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Duel at Alton Towers closing on 6th September - retheme or refurbishment for 2023?

spicy said:
They have now updated the text:

“No worries, fan community, we forgot to add a label, so it defaulted to the first attraction type on the list (3D/4D theatre). We know as little as you do”
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Rookie error, (or a clever muse to increase traffic?) They should have known all too well that it would only take nanoseconds for a goon somewhere to pick up on that!
 
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Just to update you all, we have ascertained a fair bit since the last post in this thread (prior to the recent 4D cinema confusion).

For some idea, we are now up to four scenes from the old ride that have visibly had scenery removed from them, indicating that they are likely to be either replaced or majorly overhauled. These scenes are:
Given that we now have four scenes that have had theming removed from them, my suspicion is that we will be riding a very different ride to either of the previous iterations in 2023. I felt that this would be a comprehensive overhaul from day one, and the copious amounts of theming removal only reinforce that suspicion for me.

It should also be remembered that this is unlikely to be the full extent of theming removal; there are skips and skips full of disposed theming behind Duel, and the park could well have removed other stuff while enthusiasts weren’t watching.
 
Hey, I'm new on the forum, but I've been reading this thread and thought it's be nice to join in.

So, onto Duel... I'm really hoping they'll keep The Grand Hall and Screaming Heads scene intact. They're my favourites!

In years of the scenes above being removed, we haven't seen any props yet, and the Giant Spider prop and The scenery in the Garden is huge, so I'm sure we would've seen at least some evidenceof the props being removed!! Maybe they're just replacing the scenery but keeping most of the props in, that's a thought, or Maybe they're only replacing a certain few scares in these scenes and replacing them with new ones, a mix of old and new perhaps.

I never experienced the original Haunted House, but from POVs it's easily a favourite of mine! Hopefully this refurb could revive a few of those scenes back to their original 1992 days.

Heres anything interesting fact. On Towers Street forum, John Wardley himself replied on there once, and said the following:




"All you guys who said the original Haunted House was looking tired and dated when it closed (and replaced by Duel), you were absolutely right! And I’ll tell you for why ….

When I designed the ride with Keith Sparks, we designed 5 extra effects that would be added in each successive season to keep the ride fresh, and the surprises coming. After the first season, the ride was considered a success and Tussauds decided there was no point in spending any money for the second season on a new effect. The same was true for the third season, and so on. These effects were never added, and the ride was never changed over the years. So after 20 years it really did look dated."




So maybe with his potential involvement, we could see these 5 unused ideas finally coming to fruition! I just hope they keep the Original 1992 style Sparks Added instead of being overly realistic looking.
 
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An article was published in the Stoke Sentinel where Mark Fisher, Merlin’s recently retired head of development, was interviewed regarding the ride: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...gt7R5tLbzXbZ5QW3eTeeFag-d3bQPrf0oJHzHBRcc&s=1

Mark said the following:
Mark Fisher said:
We have shut the ride so that we can redo it. It will be more like the original Haunted House, with a completely new story. Some of the old Victorian techniques - the use of mirrors, for example - are still so good.

The Merlin Magic Making team have been here and I’m excited about what they have planned. A lot of people fondly remember the old Haunted House and we think this is going to be huge.
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That sounds really exciting, to me! I think he seems to be suggesting a completely new ride that maintains the same basic concept as the Haunted House, and for me, that’s about as good as I was hoping for!
 
Hmm, intriguing indeed! I'm a bit more interested in this now. I think if they pour a fair bit of cash into this, and use effects that are effective but reliable, it could be a winner. Hopefully we see a new soundtrack too, I imagine we will.
 
Looks very ominous!

It really doesn’t matter as both work, but I’m surprised they went with ‘the Curse at Alton Manor’ rather than ‘the Curse of Alton Manor’.

On a semi-related note, if anyone wants to traumatise themselves with fright then I can thoroughly ‘recommend’ (well, not really) playing the video game Visage. That’s had me borderline nauseous with anxiety and, as it stands, I currently can’t bring myself to turn it back on…

mKjZWc3.jpg


*hides under bed*
 
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Hmmm interesting. Do we think the ride will receive new vehicles, as the current ones will have awkward empty gun slots on them?
 
Ethan said:
Hmmm interesting. Do we think the ride will receive new vehicles, as the current ones will have awkward empty gun slots on them?
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If we go off the promo image that looks to be a 6 seater / 2 per row set up so new trains but has there been confirmation of the old ones leaving the site? I expect if they're keeping the ride system they will revamp the trains.
 
I like the vibe of the promotional graphics so far. I haven't been this intrigued about a UK ride in a while.

I definitely think "of" would've worked better in the name. "At" makes it sounds like the Alton Manor part isn't part of the ride's title. But it's not a huge deal I guess.
 
I’m loving the look of this! That promo image is brilliant, and I also really like the name!

Though I must admit that if I’m being pedantic, the use of “at” rather than “of” within the name isn’t the most satisfying to my ear, but that’s a tiny nitpick; I’ll get used to it, and it’s totally unimportant if the ride is good!

There are numerous things that I find interesting from the announcement, and there are numerous thoughts that I had. These include:
  • Based on the promotional image and the gifts sent to journalists yesterday, it would appear that dolls will be quite a prominent motif within the ride. With that in mind, I reckon that the theory about riders going into Emily Alton’s doll’s house from a couple of months back could well end up being correct.
  • I've heard others suggest that hide and seek could play some role in the ride, and given some of the evidence we have, I think that that sounds very plausible. The girl in the promotional image has her hands covering her eyes as though she could be counting, and the park's use of phrases like "Coming, ready or not!" and "the countdown has begun" could certainly allude to something to do with hide and seek, in my view. Some of the earlier teaser materials, such as the Gloomy Wood announcements having the letters "POSSESSED, WANT TO PLAY" spelled out on them in blood, would also line up with this, in my view.
  • Interestingly, Alton Towers have referred to the ride (in the press release) as "the park's most immersive dark ride to date", placing particular emphasis on "state-of-the-art special effects never seen before in a UK theme park". I wonder what these could be?
  • It does sound as though the ride could have a rather in-depth backstory seeing as though the park have apparently said that they will "announce more about the history of the Manor" in February.
  • Also, I think that the lack of "The Haunted House" within the name could be rather telling. Given that even Duel technically had "The Haunted House Strikes Back" as a suffix, could the park going with a name not containing "The Haunted House" imply that the ride experience will be more greatly divorced from either of its predecessors?
Overall, though; this looks brilliant, and I can't wait to ride it!
 
Interestingly, this article in trade magazine 'EAP' states that the new ride:
receives a new steering system from manufacturer Mack Rides
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They don't give a source for this claim nor elaborate further, but it suggests that the previous ride system might not be kept as-is.
Of course, it could just be minor upgrades to ensure reliability (it is over 30 years old!) but maybe we'll see something more significant?

The promo image looks great though, I really hope this turns out well!
 
will6789 said:
Interestingly, this article in trade magazine 'EAP' states that the new ride:

They don't give a source for this claim nor elaborate further, but it suggests that the previous ride system might not be kept as-is.
Of course, it could just be minor upgrades to ensure reliability (it is over 30 years old!) but maybe we'll see something more significant?

The promo image looks great though, I really hope this turns out well!
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It will be the old ride system
 
My suspicion is that this is more likely to be referring to a new computer system or perhaps some new cars rather than a new ground-up ride system.

There has never been any inference that the actual ride system or track layout are being changed, and given the timeframe, I’d be surprised if that was the case.

I am glad that the ride system is getting upgraded, though. It seemed to almost creak around the corners when I last rode it as Duel, and definitely seemed like it would benefit from some work.
 
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