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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

QTXAdsy said:
Is it me, or am I the only one who is getting Jungle Cruise or Haunted Mansion VIBES from that picture? Seems to have that dark humour you see from the portraits in the stretching room.
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A lot of the details in this ride remind me of "random" photos or paintings Disney uses in it's rides to expand the story and universe. has a similar effect here and I'm really glad they went down the route of adding to the story through visuals throughout the attraction without it being delivered completely through exposition.
 
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Trooper Looper said:
As a whole, not one bit, but the minor new additions such as the air cannons and the bolt of lightning do make it more enjoyable. It a decent dark ride, but it's just wrong for the park. We have enough dark and grim themes as there already is personally, and I hear some rumours going about that Project Exodus will also have quite a dark theme. Alton Towers is more than a doom and gloom style Park as the Internet presents it worldwide, well... was...
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I kind of like that. It feels tasteful compared to the likes of Thorpe park, but it has the right balance between tame and horror that the public (and, admittedly me after watching a pov of this ride every day since it opened) eat this stuff up. It gives it an edge that a lot of parks don’t have
 
On the 16th, right before park close, I managed to get my first ever ride on Alton Manor, here are my thoughts!

When I went on this, it was right at the end of the hot day and I had just ran through Haunted Hollow on the spare of the moment to try and catch the ride open so I was a bit exhausted, so if I missed anything obvious, thats probably why...just bare that in mind as you read this review

The preshow was good, the only thing I would change is to edit the projection to show the demon in the attic possessing Emily...

As I got into the station I encountered 2 empty ride cars right next to each other and unfortunately I was so worn out that I only realised I should sit in the one in front...after the lap bar came down...thus began my home invasion adventure!

As I exited the station and passed the locked door, (psst, by the way, the face on the door was there day one according to the povs, it was just blurry) I was a bit disappointed to see that the moving walls werent working and that they weren't rethemed from duel and therefore looked slightly out of place, on the other hand, the lighting was really good and I like how they intentionally bled the audio of Emily saying "This is my house" into the dining room...

Speaking of, the dining room!
It looked really good, if a bit unfocused...
maybe a way to fix this is change the projection to only trigger after the car passes through the pillers and change it to just a short scene of Emily running past.

Then was the trommel!
The lead up to the trommel was pretty much perfect, and I wouldn't change a thing about it...the tunnel itself was also really good...
I just don't understand why the entrance is a giant fireplace...but anyway I think the fireplace prop itself just looks a bit flat, I can see how they tried to do forced perspective but it just doesn't work... what they should do instead, is put a giant mounted deer head right in the center or something, hell, maybe they could even make it so that you can only see the neck and when the flash of light happens (which i assume is fire) it could reveal that it has the face of the demon or that its leaking black fluid or something.
That would be much cooler!

And then the ride broke down...
...apparently, this is called "hide and seek"...
After a really cool shadow effect, almost the entirety of Duels bat swarm and window scenes are spent in pitch blackness (unless someone farts of course) while some way-to-quiet dialogue plays from no direction in particular...
After watching a few povs I have come to respect the scene for what it tried to do...but no matter how much I respect it, it still doesn't work and is therefore not good enough.
And I'm not sure how it could be fixed... I mean, since its only audio, the fact that they couldn't get it right by now seems to suggest that it simply can't be done with the existing infrastructure, and if that's the case, then I think they should consider retheming it.

Next is the attic,
I really liked this scene! It was really creepy and the lighting was really really well done! If I had to nitpick, the dolls kind of overshadow the spiders somewhat, but I'm sure this could be fixed by adding just 1 more spider encounter to the scene...

Then was the mirror hallway.
The mirror effect was really cool...or it was until I overtook it halfway through, (probably due to the car in front) other than that... this scene seems a bit empty to be honest I really think it needs something at the start of the hallway (where electric bill used to be) and the end (where the glowing skull was).
If they they ever decided to retheme the hide and seek scene, then I think the shadow setpiece would fit perfectly here!

Then the screaming heads... I'm not sure i can even review this scene as I'm honestly not sure how much of it just didnt work.
I know for a fact that the 1st flying head didn't trigger for me because I saw it trigger for the car in front but not me... after that the whole scene was empty until I got to the final flying head that did work and then the giant demon.
...end scene...

The garden was cool.
My only complaint is that the projection in the herse just doesn't look good.
As for how they could fix it, I don't know... even if they made the projection look better, I just don't think the content of the effect is all that good to begin with...
what they could possibly do, is replace it with an open gate (open outwards with both gates hidden from view) and as you approach, it could swing shut revealing that its being pushed by a load of dolls, thus forcing the ride car to turn around towards the swing where Emily is waiting...

And finally the doll house!
8/10 needs more duck...







Okay, it was well themed and the final scare was really impressive, I just have 3 minor issues with this scene,

1. The sound effect from the final scare drowns out everything in the entire scene and even into the garden.
A possible cheap fix might be to just turn up everything else in the scene then start praying...

2. The projection of Emily reaching into the doll house was near impossible to make out because it was lit from behind by what appeared to be the weird wall projection from just before the final scare.

And 3. The part with the projection mapped walls just feels unfinished when compared to the heavy theming of the rest of the scene.
Maybe they could fix this by replacing it with some animatronics of dolls on either side of the track rushing towards the ride car.


Overall, its a huge improvement from Duel, and I'm sure that I'll like if even more after a few more rides,
the rides major issues are the 2 problem scenes, the ride cars being too close and the fact that Emily seems to be talking throughout the whole ride but 90% of it is inaudible...
If they could fix these 3 issues then this ride would be amazing!

Lastly, here are a few random improvements I think they could make to the ride.

1. I think the ride could do with a few more skelatons and corpses strewn about the ride, just to carry on the theme of there being a house party at the time of the disaster.

2. If they did decide to retheme hide and seek, then I have a rough idea of what they could retheme it to...
Instead of the shadow setpiece (which I think would look better in the mirror hallway), since Emily apparently says "welcome to my world" in the trommel, what better way to introduce "her world" than with THE duck jumpscare!
After that, I think it would really help the rides story, to have a little shrine to the demon, with dolls heads hanging all around and a big pentagram labeled "FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE"
After this, the layout of the windows is 2 first then 3, so I think it would be cool to have dolls smash through the first set of windows (preferably a second before it would in Duel, and stay lit as the car passes) in order to set expectation, and then on the 2nd set, have the demon smash through (left hand through left window, right through right and head through middle) accompanied by an air canon.

3. Something they could do to improve the screaming heads scene, is put some doll around the track with there arms outstretched and have them flash up briefly weeping angles style.
Maybe at the end there could be a lit doll just below giant demon, pointing at the ride car, as if to be showing it where the rider is.
(That said, a replica of the Emily prop with the candle would probably look creepier).

4. They could change the preshow from being on a loop to being sensor activated, that way, more people would probably be inclined to watch it and it wont waste power when no one is around.

5. I'm not sure how viable this is, but maybe they could fix the spacing issue by having a special piece of track that they could load the cars onto and it uses sensors to automatically send them out onto the main circuit one by one.

6. A chilling way to end the ride could be to have audio in the exit corridor of Emily searching for the rider and sobbing.

7. I think they should have more of the outdoor queue permanently open, at least enough to see all the story plaques.
 
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Merlin are really bad at doing stuff after a project is completed.

For example: Croc Drop

Emergency door release - Green and slapped on the middle of the door. Makes no sense to put it there and ruins the theme

Security cameras - They built a brand new building with places to put cables. They installed a new security camera a year after this new building opened. And the cable is black with tubing around it and not painted.

I worry about Jumanji, they’ve already attached plastic photo posters. Which look tacky and don’t fit.

Sorry to take a detour, but there is no care and attention to detail once a ride has opened. Every ride for the first season at least should be well kept and nurtured and it can be left alone for a few years.
 
Yeah it was done not long after it opened - not sure why none of the team who created the ride picked up on it before it opened, as it was a glaringly obvious mistake to me as you’d got the audio referring to 31st December 1892 but the banner in the station saying “happy new year 1892” or something like that
 
How I think the hide and seek scene can bee improved!
To start place a black curtain above the scene to prevent the light getting in, then using a semi-clear curtain like the one used for Mystic Manor and project a little purple light seemingly flying going round the room then near to the end of the scene a Emily animatronic reaching out towards you with a flash of light with Emily saying "Found you"
 
Trooper Looper said:
As a whole, not one bit, but the minor new additions such as the air cannons and the bolt of lightning do make it more enjoyable. It a decent dark ride, but it's just wrong for the park. We have enough dark and grim themes as there already is personally, and I hear some rumours going about that Project Exodus will also have quite a dark theme. Alton Towers is more than a doom and gloom style Park as the Internet presents it worldwide, well... was...
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I don’t get how it’s wrong for the park? It’s a haunted house, a lot of parks have haunted houses. And how many haunted houses do you know with a happy theme?

In general I agree the park has too many dark themes but that doesn’t mean they should have given up on having a good haunted house in the park.
 
Dave said:
I don’t get how it’s wrong for the park? It’s a haunted house, a lot of parks have haunted houses. And how many haunted houses do you know with a happy theme?

In general I agree the park has too many dark themes but that doesn’t mean they should have given up on having a good haunted house in the park.
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I'm just saying, personally, it's a really good quality attraction, but with the lack of attractions for the family audience at the park, I personally think it was simply a wrong decision to go with another dark theme, narrowing what the average family all together can ride there. If the park had more than enough attractions for families to enjoy with younger kids, I wouldn't really have this problem with Alton Manor. Haunted Houses can be dark tonally, but they can also still be quite scary AND tonally aimed for families with numerous age demographics, such as The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, Kneobles, Blackpools Ghost Train, Wicked Witches Haunt, etc. They all share a sense of 'scary elements in them but still a fun ride for most ages'. For me, Alton Manor kinda lacks that aspect, especially with its very dark backstory. It's scary and quite impressive, no doubt about that, but I feel like it lacks the fun element. That's just me anyway.

Should they retheme Alton Manor? Definitely not, they shouldn't give up on it, but I Personally believe if they want the ride to be not as dark, I think a tweak or 2 is required, like an altered backstory, make some of the scenes not as grim, and maybe replace a few sound effects in the ride segment. That's just me anyway.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I'm just saying, personally, it's a really good quality attraction, but with the lack of attractions for the family audience at the park, I personally think it was simply a wrong decision to go with another dark theme, narrowing what the average family all together can ride there. If the park had more than enough attractions for families to enjoy with younger kids, I wouldn't really have this problem with Alton Manor. Haunted Houses can be dark tonally, but they can also still be quite scary AND tonally aimed for families with numerous age demographics, such as The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, Kneobles, Blackpools Ghost Train, Wicked Witches Haunt, etc. They all share a sense of 'scary elements in them but still a fun ride for most ages'. For me, Alton Manor kinda lacks that aspect, especially with its very dark backstory. It's scary and quite impressive, no doubt about that, but I feel like it lacks the fun element. That's just me anyway.

Should they retheme Alton Manor? Definitely not, they shouldn't give up on it, but I Personally believe if they want the ride to be not as dark, I think a touch up or 2 is required, like an altered backstory, make some of the scenes not as grim, and maybe replace a few sound effects in the ride segment. That's just me anyway.
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Perhaps they should lighten up some of the scenes, but I think that the Emily Alton storyline is quite dark and, to make it more 'fun', the story would have to be changed, which Towers would not do.
 
zeock said:
Perhaps they should lighten up some of the scenes, but I think that the Emily Alton storyline is quite dark and, to make it more 'fun', the story would have to be changed, which Towers would not do.
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I don't necessarily think the story needs to be more 'fun' for the fun element in the ride to work, but I Personally think the idea of a little girl killing her parents and an entire group of people isn't really gonna appeal many families. That's just me though. Why not just make the story about her randomly disappearing one day due to unknown/supernatural circumstances, and her parents never find her, a century later, she reawakens as a spirit from the house being sold, haunting the Residence with her ghoulish friends. Personally, I think something like that could work whilst still keeping her inside the ride and having a wider appeal.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I don't necessarily think the story needs to be more 'fun' for the fun element in the ride to work, but I Personally think the idea of a little girl killing her parents and an entire group of people isn't really gonna appeal many families. That's just me though. Why not just make the story about her randomly disappearing one day due to unknown/supernatural circumstances, and her parents never find her, a century later, she reawakens as a spirit from the house being sold, haunting the Residence with her ghoulish friends. Personally, I think something like that could work whilst still keeping her inside the ride and having a wider appeal.
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It's a horror attraction it's not made for families Alton Towers do have family rides but where the Curse at Alton Manor is has always had a horror ride.
 
Mhoowee said:
It's a horror attraction it's not made for families Alton Towers do have family rides but where the Curse at Alton Manor is has always had a horror ride.
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Ah. I remember reading in a few news articles stating that it was going to be a spooky family attraction before it opened. Perhaps if they stated they were planning to give it an Age restriction, there'd be no problem with it since it isn't aiming at Families.
 
Alton Manor is not too dark, crickey. It might be darker than say Haunted Mansion which is more jovial and humorous in places, but I have been on haunted attractions in other theme parks that are just as dark and creepy as Alton Manor. They'll always be some people who do not like it, that is the nature of these sorts of rides.

Some of Disney's early films contained scenes that were terrifying, yet these were very much family films. Nothing wrong with exposing kids to a bit of fear!
 
Trooper Looper said:
Forgot to mention this yesterday. Had a chat with one of the attendants since it was quiet, it seems like theres still more to be added, that and the ride apparently has an age restriction!
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Doubt this is true, they had no problem letting my 4 year old ride. They even went to the trouble of sourcing him a “I am 0.9m tall” wristband on the station onload.
 
Machin said:
Doubt this is true, they had no problem letting my 4 year old ride. They even went to the trouble of sourcing him a “I am 0.9m tall” wristband on the station onload.
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There were plans, but they decided not to add an age restriction at the end of the day. I believe there is still talk about it, but nothing new so far.
 
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