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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

Matt N said:
  • The Grand Hall has been enhanced; I think the lighting is much better, and I really like the new skeleton props they’ve put in there.
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That's quite controversial in my view. I would say that, despite having got used to the scene in Curse, it was much better with the two physical monsters, rather than the screen and just the one.
 
Dave said:
All haunted houses are a mish mash. Haunted Mansion is probably the most famous of them all and it’s basically just one diorama after another (phantom manor less so).

If you take off the rose tinted glasses of an incredibly old and incredibly flawed ride that came before then it actually runs fairly coherently.
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You misunderstood
When I say mish mash it's more to do with being able to recognise a lot of the original ride, the point I made in my original post is that it's a mix up of two rides now. I didn't mention the story. To the untrained eye you'll see past it, but for me it sticks out like a sore thumb. I wish they'd allocated a bigger budget and done it all.
 
Max said:
If we’re doing controversial opinions I think the hide and seek scene is pretty fun
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Fair enough! For me, that part is still pretty unnerving, what with the audio and the anticipation, but I think that similar to the Screaming Heads scene, it is perhaps missing something.

While I’m aware that darkness is a large part of that scene, I think that some kind of visual addition to break up the darkness would not go amiss there.
 
Matt N said:
but I think that similar to the Screaming Heads scene, it is perhaps missing something.
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It’s interesting that the screaming heads scene is missing something for the opposite reason, the visual is there but there’s not much in the way of audio to give it impact. Probably my least favourite part of the ride in its current form, however I think that’s partly because the rest of the ride is so strong.

I remember people mentioning the audio not really selling the hide and seek section on opening weekend, I’m not sure what the extent of this was, but yesterday the audio was great and really did create the illusion that Emily was moving herself to different parts of the room. The section is clearly the result of a limited budget, but it’s a creative solution to the problem, which is something I always enjoy seeing in themed attractions.
 
Matt N said:
Perhaps controversially,
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I don't think there's anything controversial about saying the Curse is better than Duel

The only downgrade to my mind is the trommel set is now feels flat and empty, when before it was a memorable entrance to the tunnel with the big skull and all, except it looked really bad after the TLC work bathed in flat purple. They were right to change it for the new theme but the scene is a downgrade.

But it doesnt really detract from the ride, other than that everything is an upgrade on the state of Duel.
 
RIPCorky said:
You misunderstood
When I say mish mash it's more to do with being able to recognise a lot of the original ride, the point I made in my original post is that it's a mix up of two rides now. I didn't mention the story. To the untrained eye you'll see past it, but for me it sticks out like a sore thumb. I wish they'd allocated a bigger budget and done it all.
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It would be spending for the sake of it, none of the background scenes that have been used have any impact on the new theme, primarily because the base theme is still a haunted house, it’s just the overlaid story that has changed.

A drawing room or a garden have the same base design no matter what is actually going. And I would much prefer them doing this than wasting money that could be spent elsewhere in the park as it is sorely needed elsewhere in the park.
 
Max said:
Got to try at Alton Manor today, cracking little ride. Seems a little unfair to say it’s better than Duel because a smouldering crater would’ve been an improvement, but yes, it is in fact better than Duel.

I know some aren’t fans of the darker direction but I’m really glad they went for it. Every child should have the formative experience of being given nightmares by a ghost train, so I’m glad Towers can provide this vital service.
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Best review so far haha
 
Dave said:
It would be spending for the sake of it, none of the background scenes that have been used have any impact on the new theme, primarily because the base theme is still a haunted house, it’s just the overlaid story that has changed.

A drawing room or a garden have the same base design no matter what is actually going. And I would much prefer them doing this than wasting money that could be spent elsewhere in the park as it is sorely needed elsewhere in the park.
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Well in that case it would have been cheaper to refurbish Duel again, and keep the blasters. Opening weekend aside it is not attracting bigger queues than Duel did.
It was done so they could say they have a new ride for this season in the hope it may attract people to the park. I'm not so sure that's been the case.
 
The queue time has got nothing to do with the ride being popular. It’s a high capacity ride, always has been and now your really trying to scrape the barrel for points against it.
 
RIPCorky said:
Well in that case it would have been cheaper to refurbish Duel again, and keep the blasters. Opening weekend aside it is not attracting bigger queues than Duel did.
It was done so they could say they have a new ride for this season in the hope it may attract people to the park. I'm not so sure that's been the case.
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Duel was terrible, why would they do that?

It was either roll it back to original HH or a new overlay.

The ride has a huge throughput, more than any other ride on park. That’s the end of it really.
 
I've never known Duel to have a queue of more than 5 minutes or so even on the busiest days.
 
I remember having to queue for Duel around 30 minutes one time. This was during Covid, but also on an off peak day. I also remember the rides queue stretching out of the entrance during 2017s Scarefest, so it was a pretty popular ride. As much as I wasn't a huge fan of it, the Family GP absolutely loved it.

I wasn't always busy though, but I think it was balanced in terms of being popular or walk on during its last few years.
 
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I don’t think queue time is necessarily a reliable barometer of popularity for Curse.

The throughput sits somewhere in the ballpark of 1,800pph, which goes some way towards explaining its short queue times. It never had an overly long queue as Duel either.
 
Matt N said:
I don’t think queue time is necessarily a reliable barometer of popularity for Curse.

The throughput sits somewhere in the ballpark of 1,800pph, which goes some way towards explaining its short queue times. It never had an overly long queue as Duel either.
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People seem to be ignoring the fact that Duel had been in the park for 20 years, whilst this ride is brand new.
 
RIPCorky said:
People seem to be ignoring the fact that Duel had been in the park for 20 years, whilst this ride is brand new.
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Yes, but it still isn’t a major headlining coaster like, say, Smiler or Wicker Man, so its popularity would probably never have been obscene anyway.

Based on anecdotes from others, I gather that Duel’s queue never really exceeded about 15-30 minutes, even in 2003 when it was brand new. Curse itself can also get a decent 15-30 minute queue reasonably often, and I’ve seen it as high as 45 on some days during the Easter holidays.
 
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