Is Google getting into the theme park business? No, not really (at least not yet), but the company DID build a dark ride for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (CES) this year.
The ride is a real life actual dark ride, like with a track and animatronics and everything. It’s part of a big promotional booth for the Google Assistant, which is the thing that talks back to you when you talk to your phone or Google home.
The Google Assistant Ride at CES. (Photo:James Martin/CNET)
The ride takes you through a series of scenes taking place during a Dads day, showing how the Google Assistant helps him with everything from re-routing his navigation to translating French. The train looks like to be driven by drive tires located along the track. There are lots of characters, lighting effects, fog and smoke, plenty of sound effects, and even a catchy song. Heck, there’s a whole preshow area that sets up the story of the ride!
Google Assistant ride at CES (courtesy Google)
Yeah, it’s not quite at the level of a Disney dark ride, but it’s not far off (I could see this fitting in at Epcot). Considering Google put it together a heck of a lot faster than most theme park rides, it’s pretty impressive. Check out the video below for the full on-ride PoV from Google (but caution, if you have an Android phone the audio is going to take it up a lot).
What is CES?
Ahh, good question! The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas going on right now. I added a clarification to the post.