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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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Symbolica at Efteling seems to be widely regarded as the gold standard of dark rides outside of Disney/Universal and was reported to have a €35m budget (around £27m given the 2015/16 exchange rate). This also will have included the entire building and ride system. This gives me some hope that some fantastic stuff can be done with themeing/effects/animatronics on a relatively low budget.

That said, I can't see Merlin matching that kind of quality unfortunately and I do feel we will see something more in line with that Jumanji ride. I'm quite surprised given the amount of eyes/cameras on park at the moment we havent seen the delivery of any set pieces or the like as of yet.
 
NoSmoking said:
That's how the scene was meant to look, it was just finished shortly after opening. It looks great
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Really? I remember reading from Somewhere JW stated that the reason the ornate scene was really simple looking and spacious when it opened was make guests focus ahead of them and not to be distracted by the surrounding wall and props. Quoted from Smoke and mirrors "The room was kept sparse to avoid any reflection in the two extremely large mirrors that were flanked by Grecian columns." Sure the Dining Table would go against that as it takes a huge chunk of space?

Again, I could be wrong. Though I Heavily doubt he said yes to the repaint on the wall, which if you look, there was 2 layers of paint put on, first was when it opened, the latter is when they repainted it.

Construction:
20230112_111634.jpg

Completion
20230112_112338.jpg

And post 1992:
normal_aaa_duel_14.jpeg.jpg
normal_aaa_duel_15.jpeg-1.jpg

This scene has gone through quite a few changes now hasn't it!

Photos go credit to Smoke and Mirrors book and Alton Towers Almanac.
 
I agree I’m usually all for more probs and i do like how its decorated (I was actually going to say they should add projections on the walls to make up moving pictures & moving food etc on the table) however after seeing the before pictures and how the illusion works with the mirrors, I actually agree simple looks better in this scene! Also way to many cobwebs and murky paint overlaps, I’m not sure what they trying to achieve by the paint affect. But it looks absolutely awful! However the cartoon demon needs to be changed, I’m not sure what with but something less child like and daft perhaps, Maybe Emily or a moving picture? For some reason all I can imagine seeing is that giant plastic duck now!
 
zeock said:
If Towers decide to go all out on the scares, I think that they should have different effects going off randomly, but if they want to follow a cohesive narrative, then they shouldn't, unless they want to make up multiple narratives.
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I don’t think they’ll be aiming for the scariest, jump scare filled attraction possible - John raised some points in his short discussion regarding the revamp about there being a choice between a solid narrative told by the ride journey, and being scared witless by jump scares etc. It isn’t impossible of course, and the more engaging a narrative is the more drawn in the captive audience becomes and the less likely they are to realise something spooky is about to happen, but I’d place my bets on there being far more focus of the actual story for the ride, with some bonus scares along the way!
 
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer the 1993 scene with all the additional details. I really like it when dark rides put loads of little details to take in within their scenes!

To be honest, the Grand Hall is a scene I definitely wouldn’t be averse to them keeping if they are keeping any of the previous HH stuff. The set design in that scene is actually really excellent, and I think that Duel wasn’t really lit in a way that did it justice.
 
TomW said:
Symbolica at Efteling seems to be widely regarded as the gold standard of dark rides outside of Disney/Universal and was reported to have a €35m budget (around £27m given the 2015/16 exchange rate). This also will have included the entire building and ride system. This gives me some hope that some fantastic stuff can be done with themeing/effects/animatronics on a relatively low budget.
Click to expand...

This refurb won't be anywhere near that much budget though.

35m is more than what the Merlin parks spend on coasters!
 
Trooper Looper said:
Really? I remember reading from Somewhere JW stated that the reason the ornate scene was really simple looking and spacious when it opened was make guests focus ahead of them and not to be distracted by the surrounding wall and props. Quoted from Smoke and mirrors "The room was kept sparse to avoid any reflection in the two extremely large mirrors that were flanked by Grecian columns." Sure the Dining Table would go against that as it takes a huge chunk of space?

Again, I could be wrong. Though I Heavily doubt he said yes to the repaint on the wall, which if you look, there was 2 layers of paint put on, first was when it opened, the latter is when they repainted it.

Construction:
20230112_111634.jpg

Completion
20230112_112338.jpg

And post 1992:
normal_aaa_duel_14.jpeg.jpg
normal_aaa_duel_15.jpeg-1.jpg

This scene has gone through quite a few changes now hasn't it!

Photos go credit to Smoke and Mirrors book and Alton Towers Almanac.
Click to expand...
Even today that scene is still impressive. Compare this to the bare walls of Jumanji and the difference is like night and day. With scenes this good I genuinely hope they merely add bits here and there to it rather than completely strip it bare and replace it with something lacklustre.

I still think some people are missing the point with this kind of ride. It has to be entertaining, like Wardley said he's in the entertainment business, not making something that's going to terrify someone for life
 
RIPCorky said:
Even today that scene is still impressive. Compare this to the bare walls of Jumanji and the difference is like night and day. With scenes this good I genuinely hope they merely add bits here and there to it rather than completely strip it bare and replace it with something lacklustre.

I still think some people are missing the point with this kind of ride. It has to be entertaining, like Wardley said he's in the entertainment business, not making something that's going to terrify someone for life
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I'm still hoping they'll get it back to its former HH glory in terms of execution, keep the Demon props as I think they're still really impressive but repaint them to their more sinister look. Fingers crossed if the scene is staying they'll actually fix the mechanical arm for the prop, and the lighting that's triggered to show it when it's coming at you, it really wasn't scary when it was duel because of the abysmal timing of the lights.
 
Matt N said:
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer the 1993 scene with all the additional details. I really like it when dark rides put loads of little details to take in within their scenes!

To be honest, the Grand Hall is a scene I definitely wouldn’t be averse to them keeping if they are keeping any of the previous HH stuff. The set design in that scene is actually really excellent, and I think that Duel wasn’t really lit in a way that did it justice.
Click to expand...
Me too, I like to spot details on my re-rides that I didn't see previously.
 
Benzin said:
This refurb won't be anywhere near that much budget though.

35m is more than what the Merlin parks spend on coasters!
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Yeah probably should have made clear, I know this is still nowhere near Merlins budget for this, but that 35m euros included the full showbuilding and trackless ride system, meaning that what was spent on themeing and effects, I imagine, would be somewhat closer to the Duel budget (still probably a few mil in it however). Essentially I think it just shows that with the right creative team in place this stuff can be done to a high level without the silly money Disney and Universal throw at dark rides.
 
zeock said:
Perhaps there could be a bathroom scene where the duck makes an appearance? 😂
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Joking aside, knowing how Towers like to have little easter eggs and nods to previous rides hidden here and there (the towers silhouette in one of the crowns on GG's queue line wallpaper and the old chainlift motor of Corkscrew on Thirteen's station to name two), it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bath(room) scene that there would be a small rubber duck in the bath as a nod to The Flume! May even see an old Duel blaster hidden away somewhere too!
 
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