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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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Trooper Looper said:
Just found a very interesting Documentary about the park back in 2002 when Air Opened, quite in depth if you ask me about how the park worked back then. But around the 16:48 mark, I found some footage of the Haunted House in its last year of operation. Could this footage have been the very last footage of Alton Classic before its controversial conversion to Duel?
Anyway, heres the Video if you want to check it out yourself. Definitely worth a watch :)
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I’ve seen this a couple of times now and I’ve just reminded myself why I don’t like it - it’s full of random people’s life stories which I just find really boring :)
 
s_g_k said:
I’ve seen this a couple of times now and I’ve just reminded myself why I don’t like it - it’s full of random people’s life stories which I just find really boring :)
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Yeah, I have to admit, they're probably the least interesting thing about the documentary, but the rest is really worth a watch i think :)
 
I would love to see a re-theme to the trap door if anyone remembers that claymation TV show. I know it would never happen but Merlin do love there outdated IP.
 
There’s literally a new ghost buster film out (more like the original) with top critic and audience reviews. There be fools not to take advantage of there already paid IP for next season and convert duel. Just like Merlins new dark ride in construction (Jumanji Ride at Heide Park) Clearly they saved the budgets of a new roller coaster, in favour of a state of the art dark ride with what appears to be vast sets and large animatronics. It will be interesting to see how that plans out, but from what I’ve seen it appears to be Merlin’s most advance dark ride yet. So There no reason why we can’t skip a SW roller coaster project for a change, finally pump some money into creating the best dark ride in the uk! Not that there much competition, yet all the options in the uk are below average. It can be a mixture of good projection mapping, animatronics & large sets. It’s time to move on now, it can still have the haunted house feel to it. But yeah a huge Reimagining is required. Paid guests don’t want to sit on that retired rubbish anymore. Also that que line feels a mess now and needs a compete overhaul and rethinking.

Side note : they need to remove that silly grave canopy and abandon food outlet at the front. It’s blocks of the beautiful view of the facade and place a shallow stone (haunting) water feature at the front.


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TroySmith1 said:
There’s literally a new ghost buster film out (more like the original) with top critic and audience reviews. There be fools not to take advantage of there already paid IP for next season and convert duel. Just like Merlins new dark ride in construction (Jumanji Ride at Heide Park) Clearly they saved the budgets of a new roller coaster, in favour of a state of the art dark ride with what appears to be vast sets and large animatronics. It will be interesting to see how that plans out, but from what I’ve seen it appears to be Merlin’s most advance dark ride yet. So There no reason why we can’t skip a SW roller coaster project for a change finally pump some money into creating the best dark ride in the uk finally! It can be a mixture of good projection mapping, animatronics & large sets. It’s time to move on and can still have the haunted house feel. But The que line feels a mess now and needs a compete overhaul and rethinking.

Side not they need to remove that silly grave canopy and abandon food outlet at the front. It’s blocks of the beautiful view of the facade and place a shallow stone (haunting) water feature at the front.


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I second that, I think a GhostBusters retheme would suit the building and layout really well. :)
 
I appreciate it was once a great ride and there is lots of memories for fans. However I just think we can’t hold onto duel/haunted house forever! As it’s now being remembered for being a Embarrassing mess. Unlike Bubble works and Toyland tours etc, Duel has unfortunately lost any nostalgia for me. I will look back this time and go “glad it’s gone” any overhaul of the ride at this stage will only be gladly welcomed and a vast improvement.


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I doubt Merlin will carry out any refurbishments in the near future. Merlin have multiple projects on the go. Thease are the refurbishments to Nemesis,Project Exodis at Thorpe Park,Project Amazon at Chessington and the new rides and refurbishment of Pirates Cove at Chessington.
 
The problem is, once you start adding an IP you then have to deal with what are likely huge licensing fees on top. That eats into the budget for the ride itself, not to mention the politics of what can and can't feature in the ride which would be dictated by the (sometimes multiple) rights holders. Merlin are more than capable of an original, captivating story (e.g. Wicker Man) without resorting to an IP. Hundreds of millions are being spent on IP based rides in Universal and Disney, and whilst I'm not expecting Merlin to compete with them on those sorts of budgets, I'd rather the money they are spending be spent on hardware than a signature on a contract which could potentially limit their storytelling ability further.

Besides, I've not seen much from Merlin in terms of IP based stuff that's been all that positive. Heide Park's Ghostbusters ride for example is incredibly poor, the quality of Gangsta Granny and the wider area isn't great and Peppa Pig in Heide is also pretty basic.
 
Craig said:
Besides, I've not seen much from Merlin in terms of IP based stuff that's been all that positive. Heide Park's Ghostbusters ride for example is incredibly poor, the quality of Gangsta Granny and the wider area isn't great and Peppa Pig in Heide is also pretty basic.
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That's an interesting one because I know a lot of people who've said they'd like to see a ghostbusters ride in duels space. Even if Towers one was better by the way you are describing it, it would end up being all that much better than duel but would cost the park a fortune in licencing fee's. Of which they are already paying for David Walliams, Cbeebies and probably some other smaller ones.
 
I mean it's personal opinion of course, but I just didn't think much of it. I just think IPs are a really lazy option for rides, unless as a park you're willing/able to spend an absolute fortune. You're telling a story that's already told, that guests are already familiar with. Unless you're going for full on immersion and nostalgia as a full land from a massive franchise (Galaxy's Edge, Wizarding World), or going all out with getting the original actors in to perform their roles in a new story they just come across as a cheap knock off. Take Jumanji for instance, it looks naff because they've had to resort to lookalike actors. It just instantly takes the shine off the whole thing. I just couldn't see any possibility of Towers pulling off an IP like Ghostbusters without resorting to going down the cheap route.
 
Craig said:
I mean it's personal opinion of course, but I just didn't think much of it. I just think IPs are a really lazy option for rides, unless as a park you're willing/able to spend an absolute fortune. You're telling a story that's already told, that guests are already familiar with. Unless you're going for full on immersion and nostalgia as a full land from a massive franchise (Galaxy's Edge, Wizarding World), or going all out with getting the original actors in to perform their roles in a new story they just come across as a cheap knock off. Take Jumanji for instance, it looks naff because they've had to resort to lookalike actors. It just instantly takes the shine off the whole thing. I just couldn't see any possibility of Towers pulling off an IP like Ghostbusters without resorting to going down the cheap route.
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Yeah I see what you mean, I hadn't thought about it like that. Realistically you need to be someone like Disney or Universal to do a IP attraction proper justice because they'll also have the connection in the acting world for example meaning they can get the original actors. I agree that if they were to do something else in duel's building they'd be best of to do an original storyline. I however get the impression Merlin would deem that unsuitable to market, due to the marketing teams not having much to actually market. I think if you had a clever marketing team you could come up with some really good marketing campaigns but for Merlin it would probably be seen as too risky.
 
JAperson said:
I however get the impression Merlin would deem that unsuitable to market, due to the marketing teams not having much to actually market. I think if you had a clever marketing team you could come up with some really good marketing campaigns but for Merlin it would probably be seen as too risky.
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I'd have to disagree on that front, I don't think there's much of a difference in terms of what they would have to market with an IP vs what they had with an original story. If they went down the "cheap" route with lookalike actors for an IP, I think that could actually do more damage for the public perception of the ride over the impact a decent original story and marketing campaign could do.
 
Craig said:
I'd have to disagree on that front, I don't think there's much of a difference in terms of what they would have to market with an IP vs what they had with an original story. If they went down the "cheap" route with lookalike actors for an IP, I think that could actually do more damage for the public perception of the ride over the impact a decent original story and marketing campaign could do.
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Maybe but I'd say that if they choose an IP that people know, I.e the Gruffalo at Chessington, people will want to ride the new Buffalo ride without much convincing because either they are a child who's hearing the story or your a adult/teenager who remembers the story from when you were a kid. The difference with a home grown story is that in the same style of advert you have to convince people it's a story and an attraction they'll like. You also need to be clear what the ride is so as not to disappoint.
I'm not saying an original story can't be marketed because it absolutely can its more about the fact that I think Merlin see IP's as both more easy to market and less risky.
 
Rightly or wrongly, I think dark rides in general are more difficult to sell than the more “in your face” attractions like coasters, flat rides, and to a lesser degree water rides, particularly in the UK where the market is seemingly quite strongly driven by USPs (recent success trends would seem to suggest that the most successful UK attractions do generally have some sort of USP, or failing that, some kind of strong individual sales hook). I do think that IPs certainly help dark rides be more marketable in many cases, as the brand image of the IP being used does add on a sales hook and some initial marketing value compared to an originally themed attraction; I think people would be more compelled to ride “the Gangsta Granny ride” than “the ride where a grandmother and grandson steal the Crown Jewels”, for instance.

However, I do think marketing an originally themed dark ride is possible, and something Merlin might be more open to than you’d expect. Look at Flight of the Sky Lion, for instance; that doesn’t really have an IP, instead using “the UK’s first flying theatre” as its sales hook, and that seems to have gone down fairly well!

I also don’t think IPs are necessarily a silver bullet, either; DBGT didn’t exactly captivate the public, in spite of Derren Brown’s marketing presence.
 
Craig said:
Besides, I've not seen much from Merlin in terms of IP based stuff that's been all that positive. Heide Park's Ghostbusters ride for example is incredibly poor, the quality of Gangsta Granny and the wider area isn't great and Peppa Pig in Heide is also pretty basic.
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Will be interesting to see how good Jumanji is at Gardaland. That will be the biggest indicator as to whether Merlin can pull off a full-scale IP project.

I think in the UK they work better when it’s for kids to some extent. CBeebies land and Thomas land type stuff.
When they try to go bigger like Charlie and the Choc Factory it comes short of expectations.

I agree that for the Haunted House Merlin should be more than capable of doing something decent, but they need to involve more areas of MMM like the Tussauds and Legoland teams who seem to be capable of doing more than the resort creatives can.
 
They already have an original idea and concept there, but they're not bothered to fix it up. Hell, that original idea has been waiting there ever since its demise in 2003.

Just create a quick short story, like a post Duel case scenario, where Sir Henry alton has since reclaimed the house again.
10/10 storytelling.

The ride just needs freshening up, what's there already is brilliant, but it isn't executed good enough because Merlin just don't give a damn.

I'd take whats there already over a high quality IP. Its theming there is unique when compared to other Ghost Trains. The scenes are layout very well, the problem is that they haven't been looked after properly, since the addition of Zombies, Blasters, Bad sound effects, and horrendous lighting for most of its life as Duel.

Do we really need another IP to replace another Classic Attraction?
 
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I do respect all your opinions but Quote me if I’m wrong, but haven’t Merlin already brought the rights for Ghost Busters IP, or is it different exchange from countries? Also they already have the ride hardware, building, facade etc. however I would prefer a more thrilling/spinning ride system (incase the rest is poor you can still have abit of fun) but that would free up a lot of the budget. Also films like Jumanji and ghostbusters, have seen so many different actors over the years of both franchises. I actually don’t think it’s that’s noticeable for advertising/pre shows etc. As much as I would like an original concept, I feel in todays market it’s very difficult to attract the crowds. Coasters have never needed IPs because they instantly attract the general public regardless. I also don’t actually blame the British public pre-conception, considering the current dark rides selections in the uk.
 
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