly as “there” as when I’m not recording clips with my face. Sometimes it’s nice to just remember things as I remember them…to paraphrase a disturbing David Lynch film.

I was wearing second-gen Ray-Bans this time, which have better battery life and better video recording quality. The battery life makes a big difference. Instead of 2-3 recharges a day like I needed before (swapping with my non-smart glasses in my bag), I only needed a second charge-up. But that’s the thing: I still needed that charge-up. Battery life ran roughly about 8am-3pm each day before running out. Between that and my battery pack for my phone, which I need through the day just because (and to connect with wands and bands for interactive games), that’s a bit of gear-juggling on a vacation.

Epic Universe, I realized again, is a beautiful theme park. Not a perfect one, though. I love how detailed each world is, and I appreciated just spending more casual exploring time in each. I also love Celestial Park’s chill vibe as the hub in the hub-and-spokes layout. It’s a totally unique thing compared to Disney and other Universal parks. It’s a bit like EPCOT, or Universal CityWalk, or just a between space. It’s almost a bit too “empty” for me, but it also allowed my family, my wife in particular, to decompress. It was our own recharging space, even on a busy “Jersey Week” where a lot of parents with a few days off around Election Day go for a mini-vacation.

Also, like all parks, rides break down unexpectedly. We had generally good luck, but Hiccup’s Wing Gliders — the best ride in the park, in our collective vote — wasn’t running one night. And Cirque Arcanus, a must-watch show in the Ministry of Magic Paris zone, was stalled out one night. But then re-opened. Also, the interactive stations at Ministry and Super Nintendo World were down in different ways at times. A few store windows weren’t working for spellcasting, and the Power-Up Bands weren’t syncing with the phone app one day. You roll the dice at theme parks, and it can break the immersion.

You can read my general impressions about Epic Universe here and here from earlier in the year, but a few new things hit me this time around.

One: Curse of the Werewolf, a spinning coaster I thought was underwhelming the first visits, became one my kids’ favorite rides. It becomes fantastic at night, when the turns become unpredictable and more sinister. It’s still too short, but it really impressed me this time around. Lesson: only do Dark Universe at night. Also: you can see the werewolf! I totally missed that there was a werewolf at all the first few times riding during the day, but it’s there. Or, they’re there. I won’t say where, just to keep a bit of surprise.

Two: Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, which sometimes made me dizzy the first few times, got better the more I tried it. I got my “VR legs” with the AR visor and its head-turn controls, and accepting the lag. My kids had a lot more ease playing it. It makes me excited for a future next-gen spin on this idea, when glasses become smaller, higher-performance. Or, not even bound to a particular ride. But Bowser’s Challenge became more of a must-ride for us than Donkey Kong Mine-Cart Madness, and we loved chasing new high scores. Also, the line experience is so good.

Three: I love the idea of things that can interact with the world around me, like the Wizarding Wands or Nintendo’s Power-Up Bands. My kids were sometimes into that, though, and sometimes not. We had a great time going through a few of Nintendo World’s biggest band-interaction rooms, including the Bowser Jr. battle. And we tried a couple of the phone-connected adventure quests you can do with the vibrating, light-up 2.0 wands (that cost more, sadly). But when the experiences broke, it felt like a big disconnect. And also, the kids grew tired of it sometimes. 

Which makes me wonder…could glasses be the next step?

I know Disney has its Magic Band as a through-the-park wearable, although it doesn’t tap and interact with stuff (yet) as much as the wands and bands do at Epic Universe and Wizarding World in Universal’s other parks. Disney’s already thinking about leaning on smart glasses like the Ray-Bans as theme park companions. Could some sort of Magic Glasses be a future park companion?

Of course, they’d need to fit over regular glasses somehow, or work with devices we’d bring with us - but the problem is, smart glasses aren’t like smart watches or phones right now. Few people have them, and sometimes they don’t even work with all prescriptions. 

I have these AR fantasies of interacting with magic stuff in the park: like casting spells in duels against people, or catching Pokémon, or finding little ghosts or creatures. But again, like Mario Kart, if it gets too laggy or tiring, it might just break the immersion feel at the park completely. Rides, and connected apps and wearables, can all have breakdowns.

I’m just throwing these ideas out there at the end of a truly wonderful and tiring trip, a bit of a break after a wildly busy October as more of November is around the corner. 

I just finished Sarah Beth Durst’s The Spellshop, which was a truly heartwarming cozy fantasy that I took in during a really tough time in America. But The Spellshop’s focus on friendship and community made me feel just a bit more optimistic about how people can work together. I’ve known Sarah since my college years, when we took playwriting classes together. I’m so proud of her success, and I should be reading more of her many books! This is a start. 

And I’m starting Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The 1818 version, I think. Not just because of the new film, which I haven’t seen yet. Or, my return trip to Epic Universe’s Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. But I read Junji Ito’s adaption of Frankenstein to start the year, and read about Frankenstein and the Luddites in Brian Merchant’s Blood in the Machine in the spring. The Year of Frankenstein continues, and in these AI-soaked times, it fits.

See you next week. Lots more to discuss then.