[This story from Coaster101 uses clear explanations and examples to describe how presence illusions have been added to roller coaster attractions, including a new use of mixed reality technolog at a theme park in Spain. The original version of the story includes a 3:11 minute POV video of the PortAventura park’s ride (also available on YouTube), a 1:23 minute video trailer for the new MR version (also on YouTube), and an additional image and video. –Matthew]

PortAventura Unveils the First Mixed Reality Roller Coaster Experience – What Makes It Better Than VR

By Nick Weisenberger
May 28, 2025

The first mixed reality roller coaster experience is coming to Spain’s PortAventura theme park as El Diable Neo. Beginning on May 28, 2025, riders on the park’s 1995 Arrow mine train coaster, El Diablo: Tren de La Mina, can don visors in order to discover the hidden truth of the mine. This will be an upcharge attraction that requires an additional fee beyond the regular ticket price. It is unclear how many visors will be on hand but it appears you will still be able to ride the coaster as usual if you would like to.

Upon reading this, many coaster enthusiasts will think “oh no, here we go again” recalling the VR craze that began around ten years ago. But VR is not the same as MR. What’s the difference between VR, AR, and MR in theme park attractions?

VR: Virtual Reality = all virtual world

What it is: You wear a headset and see a completely digital world. You can’t see the real world around you.
Example: On a VR roller coaster, you might see dragons and castles while actually riding a steel coaster.

The VR coaster craze was a wild chapter in recent coaster history. Around 2015–2018, parks experimented with adding virtual reality headsets to existing coasters, letting riders “see” a whole new ride experience while still feeling the real-world track. Here’s a list of some notable ones that had VR added:

Roller Coasters That Had VR Added:

• Superman: The Ride (Six Flags New England) — Became Superman VR: Battle for Metropolis
• New Revolution (Six Flags Magic Mountain) — One of the first in the U.S. to test VR, with an alien invasion theme
• Dare Devil Dive (Six Flags Over Georgia) — VR added with a fighter jet theme
• Demon (California’s Great America) — Halloween VR overlay as Demon: Re-Ignited
• Shock Wave (Six Flags Over Texas) — Briefly ran VR during the Six Flags chain rollout
• Galactica (Alton Towers, UK) — Formerly Air, rebranded as a permanent VR flying coaster themed to space travel
• Kraken (SeaWorld Orlando) — Became Kraken Unleashed with a deep-sea adventure VR overlay
• Rage (Adventure Island, UK) — Temporary VR trials
• Space Fantasy: The Ride (Universal Studios Japan) — Had multiple VR overlays, including Evangelion XR: The Ride
• Europa Park (Germany) — Several rides in the Alpenexpress Enzian family coaster line received VR as part of the park’s Coastiality program.

Overall, VR on roller coasters wasn’t very popular and had a few issues including long load/unload times as attendants cleaned and fitted headsets, resulting in reduced ride capacity. Besides that there were technical issues and motion sickness for some guests. In the end, I think parks realized people generally preferred the actual scenery and views from coasters.

AR: Augmented Reality = real world + digital stuff on top

What it is: Digital stuff is layered on top of the real world. You can still see your surroundings, but extra images or information appear through your phone, glasses, or headset.
Example: Point your phone at a coaster sign and see its stats hover above it in real time.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Super Nintendo World (Universal Studios Japan, Hollywood, and Epic Universe)
Riders wear special AR visors attached to their headsets. As you drive through physical sets, AR characters like Mario, shells, and coins appear layered over the real environment. The AR effects move with your head movement, but they aren’t anchored to physical objects in a spatially aware way.

MR: Mixed Reality = real world + digital stuff that interacts realistically

What it is: Like AR, but the digital stuff can interact with the real world in smarter ways. The digital images “know” where things are and can go behind, around, or land on real objects.
Example: A digital dragon flies around a coaster track and disappears behind a real support beam, or lands on a bench next to you through smart glasses.

MR (Mixed Reality) is like AR leveled up — the digital stuff isn’t just floating visuals; it’s aware of the physical environment and interacts with it. MR requires deeper spatial mapping and context-aware interaction between the digital and physical worlds

The First Mixed Reality Roller Coaster Experience

It will be interesting to see how well El Diablo Neo’s mixed reality roller coaster experience works and how it is received by guests. One of the biggest issues with VR was motion sickness, which I would expect to be a non-issue with MR since you can still see the real world surroundings. You can still brace yourself for the big drops and turns since you’ll be able to see them coming.

Here [in the original story] is a POV of El Diablo Tren de la Mina without the mixed reality roller coaster experience. I love the theming and the way it interacts with the log flume, so I’m glad that won’t be taken away with the new experience. At the very least, it should make the slow climb up those three lift hills more exciting!

Learn more from PortAventura’s website.

What do you think about the first mixed reality roller coaster? What other roller coasters or theme park attractions could be enhanced with mixed reality?