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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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I remember the Haunted House in its early life. It was an incredible ride. By far the best ghost train outside of a Disney park in its day.

Never been a fan of the guns even when all the effects worked. It just loses all atmosphere with the constant laser noises.
 
Given there was no wheelchair access allowed last year (an absolute pain in of itself, Towers is hard enough to navigate with a wheelchair), the changes are naturally a positive point in terms of accessibility.

The tilted room was a problem for those who can transfer as we had to last Halloween. Walking in a straight line is hard enough, so walking on a tilted floor added further complications. So in order to allow wheelchair access it HAD to go.

What other options were there for the park? Re-routing the existing exit would've been challenging given the location of everything. And closing the shop would've equally got as much negative feedback. So that's out.

They could've done a Hex and used the fire exit that leads directly into the station. However that would look terrible as well as the station would be bathed in natural light constantly, and since everyone is complaining about the atmosphere bring ruined already it stands that this would also not be a suitable alternative (Hex's fire exit is so ridiculous).

So the simplest option is to revamp the existing queue. Could they have flattened the current queue line? That is perhaps the one question I have for them. A re-route seemed a bit of a strange reaction to this problem. But if the feedback from the incident last year suggested this was the best case then without internal involvement it's hard to say what was ideal in this case. Perhaps the width of the queue wouldn't have been sufficient?

What's telling here is that some responses are incredibly ableist in view. Making queuelines accessible is the way forward if we want to attempt to reduce the current issue of RAP, and unfortunately retrofitting these will come at a cost. I think allowing wheelchair users to access the ride through the normal queue (rather than through the backdoor that some would seemingly prefer so THEIR experience isn't marred) somewhat outweighs a queue that people basically walk through anyway.

I would suggest those that have an issue with the implementation try and visit a few places in a wheelchair.
 
Benzin said:
Given there was no wheelchair access allowed last year (an absolute pain in of itself, Towers is hard enough to navigate with a wheelchair), the changes are naturally a positive point in terms of accessibility.

The tilted room was a problem for those who can transfer as we had to last Halloween. Walking in a straight line is hard enough, so walking on a tilted floor added further complications. So in order to allow wheelchair access it HAD to go.

What other options were there for the park? Re-routing the existing exit would've been challenging given the location of everything. And closing the shop would've equally got as much negative feedback. So that's out.

They could've done a Hex and used the fire exit that leads directly into the station. However that would look terrible as well as the station would be bathed in natural light constantly, and since everyone is complaining about the atmosphere bring ruined already it stands that this would also not be a suitable alternative (Hex's fire exit is so ridiculous).

So the simplest option is to revamp the existing queue. Could they have flattened the current queue line? That is perhaps the one question I have for them. A re-route seemed a bit of a strange reaction to this problem. But if the feedback from the incident last year suggested this was the best case then without internal involvement it's hard to say what was ideal in this case. Perhaps the width of the queue wouldn't have been sufficient?

What's telling here is that some responses are incredibly ableist in view. Making queuelines accessible is the way forward if we want to attempt to reduce the current issue of RAP, and unfortunately retrofitting these will come at a cost. I think allowing wheelchair users to access the ride through the normal queue (rather than through the backdoor that some would seemingly prefer so THEIR experience isn't marred) somewhat outweighs a queue that people basically walk through anyway.

I would suggest those that have an issue with the implementation try and visit a few places in a wheelchair.
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Well said! A few years ago we visited with my partner in a wheelchair because she was waiting for a knee operation. Should could walk for short distances but standing in a queue was a definite no. I don't remember much about ride accessibility other than using the lift on Rita and The Smiler when the staff asked if she could walk in the event of an evacuation (which she could - as it was the standing around in queues that caused the pain for her). We used the lift to the station and that was great.

If I remember rightly, she didn't do Duel partly because of the access and because she was happy to miss it as it wasn't a "must do" ride for her and the fact she was in a wheelchair re-enforced her decision not to go on it. If the queue was as it is now, then she may well have ridden it. Oh and she's now had the op and walking perfectly well.
 
Benzin said:
Given there was no wheelchair access allowed last year (an absolute pain in of itself, Towers is hard enough to navigate with a wheelchair), the changes are naturally a positive point in terms of accessibility.

The tilted room was a problem for those who can transfer as we had to last Halloween. Walking in a straight line is hard enough, so walking on a tilted floor added further complications. So in order to allow wheelchair access it HAD to go.

What other options were there for the park? Re-routing the existing exit would've been challenging given the location of everything. And closing the shop would've equally got as much negative feedback. So that's out.

They could've done a Hex and used the fire exit that leads directly into the station. However that would look terrible as well as the station would be bathed in natural light constantly, and since everyone is complaining about the atmosphere bring ruined already it stands that this would also not be a suitable alternative (Hex's fire exit is so ridiculous).

So the simplest option is to revamp the existing queue. Could they have flattened the current queue line? That is perhaps the one question I have for them. A re-route seemed a bit of a strange reaction to this problem. But if the feedback from the incident last year suggested this was the best case then without internal involvement it's hard to say what was ideal in this case. Perhaps the width of the queue wouldn't have been sufficient?

What's telling here is that some responses are incredibly ableist in view. Making queuelines accessible is the way forward if we want to attempt to reduce the current issue of RAP, and unfortunately retrofitting these will come at a cost. I think allowing wheelchair users to access the ride through the normal queue (rather than through the backdoor that some would seemingly prefer so THEIR experience isn't marred) somewhat outweighs a queue that people basically walk through anyway.

I would suggest those that have an issue with the implementation try and visit a few places in a wheelchair.
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I agree in general I think that re-routing the queue is fine, the issue is the poor placement of the dolls house prop. Ripping everything out the room and starting again might have been better in some ways. Although we would probably have for a room full of Leek Signs vinyl.
 
Benzin said:
What's telling here is that some responses are incredibly ableist in view. Making queuelines accessible is the way forward
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It isn't ableist, accessibility is a big part of my job, this is just poor design.

Duel was already accessible, just not that one scene due to the nature of the tilted floor. The previous access could have been improved, but as far as I know there wasn't anything wrong other than having to face exiting guests during covid.

That problem stemmed from the fact the shop was EXPANDED in 2003, the original shop was smaller and so had more space for the wheelchair ramp etc, and more direct access to the wheelchair alternative route.

So why not go back to a slightly smaller shop, and barrier off the route from exiting guests?

Or, if this is about letting wheelchair users see the preshow, there are ways to adapt it without ruining the whole point of the scene.

Often, H&S or accessibility makes everyone not want to question design decisions, so stuff like this gets passed off, ruining the experience for everybody as well as wheelchair users.

There are ways of making it inclusive for everyone, even if it means redesigning the scene. There is now nothing to see in that room except for a bodged mess, so everybody loses.
 
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Well yes but - as they've proved - adding a ramp outside the building wasn't too challenging. The funhouse-style optical illusion in the indoor section was the main issue, as that sort of thing is inaccessible by it's very nature. To make the room wheelchair accessible the only option was to remove the effect. Which brings us back to whether or not such effects are permitted or whether everything has to be 100% accessible, not just the ride itself.
 
I'm sure when I go down the exit ramp there is a door on the right hand side (before turning back towards the shop). Where does that lead? I'm wondering if that could have been routed to the outside somehow, if it doesn't already.

I don't believe accessibility has to be at the cost of the experience. We shouldn't just be looking for the lowest common denominator to solve problems.
 
Alsty said:
I'm sure when I go down the exit ramp there is a door on the right hand side (before turning back towards the shop). Where does that lead?
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Thats the original accessible route, it bypasses the preshow to go to the station.

The problem was just getting to it via the shop in covid restrictions. The photo counter in the way could've been rearranged, no more difficult than rearranging the preshow at far less cost to guest experience.

Of course, if the ride were built today, the tilted preshow should be designed bigger to accomodate an alternative level route for wheelchair users. That way, most visitors still get the effect but everyone can go through the preshow.

There isnt the space, so instead they should have made the gradient shallower and adjusted the scene better.
 
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Benzin said:
What's telling here is that some responses are incredibly ableist in view.
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Throwing accusations about of ...ists and ...isms for not agreeing with what the park have done is pretty pathetic and unfair.

They have done a good thing in a bad way, when there are lots of other ways to achieve their goal. No one is arguing for continued access issues for anyone, but it's not wrong or unreasonable of people to want them to have chosen a different solution.
 
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pluk said:
Throwing accusations about of ...ists and ...isms about for not agreeing with what the park have done is pretty pathetic and unfair.

They have done a good thing in a bad way, when there are lots of other ways to achieve their goal. No one is arguing for continued access issues for anyone, but it's not wrong or unreasonable of people to want them to have chosen a different solution.
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Agreed. The fact that they have made the preshow wheelchair accessible is fantastic, but the way they have done it isn't great.
 
How sad that this ride has gone from one of the biggest attractions to a "that'll do" bodge job.

It deserves more investment. I'd completely gut everything out of it and start again.

How the mighty have fallen.
 
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