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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

I Rode it a few weeks back for the first time and I have to say I was quite underwhelmed too. . .

I followed all the build up over winter on here and on opening day watched multiple reviews etc. . Could that have been apart of it. . Maybe.

Although having followed things more closely, I knew what to look for in certain parts of the ride which I 100% think would have been missed without knowing about them or riding multiple times (I only got one go as we was there for cbeebies land for my son and not me to go on the proper stuff 😁)

Some of the effects were disappointing too, as in they looked better on a phone POV than they did in real life (the scene where Emily's/demon shadow fills the room and the hand rummaging on the screen spring to mind) . .

The mirror corridor worked perfectly and was impressive.

The cars variable speeds definitely need adjusting from the stock HH speeds aswell, there's sections with alot to see and the cars fly through them, then trundle too slowly in places aswell (sinister garden I think could be a little quicker)

I'm back at the end of June and want to try get a few more rides in to see if it can win me over, it wasn't bad enough for me not to re-ride but I was a bit disappointed.
 
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I have ridden it twice in April, and it's a good solid ride, but it was probably overhyped. Some sections like the mirror with Emily weren't that great, as I could still see our faces in the mirror. The second time it was fine.

In the garden, the little crypt thing where Emily pops out wasn't good either, the projection didn't match up and it just randomly went up and down. Also stalled underneath where the big Emily is.

Finally, the speed of the cars as everyone says is also a letdown. Cant remember if this was the case on Duel (even though it never worked) but in the trommel there is a car a few meters ahead of you, which takes away from the effect and you cant see the clock at the end until you come out.
 
I have no idea why this ride is still get compared to duel or haunted house. We need to stop
The compassions and enjoy with fresh eyes!

We have to remember it’s only closed for 7 months in a low Capex year. We all thought Duel would get minor tweaks/refurbishment Merlin delivery so much more than this. With a truly original story, some incredible “original” effects and an immersive attraction brought back to live! Yes alterations need to be made in closed season, but overall it’s solid dark ride attraction. With a very solid themed area to match, it’s still one of the best in the county!


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zeock said:
It's interesting to see that after the initial hype, reviews on Alton Manor are a lot more negative. I loved it, but I enjoy hearing other people's views.
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Currently Wildcat's Revenge is the best ride in the world.

Initial reports always die down once the hype train subsides. Alty Mans not really helped by the nostalgia goggles over Haunted House and Duel fans mind.
 
I think your enjoyment of the ride is largely determined by your level of expectation.

Given what we've seen from Merlin I didn't have high hopes going in to it but was pleasantly surprised overall (Also massively relieved).

Obviously it would have been nice to have a new trackless transit system with new state of the art effects but that was never going to happen realistically given the budgets and timescales.
 
TroySmith1 said:
I have no idea why this ride is still get compared to duel or haunted house. We need to stop
The compassions and enjoy with fresh eyes!

We have to remember it’s only closed for 7 months in a low Capex year. We all thought Duel would get minor tweaks/refurbishment Merlin delivery so much more than this. With a truly original story, some incredible “original” effects and an immersive attraction brought back to live! Yes alterations need to be made in closed season, but overall it’s solid dark ride attraction. With a very solid themed area to match, it’s still one of the best in the county!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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It’s the same location, same building, same ride system. It will always have comparisons. Especially as some of the scenes were only altered.

People not liking it because it’s not as good as what was there before (in their opinion) is fine. This ride will not appeal to everyone.
 
Blackhole_Sun said:
It’s the same location, same building, same ride system. It will always have comparisons. Especially as some of the scenes were only altered.

People not liking it because it’s not as good as what was there before (in their opinion) is fine. This ride will not appeal to everyone.
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I just find it wild that people look back on Haunted House and Duel (especially Duel!) and fail to realise that The Curse is by far the best iteration 😂 Sure, Haunted House was a staple of its time, but I guarantee if they just reverted everything to exactly as it was on Haunted House but in present day, it would be horrendously received by the general public.

It was such a good attraction back then because it seemingly stretched the borders of what people felt was possible in a dark ride attraction, but those effects simply wouldn't have the same impact factor today.
 
coasterverse said:
I just find it wild that people look back on Haunted House and Duel (especially Duel!) and fail to realise that The Curse is by far the best iteration 😂 Sure, Haunted House was a staple of its time, but I guarantee if they just reverted everything to exactly as it was on Haunted House but in present day, it would be horrendously received by the general public.

It was such a good attraction back then because it seemingly stretched the borders of what people felt was possible in a dark ride attraction, but those effects simply wouldn't have the same impact factor today.
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In your opinion of course. Seeing what else is out there in terms of dark rides in this country and wider, no boundary’s have been broken with Curse at all.

You mention the effects wouldn’t have the same impact yet we are left with the same trommel, spider etc. With the trommel arguably the best effect on the ride. It’s not really fair to judge a ride purely based upon the age. Practical effects don’t really age as quickly as screens/CGI. Perhaps revisit this again in 10 years to see how the trommel looks compared to the projections.
 
I do like the ride, yeah there’s bits which could have been better but it’s an enjoyable ride. As others have said, I just wish the ride cars went around a bit slower
 
A few people now are saying that they were underwhelmed with Curse because it feels too similar to Duel/The Haunted House.

If you don’t mind me asking, what sorts of things would you have preferred they do to make it less similar? What would have made the ride not feel like a rehash of the previous iterations, in your opinion?

I only ask because in my view, a certain degree of similarity to the previous iterations would always have been maintained by virtue of the ride keeping the same ride system and basic theme. I don’t disagree that the ride still shares a fair few similarities to its predecessors, but I think that was always going to be the case with the nature of the project. With that in mind, I actually think they did a very good job of making Curse a different proposition to either of its predecessors, personally.
Blackhole_Sun said:
You mention the effects wouldn’t have the same impact yet we are left with the same trommel, spider etc. With the trommel arguably the best effect on the ride. It’s not really fair to judge a ride purely based upon the age. Practical effects don’t really age as quickly as screens/CGI. Perhaps revisit this again in 10 years to see how the trommel looks compared to the projections.
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This is a fair point, but it is arguably quite telling that the only two physical effects from the Haunted House that were kept pretty similar to before were the Trommel and the spider. Granted, the Screaming Heads and some of the zombie mechanisms remain, but they were made to look pretty different to before.

I personally disagree that physical props don’t age as quickly as screens; each to their own, of course, but I felt that by the end of the ride’s life, many of the physical props in Duel were really showing their age.

I do agree with @coasterverse in thinking that the original ride, overall, would not have been nearly as well received had it been revealed to the public as a new ride in 2023. Admittedly I never rode it, but based on what I’ve seen of it and the elements of it I experienced in Duel, it looks very much like a product of its time rather than something that would hold up today.

With this in mind, I’m glad that they went for a different, more modern take with Curse. It’s not perfect, and it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking on the world stage, but for a dark ride rejuvenation at Alton Towers, I think it was executed very well overall and exhibits high production value.
 
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Where is this idea coming from that the ride was over-hyped?
I only ever saw reviews that can be summarised by "it's a solid attraction, much better than what was there, they did a good job with the time and budget they had", and all of those things remain true.
It was always going to be a mixed bag with the wider population because it replaced another attraction and no matter how bad that attraction was, people are averse to change.
The Curse is a good dark ride, Alton Towers is a better park for it being there.
 
Matt N said:
I personally disagree that physical props don’t age as quickly as screens; each to their own, of course, but I felt that by the end of the ride’s life, many of the physical props in Duel were really showing their age.
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However, the original HH props, such as Tigger, Pillar Monster, the two Grand Hall demons, etc. were 30 years old at the time of Duel's closure and the zombie props were 20 years old, whereas Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when it opened in 2006 utilised screens which were pretty good for their time. However, one decade later, these were considered to be quite poor.
Also, the quality of the HH props and the Duel props are very different. A lot of work was put into the original HH props, whereas Duel's were bought relatively cheaply from The Horror Dome https://www.thehorrordome.com/, so the Duel props aged far quicker than the original HH props. Even the cheaper Duel props survived a sizeable amount longer than CATCF's screens.
I wonder how long the screen-based parts of Alton Manor will last in comparison to the physical props.
 
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I still think it's much better than Duel, and is one of the park's best attractions, however can acknowledge a couple of scenes where work needs to take place over closed season to improve it (hide and seek scene, flying heads scene). If you can make those into better scenes, the ride would be a 10/10 for me.
 
No-one ever said that Alton Manor was a world class dark ride to be envied by other parks. Just that it was a large improvement on Duel (which was in a real state when it closed) and one of the best dark rides in the UK (really not hard, there are not many good UK dark rides). People are bound to have generated their own hype though.
 
For those who are saying that Duel is better (which honestly I find hard to believe that) are likely those who miss the shooting element and TBH, there are many guests who actually liked the interactive nature of the ride no matter what your average enthusiast will tell you; definitely a 'us vs them' situation when it comes to dark ride. That said, I've said this before but I have no doubt that guests lamenting the shooter element would not have gone unnoticed by Merlin in which the next dark ride we'll see at the park will be a shooter based ride to make up for the loss of Duel. Even a down right cheap as hell pure screen based 3D shooter ride would be more than enough for your average park guest who won't the shooter element.

But to get back on topic with Alton Manor, I have no doubt there will be some tweaks done over the closed season to try and improve on certain details and maybe even put in things that were cut from the final ride as who knows what was left on the cutting room floor?
 
I went on it this Monday, and there's lots of space for improvement, and not only physical mind you personally. I'd definitely start with the Hide N Seek and flying heads. The stuff from Duel are still present in there, just replace the zombies and add new and better lighting, for the heads, from my recent rides, the new heads are way too slow, and I think it's because of the weight of the new heads as they're much bigger than the older ones. Either make smaller head props or bring the old ones back (if possible) and dl them up for the new theme. Sound effects would hugely improve that scene with screams coming from the heads like the old ones.

A change I do think is worth looking into is making it a bit more family friendly. Altons Towers was packed when I visited, but Alton Manors queue was dead, and a good chunk of the people riding it were young teens and adults, sometimes the queue would be empty for nearly 10 minutes with no one entering it. For a family attraction for everyone to enjoy, I think they failed pretty badly personally, so just make it a little more family friendly during the closed season for wider appeal, OR why not have it open during the closed season for Christmas events and do it up with a more family friendly theme every year, it could work. I hang around Gloomy Woods for quite a bit mind you when I visit, and I've seen quite a few kids just outright refusing to ride it again after their first go on it.

As for it being overhyped, I do agree to a certain extent. I've seen many Enthusiast vloggers calling it Europe's Best Dark ride, which I don't agree with sorry.
 
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Trooper Looper said:
As for it being overhyped, I do agree to a certain extent. I've seen many Enthusiast vloggers calling it Europe's Best Dark ride, which I don't agree with sorry.
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I don't watch vlogs, but these people have obviously never been to Disneyland Paris, Efteling or Europa-Park to name a few that have dark rides that are far superior to anything we have in the UK. More fool those who watch and believe anyone who might have such an opinion.
 
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