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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

Danscott22 said:
It is a shame that stuff isn’t working though, as the scenes that had stuff broken did not look great at all. After two more rides, I really think stuff needs adding to the hide and seek and flying head scene
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Definitely agree about the flying heads and hide and seek scenes. I think what would work in the hide and seek scene is perhaps really quick flash jumpscares of Emily's face randomly appearing in the room - like blink and you'll miss it kind of quick. That's all that room needs - a jumpscare or two. It doesn't need any elaborate theming as it's intentionally designed to be eerie and to put you on edge, but when there's no payoff it just makes for a disappointing scene. Maybe even just a jumpscare right at the very end of the hide and seek section where Emily appears with a "BOO!" or something.

Not sure what they would do with the flying heads section though, but something needs to be done to draw your attention to look above. On my three rides, I think I realised halfway through my second ride that I was supposed to be looking up. Definitely needs some speakers or something from above to make you look up there, maybe some UV writing on the walls saying something like "My friends are coming to get you" or something like that (can you tell i'm not a theme park attraction designer? 😂)

On another subject that I totally forgot to mention on my first review - I really like what they've done with Emily's audio in the queue. On my first runthrough I was waiting in the loading bay behind a group, literally just through the doorway out of the preshow, and it seems they've got speakers right behind you playing audio of Emily whispering things like "are you coming to play?" etc. However they've done it works really bloody well - like, it genuinely sounds like a person is whispering it into your ear and not just generic audio playing through a speaker. Definitely made me look over my shoulder when I first heard it, thought it was an actor or something 😂
 
D4n said:
I've had more perfect runs than not.

Dare say you've just been unlucky.
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Very unlucky, I have been on in excess of 20 times this season and failed to get anything near to a perfect run through.

Is it a case that it works better in the morning, as I usually leave it until later in the day.
 
coasterverse said:
Definitely agree about the flying heads and hide and seek scenes. I think what would work in the hide and seek scene is perhaps really quick flash jumpscares of Emily's face randomly appearing in the room - like blink and you'll miss it kind of quick. That's all that room needs - a jumpscare or two. It doesn't need any elaborate theming as it's intentionally designed to be eerie and to put you on edge, but when there's no payoff it just makes for a disappointing scene. Maybe even just a jumpscare right at the very end of the hide and seek section where Emily appears with a "BOO!" or something.

Not sure what they would do with the flying heads section though, but something needs to be done to draw your attention to look above. On my three rides, I think I realised halfway through my second ride that I was supposed to be looking up. Definitely needs some speakers or something from above to make you look up there, maybe some UV writing on the walls saying something like "My friends are coming to get you" or something like that (can you tell i'm not a theme park attraction designer? )

On another subject that I totally forgot to mention on my first review - I really like what they've done with Emily's audio in the queue. On my first runthrough I was waiting in the loading bay behind a group, literally just through the doorway out of the preshow, and it seems they've got speakers right behind you playing audio of Emily whispering things like "are you coming to play?" etc. However they've done it works really bloody well - like, it genuinely sounds like a person is whispering it into your ear and not just generic audio playing through a speaker. Definitely made me look over my shoulder when I first heard it, thought it was an actor or something
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I agree that’s all it needs to complete that scene as it’s quite long. Even if was a couple of mannequins with sheets on that flash, like you said it doesn’t need much.

Is the survey screen at the exit still? To mention your feedback. Maybe in close season they will have a budget to add these tweaks.


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I found a video of the manor with a torch on..... as bad as doing that is I increased the brightness of the video and there's a few more spots of original and altered theming than I thought. some are quite funny because I never suspected it would be there right under our noses. goes to show how thought out the lighting is for this ride.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
Very unlucky, I have been on in excess of 20 times this season and failed to get anything near to a perfect run through.

Is it a case that it works better in the morning, as I usually leave it until later in the day.
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Dark rides often perform better earlier in the day, the operator doesn’t have an indicator of which effects have failed so they tend to only get noticed when the evening checks are done.
 
It didn’t open until 1pm yesterday and then was up and down constantly. I’d like to hope some of effects were being fixed/synced back up.

I also said this in a previous post but I really hope they sort the audio for when I next go in September. There is too much happening in certain places, the audio bleed between the end of the garden scene and the start of the dolls house scene means you couldn’t hear what Emily says when you enter the dolls house. I don’t really know how you tackle this, but it doesn’t sound great at all. I also hope they’ve got closed season plans at least for hide and seek and flying head scene, as I actually realised on Sunday how naff those parts are, particularly when you’ve been on more than once. I’ve had 5 rides now, and I must admit I’m less impressed than I was when I first rode it, which is a shame because it still is a great ride, but one which can easily be ruined. I’ve also not yet had a ride where the “phones and cameras must be put away” announcement hasn’t played, and that ruins it as well.
 
Danscott22 said:
I’ve also not yet had a ride where the “phones and cameras must be put away” announcement hasn’t played, and that ruins it as well.
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I've had a runthrough with this too - totally breaks the immersion as all other music/sound effects is paused whilst the announcement takes place. Granted it happened to me just as we were leaving the station so didn't take too much away from the experience, but still a pain either way. I don't really see why it needs to be enforced so strictly that it breaks immersion on a ride like Curse - coasters, yeah I totally get it as having a phone or camera hurtling towards you is bound to cause quite a fair bit of discomfort (putting it lightly), but on an attraction like Curse where the ride vehicles crawl along, I can't really see it being that much of an issue. Definitely not a big enough issue to play an announcement that totally breaks your immersion, but I suppose things could get confusing if the park say "NO PHONES OR CAMERA ON RIDES except for...", much easier for them to just blanket ban them all.

I just think it doesn't really need to be enforced on Curse - sure, have the rule in place and maybe play the announcement for anybody causing a nuisance with said equipment, but for those just filming quietly to upload to their YouTube or for personal use to look back on with fond memories I don't see being a problem at all.
 
Isn’t this more likely linked to the camera flashes potentially interfering with fire safety systems than a desire to stop people actually filming?
 
AT86 said:
Isn’t this more likely linked to the camera flashes potentially interfering with fire safety systems than a desire to stop people actually filming?
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Yeah that's what i'd consider to be causing a nuisance - I agree that there should definitely be no flash photography or videography as that would totally ruin the experience for other riders with you. But for those videoing/photographing with no flash and keeping themselves to themselves, I don't think the rule should be enforced personally.
 
I don't see why people would need to record the ride anyway. There are POVs online already (I admit those were also taken without permission, but still), and your 3-minute video of some flashes of light, glimpses of theming and mostly a black screen is hardly going to be a nostalgic video to show the grandkids.

Live in the moment, I say!
 
James said:
I don't see why people would need to record the ride anyway. There are POVs online already (I admit those were also taken without permission, but still), and your 3-minute video of some flashes of light, glimpses of theming and mostly a black screen is hardly going to be a nostalgic video to show the grandkids.

Live in the moment, I say!
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Oh yeah I totally agree! Unless you're bringing night visions cameras into the attraction, you're going to walk away dissatisfied with what you took in there - however the announcements ruin absolutely everybody else's experience on that runthrough. If I had it in the middle of one of my runs, it would leave an extremely sour taste in my mouth. I was lucky enough just to get it at the start.

My view is, let them do it (unless it's distracting to others) and leave them coming away watching the footage disappointed. That way it's only one person's experience that's been ruined rather than everybody else making their way through the circuit.
 
We were queuing for ice cream outside of Curse the other week and the ‘put your phone away’ announcement was glitching and kept stopping midway through and repeating itself for a minute, don’t know whether someone had sat on the button or something and I didn’t realise the announcement played outside too. Must have been so annoying for people on the ride but at least there wasn’t much of a queue so you could go around again for a better run.

We’ve had the announcement whilst on ride and it is totally immersion breaking. It really does ruin the experience for everyone else. Reminds me of being back at school, someone would be messing around and the teacher would keep the whole class in at lunch as a result of one child’s behaviour.
 
JakeDLP said:
I found a video of the manor with a torch on..... as bad as doing that is I increased the brightness of the video and there's a few more spots of original and altered theming than I thought. some are quite funny because I never suspected it would be there right under our noses. goes to show how thought out the lighting is for this ride.
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Mind PMing?

I know it’s against the rules to film and a bit naughty but I’d be genuinely interested in seeing what remains
 
We rode for the first time yesterday, and after hearing pretty positive reviews, I have to say I left slightly disappointed. Whilst the ride’s not bad, there are four main issues I see: -

- quite a few stretches of complete darkness.

- some very obvious holdovers from the previous incarnation, which are clearly incorporated because they save money rather than then being integral or appropriate to the ride.

- despite what I’d heard were new, impressive effects, there was a lack of any real wow moment. The closest was the giant head close to the ride’s end.

- a lack of richness in the new details added, so much so that there was a cartoonish element to some of the sets. If you’re familiar with the famous four levels of detail Imagineering talk about, there is probably 1 or 2 levels at a stretch in Alton Manor.

Our non-enthusiast friends were similarly underwhelmed, going so far as to say they preferred Duel.

To me it feels like a budget reskin of Duel.

As an aside, the Easter eggs are nice, but they are fodder for enthusiasts and add nothing to the ride experience itself.
 
venny said:
We rode for the first time yesterday, and after hearing pretty positive reviews, I have to say I left slightly disappointed. Whilst the ride’s not bad, there are four main issues I see: -

- quite a few stretches of complete darkness.

- some very obvious holdovers from the previous incarnation, which are clearly incorporated because they save money rather than then being integral or appropriate to the ride.

- despite what I’d heard were new, impressive effects, there was a lack of any real wow moment. The closest was the giant head close to the ride’s end.

- a lack of richness in the new details added, so much so that there was a cartoonish element to some of the sets. If you’re familiar with the famous four levels of detail Imagineering talk about, there is probably 1 or 2 levels at a stretch in Alton Manor.

Our non-enthusiast friends were similarly underwhelmed, going so far as to say they preferred Duel.

To me it feels like a budget reskin of Duel.

As an aside, the Easter eggs are nice, but they are fodder for enthusiasts and add nothing to the ride experience itself.
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Isn't there only one stretch of darkness though really? It's the hide and seek section that seems to make everyone fume
 
venny said:
We rode for the first time yesterday, and after hearing pretty positive reviews, I have to say I left slightly disappointed. Whilst the ride’s not bad, there are four main issues I see: -

- quite a few stretches of complete darkness.

- some very obvious holdovers from the previous incarnation, which are clearly incorporated because they save money rather than then being integral or appropriate to the ride.

- despite what I’d heard were new, impressive effects, there was a lack of any real wow moment. The closest was the giant head close to the ride’s end.

- a lack of richness in the new details added, so much so that there was a cartoonish element to some of the sets. If you’re familiar with the famous four levels of detail Imagineering talk about, there is probably 1 or 2 levels at a stretch in Alton Manor.

Our non-enthusiast friends were similarly underwhelmed, going so far as to say they preferred Duel.

To me it feels like a budget reskin of Duel.

As an aside, the Easter eggs are nice, but they are fodder for enthusiasts and add nothing to the ride experience itself.
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Sums up my issues with the ride very well - it feels like an updated Duel/Haunted House. The same song, same beat - just different instruments being used.
 
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