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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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evilcod said:
They are some of the best dark rides in Europe so it can be done successfully.
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Yes absolutely can be done, but I dont think the TLC project was anywhere near that level of project. UV flourescent tubes were available and affordable in 2017. I think the intention was right. Anyway we know what happened and can forget about all that now.
 
NoSmoking said:
LED solves many problems but getting a good look is harder especially UV.

Flourescent UV tubes are still reliable but you can't strobe them. Before LED, to get a UV strobe you had to use a normal visible strobe with the special filter which is no longer made. LED can strobe but harder to produce true invisible UV.

For the static UV, yeah they really should use old school flourescent tubes as the best cheapest option
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You'd be a bit shocked that Woods Glass filters do actually go up for sale from time to time, so people still make them, but they're probably custom made and are really expensive and difficult to make. They still pop up from time to time online though:

m.alibaba.com

Custom Optical Woods Glass Filters - Buy Woods Filters woods Glass filter Glass Product on Alibaba.com

Custom Optical Woods Glass Filters - Buy Woods Filters woods Glass filter Glass Product on Alibaba.com
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Back on topic, I'm really hoping they're gonna give the scenes a good Theatrical feel again, and hopefully with some proper Fluorescent UV lights. I'm sure MMM are capable of making good work on UV paintwork, but aren't a few members of East Studios LTD that worked on the HHs paintwork with normal UV and Tungsten UV back before it opened? I wonder if MMM are aiming for the more magical feel it had in 92 or something completely different. Guess we'll know in a few months time hopefully.

Definitely agree with you that they should stick to Fluorescent UV lights. They did wonders from the photos alone!
 
Due to the fact that Duel is removing its blasters, and therefore losing its interactivity, do you think that there is a space in Towers for an interactive dark ride with blasters? (because I've got a feeling that the GP will be moaning about the loss of interactivity in Duel).
 
Trooper Looper said:
Definitely agree with you that they should stick to Fluorescent UV lights.
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Yeah, sounds like a great way to future proof the ride for generations to come.

zeock said:
Due to the fact that Duel is removing its blasters, and therefore losing its interactivity, do you think that there is a space in Towers for an interactive dark ride with blasters? (because I've got a feeling that the GP will be moaning about the loss of interactivity in Duel).
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Its a toss up between adding them to Gangsta Granny or In The Night Garden Boat Ride.
 
zeock said:
Due to the fact that Duel is removing its blasters, and therefore losing its interactivity, do you think that there is a space in Towers for an interactive dark ride with blasters? (because I've got a feeling that the GP will be moaning about the loss of interactivity in Duel).
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Could interactivity of some form be part of Project Horizon - whatever that turns out to be?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Well, time to stock up then!
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Not really.

They are being banned for a reason.

That reason is far more important than some dark ride.

Plus, companies, especially large ones need to be seen as being progressive among their peers. That methodology in business thinking extends to many industries nowadays to the point non progressive companies can struggle to do certain things as other companies refuse to work with them. Until they green up so to speak.
 
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DistortAMG said:
Not really.

They are being banned for a reason.

That reason is far more important than some dark ride.

Plus, companies, especially large ones need to be seen as being progressive among their peers. That methodology in business thinking extends to many industries nowadays to the point non progressive companies can struggle to do certain things as other companies refuse to work with them. Until they green up so to speak.
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Ah, scratch that then. It'd be nice to know which UV LEDS are the most accurate to Old fashioned Fluorescent UV, you know, no visual light being shown?
 
The LED UV fixtures used in the TLC project was probably cost driven and nothing to do with futureproofing the attraction, which shut down before the deadline anyway. LED is not the enemy but it's just complicated for UV.

Now that a proper project is in place, they'd have the chance to R&D a proper solution. So all is good.

The whole conundrum is probably redundant now the ride is closed
 
I believe it was an internal Merlin policy that only LED lighting could be used as opposed to incandescent a while back, the same thing happened with the batching row lighting on Nemesis being replaced, although they're better than the UV I guess. It was bodged in, and we were left with what we had in the end. You can see mention of LED lighting usage being part of their carbon reduction initiative on Merlin's website:

Carbon reduction and managing climate change​

We’re part of the UK Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR), EU Energy Efficiency Directives and other applicable regulations worldwide. Every year we budget for environmentally-focused initiatives such as LED lighting, solar PV, variable speed drive and managing water efficiency across our sites.
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I think I mentioned a fair few pages back that having new scenes built/rebuilt (whatever your preference may be) to better suit new lighting technology will also help. So I'm sure we'll see an improvement on top of what we had before.
 
Strangely I remember flourescent UV tubes were put back in 2017 for some the old UV scenes that been defunct for many years. It was replaced with the bright LED lighting a year later. Yes I rode it too many times.
 
Working in the lighting industry I can reassure you the led technology is there to do a proper job

What happened was a cheap botch job.

That said, it's not cheap if you use a top end supplier.
 
Isn't most UV LED purple though? That really doesn't fit the category of the Original Haunted Houses more magical look to it with it being lit in blue UV and all.
 
Knowing what happened with Tomb Blaster in was it 2016 or 2017, they UV painted it and fixed nothing. If you are all correct and UV lighting is cheap, they probably put those refurbs in to make the ride cheaper to run. But now Tomb Blaster got a plot and this grand haunted house redesign, I think it’s safe to say that Merlin cares more about dark rides and theming than they used to, and we could also expect some greater effects
 
The_bip said:
Knowing what happened with Tomb Blaster in was it 2016 or 2017, they UV painted it and fixed nothing. If you are all correct and UV lighting is cheap, they probably put those refurbs in to make the ride cheaper to run. But now Tomb Blaster got a plot and this grand haunted house redesign, I think it’s safe to say that Merlin cares more about dark rides and theming than they used to, and we could also expect some greater effects
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I agree with this, although Tomb Blaster is still in a terrible state despite the 2020 refurb when it gained a plot.
 
The_bip said:
Knowing what happened with Tomb Blaster in was it 2016 or 2017, they UV painted it and fixed nothing. If you are all correct and UV lighting is cheap, they probably put those refurbs in to make the ride cheaper to run. But now Tomb Blaster got a plot and this grand haunted house redesign, I think it’s safe to say that Merlin cares more about dark rides and theming than they used to, and we could also expect some greater effects
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Proper LED UV lighting fixtures are not cheap, the problem is Merlin picked really cheap versions. The cheap versions emit a lot of visible purple light alongside the UV, which has a tendency to light everything up in visible light, along side the UV.

Proper LED UV fixtures emit almost no visible light, therefor act like a true backlight. The technology is still relatively new though, so they are very expensive. I would not be surprised for this reason there is less focus on UV scenes in the new attraction.
 
DistortAMG said:
Proper LED UV lighting fixtures are not cheap, the problem is Merlin picked really cheap versions. The cheap versions emit a lot of visible purple light alongside the UV, which has a tendency to light everything up in visible light, along side the UV.

Proper LED UV fixtures emit almost no visible light, therefor act like a true backlight. The technology is still relatively new though, so they are very expensive. I would not be surprised for this reason there is less focus on UV scenes in the new attraction.
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Well, At least they've got potentially 3-5 millions pounds worth to do that. Surely high quality lighting wouldn't be too expensive for a budget like that, surely? If they're not adding scenes with props, at the very least they could drastically improve the lighting in there! That'll be the day.
 
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