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2023: The Curse at Alton Manor

🎆🎇 Happy 1 Year Anniversary The Curse of Alton Manor! Opened a year ago today on 18th March 2023! Or is it too early to celebrate Happy New Year!? 🎆🎇

Managed to buy the resin of the Alton Manor finally on Saturday, they had alot in stock in the ride shop! -

GIyz-EWWIAA_FGU


There's new lighting in the grand hall screen highlighting the back section where Emily is floating. It seems like it's supposed to turn off after the strobe but it isn't at the moment. Also Emily's ghost makes her first appearance a few seconds earlier than before
Spotted that too, seems theres also an electric glass window which is meant to hide the infinity mirror corridor effect (as the new lighting in the hall would make it still appear), which then with the new lighting allowed you to see how the peppers ghost effect works a bit clearer - as you go round the corner after the jump scare if you turn to your left you can see the widescreen tv portrait of Emily floating through the glass that you see the peppers ghost effect.

All effects seem to work well on all the rides I did on Saturday, and you can see all of the new sensors with the green LED lights which seem to be spaced 1-2 meters apart on the track in front, which Mack rides must have installed with the new control system.

The Cars seem to speed up well through the floating ghosts section after the Skull projection (almost felt like whiplast as we slowed down into the garden ha!) - however the timing for the 2nd to last ghost with the flashing UV light was wrong and it flashed after you went passed - hopefully they will retime this effect soon.
 
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I agree with the above. I found quite a few triggers too early (like when the demon rises from Emily before hide and seek) along with too late (you’ll look perfect in my dolls house).

Further to this, a lot of the audio triggers were much much quieter this weekend.
 
They've fixed a majority of issues the ride was having over the weekend, The lights in the Ballroom Scene turn on and off as normal now, I have noticed with the new ride computer system it speeds up and slows down at slightly different places than it used to creating a nicer gap between cars at certain times
 
I had 7 goes on it last year across two separate trips.

Think I only got 1 ride on it where everything pretty much worked as it intended to. Then a few where most things did with the odd thing you could definitely notice wasn't working.

I also got 1 ride which was pretty much complete darkness all the way around and another where we got stuck at the tunnel for about 10 mins whilst the ride had technical issues.

Really like what they have done with the attraction but the reliability of the effects really needs to be better for me.
 
They've fixed a majority of issues the ride was having over the weekend, The lights in the Ballroom Scene turn on and off as normal now, I have noticed with the new ride computer system it speeds up and slows down at slightly different places than it used to creating a nicer gap between cars at certain times
I did notice on my ride the cars were spaced differntly (I recall in the hall scence the lights used to be turning off as you enter, but now they are fully off before then)
 
I noticed on my most recent ride the lighting seemed to bright in the dining room and the smoke wasn’t working from the demons mouth that rocks forward?

I thought I saw some new bits, they really do need to keep on top of it. Or find better sensors for activating effects/improve car spacing

This was opening Saturday
 
I did notice on my ride the cars were spaced differntly (I recall in the hall scence the lights used to be turning off as you enter, but now they are fully off before then)
Exactly this! You'd also catch the back of the car in front leaving the hall as you turned in now it's empty as you arrive which really helps with the whole "feeling like you're alone in the manor" vibe
 
I was very lucky to get my first ride on this on Sunday, it was closed all morning, we jogged to it when it opened, and the ride was fully evacuated just as we got into offload.

It was strange to look back and see the ride area full of guests wandering around looking for an exit!

I actually really enjoyed the ride, didn't notice any obvious blank/dead areas, a stand out for us being the entrance into the trommel working really well, as it was fully obscured by smoke until we were actually in the tunnel itself.

Unfortunately, we had a pause of about 2 minutes before entering the mirror corridor, and it ruined the flow a little.

But a vast improvement over any iteration of Duel!
 
First go on Alty Mans today, very impressed with the final product on this one.

Few flaws with it still but think most things worked. Far darker and spoopier than Duel ever was and can tell the difference in quality.

This and Nemmie are good quality additions. Hopefully sets a decent baseline for the future.
 
Finally got my opportunity to ride it this week and I absolutely love it.

I’m a bit of a horror fan myself and I think this strikes just the right balance of scare factor.

I love how Emily follows you around the mansion, the different placings of the speakers really help with that so she sounds like she’s on the left/ the right of you.

I could go on but it’s honestly one of my favourite things I’ve done at Alton Towers, there’s so much too it that it seems to get better with every ride.
 
Finally got my opportunity to ride it this week and I absolutely love it.

I’m a bit of a horror fan myself and I think this strikes just the right balance of scare factor.

I love how Emily follows you around the mansion, the different placings of the speakers really help with that so she sounds like she’s on the left/ the right of you.

I could go on but it’s honestly one of my favourite things I’ve done at Alton Towers, there’s so much too it that it seems to get better with every ride.

They have done a fantastic job with it.

My only minor gripe with it is I have had 7/8 goes on it and only had two good rides. The other times a lot of the effects were either not working at all or badly out of sync which made them a bit pointless as the car had passed by by the time they activated.

Hopefully they keep spending money on it to keep it fresh and working well.
 
Well then, finally did Alton Manor today and all I can say is wow, what a difference from Duel!

Having been so used to the guns for all these years, it was surreal not to use them but I personally won't miss them but I will day I'm very impressed on my first encounter and the street actors outside the ride did breath new life into that area of the park at last. My highlight for to perhaps the surprise of no one is seeing the villainous Flume Duck after all these years but then again he is the final boss of Alton Towers...next to Merlin ofc!

Also, I was going to get an on ride photo but in the photo (we were sitting on the back row) there was the poor kid looking utterly traumatised covering his eyes out of fear so decided not to get it as I would have felt bad. Plus, it made me think way back to 1997 when I first did HH in the day doing the exact same thing so what I witnessed was a full circle moment.

All in all, it is a improvement on Duel and worthy addition for the park and I'll get another ride or two tomorrow to find more details I might have missed but all this will be covered in my trip report that'll likely be done sometime next week.
 
I watched a pov for the new scenes, and the hide and seek ones look good. Nothing show stealing, but they improved it.


But my goodness that skull! Why is it multicolour?! It goes completely against the colour pallet of the ride, the art style, all that scene needed was some more flying heads!
 
I watched a pov for the new scenes, and the hide and seek ones look good. Nothing show stealing, but they improved it.


But my goodness that skull! Why is it multicolour?! It goes completely against the colour pallet of the ride, the art style, all that scene needed was some more flying heads!
It's not multicolour it's the camera they used haha. I know which POV you're talking about it's just purple and green lol
 
I watched a pov for the new scenes, and the hide and seek ones look good. Nothing show stealing, but they improved it.


But my goodness that skull! Why is it multicolour?! It goes completely against the colour pallet of the ride, the art style, all that scene needed was some more flying heads!
Which POV?
 
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