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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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Benzin said:
Yes. Seeing the frontage from the air compared to the ground is a very different situation.
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Especially as that the photo seems to have some weird colouration difference and is hard to make out what's true colour or not. It definitely does look very whiteish. To be honest, I wish these people wouldnt take drone images of work in progress, it's bound to start misunderstandings.

Benzin said:
They have a hell of a job because a number seem to want the original back (see also when Bubbleworks closed for Gruffalo) rather than progress the ride. Not helped by the new ride heavily leaning on the nostalgia of fans which will really effect the expectations.
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Hmm I don't see it quite that way, Gruffalo was replacing a staple (but similarly tarnished) ride with an IP so a bit more of a cynical exercise.
Most reaction I saw was that people liked the ride but it wasn't as good as when it first opened, which I think is fair.

But this ride they seem to be keeping the theme and scenes but a new identity and big overhaul. Everyone knows the ride was in a state and reaction seems to be open minded. Hopefully people will judge the ride on its own terms.

I also hope Merlin dont exploit people's affection for the original and they overall make something entertaining.
 
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RIPCorky said:
If they were really behind schedule it wouldn't have a confirmed opening date. Seeing as they are doing all the marketing etc I would imagine the ride is pretty much complete by now.
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Not necessarily. That opening date has been decided by management. The creative and design teams have that deadline to work towards. We have 30 days (as of today) remaining (if they have site clear days for weekends then that’s 21 days). That is a lot days for creative and tech to continue install/programming etc! They won’t be working Mon - Fri, 9 to 5 either.

Painting, set additions/adjustments etc will be going on and time will be set aside for it to go into “show mode” and allow testing to happen.

So for example let’s say activity is happening on site for 12 hours a day. That might mean scenics are painting and set dressing whilst techies isolate certain effects to test and time them whilst house lights are on doing this from 9 to 6 with the remaining three hours reserved for show mode testing. That is just an example and pulling times as an example but multiple things will be happening, I don’t expect full and continuous show mode testing to happen until early March.

So if on schedule then we may see final set dressing and effects timing etc wrap early March allowing for constant testing.

But they may be painting and tinkering with effects up until opening day (and may well even tinker beyond opening day).

So I think we need to remember that teams are working hard and teams are still on site painting and playing with effects.
 
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My only gripe with the new paint job, is will it still look decent in 5-10 years? The original facade was really clean when it opened, but over the decades it only got better and better as the facade started to look more derelict and worn in a good way. This went on for 30 years and it still looked great while looking believable as a real house you'd come across! This new layer though, from the Drones View anyway, already looks really worn from day 1, and not in a good way. Maybe it'll look better in person from the ground, but using grey instead of the houses existing colours or something more natural wasn't a good choice IMO.

This reminds me with what Drayton Manor did to the Hauntings facade for the 2016 refurb. The colour choice doesn't look all that great and feels a bit cheesy and unnecessary.
 
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Trooper Looper said:
My only gripe with the new paint job, is will it still look decent in 5-10 years? The original facade was really clean when it opened, but over the decades it only got better and better as the facade started to look more derelict and worn in a good way. This went on for 30 years and it still looked great while looking believableas a real house you'd come across! This new layer though, from the Drones View anyway, already looks really worn from day 1, and not in a good way. Maybe it'll look better in person from the ground, but using grey instead of the houses existing colours or something more natural wasn't a good choice IMO.

This reminds me with what Drayton Manor did to the Hauntings facade for the 2016 refurb. The colour choice doesn't look all that great and feels a bit cheesy and unnecessary.
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What was the chance they would ever do something you approved of? They are in an impossible situation. You want a return to HH (a ride you never even rode) but the only information we have ever received to suggest that was even a possibility was a couple of passing comments by JW, if people continue to jump on everything he says and hold it as fact he will simply have to stop talking to enthusiasts, I certainly would in his position. This is a new ride, it has a new name, it has a new story, it looks different.

I would agree that it aged nicely but IMO the HH looked fairly cartoony when new and not at all like a "real house"
hauntedhouse01.jpg
 
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Trooper Looper said:
My only gripe with the new paint job, is will it still look decent in 5-10 years? The original facade was really clean when it opened, but over the decades it only got better and better as the facade started to look more derelict and worn in a good way. This went on for 30 years and it still looked great while looking believable as a real house you'd come across! This new layer though, from the Drones View anyway, already looks really worn from day 1, and not in a good way. Maybe it'll look better in person from the ground, but using grey instead of the houses existing colours or something more natural wasn't a good choice IMO.

This reminds me with what Drayton Manor did to the Hauntings facade for the 2016 refurb. The colour choice doesn't look all that great and feels a bit cheesy and unnecessary.
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Maybe, just maybe, we should wait until it is finished before casting such an opinion? There are still 4 weeks to go until the ride opens. I know my suggestion is quite radical mind.
Relife said:
I'm wondering if the gift shop and food stand opposite will be brought back, as the area seems pretty dead in recent seasons. Im pretty sure the gift shop will return but the food stall needs to come back as well as the surrounding area looks like it's getting a refresh
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I'm certain the shop will return, but with a different name. I would not be too surprised if the F&B outlet re-opens in some guise, there will be more people than usual in Gloomy Wood this season and it makes sense to capitalise on this.
 
In terms of the F&B unit, I wonder if they might shutter something like the hydration station in FV since the footfall may well be lower in that area without Nemesis and move it over to Gloomy Wood. Keep the wage bill the same, but shifts the offering to where guests are more likely to be.
 
Benzin said:
Nice to see we're still instantly jumping to conclusions of quality based off a drone photo.

And taking words literally from certain personnel who are revered.

Looking forward to the over-reaction to the ride having replaced some HH scenes and not fitting the "ethos" however that is judged or generally not being what someone envisioned in their own mind.

Sometimes nostalgia goggles really do cause more issues than moving on and being glad it happened. Guess though might be because many never experienced the original and its gained some weird reverence because of missing out and things being changed.

See also Disney fans whenever anything is changed that Walt or one of the big Imagineers did.
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It’s probably the opposite, you won’t miss what you didn’t have.

Even if they were to completely copy the original house it would still be a brand new ride for the vast majority of the wider public now. Only oldies will remember the HH (and it was fantastic). That being said I don’t recall every single detail of the ride.

Looking forward to the new ride, but not forgetting the past.
 
Just found this on YouTube!!! Someone filmed some on-site footage of the area, and a good view of the redone Facade, though it looked like it was filmed a whole back since the tower wasn't done yet. Still not a huge fan of it where its done from ground view, at least we can finally see the Facade fully, but great footage anyway!!


Edit: from recent complaints, I advise to skip to the last 30 seconds of the video if you want to se ethe footage as the remainig time is just a walkthrough of Haunted Hollow.
From: https://youtu.be/cohEMxfIcbY
 
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Skip to 5 minutes. Up until then the guy just walks down haunted hollow. Really shaky/bad footage too. Can't see much. Filmed 3 days ago on the 13th.
 
I wonder whether any of the effects that went into creating the (surely defunct) preshow from DBGT have been driven up the M1 for reporposing here?
 
Trooper Looper said:
I think this was filmed when it was still a work on progress unlike the drone footage earlier. Some of the Houses were incomplete, and the turret was still untouched.
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To repaint it they'd have need to scaffold it, which you wouldnt take down before its finished. I dont even see anything to prove it's been repainted. It just looks possibly a bit greyer, but could be a trick of the eye. In fact the turret is the only thing that looks more grey to my eye.

A shaky few seconds video is still not something you can judge.
 
ChristmasPud said:
To repaint it they'd have need to scaffold it, which you wouldnt take down before its finished. I dont even see anything to prove it's been repainted. It just looks possibly a bit greyer, but could be a trick of the eye. In fact the turret is the only thing that looks more grey to my eye.

A shaky few seconds video is still not something you can judge.
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Maybe they can get the scaffolding from 13? They have a surplus over there in the dark forest.

Doesn’t look much different to me. As long as there are no physical changes with the facade it does need some work.
 
James said:
“How does the Duel transformation look currently” - 30 seconds of a shaky camera at the end of a 5 minute video. Should have been titled ‘Haunted Hollow walkthrough’.

Can we have a ban on click-baiting, pointless YouTube videos please?
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Unfortunately it feels like those are the only methods of updates these days. Or drone shots.

The person who filmed it will probably be in trouble as a result too. Daft really.
 
ChristmasPud said:
To repaint it they'd have need to scaffold it, which you wouldnt take down before its finished. I dont even see anything to prove it's been repainted. It just looks possibly a bit greyer, but could be a trick of the eye. In fact the turret is the only thing that looks more grey to my eye.

A shaky few seconds video is still not something you can judge.
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Sometimes scaffolding comes down before the final coats, as the scaffolding gets directly in the way at points, and the job is finished with ladders or a cherry picker...
As done on my house in the autumn, only took us two years!
 
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