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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

It's nice to see reviews with some nice criticism with some valid point about the ride experience. It's something a bit different, compared to the universal praise It's been getting from enthusiasts as of recently, but I guess you gotta expect that with a new ride. It has lots of good bits, but a lot of not so good bits personally. My favourite bit was easily the trommel, it's a fantastic effect!! So simple, yet so effective. The 2nd biggest highlight for me is the mirror corridor (when it works), I love it!! Though the flash at the end feels a bit unnecessary, and you can see it when ot triggers by the car in front just before you enter the scene, but hey, that's a tiny criticism and doesn't affect the ride heavily whatsoever.

My 3nd favourite bit has to be, the new Ghoul that replaced the very last one in the screaming heads scene with the smoke exhaling out of of its mouth just before you enter the garden. It's a genuinely really cool prop and it was nice to see a prop that wasn't Emily or a doll for a change. It definitely fits that scene a lot more than the troll ever did, and that's coming from me, a huge fan of the original HH.

I'm still confused to why they thought the screen of Emily in the Grand Hall would be a good replacement, it kinda makes the mirrors feel very redundant, and the scene feels a bit empty personally. They could've just repainted the demon prop or replaced it with a new one with Emily or something to fit the rides Theme and it would've been a huge improvement personally. It wouldn't have been that hard to fix the mechanical arm for the prop, new or old. The company that made the original effect (aside from the prop of course) are still around, heck, they promote it on their website for their special effects page.

Technovations

www.technovations.co.uk

As a whole, the ride does seem to be in a work in progress so far, so hopefully the technical issues will be resolved this season. Some genuine really good effects in there, and there's some not so good ones.
 
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I think it's a fantastic ride but it does have a handful of issues. Beside from the dark spaces that people have complained about, I think that the finale feels unfinished. We are clearly sucked out of the dollhouse below the giant Emily, but it kind of just ends there? A satisfying resolution to the story is needed after that scene, and there is room for it in that final room before the offload station. If we have escaped, there needs to be something visually helping us to escape. It could be a projection or voice over of a priest some sort in that final scene, armed to fight Emily while beckoning us to the offload platform, which would allow us to escape without being pursued by Emily?
 
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Nosferatu said:
I think it's a fantastic ride but it does have a handful of issues. Beside from the dark spaces that people have complained about, I think that the finale feels unfinished. We are clearly sucked out of the dollhouse below the giant Emily, but it kind of just ends there? A satisfying resolution to the story is needed after that scene, and there is room for it in that final room before the offload station. If we have escaped, there needs to be something visually helping us to escape. It could be a projection or voice over of a priest some sort in that final scene, armed to fight Emily while beckoning us to the offload platform, which would allow us to escape without being pursued by Emily?
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It’s a good point! This is where a big screen to tie up the story and one last air blast would actually be welcomed!


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Speaking of sudden endings, Merlin seem to have this problem with Sub Terra with it's original run in how the ride suddenly ends with you running out and it sounds like the same thing here...can't recall is GG had a same problem but I can't help but notice this but is this with Merlin's other dark rides too?
 
They never do songs at the end of the rides or singalong characters like Disney do. I thought we was going to get a graveyard singalong, with haunted hollow cast for a big finale extravaganza!


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TroySmith1 said:
They never do songs at the end of the rides or singalong characters like Disney do. I thought we was going to get a graveyard singalong, with haunted hollow cast for a big finale extravaganza!


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GG at least has a voice over from Granny before the vehicle reaches the offload platform, so that feels more like a resolution than The Curse's ending.
TroySmith1 said:
They never do songs at the end of the rides or singalong characters like Disney do. I thought we was going to get a graveyard singalong, with haunted hollow cast for a big finale extravaganza!


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That probably would've felt very out of place in an attraction that doesn't have as much of a whimsical tone as The Haunted Mansion at Disney.
 
Had my yearly visit the weekend just gone, and I must admit, I was really impressed with the area and the ride.

I do have concerns over the reliability (as I'm sure do AT) - we broke down on ride for 10minutes , and I noticed multiple breakdowns across the 2 days I was on resort, as well as effects not working between rides (the Emily Alton in your car effect springs to mind) but guess they're just teething issues. Expected I suppose.

But overall, I was impressed and a huge improvement on Duel. Long may these standards continue.
 
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