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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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I still enjoy it every time I visit, granted we rarely ride it more than once - but it's still a solid ride. I can't remember the last time I rode it and it did stop?

There will be a time where it's time to replace it, but suspect it's not just yet - and when it does, I suspect the transit system will remain.
 
skyscraper said:
When i rode it last week, the tunnel wasn't working. Has it not been working for long, and does anyone think it will get fixed?
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Can't even recall the last time it worked. Remember there being some kind of structural BS reason why they can't run it - it's not completely circular anymore or something and needs to be completely overhauled. Pretty much the same as the rest of the ride then.
 
It's a real dilemma as the building itself is well themed but the ride is not a patch on what it was. It doesn't even smell the same as it did in 1992. In my opinion they need to get the original plans back out and revert back to the original design. Sadly it won't happen
 
The lighting is one of the biggest issues with the ride.

Certain scenes are so bright you can see all the mechanisms, whereas other scenes are so poorly lit you can't see anything at all.

I'm sure it would cost relatively little to transform it back into a decent Haunted House, the biggest issue would be finding people within Merlin who knew what they were doing when it comes to dark rides as it's clearly not their forte.
 
Must admit, I only ride Duel now for nostalgic purposes. Looking around, reminiscing about the experience and effects which used to work, memories of my childhood etc. As it stands today I actually get little to no enjoyment from the ride apart from that.

Seems it's losing its appeal year after year with the general public too. Every time I visited over the last few seaons it seems to be less popular. Can't recall the last time I ever saw a reasonable queue for it.

Hopefully the park will recognise this and give it the full overhall it needs. I'd really like to see HH v2. Stay with HH theme but do an all new story, effects, the complete ride experience. Even revamp or extend the house facade, because lets face it - from the outside the house has always looked wayyyy too small for the size of the adventure that takes place within.

Problem with this however is that I do not trust Merlin to make it good in any way.
 
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I only just noticed the Bose speakers hanging down on poles in the station when I went other week which is pretty obtrusive along with the LED scrolling sign and hanging UV bars. Seems like every year something is added as a detriment to the ride. And yes like many I don't use the guns anymore and just sit there face palming myself.
 
I don't think it's time to say goodbye, I think they should gut it and start again - I assume the lights have come up a but because of health and safety - I know when I worked at a cinema we couldn't have the light all the way down as customers needed to be able to see a way to exit at all times

But I like the theme around it and it is still a solid ride with a constant flow of people - I just think it needs that TLC.
 
If they do refurb it, I would love to see themed around SW8 if SW8 doesn't have a pirate theme.

The whole area could be completely rethemed. The ride building is an excellent size and you could put a great dark ride in there. But just please Merlin NO VR! It's just lazy!

It's really sad to see the ride in the state of disrepair it is at the moment. Sparks and Tussuads worked so hard to get the original ride up to a great standard of detail, even with the queue line pictures being hand painted. The trommel, the best part of the ride for me, has been broken for ages now.
 
PeteB said:
lets face it - from the outside the house has always looked wayyyy too small for the size of the adventure that takes place within.
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Pete, that is literally the point! :p It's a trick. I used to love that, the ride keeps on giving and giving and then you step back out and see the apparently tiny creepy house you started at. For first time riders it was kind of surprising and cool, because you'd never see the real building.

The ride was meant to be a kind of nightmarish fantasy with dramatic surprises. That's why inside it began as an intimate realistic house interior and then took off into all sorts of surreal scenes. Was a great idea, before the ride was badly fiddled with over many years.

Tibble said:
I assume the lights have come up a but because of health and safety - I know when I worked at a cinema we couldn't have the light all the way down as customers needed to be able to see a way to exit at all times
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No it's nothing to do with H&S, especially as there is no hazard lighting on in the ride (apart from exit signs) whilst the ride is in operation. All the lighting you see on board is show lighting, and is brighter now because it has been botched with poorly retrofitted, cheap LEDs.

LEDs output much more and have a very different effect to other types of lights, they also cannot produce true UV effects like traditional blacklight.
 
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I'm very worried about a full refurb to be honest. I don't want it to turn into another Terror Tomb. Having said that, I've really enjoyed the refurbished Hex. I would feel much better about it knowing whether it would be refurbished to such detail as Hex has been.
 
electricBill said:
Pete, that is literally the point! :p It's a trick. I used to love that, the ride keeps on giving and giving and then you step back out and see the apparently tiny creepy house you started at. For first time riders it was kind of surprising and cool, because you'd never see the real building.

The ride was meant to be a kind of nightmarish fantasy with dramatic surprises. That's why inside it began as an intimate realistic house interior and then took off into all sorts of surreal scenes. Was a great idea, before the ride was badly fiddled with over many years.
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Haha! Yeah I got that. But what I mean is, it's not quite as grand as say the Haunted Manion rides. That set up is the same, normal size house from the outside but the tour inside is huge. I just like how Disney went with a bigger facade.

Even the Swiss Cottage is bigger than Duel's facade lol.
 
Stuntman707 said:
I'm very worried about a full refurb to be honest. I don't want it to turn into another Terror Tomb. Having said that, I've really enjoyed the refurbished Hex. I would feel much better about it knowing whether it would be refurbished to such detail as Hex has been.
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That already happened when they converted the Haunted House into Duel ;)

I would love to see Duel/haunted house to remain, but just brought back to the standard of the original haunted house, fixing all the original special effects and lighting, but I think I got more chance of jumping over the moon, but I can keep dreaming though
 
PeteB said:
Even the Swiss Cottage is bigger than Duel's facade lol.
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I don't think so, but regardless I think I exterior is one of the last priorities with Duel! It's always looked pretty cool, detailed and remniscient of real creepy houses in the UK. Especially considering the ride is actually a big CostCo behind that, looks deceptively organic. It'd be better off removing the big cringey zombie tomb blocking the view from the Gloomy Wood.
 
Jb85 said:
It doesn't even smell the same as it did in 1992.
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I have screenshotted this as a tool to explain how different my mindset is as the resident anti-enthusiast enthusiast.

Jb85 said:
In my opinion they need to get the original plans back out and revert back to the original design. Sadly it won't happen
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I think there is a lot of nostalgia here. I wonder what your typical park guest would say if you told them that "We're going to take the guns out and tweak the scenes. Plus we'll make it smell better". I think most park guests would like it less (and reride less) and the enthusiasts that wanted it to happen would complain that it wasn't quite as good as it was in 1992.

I'm not saying that's a good thing - I just wonder if the original incarnation of The Haunted House would have the same reception in 2018 or whatever. I think on the whole society is far more apathetic and cynical of stuff like that now. It would be far tamer than the experiences offered in the Scarefest mazes and those certainly attract their fair share of people who just go through the motions.

If that ride gets any real money spent on it, it'll be courtesy of Dr. Peter Venkman and friends.
 
Going back to the original would be stupid. Even keeping the guns, as much as I don't like them, is probably the right thing to do to broaden it's appeal.

I think it just needs the decent remaining scenes fixed and maintained and the crap ones ripped out with new ones replacing them. This can then be marketed as new and improved and given a different name or something. Any other money spent on it would be wasted if we're being honest.
 
To be honest all I care about is fixed audio and lighting problems with the blasters fixed in the final two scenes!
Any new scenes to replace bare warehouse walls would certaintly be welcome as well!

If anything though Hex's refurb has brought standards to Duel's refurb, Hex's refurb brought new life into a 15 year old ride with TLC going way above exectations for any enthusiant...

Duel's refurb, Reopening of Sub-Terra and SW8 are all going to be great improvement's to that area of the park that hasn't seen anything done to it since Merlin took ownership!
 
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