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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

Amongst enthusiasts there isn't a problem with this ride, because it's well themed and the blasters are no more. However you can't really ignore the fact that this ride has some pretty stinking reviews on google. I don't believe it's given the park any increased footfall despite the marketing campaign. Possibly something happened during the project? What we were told we were getting and what we got didn't really add up. They probably realised they hadn't allocated a decent enough budget to achieve anything better than they have.
It's fine, will people get bored of it? Yep.
 
Nosferatu said:
You do realize that Duel was originally the 'Haunted House', which was a classic horror themed dark ride with a lot of the same theming, but without the unnecessary blasters and targets? I appreciate that you personally may have liked it as Duel, but that certainly didn't make it a particularly good attraction for the majority of people, especially since it wasn't originally designed to be a blaster attraction to begin with. Tacking on blaster technology detracted from a themed experience, it was never designed to be a bit of 'fun competition' to begin with.

It's slightly mindboggling that you weren't aware of all the marketing and advertising for The Curse, it's pretty hard to miss posters advertising the ride on Towers Street.
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Yes I'm aware that Duel was originally the Haunted House. I worked at Towers for some time in measly 20s. I also appreciate that the blasters and targets were tacky and cheap too.
However, it doesn't get away from the fact that the attraction has now gone from.being something different and qwerky and a good way to have a bit of competition in a group of friends or family to a sit down through a dark room with nothing in the thats the little.bit scary or jumpy and itself feels very cheap and low funded.
How is it mind-boggling that I've not seen the marketing and advertising for the Curse? The only thing I'm looking at on towers Street is que times and choosing which way to go first.
I can see ive ruffled a few touchy feathers in here because I've said something bad about a really boring ride.
They could of implemented both rides into one. Having shootable targets and then certain targets or random targets each time trigger things to fall or jump out. I just feel they missed a trick or two with how this one turned out. I definitely.wont be wasting my time queuing for it that is for certain.

AstroDan said:
Maybe Disney should add targets and lights to Phantom Manor. A touch of competitiveness to break up the long hike between Main Street USA and le Temple de Peril.

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They could indeed, what a great suggestion.

No wonder your a team member AstroDan keep up the stellar work 👍🏻
 
chall272 said:
They could indeed, what a great suggestion.

No wonder your a team member AstroDan keep up the stellar work 👍🏻
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Will do. Been doing it the best part of 17 years now, I think I am getting cynical in my old age.

In all seriousness, to challenge your point more seriously. I think the issue with Duel isn't the fact it was an interactive ride - it was the fact they just slapped up those target lights with little to no care for the narrative of what was there previously. Very much 'dumbed down' and bottom of the pile in terms of quality.

Kids like shooting lights, of course they do, but it's hardly any kind of artistic/thematic quality.

I think Curse is drastically better and actually stands up well to dark rides in Europe.
 
chall272 said:
They could of implemented both rides into one. Having shootable targets and then certain targets or random targets each time trigger things to fall or jump out.
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If you are going to have a haunted house attraction that is also a shooting ride, I think that this is the best idea. The people who liked the competitive side of Duel and those who like the details can both enjoy it. You just need to make sure that the targets don't destroy the creative lighting of the ride.
 
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chall272 said:
However, it doesn't get away from the fact that the attraction has now gone from.being something different and qwerky and a good way to have a bit of competition in a group of friends or family to a sit down through a dark room with nothing in the thats the little.bit scary or jumpy and itself feels very cheap and low funded.
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It felt 'cheap' previously as Duel.

A bit of competition can easily be had at the bowling alley down the road in Stoke, or 'Extraordinary Golf' in the Resort. I think you're missing the point entirely on what The Curse is, it's a true 'dark ride', like it was originally as The Haunted House. It's spooky rather than deliberately terrifying, it is aimed at families after all. If Alton Towers were to install something competitive in the theme park, then I'm sure that few people in this forum would complain if they install a bespoke interactive dark ride at some point in the future, but simply retrofitting blaster dark ride technology to a pre-existing Haunted House style attraction was never the right answer.
 
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I have to say i enjoy the curse the more i ride it. My first ride was terrible we were out of sync with all the effects and i was so dissappointed as id followed the construction of it.

Since then ive watched youtube vids and spoken to ppl who go often and found out where to look at what point for all the effects and now i feel it is the ride i was hoping for. It is certainly a step up from duel and the area everytime we have gone has been busy.
 
chall272 said:
They could of implemented both rides into one. Having shootable targets and then certain targets or random targets each time trigger things to fall or jump out. I just feel they missed a trick or two with how this one turned out.
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Having blasters on curse would be evil of the highest order. Does not fit the vibe. I can't believe someone would suggest such a thing on this cruel Tuesday afternoon
 
lee2804 said:
I have to say i enjoy the curse the more i ride it. My first ride was terrible we were out of sync with all the effects and i was so dissappointed as id followed the construction of it.

Since then ive watched youtube vids and spoken to ppl who go often and found out where to look at what point for all the effects and now i feel it is the ride i was hoping for. It is certainly a step up from duel and the area everytime we have gone has been busy.
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Credit to the staff as well as it has been improved multiple times with slight timing adjustments.
 
Do some people make accounts just to troll? My opinion has been the same since I first rode it, in that people don’t actually appreciate what a high level this has mostly been done to and don’t realise how incredibly poor Duel was and the state it was in.
 
Danscott22 said:
Do some people make accounts just to troll? My opinion has been the same since I first rode it, in that people don’t actually appreciate what a high level this has mostly been done to and don’t realise how incredibly poor Duel was and the state it was in.
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I do think it’s a perfectly valid opinion to prefer Duel or The Haunted House, or to not like Curse for that matter.

Perhaps the person just really likes interactivity on a dark ride? Or perhaps they don’t overly like dark rides in general, and liked that Duel provided something different to the average dark ride? Or perhaps they simply didn’t like the changes made and preferred the feel of Duel?

Each to their own, but my personal view is that people are perfectly entitled to an opinion, and anyone else is also entitled to disagree with that opinion. Just because the person doesn’t agree with the wide consensus on Curse, it doesn’t mean that they’re “trolling”.
 
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