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Duel Improvements 2012

G

GAGrathea

TS Founding Member
So, thanks to some really passionate AT staff members, our beloved Duel has seen much improvement and modification throughout this season, ranging from small details such as the building blocks spelling "help" in the drawing room, to much vaster lighting improvements!

What have you noticed on your recent jaunts to the Towers, and how d'you think they affect the ride experience? :)
 
The new Undertaker audio is epic, even gave me the most highest of Duel scorers a big scare. Not a big fan of his Duel laugh being plotted in the Zombie finish though.

Some LED's are never working still when I'm there such as the Yellow LED on the slightly bald Zombie in a barrel.

But it's improvements are for the best.
 
Magrathea said:
small details such as the building blocks spelling "help" in the drawing room
Click to expand...

Haha, a certain Boyfriend of mine likes writing these messages ;)

However, I'm loving the Joelio-esque laugh on the underTaker now! :D
 
I like the furnace... 'tis nice and toasty :)

The spacing has fallen back a bit into its old ways, but hopefully that can be fixed again soon!
 
I Love Duel but at the start of the season the triggers where the worst ( i know it can not be helped ) anyway, the whole experience is amazing i love that ride and it is a ride that you can keep going on and on ;D
 
I was seriously impressed with Duel the other week; from taking in all of the additions in the interior queueline to the wonderful lighting and audio tweaks from inside the ride. You can even feel heat in the zombie finale which is something I've never felt before. Really well done. Now Hex needs the same treatment in the Octagon. ;)
 
Duel is definitely much better this year than many gone by, but it saddens me to say that as time has gone by this season, the reliability of many features has decreased. :(

What is working makes for a great experience, though! :)
 
What I would like to see now, in an ideal world, would be to have the spacing sorted out properly, it's always a shame when the cars bunch up, especially when the issue seemed to have been resolved in the past year!

Also (possibly as a result of these issues) the face which fires for the photo now consistently appears too late, which is a bit of a shame :p
 
Really impressed with the improvements! Love the tunnel being on now! (Last couple of trips it hadn't been on). The undertakers voice was certainly a nice surprise as well!
 
Well I think most know me for being a diehard Duel lover :p

This season the ride has been looking stunning! The reduction in targets, repairing of scenery, modified audio, and many more improvements have all been great :D

There is still quite a lot of work to be done, but what is there is a step in the right direction. Personally, I'd like to see MACK Rides called in to completely overhaul the ride system, and redo the spacing system. Even though Duel is a seriously complex and high tech ride system (Yes, even after all these years!) I'm willing to bet a lot of improvements could be made by implementing new technology into it. It's a bespoke system, and is very unique, so I'd be willing to bet someone could make changes to improve it.

Themeing wise, if the second dining room demon could be fixed, some of the new lighting which has already broken (I.E. The lighting which pointed at the falling turret before the trommel is no longer working), and possibly some more fan heaters added to the furnace it would complete the ride in it's current state. I'm sure all of those would be low cost options.

There is endless potential, and I'd love to see the ride team given a nice big budget and be left to run wild. I know there are some seriously talented people who work with that ride, and have heard some of the ideas they have had from many key people involved with the park. It's time Towers let them realise it, and give them the chance to create a new experience for guests :)
 
I too have been impressed with Duel in 2012. Although with the reduced number of targets, my score hasnt been as high this year !! :p Duel is the kind of ride where one go I will shoot, the next I wont and just sit and take in the experience.

I do long for the day though when Alton just throw £10m at the park one winter, upgrading, re-painting the whole park and one would think that Duel would get a few grand thrown at it...
 
id like to see Electric Bills corridor getting a bit of TLC. this part of the ride seems to be getting more and more confusing. what with the original skeletons in the wall, and the seemingly random collection of effects such as the strong breeze and the vampiress.

This could do with some sort of solid theme to it instead of being a bit of a rehash of its former self. resurrect the originally planned ghost effect seeing as the lift hill for it is still there
 
Yes, back when it was made. I'd hope we've found better ways of making theming work since 1992 :p

As far as I know all the mechanisms are still in place for it, it just needs a themed object to go on it, and setting back up to run with the ride system :)
 
Just imagine what a couple of million could do for the ride.

Integrate the classic props and scenes (electric Bill, the undertaker, trommel's tunnel) with a whole range of new ones and a better narrative. Throw in some better animatronics and a bit of projection technology and it could be a great ride.

Keep the queue and facade and these would just receive a small refurb.

I think there would be ways of getting around marketing. Why not a simple ad with "scarier than ever!"?. If they did it for Duel they could do it again. But they must get JW involved this time to avoid another cock up and he knows best as he created it.

:)
 
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