I can sense I might get massacred alive for this one, so I apologise in advance if it’s controversial, but… I think that the Duel refurbishment was a positive move for the Haunted House in the long term.
The reason why I think this is because even though the ride was critically acclaimed in 1992, I’d argue that the base concept would have been showing its age by now regardless of how well they’d maintained it; I get the impression they built it as more of a dark, jumpscare-led ride with no real story as opposed to something that thrived on ambience and narrative like Haunted Mansion, and while that’s not a bad thing by any means, I think it did limit the longevity and timelessness of it as a concept compared to the Disney equivalent. Since the HH originally opened, more “realistic” jumpscare-based horror attractions have really taken off, and had HH still been a thing today, I feel like things like its cartoony props and lack of narrative and grand scenes would be viewed in a very different light to how they were in 1992. I obviously never did HH, but from what I’ve heard, many even considered the ride to feel dated when it closed in 2002.
Even away from that, I think the superficial type of horror HH relied upon (jumpscares) limits rerideability to a degree, because after you’ve been scared by each jumpscare for the first time, it’ll never have quite the same effect on you again.
With the laser guns, however, I feel like it stays relevant and gets around those flaws, and despite the refurbishment having been dismissed as an attempt to shoehorn in an on-trend gimmick, I’d actually argue that it made the ride more timeless and more rerideable. I think the interactivity changes the dynamic of the ride to something that plays a lot more to the Haunted House concept’s strengths, and I think the cartoony props and jumpscare-based nature actually lend themselves very well to the interactive dark ride as a ride style, personally; I think the dynamic of stuff jumping out at you and you having to shoot it and gain points actually works very well and feels almost like a cool video game, which makes you more inclined to reride it in order to beat your previous high score against the challengers within the ride. While I know that interactivity could have been construed as a gimmick of sorts at the time, I feel like changing the vibe of the ride from something trying to be an immersive dark ride to something with a fast-paced, game-style dynamic did work in its favour, personally, as for the type of ride Haunted House was built as in the era we currently live in, I’d actually argue that it suits the latter vibe more.