2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

[Trooper Looper]

Spoiler

from what I've gathered, there are 2 extra cars in the ride compared to when it was Duel? Were these new cars just left in the maintenance shed when it was duel or are these new cars built from the ground Up?

 

[GaryH]

Can the ride cars be slowed down a bit? Just it seemed a lot slower to go around when it was Duel and the Haunted House compared to now which feels like a F1 car!

 

[Zeock]

Spoiler

from what I've gathered, there are 2 extra cars in the ride compared to when it was Duel? Were these new cars just left in the maintenance shed when it was duel or are these new cars built from the ground Up?

Spoiler

There are 3 more now; 22 compared to 19. For comparison, the HH had 32 cars. Sorry that I can't answer the second part of your comment though; I don't know.

 

[Poisson]

I always found the blasters really hard work, more so than any other interactive dark ride!

Can't be right, you must have ridden Maus au Chocolat?

 

[Dave]

Spoiler

from what I've gathered, there are 2 extra cars in the ride compared to when it was Duel? Were these new cars just left in the maintenance shed when it was duel or are these new cars built from the ground Up?

No new cars have been purchased, I would hazard a guess they have just had parts to be able to get some back on the system.

Can the ride cars be slowed down a bit? Just it seemed a lot slower to go around when it was Duel and the Haunted House compared to now which feels like a F1 car!

I felt it was running at the same speed as Duel did. Certainly no faster.

 

[Skyscraper]

I always found the blasters really hard work, more so than any other interactive dark ride!

Think it was partly to do with how long the ride is. I couldn't hold the blaster for six minutes straight!

 

[Burbs]

Can't be right, you must have ridden Maus au Chocolat?

I have, although yes it’s a bit tiresome due to the length of the ride, I thought the trigger itself on the Duel blasters had an unnecessary amount of resistance. But perhaps that’s down to it being an older system.

Anyway, this isn’t much to do with Alton Manor.

 

[QTXAdsy]

On the topic of blasters and how they were on Duel, love them or hate them, they were actually popular with many guests and if you remember when Duel was announce its closure there were several members of the GP who lamented the loss of the blasters. I have no doubt that this was noted by Merlin in which I suspect the reason why we got a blaster-less Alton Manor is that the exchange is that there would be a new blaster ride system installed on the park to make up for the loss for them on Duel/Alton Manor which honestly is more possible than you think if the park is serious of being open for more days of the year and the need of more indoor attractions are needed then I have no doubt the new dark ride we'd see on the park will be a blaster ride system unless the Dungeons closes earlier and we get the boat ride system back for use.

Even a cheaply done purely screen based shooter dark ride say squeezed into the Nickelodeon building (a la Toy Story type ride) would more or less fulfil that role but I'm going off topic here.

 

[havaska]

I agree with the above.

Something like Harrington Flints Island Adventure would be (relatively) cheap and easy to install into either Walliams World or maybe even Mutiny Bay.

Would add another dark ride and further enable 365 opening.

 

[Ethan]

Wasn't that impressed if I'm honest. There seems to be more dark points on that than there was on duel. The scenes and theming that I did see looked good but it certainly seems incomplete. Needs some more scenes for sure. From the couple goes I got I'd say it was alright but needs more work. Didn't live upto the hype

 

[RIPCorky]

We will probably want Duel back in a couple of years time

 

[rob666]

Wasn't that impressed if I'm honest. There seems to be more dark points on that than there was on duel. The scenes and theming that I did see looked good but it certainly seems incomplete. Needs some more scenes for sure. From the couple goes I got I'd say it was alright but needs more work. Didn't live upto the hype

Reality rarely does.
Don't fall for the marketing bull, keep modest expectations, and give the ride time to get finished and settled properly.

 

[Benzin]

Reality rarely does.
Don't fall for the marketing bull, keep modest expectations, and give the ride time to get finished and settled properly.

At least dark rides can be plussed fairly easily.

Rollercoasters don't get that courtesy. If they're **** from day one it's unlikely they'll improve.

 

[Dave]

We will probably want Duel back in a couple of years time

Doubt it.

There are two areas that need improvement but this is far superior. The people who profess disappointment obviously have the right to their own subjective opinion but I would question what it is they actually wanted?

 

[Bert2theSpark]

We will probably want Duel back in a couple of years time

Honestly, when Gangsta Granny gets rethemed, it would be a good idea for them to add guns, it would bring back a dark ride where the riders are actively involved in the ride as opposed to just experiencing it. At least the addition of guns on that wouldn't ruin what was there before it...

The transit system is so much smaller that guns would work better on that than it ever did on Duel, especially if they the props had physical interaction and haptic feedback!

 

[The Big Mack]

Honestly, when Gangsta Granny gets rethemed, it would be a good idea for them to add guns, it would bring back a dark ride where the riders are actively involved in the ride as opposed to just experiencing it. At least the addition of guns on that wouldn't ruin what was there before it...

The transit system is so much smaller that guns would work better on that than it ever did on Duel, especially if they the props had physical interaction and haptic feedback!

Blasters on a multi-motion dark ride would not be a good call.

There are plenty of opportunities to build a ground up blaster dark ride rather than retrofitting blaster technology to an existing attraction.

 

[Zeock]

Honestly, when Gangsta Granny gets rethemed, it would be a good idea for them to add guns, it would bring back a dark ride where the riders are actively involved in the ride as opposed to just experiencing it. At least the addition of guns on that wouldn't ruin what was there before it

I love that we already know as a fact that Gangsta Granny will be rethemed.
I do think that Towers should include a ride with blasters though, but hopefully with the sensors actually inside the props like Men in Black: Alien Attack.

 

[emmerse2891]

I think Interactivity can be injected with different types of devices! I hated duel, it became a glorified game not a dark ride, and thats proven by the amount of people saying 'I never looked at the details - I was only looking for targets'.

Also I feel the competitive element whilst popular leaves a slightly nasty taste in my mouth, as there are always those more skilled and 'abled' and creates a scale of 'better' or 'not good as' (i.e. older siblings teasing younger etc) which I personally think should be left to realm of computer games, arcades etc - and don't really have a place in theme parks, which should be about togetherness, escapism etc.
It's one of the reason I love theme parks - I'm dyspraxic, so am bad at sports etc, and ski-ing or go-karting or anything involving balance, direction or personal co-oridination are out the question....but rides bring me the sensation I seek.

But I love the idea of interactivity where you either work as a team or there is a different pay-off other than scoring points - and a great example of this is hide-and-go-seek at Tokyo disneyland where you have flashlights you point at targets - and that in turn activates an effect!

so if TCAAT did step back into interactivity - how about equipping cars with torches you point, with the whole point you HAVE to look and search, it would also be really creepy, imagine your torch beam falling on a pale face glaring at you! and they could flicker and go out in some parts etc or even vibrate for a startle! That way your still immersed in a narrative, whilst also being on a exploratory 'mission' and using a devise.

 

[The Big Mack]

I think Interactivity can be injected with different types of devices! I hated duel, it became a glorified game not a dark ride, and thats proven by the amount of people saying 'I never looked at the details - I was only looking for targets'.

Also I feel the competitive element whilst popular leaves a slightly nasty taste in my mouth, as there are always those more skilled and 'abled' and creates a scale of 'better' or 'not good as' (i.e. older siblings teasing younger etc) which I personally think should be left to realm of computer games, arcades etc - and don't really have a place in theme parks, which should be about togetherness, escapism etc.
It's one of the reason I love theme parks - I'm dyspraxic, so am bad at sports etc, and ski-ing or go-karting or anything involving balance, direction or personal co-oridination are out the question....but rides bring me the sensation I seek.

But I love the idea of interactivity where you either work as a team or there is a different pay-off other than scoring points - and a great example of this is hide-and-go-seek at Tokyo disneyland where you have flashlights you point at targets - and that in turn activates an effect!

so if TCAAT did step back into interactivity - how about equipping cars with torches you point, with the whole point you HAVE to look and search, it would also be really creepy, imagine your torch beam falling on a pale face glaring at you! and they could flicker and go out in some parts etc or even vibrate for a startle! That way your still immersed in a narrative, whilst also being on a exploratory 'mission' and using a devise.

A fellow dyspraxic, how lovely. It's a struggle I can relate to whenever I do bother to use blasters on a dark ride, which isn't often really.

If anything blaster dark rides are simply games and are the antithesis of what a theme park is all about, and that's storytelling. It's not easy to create a gamified dark ride experience without it falling into a trap of detracting from the immersion, as guests are simply too focused on beating each other's scores rather than feeling immersed in a storytelling environment. There are probably exceptions like Men In Black at IOA of course..

I barely even used the blasters while TCAAM was Duel, just sat there and enjoyed the show so to speak.. hugely distracting with the illuminated targets and competitive people sharing our ride vehicle.

Here's hoping that TCAAM is a sign of more theatrical dark ride experiences to come to the Resort, rather than cheap and ill thought out gamified attractions.

 

[Ethan]

Just done Alton manor again and apart from the couple dark bits it's a decent ride. Very dark theme compared to Duel. Scared me a few times let alone younger people. Is it family friendly no I don't think so the theme is quite twisted when you think about it.