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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

Dave said:
Same I rode HH before it became Duel and I never understood the love people had for it. The scale of the ride was impressive but the rest was just ok in my
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Matt N said:
I apologise if this is a controversial view, but dare I suggest that some of the love for the Haunted House (as well as some of the other “Wardley classics”) might be based on nostalgia, both personal and borrowed?

I don’t deny that the Haunted House was clearly very successful in 1992, but I do wonder whether the happy memories from the ride’s early years might be making people remember it as better than it perhaps was, which in turn rubs off on younger enthusiasts who never rode the Haunted House. This then turns it into this godly ride that could do no wrong and is elevated onto a very high pedestal by both younger enthusiasts who never rode it and are hearing about how brilliant it was and by people who did ride it and might have some degree of nostalgia towards it coming into play.

That’s not discounting anyone’s opinions from the time, by the way, and I apologise if it comes across that way. I more mean that nostalgia can do funny things to people’s recollections of an experience (believe me, I know that from first-hand experience!), so I do often wonder whether the Haunted House and the other “Wardley classics” would be revered so much if they had stayed around for longer and lived into the modern era.

I could be completely wrong here, but my thought is that while someone who rode the Haunted House in 1992 could have thought it was brilliant, the goalposts of what constitute a revered ride have changed considerably since 1992. Had the ride been “revived”, you’d be viewing it through the lens of the 2023 industry, which I do feel might have made people view it in a very different light.

The way I see it is that riding the Haunted House in 2023 would be like rewatching a film from the 80s or 90s that you’d remembered as being brilliant at the time. At the time of its release, you loved it, but in 2023, certain flaws become more apparent (think of all the films and TV shows from that time that are now being called out for racism, sexism, homophobia and the like, not to mention that special effects have come a long way in that timeframe too). It’s not a perfect analogy, as a film or TV show is different to a spooky dark ride, but overall, I feel like the same sort of sentiment rings true for both.

Having watched POVs of the Haunted House (which admittedly won’t tell the whole story), I must admit that I’m surprised that it is so revered while Duel was so hated. To me, it basically looks like Duel, but with better lighting, a different soundtrack and no blasters… at the time it operated, I don’t deny that it clearly worked well and was brilliant for the time, but I personally feel that for the 2023 theme park market, Curse is a better fit overall.
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You lost me at this point I am afraid.

“would be like rewatching a film from the 80s or 90s that you’d remembered as being brilliant at the time”

Will be interesting to see how the curse ages as computer generated imagery goes out of date quicker than physical props.
 
RIPCorky said:
It works both ways though, you don't have to prefer this ride to the old one, It's personal preference, these days it feels like a crime to say you don't like something because someone "put a lot of effort" into doing it.. This ride has very mixed reviews from the general public, once the initial hype from the opening weekend had worn off people began to see faults.
You can call me out in two or three seasons time but I believe they've made a mistake with this ride. I don't think it will age well at all and some the the effects already in there look bad. I've ridden all three versions of this ride and I preferred the previous two, hope they kept the blasters...
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You can say that about most new attractions though. Many go on for the first time and claim it to be the best X ever. Then once bedded in and more ride it more stable opinions come into play.

I'd day dark rides often struggle to hit their mark first time out. Sometimes this can be down to things not working as they should or timings being out. There's such a difference in testing to operation that more often than not you don't discover the bugs and problems until people are already on it.

I think many of the issue is more that some wanted it to be an almost full return to the original, and are upset that it hasn't panned out that way. That they've removed old props as if keeping them was more important than telling a new story. That they didn't use (allegedly, we have no way of knowing if certain subcontractors were or weren't used) companies involved in the original is another weird bug bear.

You don't have to like it, but if you're going to be critical then be constructive. Just moaning that they removed an old prop or didn't use a particular company isn't constructive at all.

And who's to say they won't adapt things more readily in the future? Granted that is optimistic but we may see a new direction with Merlin refurbishments now. Unlikely but you can live in hope.
 
Benzin said:
You can say that about most new attractions though. Many go on for the first time and claim it to be the best X ever. Then once bedded in and more ride it more stable opinions come into play.

I'd day dark rides often struggle to hit their mark first time out. Sometimes this can be down to things not working as they should or timings being out. There's such a difference in testing to operation that more often than not you don't discover the bugs and problems until people are already on it.

I think many of the issue is more that some wanted it to be an almost full return to the original, and are upset that it hasn't panned out that way. That they've removed old props as if keeping them was more important than telling a new story. That they didn't use (allegedly, we have no way of knowing if certain subcontractors were or weren't used) companies involved in the original is another weird bug bear.

You don't have to like it, but if you're going to be critical then be constructive. Just moaning that they removed an old prop or didn't use a particular company isn't constructive at all.

And who's to say they won't adapt things more readily in the future? Granted that is optimistic but we may see a new direction with Merlin refurbishments now. Unlikely but you can live in hope.
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I think one of the main reasons why many people were expecting a return of the original ride but with Emily was mostly because of John Wardleys involvement, and were expecting a lot of the original ride to be restored just because he was involved with The Curse at Alton Manors construction. I wonder if people would be less disappointed if we weren't told that he was involved.
 
Alton Manor and to some extent even Ghost Train to an extent are IMO the crossroads of future Merlin dark rides to follow. They are both both non IP based attractions and a fair bit has been spent on them in which both could have quite so easily been an IP of some kind such as Duel could have very possibly turned into a Ghosbusters based IP yet Merlin didn't do that and who knows how close it was to happen?

If both are successful and prove that you can have a successful dark ride without the need of using an IP which TBH is pretty 80% or dark rides today, then Merlin might be tempted to try out more non IP based dark rides at their parks. If both are not going to make the numbers Merlin wants which I have no clue what then they'll move back to type of seeing more GG or Charlie in the future.

You read this first as a pivotal moment for perhaps the history of dark rides not just for Merlin but arguably the rest of the UK going forward...
 
Trooper Looper said:
I think one of the main reasons why many people were expecting a return of the original ride but with Emily was mostly because of John Wardleys involvement, and were expecting a lot of the original ride to be restored just because he was involved with The Curse at Alton Manors construction. I wonder if people would be less disappointed if we weren't told that he was involved.
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I don't think "many people" did expect the 1992 ride to be restored, it's just something you personally and repeatedly hoped for.
 
I actually think the curse is a success in my eyes and a good step forward for dark rides in the uk, they have come along way since “Charlie” put it that way. Is there room for improvement, of course. If it was a high Capex year it could of been astonishing! However it’s still a very unique dark ride nonetheless. I could even say potentially globally unique, due to not many darker rides story’s featuring in a ghost house type of attraction. Not only the pre show and story telling part, but I think the ideal of being inside a doll house and the illusion of being shrunk down is a genius idea. However I wish the props and furniture from entering inside the doll house part, too the exit of the que line would feature a lot larger props. Im taking Giant Teddy’s/chairs/toys/dolls/heads/ducks etc. This would of been alot more effective for guests to remember, having that WOW factor Moment at the end, along side giant Emily of course! The shop could of been incredible with this unique “Giant toy/props feel” But I’m aware this would of be solely down to budgets. Maybe in time they can add to this attraction now it’s here to stay and future proof with no IP to change. It’s a great haunted house/ghost ride in the perfect setting.

I believe in the future once the hype has gone, New internationals or people who have never visited the park before. Will come off this ride pleasantly surprised.

Just fix the mist effect over the trommel, add some more to the darker spots, and update the 3 spiders and maybe that hand effect towards the end, then I think it’s pretty solid ride!
 
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Trooper Looper said:
I think one of the main reasons why many people were expecting a return of the original ride but with Emily was mostly because of John Wardleys involvement, and were expecting a lot of the original ride to be restored just because he was involved with The Curse at Alton Manors construction. I wonder if people would be less disappointed if we weren't told that he was involved.
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Again though, that's people putting their own perception on something, building it up in their own mind (with zero reason behind it) and then being upset when the end product was different.

If Wardley hadn't been involved I'd bet that then it would be "Why isn't John Wardley involved in this?" instead.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
You lost me at this point I am afraid.

“would be like rewatching a film from the 80s or 90s that you’d remembered as being brilliant at the time”
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I’m aware that the film analogy is not a perfect one, but I was merely trying to say that how you remember something being at the time and how that same experience would stack up today are not necessarily the same thing.

Just because people loved the Haunted House when it originally operated, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people would love it now. A lot has happened in the 20 years since it closed; technology has advanced a long way, and the goalposts of what constitute a revered dark ride have shifted considerably, so I do wonder whether the Haunted House’s modern day reputation could at least partially be caused by nostalgia.

I’m not denying that it was a brilliant ride for the time, but that doesn’t necessarily conflate with being a brilliant ride for 2023, which is why I was always hesitant about the idea of “reviving” the 1992 Haunted House. What worked back then would not necessarily work now.

I know I’m probably wrong, and I apologise if I’m coming across argumentative, or overly disparaging or judgmental of a 1990s classic, here, but that’s just my personal view.

It’s a bit of a moot point now given that we have The Curse at Alton Manor, a ride that I personally feel has been executed excellently and is a brilliant resurrection of the haunted house concept for the modern era, but I still feel that it’s an interesting argument to consider.
 
Its a good ride, does what its supposed to do. Its not perfect but it was never going to be. Rectifies a very flawed old ride and fills a gap which very much needed plugging.

I took a non enthusiast friend for the first time last week and he really enjoyed it (he had never seen any of its previous iterations) - wanted to do it again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
RIPCorky said:
It works both ways though, you don't have to prefer this ride to the old one, It's personal preference, these days it feels like a crime to say you don't like something because someone "put a lot of effort" into doing it.. This ride has very mixed reviews from the general public, once the initial hype from the opening weekend had worn off people began to see faults.
You can call me out in two or three seasons time but I believe they've made a mistake with this ride. I don't think it will age well at all and some the the effects already in there look bad. I've ridden all three versions of this ride and I preferred the previous two, hope they kept the blasters...
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Again saying peoples reviews are “hype” is just a bit petty.

ALL rides get mixed reviews by the public, I know people who prefer Rita to Nemesis, now in my mind that’s crazy but it’s their preference.

People raised the faults on opening weekend (long dark section, some lighting issues, mirror scene dodgy) but for many they didn’t detract from the vast improvement this ride is to Duel.

It’s fine you don’t like the ride but don’t try and justify your dislike by labelling those who do like it as taken in by the hype train (choo choo)
 
I just think some people are just so damn hard to please, then again after all the guff that has happened with Towers over the years has made many of us jaded and even cynical. Even if by this point this decade in the very best case scenario of we see another 1990's of good high quality attractions, resort features and general all round a much improved park, it'll be years before even the most jaded enthusiast will smile again. Ofc...that is a very best case scenario that highly likely won't happen but at the very least if there is some effort put into the park over the next few years with Alton Manor hopefully being the lynchpin to kick start the park in a positive direction then I think most of us would be fine.
 
Dave said:
Again saying peoples reviews are “hype” is just a bit petty.

ALL rides get mixed reviews by the public, I know people who prefer Rita to Nemesis, now in my mind that’s crazy but it’s their preference.

People raised the faults on opening weekend (long dark section, some lighting issues, mirror scene dodgy) but for many they didn’t detract from the vast improvement this ride is to Duel.

It’s fine you don’t like the ride but don’t try and justify your dislike by labelling those who do like it as taken in by the hype train (choo choo)
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Not at all, it's clear that the reviews have been less positive since the opening weekend
 
RIPCorky said:
Not at all, it's clear that the reviews have been less positive since the opening weekend
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It depends where you look, i don’t think you can blanket statement that.

The discussion always will naturally move on from the positive praise when people are bored and want to discuss the ride and any ride will have improvements and that’s what simply people are discussing. Discussing for sake of discussing, not because they are riding it and genuinely think the whole ride is bad.
 
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