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

Coastercal

Roller Poster
It’s better than duel. It’s maybe in the top 3 dark rides un the U.K. However, it’s no where near a dark ride to compete on the European stage.

Let’s use this scale to rate it.
1) a poor travelling fun fair ghost train
10) Ghost Castle at Europa Park (maybe one of the best ghost themed dark rides I’ve done and up there in Europe as one of the best dark rides)

It’s probably a 5 on that scale.
 

Trooper Looper

Roller Poster
It’s better than duel. It’s maybe in the top 3 dark rides un the U.K. However, it’s no where near a dark ride to compete on the European stage.

Let’s use this scale to rate it.
1) a poor travelling fun fair ghost train
10) Ghost Castle at Europa Park (maybe one of the best ghost themed dark rides I’ve done and up there in Europe as one of the best dark rides)

It’s probably a 5 on that scale.
Pretty reasonable. Duel would probably be a 4 to me. The Haunted House (original) would probably get an 8.

What's funny is that Ghost Castle was also designed by Sparks (same people who did the original haunted house.) I wonder if Alton Towers maintained the original ride in the same way Europa has to to Ghost Castle, It could've potentially surpassed Alton Manor.
 
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Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
You know, the only place I've seen negative reviews at all is on here... 😂😂😂 Everyone else seems to love it.

Haven’t been over myself yet, (too busy for me right now, will leave it a week or two.) but other members of our regular group love it, and they held a lot of nostalgia for the HH too, so I’m looking forward to it.
 

Coastercal

Roller Poster
You know, the only place I've seen negative reviews at all is on here... 😂😂😂 Everyone else seems to love it.

Haven’t been over myself yet, (too busy for me right now, will leave it a week or two.) but other members of our regular group love it, and they held a lot of nostalgia for the HH too, so I’m looking forward to it.

I think it depends on what each individual is expecting. Like I said it’s great for the U.K. probably in the top 3 dark rides here. I just find it somewhat annoying that we can’t seem to produce a dark ride at any park to compete on the European stage to compete with those at Efteling, Europa Park and Disney.

I wasn’t expecting it to be on that level but oh well.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
The thing about the haunted house is that when it first launched, it was awesome, but it aged faster than a crack whore in a tumble dryer. By the mid 00s the effects and props, those that still worked, were comically bad, and it was badly in need of a reboot. That reboot should have been similar to what they appear to have done here, updated tech, and a new story twist, but instead we got Duel.

Had we not got duel, and instead had to put up with the original effects and props, I don’t think so many people would be so nostalgic for the original Haunted House. But we did get Duel, and it was not what we wanted, it wasn’t as good as a proper haunted house, and so many people really wanted HH to return. So much so that I think they’ve convinced themselves that those effects and props would work today… Which of course, they wouldn’t, they were on the older side of ride tech when they were first installed in the 90s…
 

Swat

Mega Poster
You know, the only place I've seen negative reviews at all is on here... 😂😂😂 Everyone else seems to love it.

Haven’t been over myself yet, (too busy for me right now, will leave it a week or two.) but other members of our regular group love it, and they held a lot of nostalgia for the HH too, so I’m looking forward to it.
Same here regarding the negative reviews. A lot of people are saying there are some dead spots which will be completed soon so after a few months it should be at its best. Roll on Scarefest as well
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
I think Geisterschloss is utter crap, so if the original Haunted House was like that, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it that much, tbh.
Yeah was about to say... surprised to see any praise for it.
However it is also something that changes a lot. The park dumps stuff from old rides and shows in there so much so it's become a running joke among local fans. The original storyline is lost to random funfair ghost train style scenes added later making a weird ghost train & haunted mansion rip off hybrid. A dreadful mess.
 

Trooper Looper

Roller Poster
From what I've heard, there's be quite a few complaints from families about it being 'too scary' for their kids. Maybe they went a bit overboard on the scare and dark factor. It makes me think how well this ride will be recieved towards GP families.
 

Ethan

Strata Poster
From what I've heard, there's be quite a few complaints from families about it being 'too scary' for their kids. Maybe they went a bit overboard on the scare and dark factor. It makes me think how well this ride will be recieved towards GP families.
If only there were other rides in the park for families with young children, or maybe even multiple areas!
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I don't think it being a little darker than its predecessors is necessarily a problem, personally. It's not a ride aimed at young children, it's aimed at a universal whole-family demographic, and that includes older children and adults.

For decades, there have been whole-family rides that have been known to be fairly scary. Tower of Terror and Revenge of the Mummy are two fairly good examples, the Harry Potter dark rides certainly have their moments in terms of scare factor, the former Snow White dark ride at Magic Kingdom was allegedly quite scary... heck, even mentions of the original Haunted House have elicited a fair amount of anecdotes about people going round it with their eyes shut the whole way and being scared by numerous scenes and props inside it.

I don't see how The Curse at Alton Manor is any different from those rides, personally.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Well, I rode this for the first time today! I'll admit that I initially struggled to coherently review the ride, and my actual first ride itself was a bit of a blur, but having watched a few POVs of the ride, I can better process what happened, and I now feel more at liberty to talk about it in a bit more depth.

Be warned; this review does contain spoilers of The Curse at Alton Manor. If you do not want spoilers, read no further.

Let me start with the area. Gloomy Wood looks brilliant; given that they haven't changed much, the area feels weirdly fleshed out and lively compared to how it did before, and I'm a big fan of the darker colour scheme that they've adopted with the facade and area buildings. It looks great!

As the ride was walk on when I did it, I didn't get to see an awful lot of the outdoor queue, but what I did see looked very nice. I particularly liked the copious amounts of smoke; this made it feel very ambient!

Moving onto the indoor queue; this hasn't changed a huge amount, but has been spruced up somewhat to fit the new theme. The vestibule looks very similar to how it did before, but they have added some cloth over the theming items to make it look like it's been "repossessed". The more notably different room is the Drawing Room, which, although quite similar to how it was before on the face of it, does feel notably enhanced to me. There's now a pre-show telling the story of Emily Alton, and this culminates with some brilliant projection mapping and a really surprising reveal of UV paint all over the walls, showing what seem to be Emily Alton's deranged ramblings. I thought this was a very clever effect, and set up the ride very nicely!

Let's move onto the ride itself. Now as I said, I found this to be a bit of a blur when I physically rode, and as stupid as it sounds, I had to watch a few POVs to actually process it. It is a lot to take in, and as someone who's a bit of a weakling when it comes to horror stuff, I did find the first ride a bit overwhelming. With that being said, I do feel that the ride is a definite improvement on its predecessor Duel, and in terms of production value, I think it's a nicely done ride overall, although there are odd things I'd improve. I won't do a scene-by-scene breakdown, but some key points of interest include:
  • I thought that projection mapping was used to great effect within the ride, and I felt that it definitely did add something.
  • The Trommel Tunnel is working again, and I have to say that this effect did surprise me! I'd never actually experienced this effect in a working state (i.e. spinning) before, and I never really understood what people thought was so great about the Trommel Tunnel. I have to say that its use within The Curse at Alton Manor definitely proved me wrong on that front; it is a surprisingly convincing effect, particularly when paired with the spinning clock at the end, and it was probably one of my favourite individual effects in the ride!
  • The mirror scene that replaced what was previously the Skeleton Corridor now houses a very clever effect, wherein you seem to disappear from the car and Emily Alton "replaces" you. I thought that this was very clever!
  • The ending is an excellently executed jumpscare; I have to admit that I audibly shrieked when the massive Emily head suddenly appeared!
  • Paradoxically, the ride feels very similar to how it was before, yet also very different, if that makes any sense?
  • There was perhaps more reuse of old scenes from the previous iterations than I was expecting, but I think that this mostly works well because the park have made these scenes befitting of the new storyline; they feel very different to how they were before.
  • There were some surprisingly impressive physical sets built new for the ride; I was particularly impressed with what they've done with the Attic scene.
  • I've heard people mention the dark area between the Trommel and the Attic scene. I think the audio does still make this area feel quite unnerving, but I do get what people mean when they say that it feels a bit unfinished. I think it could do with an extra something to properly finish it off; maybe some UV paint like in the pre-show and exit corridor, or some light flashes?
  • The other scene that I don't think entirely works is the Screaming Heads scene. I'm not entirely sure how it fits into the ride, and it feels a bit out of place to me.
  • As I said above, I do think that it's quite an overwhelming attraction overall. When combining the noise, the darkness and the jumpscares, it is quite a lot to take in. Although with that being said, that could just be because I'm not the biggest horror lover and it was my first ride on a ghost train-style attraction; I felt similarly about Duel the first time I rode that.
Overall, I thought that it was a nicely executed ride; Merlin Magic Making have done a very good job given the budget and timeframe, and they have definitely improved upon Duel, in my view! If I'm being completely honest, however, I didn't exactly come off feeling entirely blown away. I'd stop short of saying that I was disappointed, because as I said, it is a very nicely done ride with high production value overall, in my view, and my initial gut reaction upon exiting could well be due to my initial struggling to process it all. I did only have 1 ride, after all.

I must admit, though, that I'm not sure the ride entirely lived up to some of the hyperbole being thrown around for me. It's a very nicely executed ride overall, but it's not my favourite dark ride in the UK and I would still say that I prefer Hex within the park. That could be down to it not being entirely my sort of thing, it could be down to the fact that I felt a little overwhelmed by it on my first ride, or it could be down to the fact that I only got 1 ride on it, but for whatever reason, I'm perhaps not feeling as enamoured with it and enthralled by it as many others seem to be. It's nice and it's well executed, but I'm not quite gelling with it like everyone else seems to be for some reason; I don't deny that they've done very well, but I'm not quite on board the hype train like everyone else seems to be. I apologise if I come across a bit cynical or moany here, but I'm just being 100% honest about how I personally felt about the attraction on my ride.

Nonetheless, it is a nice ride overall, I'm sure that it will be tweaked and improved with time, and Alton Towers should be really proud of what they've pulled off!
 

chrisgeorgiou46

Roller Poster
From what I've heard, there's be quite a few complaints from families about it being 'too scary' for their kids. Maybe they went a bit overboard on the scare and dark factor. It makes me think how well this ride will be recieved towards GP families.

I have just never understood people who take time out of their day to complain about something like this. It's a haunted house attraction. What are they expecting?
 

CrashCoaster

CF Legend
Well, I rode this for the first time today! I'll admit that I initially struggled to coherently review the ride, and my actual first ride itself was a bit of a blur, but having watched a few POVs of the ride, I can better process what happened, and I now feel more at liberty to talk about it in a bit more depth.

Be warned; this review does contain spoilers of The Curse at Alton Manor. If you do not want spoilers, read no further.

Let me start with the area. Gloomy Wood looks brilliant; given that they haven't changed much, the area feels weirdly fleshed out and lively compared to how it did before, and I'm a big fan of the darker colour scheme that they've adopted with the facade and area buildings. It looks great!

As the ride was walk on when I did it, I didn't get to see an awful lot of the outdoor queue, but what I did see looked very nice. I particularly liked the copious amounts of smoke; this made it feel very ambient!

Moving onto the indoor queue; this hasn't changed a huge amount, but has been spruced up somewhat to fit the new theme. The vestibule looks very similar to how it did before, but they have added some cloth over the theming items to make it look like it's been "repossessed". The more notably different room is the Drawing Room, which, although quite similar to how it was before on the face of it, does feel notably enhanced to me. There's now a pre-show telling the story of Emily Alton, and this culminates with some brilliant projection mapping and a really surprising reveal of UV paint all over the walls, showing what seem to be Emily Alton's deranged ramblings. I thought this was a very clever effect, and set up the ride very nicely!

Let's move onto the ride itself. Now as I said, I found this to be a bit of a blur when I physically rode, and as stupid as it sounds, I had to watch a few POVs to actually process it. It is a lot to take in, and as someone who's a bit of a weakling when it comes to horror stuff, I did find the first ride a bit overwhelming. With that being said, I do feel that the ride is a definite improvement on its predecessor Duel, and in terms of production value, I think it's a nicely done ride overall, although there are odd things I'd improve. I won't do a scene-by-scene breakdown, but some key points of interest include:
  • I thought that projection mapping was used to great effect within the ride, and I felt that it definitely did add something.
  • The Trommel Tunnel is working again, and I have to say that this effect did surprise me! I'd never actually experienced this effect in a working state (i.e. spinning) before, and I never really understood what people thought was so great about the Trommel Tunnel. I have to say that its use within The Curse at Alton Manor definitely proved me wrong on that front; it is a surprisingly convincing effect, particularly when paired with the spinning clock at the end, and it was probably one of my favourite individual effects in the ride!
  • The mirror scene that replaced what was previously the Skeleton Corridor now houses a very clever effect, wherein you seem to disappear from the car and Emily Alton "replaces" you. I thought that this was very clever!
  • The ending is an excellently executed jumpscare; I have to admit that I audibly shrieked when the massive Emily head suddenly appeared!
  • Paradoxically, the ride feels very similar to how it was before, yet also very different, if that makes any sense?
  • There was perhaps more reuse of old scenes from the previous iterations than I was expecting, but I think that this mostly works well because the park have made these scenes befitting of the new storyline; they feel very different to how they were before.
  • There were some surprisingly impressive physical sets built new for the ride; I was particularly impressed with what they've done with the Attic scene.
  • I've heard people mention the dark area between the Trommel and the Attic scene. I think the audio does still make this area feel quite unnerving, but I do get what people mean when they say that it feels a bit unfinished. I think it could do with an extra something to properly finish it off; maybe some UV paint like in the pre-show and exit corridor, or some light flashes?
  • The other scene that I don't think entirely works is the Screaming Heads scene. I'm not entirely sure how it fits into the ride, and it feels a bit out of place to me.
  • As I said above, I do think that it's quite an overwhelming attraction overall. When combining the noise, the darkness and the jumpscares, it is quite a lot to take in. Although with that being said, that could just be because I'm not the biggest horror lover and it was my first ride on a ghost train-style attraction; I felt similarly about Duel the first time I rode that.
Overall, I thought that it was a nicely executed ride; Merlin Magic Making have done a very good job given the budget and timeframe, and they have definitely improved upon Duel, in my view! If I'm being completely honest, however, I didn't exactly come off feeling entirely blown away. I'd stop short of saying that I was disappointed, because as I said, it is a very nicely done ride with high production value overall, in my view, and my initial gut reaction upon exiting could well be due to my initial struggling to process it all. I did only have 1 ride, after all.

I must admit, though, that I'm not sure the ride entirely lived up to some of the hyperbole being thrown around for me. It's a very nicely executed ride overall, but it's not my favourite dark ride in the UK and I would still say that I prefer Hex within the park. That could be down to it not being entirely my sort of thing, it could be down to the fact that I felt a little overwhelmed by it on my first ride, or it could be down to the fact that I only got 1 ride on it, but for whatever reason, I'm perhaps not feeling as enamoured with it and enthralled by it as many others seem to be. It's nice and it's well executed, but I'm not quite gelling with it like everyone else seems to be for some reason; I don't deny that they've done very well, but I'm not quite on board the hype train like everyone else seems to be. I apologise if I come across a bit cynical or moany here, but I'm just being 100% honest about how I personally felt about the attraction on my ride.

Nonetheless, it is a nice ride overall, I'm sure that it will be tweaked and improved with time, and Alton Towers should be really proud of what they've pulled off!
I can't lie I'm quite curious to know what your total word count is across all your posts on the site.
 

davidm

Strata Poster
Probably seen this, but some cool day/night pics of the Manchester mural I posted the WIP pic of last week;


I'll go back to have a proper look at it next time I'm in town, but not this weekend because I have the covid I picked up probably at the concert I was going to when I took that WIP pic. Such is life. ;)

...and just to continue my little fascination with this bit of marketing, a little video AT put out;

 

ScottLann

Mega Poster
Got to try it out this weekend and I definitely prefer it more than Duel. The whole thing just feels fresh again and it's good to see all the effects working as they should.

I was always one to complain about how much light was in Duel and the pitch black sections with nothing in them was actually a warm welcome to me, it added to the suspension in my opinion!

Maybe could have done without the odd screen here and there but it didn't take away from the experience at all and I cant believe how well the illusion of the 'trommel tunnel' was executed.

Looking forward to getting back on it someday!
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Rode this yesterday.

It's a good Ghost Train ride. Not the best one I've done, but it does have a nice story which you can sort of follow (which is less common in my experiences with these rides).

Without posting anything too spoilery, but also giving mild spoilers, I particularly liked the mirror scene and the final scare (the physical prop is well hidden).

At the same time, there's 3 scenes which are effectively just pitch black, and they don't quite work. One almost does, because it's a "hide and seek" style scene, but it needs something a bit more (lighting effects with eyes or something). The other two pitch black scenes need something.

Now here's something which seems to be controversial. I preferred Duel. I significantly preferred Duel. Part of this is because I'm a sucker for interactive / shooting dark rides, and Duel was just a ton of fun for me as a result. The other part of it is that Duel never felt like an attraction which took itself too seriously. It had the spooky / scary theme, but seemed to have a bit humour / light-heartedness sprinkled in a a result. Alton Manor takes itself a bit more seriously, and goes the full nine yards on the creepiness scale, but doesn't have any sort of humour or 'fun-ness' to it.

Now this is very much just a me thing. Is Alton Manor 'better'? Yeah, probably. It's got some cool effects and a nice story and a good creepy vibe. It's definitely on the higher end of ghost train rides I've done. But given a choice, I would rather ride Duel any day.
 

DelPiero

Strata Poster
I haven't ridden it yet, and tbh I can't see myself making the trek up there without a certain B&M operating, but while I enjoyed Duel, I very rarely used the guns and the sound effects got on my tits.
I preferred the original HH, so I'm expecting to enjoy Curse a lot more than the shooty version. Still avoiding major spoilers for when I get up there next year.
 
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