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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

s_g_k said:
I wouldn’t say there’s very little for slightly older kids to do. Whilst the flat situation is dire, there is still:

Blade
Curse
RMT
Rapids
Marauders mayhem
Battle Galleons
Heave ho
GG
Hex
Flávio’s
Sealife (OK not a ride but it can kill 20 mins)

Then you also have the Dungeons and stalls.

Based on a £39 advance entry price and riding all 11 of the above, that works out at £3.55 per attraction not taking into account any re rides.
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Compared to the early 00's it's pretty poor though. Mind I'd add Wickerman and Thirteen to your list to be fair. Stuff like The Black Hole and Corkscrew are the two biggest misses and neither got replaced really until Wickerman but that replaced The Log Flume. Not to mention Ug Land which was perfect for older kids which they turned into another dark area.

It seems to be the priority mind lately in fairness to them with both David Walliams land, Wickerman and now Project Horizon which seems to be the same target range. I'm glad they've went for a stronger scare appeal on this though rather than the dumbed down Duel.
 
I’ve just done The Curse at Alton Manor… and to tell you the honest truth, I’m not entirely sure what just happened… I spent half the time jumping out of my skin!

It all looked very nice and was very well done, but it’s just an awful lot to take in after 1 ride… I’ll watch a POV or something later and try and do a more detailed review. I went in with relatively little idea of what to expect, and after one ride, I’d struggle to recount much of what actually happened… I’m afraid I may not be able to match the detailed scene-by-scene breakdowns that I’m sure some have done online!
 
Matt N said:
I’ve just done The Curse at Alton Manor… and to tell you the honest truth, I’m not entirely sure what just happened… I spent half the time jumping out of my skin!

It all looked very nice and was very well done, but it’s just an awful lot to take in after 1 ride… I’ll watch a POV or something later and try and do a more detailed review. I went in with relatively little idea of what to expect, and after one ride, I’d struggle to recount much of what actually happened… I’m afraid I may not be able to match the detailed scene-by-scene breakdowns that I’m sure some have done online!
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It needs to be ridden multiple times to fully take in all the scenes and effects. I managed to rides last weekend but need more -

on both rides I completely missed the Emily Alton in the car mirror effect because I was looking the wrong way.

The trains do seem a little fast for how much there is to look at and compared with a lot of other dark ride systems - however I'm undecided about whether this should be changed as it's part of what makes it edgy and exciting, might seem a bit pedestrian if it ran as slowly as something like GG.

Reridability is an asset for rides in general, however for guests that visit once a year and only manage to ride it once per visit I do wonder how much of the experience they'll actually be able to take in.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
Reridability is an asset for rides in general, however for guests that visit once a year and only manage to ride it once per visit I do wonder how much of the experience they'll actually be able to take in.
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That's the problem with this ride. There's some points that are somewhat overwhelming and something is happening in every direction you look, and there's also bits where nothing happens
 
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I suspect that they'll move props around the ride to help give some areas a bit more life such as the darkened sections which everyone goes on about and likely will have not gone unnoticed by the park. That said compared to Sub Terra's disastrous opening, Alton Manor's opening has in comparison been a success I suppose.
 
QTXAdsy said:
I suspect that they'll move props around the ride to help give some areas a bit more life such as the darkened sections which everyone goes on about and likely will have not gone unnoticed by the park. That said compared to Sub Terra's disastrous opening, Alton Manor's opening has in comparison been a success I suppose.
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From what I've heard, the giants lair is largely untouched, so they could put something on the mechanisms where the zombies used to be. It's a good set piece.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
The trains do seem a little fast for how much there is to look at and compared with a lot of other dark ride systems - however I'm undecided about whether this should be changed as it's part of what makes it edgy and exciting, might seem a bit pedestrian if it ran as slowly as something like GG.
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Personally, I have always liked the speed of the HH ride system compared to that of, say, 5th Dimension's. However, it must be disappointing if the ride goes too fast for you to fully appreciate the details in some areas.
 
Trooper Looper said:
From what I've heard, the giants lair is largely untouched, so they could put something on the mechanisms where the zombies used to be. It's a good set piece.
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That being one of the weakest scenes from Duel and not fitting the current theme it would be a big cop out and I'm sure they have something planned.
 
The idea for that scene being an audio experience is OK, it could perhaps do with more speakers/better placement and some air cannons or hanging cloth that touches guests to feel a bit more exciting.
 
The idea that they would leave an area of the ride to effectively be an audio experience seems a bit cheap really. I think that they should incorporate a new scene in that area, hopefully with some moving physical props.
 
zeock said:
The idea that they would leave an area of the ride to effectively be an audio experience seems a bit cheap really. I think that they should incorporate a new scene in that area, hopefully with some moving physical props.
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Tbf it's always felt like a cheap attraction. Even after the retheme there's no effects in there that are amazing. If it's the best we've got in this country then it shows the standards. The best dark rides in the world are 10 time better than Alton manor so we need to up our game in the UK
 
Ethan said:
Tbf it's always felt like a cheap attraction. Even after the retheme there's no effects in there that are amazing. If it's the best we've got in this country then it shows the standards. The best dark rides in the world are 10 time better than Alton manor so we need to up our game in the UK
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There aren't a great deal of haunted houses in Europe that are better than The Curse.

I can only think of Phantom Manor off the top of my head that is.

If you're always comparing dark rides to those produced by Disney and Universal with sometimes 50x the budget then you will inevitably be disappointed. Every time.
 
It seems the hype for Alton Manor has gone down which is good for being rational about the ride...problem is that we and perhaps every theme park enthusiast that ever was go on and bitch about things next and over the years at Towers, we've seen then many times from us though honestly not without good reason.



Do we have our standards set too high to reach Disney quality in which honestly mentioned as above is never possible at every theme park which just leads to disappointment if you set standards that high.
 
D4n said:
There aren't a great deal of haunted houses in Europe that are better than The Curse.

I can only think of Phantom Manor off the top of my head that is.

If you're always comparing dark rides to those produced by Disney and Universal with sometimes 50x the budget then you will inevitably be disappointed. Every time.
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Efteling manage it without insane budgets. Look at Symbolica, probably one of the best dark rides in the world.
 
havaska said:
Efteling manage it without insane budgets. Look at Symbolica, probably one of the best dark rides in the world.
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I always despair when I remember that according to some, DBGT cost £30 million, similar to Symbolica. (others say it cost 13 million)
 
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