• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Hats off to them if they've completely stripped this ride and installed completely brand new scenes that aren't a load of screens and projectors. Then to have it all tested with newly themed ride cars and it be equal to or better than the original haunted house in time for opening weekend.

Can't see how they will have done it and have scenes that are as impressive as the original ride but I hope they have.
 
Matt N said:
I’m loving the look of this! That promo image is brilliant, and I also really like the name!

Though I must admit that if I’m being pedantic, the use of “at” rather than “of” within the name isn’t the most satisfying to my ear, but that’s a tiny nitpick; I’ll get used to it, and it’s totally unimportant if the ride is good!

There are numerous things that I find interesting from the announcement, and there are numerous thoughts that I had. These include:
  • Based on the promotional image and the gifts sent to journalists yesterday, it would appear that dolls will be quite a prominent motif within the ride. With that in mind, I reckon that the theory about riders going into Emily Alton’s doll’s house from a couple of months back could well end up being correct.
  • I've heard others suggest that hide and seek could play some role in the ride, and given some of the evidence we have, I think that that sounds very plausible. The girl in the promotional image has her hands covering her eyes as though she could be counting, and the park's use of phrases like "Coming, ready or not!" and "the countdown has begun" could certainly allude to something to do with hide and seek, in my view. Some of the earlier teaser materials, such as the Gloomy Wood announcements having the letters "POSSESSED, WANT TO PLAY" spelled out on them in blood, would also line up with this, in my view.
  • Interestingly, Alton Towers have referred to the ride (in the press release) as "the park's most immersive dark ride to date", placing particular emphasis on "state-of-the-art special effects never seen before in a UK theme park". I wonder what these could be?
  • It does sound as though the ride could have a rather in-depth backstory seeing as though the park have apparently said that they will "announce more about the history of the Manor" in February.
  • Also, I think that the lack of "The Haunted House" within the name could be rather telling. Given that even Duel technically had "The Haunted House Strikes Back" as a suffix, could the park going with a name not containing "The Haunted House" imply that the ride experience will be more greatly divorced from either of its predecessors?
Overall, though; this looks brilliant, and I can't wait to ride it!
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that the girl in the promo is Emily Alton herself. Would make complete sense.

This retheme has been needed for so long now, and it's great to see that it's not just a simple change but a major one. I am so looking forward to experiencing it later this year!
 
I couldn't care less about the name being a mouthful. Although I don't think we need any more curses at Towers, when you're designing some sort of haunted ghost Train attraction, you're kind of limited when so many other rides on park also have dark haunted themes, mostly completely unnecessarily.

It'll end up being called what ever is easiest to say by guests. Maybe just "Alton Manor". No one says ""let's go to the The World of David Walliams", they say "let's go to Walliams World". No one says "let's go on Hex: The Legend of the Towers" they say "let's go on Hex". No one says "let's stay in the Alton Towers Splash Landings Hotel", they say "let's withdraw a big bundle of £20 notes, burn most of them, stay in a Travelodge and eat a Tesco Value sausage the next morning".
 
Matt.GC said:
I couldn't care less about the name being a mouthful. Although I don't think we need any more curses at Towers, when you're designing some sort of haunted ghost Train attraction, you're kind of limited when so many other rides on park also have dark haunted themes, mostly completely unnecessarily.

It'll end up being called what ever is easiest to say by guests. Maybe just "Alton Manor". No one says ""let's go to the The World of David Walliams", they say "let's go to Walliams World". No one says "let's go on Hex: The Legend of the Towers" they say "let's go on Hex". No one says "let's stay in the Alton Towers Splash Landings Hotel", they say "let's withdraw a big bundle of £20 notes, burn most of them, stay in a Travelodge and eat a Tesco Value sausage the next morning".
Click to expand...
Yeah I'll probably just refer to it as the Alton Manor tbh.
 
Matt.GC said:
I couldn't care less about the name being a mouthful. Although I don't think we need any more curses at Towers, when you're designing some sort of haunted ghost Train attraction, you're kind of limited when so many other rides on park also have dark haunted themes, mostly completely unnecessarily.

It'll end up being called what ever is easiest to say by guests. Maybe just "Alton Manor". No one says ""let's go to the The World of David Walliams", they say "let's go to Walliams World". No one says "let's go on Hex: The Legend of the Towers" they say "let's go on Hex". No one says "let's stay in the Alton Towers Splash Landings Hotel", they say "let's withdraw a big bundle of £20 notes, burn most of them, stay in a Travelodge and eat a Tesco Value sausage the next morning".
Click to expand...
Haunted Manor would probably have done it
 
I think people need to temper their expectations a little. This is a retheme, it has the potential to be a great retheme but let’s not overhype as that leads to disappointment when it opens.

It is definitely the same ride system and I strongly suspect some scene pieces and animation will be re-used. There is nothing wrong with that at all I just don’t want people expecting symbolica and then moaning about it when they don’t get it.
 
Batzy said:
I wonder what this thing in the window is? It looks like it could be a person or a cat.
b566fe1f1b1d664beda1677c60ad5b13.jpg


Sent from my SM-A516B using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
That's most likely Emily Alton's cat probably.
 
Love the promo image, love the tag line... The name may grow on me.

The more I see, the more I think that the internal sets will be largely or entirely new. The theme and tone seems much darker and more serious, though I'm sure JW would work some humour in somewhere.

I'm not sure that the old sets would fit in with a new darker theme, particularly as many of them had been smothered in luminous paint to the point of looking almost cartoonish... UNLESS... the ride starts of with some of the cartoony stuff, until something happens (repossession), transporting you into a darker more serious reality (The Duel is Over...). Could be a way of using some of the old stuff near the start of the ride and creating a narrative from there to here and from then to now.

As for effects not previously seen on a UK dark ride, I'm still hoping they have taken a leaf from ABBA Voyage which is absolutely astonishing. It may be a more up to date and sophisticated version of a peppers ghost effect, but it is jaw dropping when you are there and has so much potential for a dark ride.

Just a guess though... I don't know (and that's fine).
 
The promotional image is a good marketing piece but I wouldn't look too deeply into it. It's there to look good and set the tone.

It's anything but silly to judge the ride on one piece of a promotional image at this point. People saying they are disappointed, maybe wait 2 months until it's actually open?!

QTXAdsy said:
Right then for the BPB jokes...hands up who thinks Alton Manor will open before Valhalla opens?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't that be 'will Project Horizon open before Valhalla'? :laughing:
 
I love the new theme they are going for, it looks much more scary and gothic than its predecessor. I do wonder however if any scenes will stay completely the same or if all rooms will receive a few changes?
 
If this was a year long project in terms of actual build. I’d be confident that the dark ride we are getting matches the promos and would be world class. The short time period really worries me, however all of the scenes could have been put together off site in MMM facility ready for a simple install.

I am going to say it now and I do not believe this ride will be anyway similar to duel so I cannot see how they can reuse scenes. They may reuse unnoticeable duel set pieces, but it’s clear they really want to get away from duel and the quality of it. So I can’t see anyone going on the ride and saying “oh look that’s from duel” ect ect


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
James said:
Shouldn't that be 'will Project Horizon open before Valhalla'? :laughing:
Click to expand...
That is if Project Horizons is approved, mind even if that doesn't happen then it by some bizarre circumstance would still open first before Valhalla will! :p
 
Skyscraper said:
That's most likely Emily Alton's cat probably.
Click to expand...
Who can possibly tell? I think it looks more like a person myself, but I guess it's very open to interpretation!

On a side note; where did all of the talk about it being Emily Alton come from? I know that that doll's house rumour centred around Emily Alton, and it could well be right given that the promotional material seems to give that rumour quite a bit of weight, but have the park ever confirmed any link with Emily Alton?

Given the new story surrounding "the Alton Manor", I wouldn't be surprised if the girl was someone completely different. Given the raw amount of smoke, I accept that Emily Alton probably will come into it to some extent, but I do still think that it's a possibility that this girl is an entirely new character.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top