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The Alton Towers Dungeon

And do remember, this is an offering at what is supposedly the UK's No1 Theme Park from the company that are "second only to Disney". Sounds like a normal Towers / Merlin farce to me, with effects & theming having been done on the cheap and breaking down / not working within two weeks.
 
Rob said:
Effects break, shock horror! Blue Fire at Europa-Park is one of the worst offenders when it comes to inconsistent effects
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Effects do break yes, and it's not particularly surprising that some minor parts arent fully 'go' yet. Time will tell I guesss.

But on the whole Merlin regularly poorly engineer their effects, build cheaply (or they just cut them at the design stage) and don't care about whether they can be maintained or not.

Europa Park is way ahead of Merlin when it comes to effects. Unlike Merlin parks, they don't let all their attractions deteriorate after a few years until they're just in a broken limbo.
 
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TakeYourMedicine said:
Effects do break yes, and it's not particularly surprising that some minor parts arent fully 'go' yet. Time will tell I guesss.

But on the whole Merlin regularly poorly engineer their effects, build cheaply (or they just cut them at the design stage) and don't care about whether they can be maintained or not.

Europa Park is way ahead of Merlin when it comes to effects. Unlike Merlin parks, they don't let all their attractions deteriorate after a few years until they're just in a broken limbo.
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I don't disagree at all! As you say, I don't think it is a major surprise that there may be the odd effect in the Dungeons that is not quite working on a consistent basis yet.

I suppose Merlin/Towers do not deserve the benefit of the doubt because of their poor track record, but one report of one effect not working isn't really a major problem!
 
The Dungeons experience can be very different on two occasions depending who the actors are and also the dynamics of the group going through the attraction. Unlike a mechanical ride that repeats the same cycle each time, the Dungeons is fluid and adaptable. That can be its strength or its weakness.

I'd be interested to know how the quality and consistency can be maintained day after day, although running a Dungeons attraction is bread and butter stuff for Merlin.
 
Britford said:
Here's a small review from yesterday!

The Judge
It was quite good but was let down by the judge being at eye level and just an overall lack of finer details (the light in the book for example)

The Boat Ride
I always assumed that people were exaggerating about the lack of theming but...wow there were literally whole rooms with nothing in!

The Torturer
Exact same word for word as every other one, now with 90% less theming!

The Pub Scene
By far the best scene for me but the actor playing the innkeeper kept doing this thing where she would be nice and concerned for the guests safety then would have a mood swing and become nasty, I think the scene would have worked better and been scarier if the innkeeper was on your side throughout.

The Surgeon
It was just like all the other ones except they didn't squirt the bladder at people for some reason.

Molly Leigh
This was actually quite disappointing, the majority of the scene was perfect but the big reveal of the witch wasn't nearly as intense as it should have been, the sound that played when the witch appeared was way too quiet and couple that with the way she gracefully moved round the room like a ballerina, the whole thing just lacked any sort of impact!
It would have been better if the actor had rampaged around the room shrieking, while all the rooms effects activate all at once.
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Are you seriously saying they broke a 12v PSU attached to a led strip via a reed switch?
That's almost impressive if they managed to break that.

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk
 
Alsty said:
The Dungeons experience can be very different on two occasions depending who the actors are and also the dynamics of the group going through the attraction.
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This is completely true....having 2 kids and merlin passes we visit various dungeons a number of times a year as they love them

Sometimes i feel quite bored and think i'm not coming to another one anytime soon...yet the next time it can be full of first timers and full of laughter and screams and be really enjoyable

I actually like being picked and playing up to amuse my kids:D

I don't think its what Towers needs though TBH
 
I know as an ex performer, that no two shows are ever the same, things do go wrong, props don't always behave the way that you want them to and I would sometimes say that "you are only as good as your audience, and tonight I was S**t" ;)
 
So went the dungeons for the first time yesterday and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. The acting was good, especially liked the court room scene, the jokes were really good.

One of the funniest things I found was the boat ride and the recycled bits! I spotted a bit from the old toy land tours steamboat (in the station), Violet Buragarde old blueberry thing where she used to bomb up and down (now repainted) and of course the mirrors from the nut room. Sort of expected to see willy wonka pop up somewhere. ;):D

The group I was with some of the kids did look a bit scared. I don’t know if it was just the kids, but maybe 10 is too young for this dungeon. Of course it is discretion with people’s own children and what some kids find scary at 10 will be very different from others, but thought it maybe should be inline with some of the other dungeons at 12?
 
I did the dungeons for the first time today, only my second dungeons experience after doing the York one several years ago - i really enjoyed it, Good to get out of the rain for 50 minutes for one thing. All effects seemed to work and it was well acted.

Loved the boat ride section, i think it almost qualifies as a "Dark ride". You also get a free photo taken in the stocks as well, which was welcome.

Worth noting, it's free if you have the Alton Towers premium season pass, so well worth doing.
 
I've done the dungeons, I would need to visit the dungeons at least 14 times for me to make a Premium Season pass cost break even on a £5 MAP discounted dungeon entry. There is no guarantee entry with a Season pass when the attraction fully booked up in advance. Plus if the park is busy, I wouldn't want to visit the dungeon plus I would rather be spending the time on the rides. My only interest in the Dungeon would be the boat ride which would have made a better stand alone attraction.

Offering free entry to a premium season pass holder and not a MAP holder is just a kick in the teeth :D
 
Mikw said:
I didn't mean to rub salt into anyone's wounds. I couldn't afford a Merlin Annual pass, so went for the Alton Towers premium pass instead.
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Is the procedure for getting your ticket the same as it is for me?
(Eg go RBO and show your pass and then pick a slot).

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk
 
So, a few weeks into the season and the reviews for the Dungeons seem mostly average to good.

But does anyone know how popular they have been so far in terms of the amount of people that are prepared to fork out extra for this attraction?

For example if you look to book tickets for this weekend (the start of the Easter holidays for many) every single time slot is still available across the weekend. I would have expected at least some of them to have been booked up by now?

When I visited on a quiet day the other week (and didn’t bother with them myself) another guest told me they had been through and there were only three of them in the group for their slot.
 
On opening day I dined in the Secret Garden and our waitress mentioned that the Dungeons had sold out. Whether you believe it or not is a different question.
 
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