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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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Themeparksandy1981 said:
I think they could easily have a 1 min pre show on repeat where u see Emily in her dolls house counting down and at 0 she appears fully sized by the fireplace and says ready or not I’m coming to get you.
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Sounds like the girl in the Thirteen queueline counting down, would Merlin want to repeat it unless they've forgotten about Thirteen as if it was a new toy they lost interest in?
 
They could also go down the Holographic Fan route, which is a really good effect.
the Star Wars ride at Disney uses it in a few places.

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So, this may yet go down as one of my most awful predictions BUT, I was thinking about the pop up event in London. In the UV backroom, a large swirling effect was painted on the wall, and it got me thinking. It in itself is not really a confirmation of anything, but, what are the odds of the trommel returning as a projection mapped effect? Now I can almost hear the footsteps, but hear me out. The trommel on Duel has not run in goodness knows how long. It sustained some problem as far as I am aware, and the park did not repair it. A projector based effect may be cheper to run, I'm not sure, but it is definetly cheaper and easier to maintain and fix a broken projector than a broken rotating drum. It may not be popular, but it seems like the sort of approach Merlin would take in bringing back this effect.
 
immelmanloop said:
So, this may yet go down as one of my most awful predictions BUT, I was thinking about the pop up event in London. In the UV backroom, a large swirling effect was painted on the wall, and it got me thinking. It in itself is not really a confirmation of anything, but, what are the odds of the trommel returning as a projection mapped effect? Now I can almost hear the footsteps, but hear me out. The trommel on Duel has not run in goodness knows how long. It sustained some problem as far as I am aware, and the park did not repair it. A projector based effect may be cheper to run, I'm not sure, but it is definetly cheaper and easier to maintain and fix a broken projector than a broken rotating drum. It may not be popular, but it seems like the sort of approach Merlin would take in bringing back this effect.
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Perhaps. A trommel could lend itself quite well to a potential part of the ride where you perhaps transition from human to doll size. If it was done via projection mapping, then I can't imagine the result would be very satisfactory although I can imagine Towers implementing it especially considering that the physical trommel was such a headache.
 
Although it would not have the depth of the lovely brickwork on the original Trommel, It would be possible to make it as visually "pleasing" as one of the ones with a rubbish picture or swirling pattern printed on. I would personally prefer a physical trommel, but from a business and cost point of view, a projection is very appealing.
 
zeock said:
Perhaps. A trommel could lend itself quite well to a potential part of the ride where you perhaps transition from human to doll size. If it was done via projection mapping, then I can't imagine the result would be very satisfactory although I can imagine Towers implementing it especially considering that the physical trommel was such a headache.
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Remember, they removed the trommel face back a while ago. I'm guessing this is so they can access its mechanics. Hopefully if the trommel is staying it'll be fully practical and working.
 
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I am somewhat loathed to ask this question but I am going to. Was the trommel even that cool ? I don't recall it being a stand out feature of the Haunted House, nor was it particularly unique.

The only effect of that ilk that was particularly impressive was the twin trommel on Valhalla with all the fibre optics in play (I think the whole thing was dead by 2004, or so) - even then the effect was made somewhat less effective by each trommel turning in different directions and Odin being static (or often switched off or silent) in the distance.
 
Rick said:
I am somewhat loathed to ask this question but I am going to. Was the trommel even that cool ?
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I remember it being very well done, well enough to remember having my large mother almost squashing little Ryan as she tried to counteract the imagined rotation!



Regarding projection, a longish tube the car moves slowly through is ripe for something really really cool. I think it would be very difficult to project onto from the inside, though, I'm not sure there are the right angles and distances to get it right. And projection from outside the tunnel would practically require a full rebuild.

If they can get the trommel spinning again, they could potentially create a very cool effect with physical props swirling around you - put a giant opening dolls house frontage at the start and I think it could look awesome!
 
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Is it me, or does it sound as though Emily Alton is saying something at the end?

If she is, I can't quite make out what...
 
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