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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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I don't mind modern technology at all but for me an animatronic will always be a bit more interesting and believable than a flat projection or television screen. It's about depth. A good example of this is the use of CGI in film, the human brain can almost instantaneously work out it's not real. In other words the 1993 dinosaurs in Jurassic Park look better than your PS5 graphic ones of today, largely because they were (mostly) moving models that took lots of time and money to look convincing.
 
RIPCorky said:
I don't mind modern technology at all but for me an animatronic will always be a bit more interesting and believable than a flat projection or television screen. It's about depth. A good example of this is the use of CGI in film, the human brain can almost instantaneously work out it's not real. In other words the 1993 dinosaurs in Jurassic Park look better than your PS5 graphic ones of today, largely because they were (mostly) moving models that took lots of time and money to look convincing.
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A new attraction could still employ animatronics by all means; in fact, it could probably employ more convincing animatronics than the old ride given how technology has moved on since 1992!

I do feel that some projection mapping and such, if used in moderation, could really enhance the ride.
 
Matt N said:
A new attraction could still employ animatronics by all means; in fact, it could probably employ more convincing animatronics than the old ride given how technology has moved on since 1992!

I do feel that some projection mapping and such, if used in moderation, could really enhance the ride.
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Is that what they use on the Wickerman pre show? To me it does not look very good.
 
RIPCorky said:
Is that what they use on the Wickerman pre show? To me it does not look very good.
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Yes it is. They also use it in attractions like The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure and Gangsta Granny, and it’s used to great effect in many other attractions worldwide.
 
tayspru said:
I think we’re all hoping for a return of *a* “Haunted House” style attraction, not a literal return of “The Haunted House”
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I agree that a return of a haunted house of some form would be a great thing, but some in this thread are advocating for the return of the Haunted House, and I personally don’t agree that that would be a good idea.

Ultimately, I’d be happy if they keep the basic thematic concept of a haunted house the same, but produce something very different in execution to both the Haunted House and Duel.
 
jon81uk said:
In what way did it not fit the park? It was the same basic ride but with a very popular family friendly shooting element, it fitted the park perfectly. It won’t be that easy for people to forget, many will be asking what happened to the shooting ride for years.
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Completely agree, I know quite a few people who are disappointed that the blasters are going. Those made the ride interesting for them.
 
It should also be noted that Duel lasted for 19 years and was the park’s largest dark ride, so it was probably among Alton Towers’ most significant non-coasters. With that in mind, I’d wager that many guests will have happy memories from it.

I know many enthusiasts despised the interactivity on Duel, but I don’t think that was necessarily the popular view among the average guest. Many non-enthusiasts I knew thoroughly enjoyed the shooting element and thought that it made the ride interesting.

That’s in part why I feel like a HH “revival” might not resonate with the average guest. While many enthusiasts would see it as the return of the ride’s glory days, I feel like many non-enthusiasts would see it as a downgrade given that it would effectively be the same ride, just without the blasters.

I feel like a new experience that’s not so heavily connected to the previous Haunted House, albeit still keeping its basic thematic concept in mind, would not have the same problem.
 
I can only say that if they are moving the blasters from the ride yet know how liked they were by the public, I can only assume that Merlin would only be doing this overhaul unless they have a future interactive dark ride in the pipeline to make up for the loss of the blasters for Duel. The moment you start hearing the GP lamenting that the blasters are gone is the go ahead that Merlin is waiting for to put forward a new dark ride to answer those demands though I do strongly suspect that if we get an interactive shooter ride again then it'll be a pure screen-based attraction and built put into small space E.G the Nickelodeon building that can be done quite cheaply. They already did the same with GG in an existing building so why not the same again there and let's face, that area in general needs more attractions to get folk to enjoy the area more.

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with that sort of ride personally, more dark rides are what the park needs in the long term if they are to become open more of the year which all provide more undercover attractions much like what Project Horizons is hoping to do and much like how you can't go wrong with many coasters, so too with dark rides.
 
QTXAdsy said:
I can only say that if they are moving the blasters from the ride yet know how liked they were by the public, I can only assume that Merlin would only be doing this overhaul unless they have a future interactive dark ride in the pipeline to make up for the loss of the blasters for Duel. The moment you start hearing the GP lamenting that the blasters are gone is the go ahead that Merlin is waiting for to put forward a new dark ride to answer those demands though I do strongly suspect that if we get an interactive shooter ride again then it'll be a pure screen-based attraction and built put into small space E.G the Nickelodeon building that can be done quite cheaply. They already did the same with GG in an existing building so why not the same again there and let's face, that area in general needs more attractions to get folk to enjoy the area more.

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with that sort of ride personally, more dark rides are what the park needs in the long term if they are to become open more of the year which all provide more undercover attractions much like what Project Horizons is hoping to do and much like how you can't go wrong with many coasters, so too with dark rides.
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I have to say, I would not be one bit surprised if we did see a ground-up interactive ride in the park's mid to long term future. You wouldn't need an overly large amount of ground space for one, it would be a more modern spiritual successor to Duel, and it would also add a non-coaster family attraction to the park.

Maybe a hand gesture based shooter akin to Ninjago would work?

I'm not sure that this would happen before 2026 given the current developments announced, as well as possibly more pressing gaps for them to fill (permanent flat rides), but I could certainly see it within the next 10 years.
 
QTXAdsy said:
I can only say that if they are moving the blasters from the ride yet know how liked they were by the public, I can only assume that Merlin would only be doing this overhaul unless they have a future interactive dark ride in the pipeline to make up for the loss of the blasters for Duel. The moment you start hearing the GP lamenting that the blasters are gone is the go ahead that Merlin is waiting for to put forward a new dark ride to answer those demands though I do strongly suspect that if we get an interactive shooter ride again then it'll be a pure screen-based attraction and built put into small space E.G the Nickelodeon building that can be done quite cheaply. They already did the same with GG in an existing building so why not the same again there and let's face, that area in general needs more attractions to get folk to enjoy the area more.

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with that sort of ride personally, more dark rides are what the park needs in the long term if they are to become open more of the year which all provide more undercover attractions much like what Project Horizons is hoping to do and much like how you can't go wrong with many coasters, so too with dark rides.
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Blasters can go in the dungeon or on the river rapids, you can shoot at medieval peasants and natives respectively
 
RIPCorky said:
Blasters can go in the dungeon or on the river rapids, you can shoot at medieval peasants and natives respectively
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Or the dim-witted Merlin executives who thought TWODW was a good idea! :p

Anyway, all serious though, I do agree that the flat ride situation must be resolved ASAP before we can think of other rides, though I do feel that Towers could with with, not including NST if it is back next season, at least another two or three dark rides to the line up in which then it'll have a fairly healthy and diverse range of dark rides in which those being a future interactive dark ride somewhere on the park and something for the Dungeons building in which I have no doubt has something for it in the pipeline should Project Horizon be a success and that area needs all the extra capacity it needs.
 
jon81uk said:
In what way did it not fit the park? It was the same basic ride but with a very popular family friendly shooting element, it fitted the park perfectly.
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It was a ride about shooting screaming zombies with a laser, it never fitted the Alton Towers brand at all.
Matt N said:
Duel was very popular
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It never managed above a 0 minute queue for most of its existence.

It was a random filler attraction ever since it opened and wasted the ride's bigger potential. When a much better ride takes its place, the public will barely miss it. It only lasted so long because of inaction, not because of popularity.
 
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Niet Roken said:
It was a tacky ride about shooting screaming zombies with a laser. The theme felt like a leftover 80s laser arcade, stuck inside the broken remains of the Haunted House. It never fitted the Alton Towers brand at all.

It never managed above a 0 minute queue for most of its existence.

It was a completely random filler attraction ever since it opened, wasting the ride's bigger potential. When a much better ride takes its place, the public will barely miss it. It only lasted so long because of inaction, not because of popularity.
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Not sure where you got the tacky 80s theme from? I never got that vibe. It was firmly routed in the early 2000s I think when theme park blaster rides were a big thing (Buzz Lightyear opened 1998-2006 across Disney parks). Yes there was zombies but 90% of the ride was the original sets from the 1992 ride, there was very little about it that involved shooting the zombies.

Queue time does not indicate popularity. Duel and the Haunted House got shorter queues because the throughput is fantastic it can accommodate more riders per hour and therefore gets shorter waits. Get set Go isn't one of the most popular rides in the park because it has a long queue, it has a long queue as it cannot hold many riders at a time.
 
I saw a few pages back the idea and rumour that the refurbishment is going to make riders feel like they are inside Emily Alton’s dolls house and that all the props would be oversized.

If we were in a dolls house, wouldn’t everything be to scale?

I do however have another theory which could work.

Emily Alton has escaped the dolls house and wants to play around in The Haunted House. A spell or curse is cast upon riders in the first scene by Emily to make riders her size so she can take you on a tour and a play around the haunted house. Various types of effects including screens can be deployed to give the illusion of shrinking. The rest of the ride then features various scenes of a typical Haunted House but from Emily’s perspective, utilising surround sound and wind effects to give the illusion of Emily scurrying around you.

It would give a respectful nod to the ride’s history, would tie in with the “I want to play” teasers and would also make use of newer technology.
 
Niet Roken said:
It never managed above a 0 minute queue for most of its existence.

It was a completely random filler attraction ever since it opened, wasting the ride's bigger potential. When a much better ride takes its place, the public will barely miss it. It only lasted so long because of inaction, not because of popularity.
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As @jon81uk said, I’d wager that’s in large part down to its insane throughput. That ride system sent a 5-person car roughly every 10 seconds, leading to a throughput of about 1,800pph. That’s miles higher than most other things on park, and given that it was a non-coaster, that is almost definitely more than it needed.

I’d argue that the short queues mostly being down to high throughput was evidenced by the fact that its queue times began to get longer when they started removing cars in preparation for the refurb. I could have sworn I remembered seeing some 20-30 minute queues for it over the summer when most of the cars had been removed from the ride.

Duel was never going to be as popular as Smiler and Wicker Man, but for a non-coaster attraction, I think it had a respectable reputation among the average park-visiting populace. You say that it “only lasted so long due to inaction”, but what I would say there is; if Duel was really not liked by the bulk of the public, surely the park would have done something with it earlier? They modified Sub-Terra because the early reviews were terrible, and they even modified Hex because the early reviews were terrible, but they never hugely modified Duel. That to me doesn’t suggest a ride that was doing badly popularity-wise.
 
Regarding Duel's excellent throughput, I do suspect that had Thirteen been built in GW in the first place or any major ride for that matter that was going to have large queues (not to say that Thirteen when working is a good queue eating in itself), then Duel or a returning HH would have shown its worth to help with those queues like no tomorrow and it would have been interesting to see it with say a half hour queue on a normal day and honestly we might see this next year with Nemesis out and the park needing all the capacity it can get and Duel/HH will greatly help with this in a way that hasn't been seen perhaps when it first opened.

All depends how well Towers will hype up for its reopening for next season as I would like to see the extended queue line permanently opened with perhaps a new entrance sign leading into the extended queue instead of the current Duel sign and crypt smack bang in the middle of the area which do ruin the views of the house IMO.
 
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