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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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Okay. How about its theme. Which of Duels theme does everyone prefer, mine being its current theme.

Also, I think I may have found The Haunted Houses Exterior theme, it's around the 8 minute mark on the video below.



It seems to be an altered version of Sinister Gardens theme.


Edit: Just found this image on an old Video on YouTube. Was this effect part of the original or was it added later by Tussauds?
https://ibb.co/6mmB3Q9
 
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Based on this October 2021 POV, it appears that the park may well have changed Duel’s lighting towards the end of the season:

Admittedly, POVs can sometimes reflect a different picture of how dark rides are compared to the real thing, but that POV shows Duel as being very dark compared to my last ride, with hardly any purple UV at all.
 
Matt.GC said:
That'll be the video doing that not the actual lighting. I went on it in October and it was as bad as ever
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Interesting… thanks for your input!

I did wonder, because it was never raised on here that anything had changed, although I did wonder why it looked so dark on that POV, and also why much of the lighting looked different colours (for instance, the garden section was lit in green, and the zombie lab in red); I’ve seen other POVs that look just as purple and bright as the ride does (or at least did) in person, like this 2019 one from Ride Review, for instance:


I certainly didn’t think it looked any different in September, but I thought it was an interesting point to consider.
 
Matt N said:
Interesting… thanks for your input!

I did wonder, because it was never raised on here that anything had changed, although I did wonder why it looked so dark on that POV, and also why much of the lighting looked different colours (for instance, the garden section was lit in green, and the zombie lab in red); I’ve seen other POVs that look just as purple and bright as the ride does (or at least did) in person, like this 2019 one from Ride Review, for instance:


I certainly didn’t think it looked any different in September, but I thought it was an interesting point to consider.
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Well I certainly saw a difference from when I first went on in June to October. The video on your post is EXACTLY how I saw it. No camera tricks. I was generally surprised how well lit the first scenes all the way up to the Bat scene, which were still very meh. Though I do wish they remove the glowing effect from the blasters as it can be very distracting.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Well I certainly saw a difference from when I first went on in June to October. The video on your post is EXACTLY how I saw it. No camera tricks. I was generally surprised how well lit the first scenes all the way up to the Bat scene, which were still very meh. Though I do wish they remove the glowing effect from the blasters as it can be very distracting.
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Are you talking about the first video or the second video? If you’re referring to the first video… interesting stuff!

Thanks for the review! The review from @Matt.GC above would suggest that there may be some degree of inconsistency, however…
 
Matt N said:
Are you talking about the first video or the second video? If you’re referring to the first video… interesting stuff!

Thanks for the review!
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Yes I meant the first one sorry. The operators really seem to be trying their best with the lighting late this year as I suppose that Merlin just literally ordered nothing to be done with Duel for the past few years, and all the constant lighting alterations are just the staff working on the ride trying their best to make it look good, probably when the park closes they just rush to the lights and, like I said, try to do their best.

It's nice to know that some people still care for the ride.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Okay. How about its theme. Which of Duels theme does everyone prefer, mine being its current theme.

Also, I think I may have found The Haunted Houses Exterior theme, it's around the 8 minute mark on the video below.



It seems to be an altered version of Sinister Gardens theme.


Edit: Just found this image on an old Video on YouTube. Was this effect part of the original or was it added later by Tussauds?
https://ibb.co/6mmB3Q9
Click to expand...


There were two versions of the sinister garden music made for some reason. The one being played in the video is at a slightly different pitch and much more synthesised. The one that appears on the CD sounds a lot more produced and is slightly slower. I wonder if a new version was made for the CD release? Or that they preferred to use a demo version of the track?
 
Since nearly all the blasters seem to have broke this season, does this mean we could see some extensive work does to the blasters, that being either them being removed, replaced, or them being just left as they are?

Also, do you think they'll turn the indoor queue route back to normal after the pandemic since it was only changed for wheelchair access which was pretty much impossible for the exit as people are always exiting the ride?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Also, do you think they'll turn the indoor queue route back to normal after the pandemic since it was only changed for wheelchair access which was pretty much impossible for the exit as people are always exiting the ride?
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I don’t think they’d do this, and in all honesty, I’m unsure if they should.

I can imagine that even putting aside the pandemic, getting onto the ride up that thin exit corridor would be really uncomfortable for disabled people, especially if you have a wheelchair or similar, and besides, it’s nowhere near as interesting, in my opinion.

Surely now that everyone has the same experience, and wheelchair users can access the main queue, it’s a win-win situation? I get why people want the old queue back, as a ramp is admittedly not the original effect of the room, but why should disabled guests not be entitled to the full experience that able-bodied guests have just for the sake of a slanted floor? While I understand why people miss the old queue, I’d argue that the essence of that room is still exactly the same as it ever was; when I rode in September, I thought it felt far less different to before than is often implied on here, and I certainly didn’t think the queue strongly missed the slanted floor.

I get why they designed the queue and exit as they did in 1992 because disabled access was seen as less of a priority back then, but in 2021, I’m not sure that original queue situation was really the ideal situation for those who are disabled or struggle with mobility, even putting aside the pandemic.

I do wonder why they never built that indoor queue as a uniformly-sized room with a regular floor anyway, as I’m not actually sure what the slanted floor and slanted walls illusion actually added to it, personally. They could have made it equally ambient and created the same effect with a flat floor.
 
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Matt N said:
I don’t think they’d do this, and in all honesty, I’m unsure if they should.

I can imagine that even putting aside the pandemic, getting onto the ride up that thin exit corridor would be really uncomfortable for disabled people, especially if you have a wheelchair or similar, and besides, it’s nowhere near as interesting, in my opinion.

Surely now that everyone has the same experience, and wheelchair users can access the main queue, it’s a win-win situation? I get why people want the old queue back, as a ramp is admittedly not the original effect of the room, but why should disabled guests not be entitled to the full experience that able-bodied guests have just for the sake of a slanted floor?

I get why they designed the queue and exit as they did in 1992 because disabled access was seen as less of a priority back then, but in 2021, I’m not sure that original queue situation was really the ideal situation for those who are disabled or struggle with mobility, even putting aside the pandemic.

I do wonder why they never built that indoor queue as a flat-sloped room with a regular floor anyway, as I’m not actually sure what the slanted floor and slanted walls illusion actually added to it, personally. They could have made it equally ambient with a flat floor.
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Yeah I'm pretty sure the queue line won't be changed back to it's original state. It's a permanent job for one thing, and wheelchair access was an issue long before the pandemic due to the size of the corridor. One thing that Towers do need to do next season though is add a merge host at the front door, as anyone could use the ramp to bypass the outdoor queue on busy days.
 
On a different note, I’ve got a possibly controversial opinion on the topic of Duel and potential steps they could take with it going forward; as much as I know there’s a huge desire for them to bring back the Haunted House for many, I think it would be the worst of both worlds if it happened.

That probably sounds like a blasphemous thing to say, so let me explain myself.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of nostalgia just as much as everyone else, and I can definitely understand the desire to bring back the Haunted House. Many on here had a lot of love for it, and considered it a classic, so why wouldn’t they want to relive those memories?

However, I have numerous reasons for it not being my ideal outcome for Duel as it is now.

Firstly, I’m not sure the average visitor would really “get it”. I think the laser guns are quite popular and do give it a certain appeal that it wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise, and besides, I’m unsure that it would be the huge hit that some expect among the public. As much as I’m sure some do have fond childhood memories of the Haunted House, I get the impression that it wasn’t the most popular by the end of its run, and there was no huge outcry over its removal; second-hand accounts suggest that by 2002, its queue was often non-existent, and it wasn’t exactly a highly revered ride in terms of either popularity or quality. The Haunted House has also been gone for 19 years (20 by 2022), so I don’t think its influence or reputation would be important or prevalent enough in 2021 to justify bringing it back. I think the backlash from the loss of the guns would substantially outweigh the good will from bringing the old ride back.

Secondly, I’d ask; would bringing back the Haunted House really be “bringing it back”, or would it simply be retheming Duel into a new ride that merely carries the Haunted House name? I suspect it would be closer to the latter, personally, what with all the differences it would likely carry. By pure virtue of the fact that technology has advanced a huge amount in 30 years, I’d wager that any move to “bring back the Haunted House” would differ from the 1992 ride to at least a certain extent, which I feel would be quite divisive, and possibly unpopular among die-hard fans. From experience of it in numerous fields, bringing back slices of history often doesn’t produce the results you’d expect.

However they did it, I can sense there would be complaints about how it “wasn’t the same as 1992”; it would inevitably differ to at least a certain extent, and even if they did a refurbishment while being as sympathetic to the 1992 specs as possible, I’m simply not sure that the ride built to exact 1992 specifications would necessarily hold up today for a number of reasons. I’m sure the ride was excellent, and really ground-breaking for the time, but the world is a very different place to what it was in 1992, and the gold standard of theme park attractions was very different; the bar has been raised a fair amount, and what’s seen as a strong dark ride has changed a lot, even since the Haunted House closed. I can sense that riding the 1992 Haunted House in 2021 would be like watching a 1980s/1990s film or TV programme after not having watched it for years; it would likely seem different to how you’d remembered it being at the time to at least a certain extent.

So basically, before I ramble too much, my basic point is; as much as I think the Haunted House being bought back sounds like a nice idea on paper, I don’t think it would be something that would resonate with the public like many would expect (I think the removal of laser guns might generate some backlash), and I also don’t think it would necessarily produce the final product that many fans would expect or be hoping for. As such, I think doing it would leave them in a slightly sticky situation, as neither guests nor fans would be overly happy with the finished product.

I apologise if that’s controversial or offends you; that’s just my personal take. I could be completely wrong.
 
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Matt N said:
I’m sure the ride was excellent, and really ground-breaking for the time, but the world is a very different place to what it was in 1992, and the gold standard of theme park attractions was very different; the bar has been raised a fair amount, and what’s seen as a strong dark ride has changed a lot, even since the Haunted House closed. I can sense that riding the 1992 Haunted House in 2021 would be like watching a 1980s/1990s film or TV programme after not having watched it for years; it would likely seem different to how you’d remembered it being at the time to at least a certain extent.
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The difference being that many films of the 80s and 90s, a huge majority of people nowerdays prefer them over whats being shown in cinema currently, though with a few exception.

People aren't looking for the newest thing out there in the theme park industry, except roller coasters. People just want something fun. Even John Wardley himself stated this with his creations in an old documentary, saying that the majority of Theme parks are always trying to make the next big thing, next tallest, fastest, longest, most advanced, etc. He on the other hand just just wants to build pure fun, non-groundbreaking attractions.

Though yeah, if they ever did bring it back, I would have little hope if the retrofit wasn't lead by John himself, or any of Spark or Rex Studios workers.

Great idea on paper, it's just execution that is the worrying part. If done by the wrong person, it won't do well.

The blasters don't feel right to be on a ride like Duel, I would expect something like that on Gangsta Granny the Ride.
 
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I think more of an issue with the changing of the queue isn't the lack of slanted floor but more so the lack of effects and atmosphere. The haunted dollhouse is now just a dollhouse, the book that turned by itself is now just a book, etc. What originally set up for the theme of the ride, is now essentially just a room. I 100% support the change as it was necessary for accessibility, however it was done in a very lazy way (Merlin being lazy? shock horror)
 
1. Money no object - Gut the whole thing. Turn it into a world class trackless dark ride but keeping the Haunted House theme.

2. Moderate budget - Remove the guns and targets, keep the Original HH theme, replace a few tired scenes, keep the track /cars and just repair all the bits that need repairing.

3. Shoe-string budget - Keep it as it is with the guns and just repair the odd part here and there.

4. Merlin budget - Do nothing and let it die a slow painful death.
 
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