Managed to finally ride this Monday, and after being anxious to what I might find here’s my thoughts:
External:
Gloomy wood looks as good as it ever has, smoke is good, snack shop looks great and you actually want to spend money their now. As others have said the only very minor point is I don’t think the Emily Alton silhouette works in broad daylight, could do with netting in front of the window maybe. The Alton Manor signs on the HH path (3D printed I think?) looked great along with the new gates and arch.
Queueline:
This will be a familiar theme but again added to what was there before, which is no bad thing. Smoke really adds to the mood so hope it’s stayed, refilled and kept stocked up. New music is good, if a little short but good.
Pre-show:
I thought this worked really well, set the mood for the ride. Another nice bit of back story and tied in to the rest of the ride. The “reveal” element worked well, although it would be nice to see a little less of this writing throughout the ride.
Station:
Fine, nice additions for story purposes.
Ride:
I’m sure there’s a reason but wasn’t quite suited what the “curse” effect on the maintenance door was for. Banqueting hall was fine with the new additions.
Flying demon worked fine. I liked the footprints effect here, maybe a few more props needed.
The trommel entrance looked a little unfinished and I believe there is a smoke effect or something due here which is needed as the entrance looks a little “exposed”. Great to have the trammel back, maybe the clock could be a little bigger so it fills the end of the trommel and can be seen even if another cars in front.
The Emily demon transformation effect is great.
The pitch black sequence others are moaning about I thought was fine, maybe the speakers could work a little better but you’re playing hide and seek so that’s the point.
Going into the attic there’s the 2+2 board that I couldn’t quite piece together what it meant. Again the jump scares here are fine when triggered correct.
The new corridor seen is great, I don’t think we got the screen jump scare on both my rides. The then mirror + Emily + empty car + broken mirror sequence was fantastic, but people need to know to look for it. Even if it’s just a “Don’t look right” and the flash at the end comes to soon.
Garden scene, again props wise great but a flat 5-10 seconds, perhaps the most on the ride for me. Something on either side happening here, even audio from Emily, would be an improvement. Something on the coffin or a jump scare on the right would do. The reimagined crazy monk needs some audio/lighting and the swing effect needs repositioning as too many people don’t see it as it’s a great effect.
Finale is good, I think the timing here needs to be tweeted and things feel a little late. The hand grabbing is ok, I think it needs some lighting tweaks though. The effect at the end is great, and the ending showing the clock is a nice touch.
I think the text in the exit corridor should reveal on a timer along with some jump audio “You’ll never escape” or something like that.
Gift shop:
Again a tidy refresh, great to see the Duel books back. Just what was needed.
Overall a great interpretation of a European standard haunted house, a welcome addition. I’m not sure what the budget was but if it was £5m ish they’ve done a great job. Especially as it seems so much was done in house. I hope Merlin see the benefit of this and keep it up.
Seeing how the team have progressed from Gangsta Granny to this is really interesting. Both decent rides for their markets.
Whether they’re quite ready for a Symbolica I’m not sure. It will be interesting to see how Valhalla compares and also what changes are made to N:ST, hopefully the team can kick on again and make N:ST the ride it could be (more intense with changes in the pit). More moving props/animatronics in the future please!
Hopefully in the not too distant future they could “plus” Hex as I’d love to see how they’d refresh it along with bringing the 4D cinema back in too use.
Now I’m sure it’s time for them to turn their attention to finishing Jumanji, N:ST and Nemesis Reborn along with Project Horizon. It’s great to see MMM Developing more and better in house capability, and even local capability with Garmendale. Long May it continue! The team should all be very proud, like Wickerman they’ve got something a bit special on their hands and the talent behind it needs to continue to push management, standards and boundaries.
