Perhaps you are missing the point in mixing up your own nostalgia and projection with my personal experience? When 'The Haunting' opened in 1996, those 'cheesy sci-films and TV shows of the 80s' were still an oft-repeated part of pop culture and not seen with the reverence and affection that the passing of time has since blessed upon them.
The ride and it's marketing had a po-faced tone that didn't translate to the experience. Everything up until the pre-show promised something genuinely frightening, and aside from the cool technical trick of the finale, soon to be bettered and even perfected an hour away at Alton Towers, the experience never really won over the public. The skeleton flying down above the corridor always prompted more laughs of derision than screams, even in the quaint late-nineties.
I haven't experienced the latest iteration of the ride, but can't believe that the queue could be any slower!
I have never had the chance to experience any of the pre 2016 versions of the Haunting at all. The closest time I was to experiencing the Count Erika Version was when I went with my Dad to Drayton Manors 2014 fireworks show, and I was too scared to go on just from the Facade and I was crying in tears XD, so we never did it.
My first time going on it was last year, so I have no nostalgic connection to the previous variants of the ride whatsoever. You have to remember, Ghostbusters was well over 10 years old when The Haunting opened, so it was already a little old and left quite a big cultural impact. It was only a matter of time until someone decided to do a ghostbusters style attraction, especially in a respectful manner to try and recapture the feel of the 80s in general. I think the Haunting did it quite well.
The ride has one of the best Ride Adverts ever put on the Screen i think, especially when it was made by a small team in an independent park. Very cinematic, well built up, great lighting and effects.
I think we can all agree though that the previous/original Skeleton jumpscare is just plain out cheap and laughably bad. The latest version is loads better, and now has a new animatronic Skeleton that literally swings over the Guests at quite some speed, though I do think the old ambience that used to be home in the Corridor and Chapel are loads better than the current one, but the new one suits the library really well. If only they turned it down a bit.
Kinda hate the fact that they replaced the Animatronic head in the picture frame for a mere projection screen.
