[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

[Trooper Looper]

This is just my opinion and I could be wrong

But for the marketing Alton Towers seem to be putting into the project, for them to reopen it and it be just a few scenes changed doesn't really sound plausible. Surely if it was a small change and the removal of zombies they would have just done it in off season and maybe announced it early next year. This feels like a bigger change than people are expecting.

I think we will be surprised at the amount that has actually changed

I still doubt it a bit since their was no official announcement outside of a chalk board on the rides exit. When I went to the park last week, not one Guest in Gloomy Woods knew that Duel was shut and quite a few were really unhappy about it. I've said this already, but surely if the ride would receive a radical makeover, the park would let guests know on their social media or website so they can have their last rides before the ride they know is changed into an unrecognisable state. Duel was really liked upon the GP.

 

[Bert2theSpark]

But for the marketing Alton Towers seem to be putting into the project, for them to reopen it and it be just a few scenes changed doesn't really sound plausible.

You forget this is AT marketing, they will market any sort of change to any attraction at the resort as the next revolutionary thing since sliced bread...

 

[Matt N]

You forget this is AT marketing, they will market any sort of change to any attraction at the resort as the next revolutionary thing since sliced bread...

I do get where @Tibble is coming from.

I know that Alton Towers will always market their new additions, but more minor ones haven’t typically had this kind of marketing. Galactica literally just had a small banner outside prior to the off-season. The CBeebies additions weren’t really marketed much at all prior to the off-season. The Alton Towers Dungeon was marketed a little, but not this much. The World of David Walliams had a little marketing, but again, not loads.

Going back further, the HH’s revamp into Duel literally just had a small banner outside advertising that blasters were coming in 2003.

This is being quite heavily marketed for a non-major addition, which does suggest to me that this could be a bigger change than some are letting on.

I still doubt it a bit since their was no official announcement outside of a chalk board on the rides exit. When I went to the park last week, not one Guest in Gloomy Woods knew that Duel was shut and quite a few were really unhappy about it. I've said this already, but surely if the ride would receive a radical makeover, the park would let guests know on their social media or website so they can have their last rides before the ride they know is changed into an unrecognisable state. Duel was really liked upon the GP.

I’d say that this speaks more volumes about Alton Towers’ typical reticence in announcing closures than anything to do with the scale of refurbishment.

For a comparable dark ride refurb in the past; Toyland Tours never had a formal closure announcement, and that ride was borderline unrecognisable by the time it reopened as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2006.

In fact, I’m struggling to think of a non-coaster attraction that has actually had a closure announcement within the last 20 years or so. Certainly within Merlin’s tenure, anyway; the only prior closure announcements I can think of at Alton Towers during Merlin’s tenure are Corkscrew and Nemesis V1. None of the removed flat rides had announced closures, CATCF didn’t have an announced closure, and even The Flume didn’t have an announced closure (they announced it was closing “for the season” on 10th October 2015, but this implied that the ride was reopening in 2016, so I’m hesitant to call it a closure announcement).

I think Alton in general are just very, very reticent when it comes to announcing the closures of rides that aren’t roller coasters. With that in mind, I don’t think that the lack of an official Duel closure announcement was a sign that it’s not changing much by any means. In general, Alton don’t tend to announce the closures of rides that aren’t major thrill coasters, so in hindsight, I’d almost say that we were quite lucky to get the chalkboard hint! Therefore, I’d argue that history suggests that Alton’s attitude to announcing its closure would have been the same regardless of the scale of refurbishment/retheme occurring.

I’d argue that a bigger sign that we could be seeing larger change is the fact that it closed in September rather than at the end of the season. If the ride were only having a minor refurbishment with most of the HH theming remaining, surely it could have just closed at the end of the season and had the refurbishment be announced in a low-key way on the approach to March?

 

[QTXAdsy]

From as far back since the park first opened, Towers have always shied away from closing down events with Corkscrew and Nemesis being great exceptions. I will say I'm not a fan of this approach of closing a ride down without any warning, at least Duel had something to alert guests to that it was closing, but many times than not Towers just seem willing to get things out of the way without having a thought that some members of the public might like at least one more ride. The fact that there is quite a build up for Nemesis' shut down would not have gone unnoticed by Merlin who might start to consider more of these events in future...anything that makes a little extra bit more money will always be welcomed and that's me with my cynical business hat on.

 

[Trooper Looper]

I do get where @Tibble is coming from.

I know that Alton Towers will always market their new additions, but more minor ones haven’t typically had this kind of marketing. Galactica literally just had a small banner outside prior to the off-season. The CBeebies additions weren’t really marketed much at all prior to the off-season. The Alton Towers Dungeon was marketed a little, but not this much. The World of David Walliams had a little marketing, but again, not loads.

Going back further, the HH’s revamp into Duel literally just had a small banner outside advertising that blasters were coming in 2003.

This is being quite heavily marketed for a non-major addition, which does suggest to me that this could be a bigger change than some are letting on.

I’d say that this speaks more volumes about Alton Towers’ typical reticence in announcing closures than anything to do with the scale of refurbishment.

For a comparable dark ride refurb in the past; Toyland Tours never had a formal closure announcement, and that ride was borderline unrecognisable by the time it reopened as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2006.

In fact, I’m struggling to think of a non-coaster attraction that has actually had a closure announcement within the last 20 years or so. Certainly within Merlin’s tenure, anyway; the only prior closure announcements I can think of at Alton Towers during Merlin’s tenure are Corkscrew and Nemesis V1. None of the removed flat rides had announced closures, CATCF didn’t have an announced closure, and even The Flume didn’t have an announced closure (they announced it was closing “for the season” on 10th October 2015, but this implied that the ride was reopening in 2016, so I’m hesitant to call it a closure announcement).

I think Alton in general are just very, very reticent when it comes to announcing the closures of rides that aren’t roller coasters. With that in mind, I don’t think that the lack of an official Duel closure announcement was a sign that it’s not changing much by any means. In general, Alton don’t tend to announce the closures of rides that aren’t major thrill coasters, so in hindsight, I’d almost say that we were quite lucky to get the chalkboard hint! Therefore, I’d argue that history suggests that Alton’s attitude to announcing its closure would have been the same regardless of the scale of refurbishment/retheme occurring.

I’d argue that a bigger sign that we could be seeing larger change is the fact that it closed in September rather than at the end of the season. If the ride were only having a minor refurbishment with most of the HH theming remaining, surely it could have just closed at the end of the season and had the refurbishment be announced in a low-key way on the approach to March?

Ripsaws closure was announced I think, and airs retheme was also announced by the end of the 2015 season.

I think the reason why they never really announced The HHs and Toyland tours rethemes then was because social media wasn't really a thing, and there wouldn't really be any points then since the rides weren't really considered classics then, more like just good rides, and the announcements wouldn't really get across far. Their first announcement of a ride closing was Corkscrew, and this was petty much when social media and general media was getting popular, rather than newspapers, leaflets, and posters.

I can definitely see a few new scenes for the ride in 2023 though, definitely, so maybe the first month or 2 are preparing those new scenes, and from then on, it's just refurbish the rides currently existing scenes. I THINK the team that's working on it isn't that huge, so maybe that's why they started the refurb earlier.

 

[Matt N]

Ripsaws closure was announced I think, and airs retheme was also announced by the end of the 2015 season.

I think the reason why they never really announced The HHs and Toyland tours rethemes then was because social media wasn't really a thing, and there wouldn't really be any points then since the rides weren't really considered classics then, more like just good rides, and the announcements wouldn't really get across far. Their first announcement of a ride closing was Corkscrew, and this was petty much when social media and general media was getting popular, rather than newspapers, leaflets, and posters.

Ripsaw’s closure wasn’t announced at all, if I’m remembering correctly. I seem to remember that the first we heard of it closing was seeing it chopped up in the car park that December to go on a lorry to Heide Park. I don’t think the park ever formally acknowledged its closure until February 2016. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong there, though.

Granted, Air’s retheme was announced, but I’d argue that that wasn’t really a closure because the ride didn’t change a whole lot, and that was also a unique case because the direct replacement opened next season. Also, they didn’t spread the word particularly wide; all I ever remember seeing was a small banner outside Air directing guests to a website. Not even anything on social media.

I’d also counter that there are ways to announce a closure aside from social media. You can put a poster up outside the ride, you can put a banner on your website, you can advertise a closing event… the park managed this for Black Hole in 2005 pre-social media, but they never did an announcement for Toyland Tours despite the change to CATCF being pretty drastic. There are also plenty of attraction closures that Alton Towers haven’t announced prior long past the dawn of social media… their usual style for anything that isn’t a major roller coaster is to announce retrospectively, either just before the start of the next season or just after the closure.

 

[Trooper Looper]

Ripsaw’s closure wasn’t announced at all, if I’m remembering correctly. I seem to remember that the first we heard of it closing was seeing it chopped up in the car park that December to go on a lorry to Heide Park. I don’t think the park ever formally acknowledged its closure until February 2016. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong there, though.

Granted, Air’s retheme was announced, but I’d argue that that wasn’t really a closure because the ride didn’t change a whole lot, and that was also a unique case because the direct replacement opened next season. Also, they didn’t spread the word particularly wide; all I ever remember seeing was a small banner outside Air directing guests to a website. Not even anything on social media.

I’d also counter that there are ways to announce a closure aside from social media. You can put a poster up outside the ride, you can put a banner on your website, you can advertise a closing event… the park managed this for Black Hole in 2005 pre-social media, but they never did an announcement for Toyland Tours despite the change to CATCF being pretty drastic. There are also plenty of attraction closures that Alton Towers haven’t announced prior long past the dawn of social media… their usual style for anything that isn’t a major roller coaster is to announce retrospectively, either just before the start of the next season or just after the closure.

Yikes! You're right, they didn't announce Ripsaws closure, yet they announced airs retheme! Not very good customer service if you ask me :/

 

[Danscott22]

But I guess Enterprises closure hasn’t been announced either apart from someone on Twitter being like “it’s not here anymore” as a response to a question. I agree that they’re rubbish at ride closure announcements when they are being permanently removed, but also agree that I think it’s clear a bigger change is coming to Duel than just one or two scene changes.

 

[Blackhole_Sun]

There’s a big difference announcing a rollercoaster is closing compared to a flat ride in my opinion. I think they have had last day events for Blackhole and Corkscrew and now Nemesis before the re-track.

Before the internet really took off you didn’t know what was happening from one year to the next. I remember turning up and Toyland Tours was closed and that was that.

They’ve put a lot of effort into Duel physically at the park but a few social media posts are not really tonnes of marketing. We used to get teaser websites back in the day.

 

[Spark]

I remember the BH event, great day

 

[Plastic Person]

Having been 'in the game' for thirty years, I feel it's accurate to say that the theme park 'community' is now also much larger than it was in say, 2005. So it would make sense for the park to do more special events and merchandise. On the other hand, it's important to move forward as a business and cater largely to the masses. A special competition to ride the last train of Nemesis V1 seems relevant, a 'Goodbye Duel' pageant, less so.

 

[jon81uk]

From as far back since the park first opened, Towers have always shied away from closing down events with Corkscrew and Nemesis being great exceptions.

They did do an event for the Black Hole, I attended. It only got announced after the end of the season with the event in the following Feb/March (can’t quite remember) as Black Hole didn’t pass the safety certification as there was no fire exit direct from the lift hill. I expect they planned to keep it running but we’re slightly forced to close it so the final ride event was done before the certification expired.
I was among the last twenty or so to ride, but wasn’t successful in the raffle to be on the last Black Hole train. Was also interesting to ride with lights on and the fact I still recall was the size of the operating manual, it was entirely in German and at one ring binder half the size of one volume of Oblivion’s which filled multiple files!

 

[Plastic Person]

The final Black Hole event was a good laugh. Rode it several times with the lights on, then we all got a trip up to see Rita in its final construction stages. I also remember the hilariously dense manual, as well as eating some excellent chocolate cake.

 

[QTXAdsy]

Just curious about Black Hole is that regarding the effects, could someone explain what effects they had on it, I'm aware of the lift hill having effects and that chilling music going up there but what else was there?

 

[Imagination]

Slightly back to on topic, I think we need to forget the HH of the past exactly as was. This will be a new era for the attraction.

Merlin don’t see the need to invest in previous attractions unless they can be marketed as new in someway.

 

[Trooper Looper]

Slightly back to on topic, I think we need to forget the HH of the past exactly as was. This will be a new era for the attraction.

Merlin don’t see the need to invest in previous attractions unless they can be marketed as new in someway.

That could vary as I'm sure Merlin has became Private again this year. Maybe the reason why Scarefest this year was so underwhelming was because is was probably Public Merlins last project they had to plan before the company changed, so it was probablyrushed for quick profit. For the better or worse, we'll have to wait and see if this new change will be either one of those. Next year the park will probably operate a bit differently with change of leadership. Let's not forget the big amount of changes coming up, The New Coaster corner attraction, Duel refurb, Nemmys Retrack! If this new version of Merlin keep this up in terms of actually good investment and consistency, it'll be most likely that the Merlin we knew for a while now won't be as recognisable in the upcoming years.

Back to this new variation of the ride, it'll definitely be something new, but I'm sure it'll have its fair share of old and new things coexisting either in a bad and budget manner, or a manner that is faithful to the original ride before it was botched up in the mid 90s and so forth. Again, John Wardley is most likely involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd want to implement the 5 year plan that never came to fruition to the ride back then. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss that chance to add them in an age where technology is incredibly reliable and effective.

 

[Matt N]

Merlin actually went private again back in 2019, but COVID and pre-planned PLC Merlin projects meant that the impact of that didn’t begin to be felt until more recently. I think the current investment spree is at least partially a result of them going private, however, as well as the recent surge in events.

Also, for clarity, I believe Scarefest is handled internally by the ents team rather than by Merlin, is it not? Correct me if I’m wrong there, though.

 

[jon81uk]

Just curious about Black Hole is that regarding the effects, could someone explain what effects they had on it, I'm aware of the lift hill having effects and that chilling music going up there but what else was there?

Standard stage/theatrical lighting.

 

[Imagination]

Also, for clarity, I believe Scarefest is handled internally by the ents team rather than by Merlin, is it not? Correct me if I’m wrong there, though.

Indeed. Ents team have control of mazes and shows (with directions/approval from Marketing). The halloween budgets are decided by Merlin and then divvied out to each park and then the Scarefest budget will be allocated to all different teams by Alton Towers' senior management.

 

[austinbowaz]

I keep hearing about the HH's 5 year plan that never came to fruition...what was the original 5 year plan? Sorry if already been asked!