They could be gutted, but they also might not be gutted. John Wardley is involved with this project, I highly doubt he'd want to see, heck, participate in the demolishing of his own piece of work. Remember when he reacted to Imperial Leathers Bubblewoks redo, he was so upset about it that he was told if he ridden it, he'd be in tears, so he probably hasn't rode it since. He didn't even come to Bubbleworks last day. He's incredibly passionate about his rides no matter their age, but doesn't want to be involved with anything regarding his rides with a negative result to him personally. He'd most likely do the same if Duel was being gutted completely, but he hasn't, he's been participating from what we know so far. Counting the potential chances that Him holding a book of unused ideas was true and actually happened early this year on the ride, he'll probably be wanting to utilise them in this version of The ride along with the coexisting scenes in there currently. It's his House, he mpsy likely knows what's best for the ride.
In terms of
@Matt N 'Scenes are 30 years old and are rather worn down, and technology has progressed since then.' I completely understand the first half, but the 'technology has progressed' I don't think you're quite understanding the Haunted House's original intention in terms of execution.
The ride was originally intended to have a simple design technically wise, that's why John wanted it to be a "High Quality Fun Fair Ghost Train." The only things that were technically impressive in the ride was the ride system, the Ghost corridor scare, and the superb lighting Done by John and Rex Studios. Outside of those aspects, John and Keith both wanted to mostly use simple mechanics, illusions, and animatronics. Bubbleworks, a ride both designed by them only opened 2 years prior, and it was quite a bit more advanced. It had water effects, fully working human shaped animatroncis that could move their legs, arms, heads, eyes, mouth etc, and it was a lot more consistent throughout the ride. There was movement everywhere, even in the slightest of small details within the ride.
The Haunted House pretty much had the same budget as Bubbleworks and they could've easily been made more advanced, but they didn't. Most People love the ride because of its simplicity, its clever use of illusions and tricks, its charm, and Character, even when it was a former shadow of itself as Duel. The reason its been getting a widespread negative reputation in the last 3 years us because of its low maintenance and TLC.
If John Burton was intending to rip out Most of the HH scenes, I doubt he'd ask JW for help on the project. Why have John Wardley involved if it isn't anything related to the Original Haunted House in terms of restoration and more ideas. Why advertise Emily Altons phrase 'This is my House' and 'Possessed, I want to play.' If the ride won't even be remotely similar inside next season. It can't be the Haunted House by not being The Haunted House. By that definition, All that'll be left is Emily Alton, and it's name 'The Haunted House.' It's like trying to tell someone that the dish you were given is a ham sandwich when it's clearly corned beef and not ham, it just doesn't cut it. They're both good in different ways, but it's not what People really asked for outside of young roller coaster enthusiasts mostly. Most people just want the guns gone and the ride looking to be looking in a good state from what I've seen on social media.
I could be wrong, I could be right, but for now no one knows, but the likelihood of them Ripping out all of The Haunted House scenes is pretty low with JW being on board, and the only bits we've seen being dumped put are from when it was made into Duel.
There's an entry near the rides station, located in the Poltergeist Room. Its a double fire exit door, they could've easily ripped out the moving walls in there in no time long ago, but they've decided to start with the much larger and more complex Zombie final with all the props, the catwalks near the roof, the great amount of Targets and Wiring. Why start there when they could've started with a smaller, easier to access scene to rip out of right by a double door fire exit? With the gates shut to the facade outside, most people won't even notice them removing it. I know the final has the main garage doors at the back to be accessed by, but getting rid of the more simple and accessible scenes first would've been logical and would save time. Though I am sure a couple of the HH scenes will most likely be going.
All we can do now is wait...
