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The Alton Towers Dungeon

Stuie said:
That's a fair point! Perhaps I should have worded it differently. I guess I meant, if the majority of people this it's poor then it probably is.
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Internet forums are a long way from a fair cross section of visitors though, by nature we tend to have a lot of similar opinions and look at things with a much more critical eye than most other guests.
 
A few pics of The Dungeons from our visit on Tuesday, full gallery and some press images from Towers over on TowersStreet news. We didn't run through the whole attraction, but did two scenes (torturer and judge). Both Dungeons staples, but were fun as always and had the local stuff put into the script. We also saw two other scenes, Plague Doctor (which was being programmed whilst in there), The Highwayman (a version of Jack the Ripper). We also saw the finale scene 'The Haunting' but there's still work to be done in that one and it was very dark for the camera so no worthwhile pics from that one yet.

Dungeons entrance
There's been the addition of a few bits of theming since the pics from last weekend's buyout day. There's still some more to be added over the next week or so, but already looks better in my opinion. Those worrying about the Charlie theming further to the left, the wood is there to cover it and will be completed soon!

Dungeons-Entrance-Overview.jpg


Torturer Scene
Dungeons-Torture.jpg


Plague Doctor
Dungeons-Surgery.jpg


The Highwayman
Dungeons-Dick-Turpin.jpg


Unfortunately no look at the boat ride (Black River), but we were told it was the first one to be actor loaded with rides teams hidden away to keep the immersion. Actors will also feature through the ride itself too which will remain the same length of around 4 minutes.

My thoughts
Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan of the Dungeon brand in the first place, mainly as the repetition across the locations gets a little tiresome. That said, for newcomers to the brand who maybe won't go out of their way to visit a standalone one it'll be a nice addition to the day. Sure it'd be nice to have a new dark ride in this building, but we know budgets are tight and as others have said it's better to have something new and fresh rather than a building rotting away doing nothing. Midways leaking into the parks are inevitable these days, and although it's difficult to tell off the back of a few scenes and the lack of finished lighting, no smoke or smell pots what's there seems to be fairly decent and of a similar quality to the existing Dungeons.

I am disappointed they're not utilising the lifts, but I guess they're probably in a poor location and expensive to recommission and reutilise in the new attraction. The key thing for AT Dungeons is going to be keeping it fresh for people going back multiple times. Since it's here whether we like it or not, I hope we see some temporary additional scenes over time. Some more extreme versions for Scarefest with the scares turned up would be great.
 
If anyone is going to the park on opening day (and skipping the dungeon) can you try using your MAP at the dungeon entrance anyway and report back?
 
The pictures and videos don’t really change my opinion. It’s painfully clear that this is a standard carbon copy dungeons which begs the following:

1) With the sheer volume of MAP holders propping up park attendance why would someone pay for this when they can do all the other UK dungeons for free (bar Warwick)?

2) Why will repeat visitors (a good proportion of Scarefest and Fireworks visitors) do it more than once?

I may be wrong but this to me looks like another Merlin 2 season special joining Saw Alive, Sub Terra and I’m a celeb. The only thing I can say that is positive is it is pretty clear they have built this cheap and with the idea that the originally building is relatively undesturbed, so unlike most of the other Merlin fails the cost will be limited.

This would have been much better on resort side where people are desperate for stuff to do that isn’t a theme park.
 
I broke my own spoiler rule and skipped through the video, the comments from Towers ents/ MMM were interesting. But what stood out was the 'career enthusiasts' on a quest to photograph every inch of something new to stick on their Facebook pages. It's kind of sad and hilarious the size of equipment they're going around with now.

I'm hardly a big fan of the Dungeon but please, flash photography totally defeats the work that goes into lighting and detailing a themed attraction—especially when its gets seen by thousands of geeks online before the thing is even finished!

Flash flattens an image and makes a scene look nothing like it's intended to. Lighting totally transforms a set. Surely an enthusiast, if they're really a fan of entertainment, would appreciate this? Or are they just in it for the website clicks?

With theme parks, so much work goes into making something for which you have to be there to experience. Only for hundreds of porny photos to be stuck online for Alton Towers geeks to binge from the comfort of their bedroom.

It is every attraction designer's nemesis. But of course, those in charge care more about getting PR than creating something special, so would gladly have the enthusiasts go round and photograph every inch of an unfinished attraction.

I think we've completely lost the element of surprise in UK enthusiast circles today.

I don't mind the fact theyre letting enthusiasts in because they've given a pretty down to earth, no-nonsense tour. But we know that was only done to win fans over after the negative reactions, when the finished ride should speak for itself. All this social media 'influencer' stuff I wish had never made its way into theme parks, but whatever.

Sorry if I insult any enthusiasts with this post (I am an enthusiast too obviously), but it needed saying after this has been going on for years with new attractions. I've never known it to happen to something that's not even open or finished before!
 
TakeYourMedicine said:
But we know that was only done to win fans over after the negative reactions, when the finished ride should speak for itself.
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To be fair, that's just not true. Many theme parks in Europe and the US invite fan sites to media events and UK theme parks have finally caught up in the last few years.
 
RoyJess said:
Shawn's TPWW behind the scene video

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Cracking journalism there Swawn... NOT! Between 1:00 and about 1:10 on your vlog you mention the history of the building. Doom & Sons, Toyland Tours & Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.

What you fail to mention was Doom & Sons was a relatively small walk-through section of the building. What about "Around the World in 80 Days" that saw the boat ride element installed & operated from 1981 to 1993? Slight omission.
 
Rob said:
To be fair, that's just not true. Many theme parks in Europe and the US invite fan sites to media events and UK theme parks have finally caught up in the last few years.
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Question is why would you invite media to see something that isn’t complete? Or is there another media day to see it all when it’s complete? Same with the sheds, what’s the point showing them off when it wasn’t ready :confused:
 
ringo said:
Question is why would you invite media to see something that isn’t complete? Or is there another media day to see it all when it’s complete? Same with the sheds, what’s the point showing them off when it wasn’t ready :confused:
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I believe the media were invited in the morning, with the fansites in the afternoon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ringo said:
@Craig Are you being invited back to sample this and the sheds when it’s all complete?
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We have a slot for an opening day run through on Dungeons, so I'm sure some team members will give further view then - but as far as I know this is an as finished run through, so there'll be no photography etc. There's nothing for the Stargazing Pods at present.
 
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