• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
This constant clamouring for Wardley to be involved is laughable, really. He’s an incredible showman, yes, and his catalogue of work is impressive, but there are other creatives.

Comments denouncing the use of “some random attraction designer” are also short-sighted. What’s the industry to do, lean on one excellent individual until he’s gone… and then what? If new talent isn’t allowed to develop now, then the industry stagnates and dies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Islander said:
This constant clamouring for Wardley to be involved is laughable, really. He’s an incredible showman, yes, and his catalogue of work is impressive, but there are other creatives.

Comments denouncing the use of “some random attraction designer” are also short-sighted. What’s the industry to do, lean on one excellent individual until he’s gone… and then what? If new talent isn’t allowed to develop now, then the industry stagnates and dies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I agree. It’s not fair to rule out the hugely talented creatives that are currently employed and have trained hard to learn their craft.

Being self employed, you never really do retire though if the right contract came up at the right price. When you love an industry as much as JW loves his, I imagine it would be very hard to resist the right offer.


Time will tell!
 
JW has been seen around the park a few times this season and there has been a picture of him with John Burton who is the current creative lead for MMM for resort theme parks stood looking at Nemesis.

If they are indeed working on a project for Duel I would imagine at the very least John Burton has discussed this with John (because why wouldn’t you?) and run the ideas past him.
 
AT86 said:
JW has been seen around the park a few times this season and there has been a picture of him with John Burton who is the current creative lead for MMM for resort theme parks stood looking at Nemesis.

If they are indeed working on a project for Duel I would imagine at the very least John Burton has discussed this with John (because why wouldn’t you?) and run the ideas past him.
Click to expand...
That's really interesting to hear, do you know where I can find this picture?
 
Islander said:
This constant clamouring for Wardley to be involved is laughable, really. He’s an incredible showman, yes, and his catalogue of work is impressive, but there are other creatives.

Comments denouncing the use of “some random attraction designer” are also short-sighted. What’s the industry to do, lean on one excellent individual until he’s gone… and then what? If new talent isn’t allowed to develop now, then the industry stagnates and dies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I agree with this and honestly the more I think about it I have thought of something controversial and that is that what JW did for Towers is both a blessing and a curse.

Nemesis was honestly the peak of what the park could delivery and honestly other than the Cross Valley coaster, how were you to top that? Anything after that would have felt less which honestly has been felt more as the years go along as we have been trying to look for the next Nemesis and JW and for anyone coming out from Merlin attempting to do this such as this overhaul of Duel have some very big boots to fill and honestly, who would want to be in that position?

For example, let's assume Smiler had not only been built on time without mishap and also with top class theming on the scale on something like Disney or EP and had really been the true next Nemesis, would we have been forgiven? Actually, no.

Why? Even if Merlin weren't so lazy and careless with how they've run the park, the shadow of Wardley still hangs over the park much like the Towers so imagine the poor person or group bring compared by us enthusiasts to JW on a daily basis, that would have so much pressure almost like in football whenever some young talented player is hyped up as the next Messi, who'd want that? It hasn't helped that with so many bad decisions made by the park over the years that it has caused us to get permanently stuck in a negative mindset that even if the overhaul of Duel actually by some miracle is perfect, we still could not accept it! :p

You know of that phrase of 'Why can't we have nice things?' For us, it should be 'Why can't we accept nice things?' :p

But yeah, there are good people at MMM who'd honestly would want to give Duel the overhaul it needs but are ultimately let down by Merlin not wanting to go over budget and in the likely event we will certainly trash the new version of the ride, just think of the poor creative types who wanted to make it a truly great update but were forced to make it not so good by those on the top and ofc, the comments saying that we want JW back.

It's not a nice situation for those who, dare we say it, have to take on the daunting task of trying to make Duel looks good or bring HH back from the dead and that the skills of JW can be passed onto the next generation sooner than later.
 
QTXAdsy said:
I agree with this and honestly the more I think about it I have thought of something controversial and that is that what JW did for Towers is both a blessing and a curse.

Nemesis was honestly the peak of what the park could delivery and honestly other than the Cross Valley coaster, how were you to top that? Anything after that would have felt less which honestly has been felt more as the years go along as we have been trying to look for the next Nemesis and JW and for anyone coming out from Merlin attempting to do this such as this overhaul of Duel have some very big boots to fill and honestly, who would want to be in that position?

For example, let's assume Smiler had not only been built on time without mishap and also with top class theming on the scale on something like Disney or EP and had really been the true next Nemesis, would we have been forgiven? Actually, no.

Why? Even if Merlin weren't so lazy and careless with how they've run the park, the shadow of Wardley still hangs over the park much like the Towers so imagine the poor person or group bring compared by us enthusiasts to JW on a daily basis, that would have so much pressure almost like in football whenever some young talented player is hyped up as the next Messi, who'd want that? It hasn't helped that with so many bad decisions made by the park over the years that it has caused us to get permanently stuck in a negative mindset that even if the overhaul of Duel actually by some miracle is perfect, we still could not accept it! :p

You know of that phrase of 'Why can't we have nice things?' For us, it should be 'Why can't we accept nice things?' :p

But yeah, there are good people at MMM who'd honestly would want to give Duel the overhaul it needs but are ultimately let down by Merlin not wanting to go over budget and in the likely event we will certainly trash the new version of the ride, just think of the poor creative types who wanted to make it a truly great update but were forced to make it not so good by those on the top and ofc, the comments saying that we want JW back.

It's not a nice situation for those who, dare we say it, have to take on the daunting task of trying to make Duel looks good or bring HH back from the dead and that the skills of JW can be passed onto the next generation sooner than later.
Click to expand...
I'm sure someone with the passion and admiration that JW held will easily recreate the magic he once spreader over the park. Let's take it to the extra step and they adored the attraction they were redesigning.

I just think that a lot of AT fans out there always talk about JWs rides and the Tussauds era as a whole is because when compared to central Europe, The UK really doesn't hold up the charm and style that places like Europe Park and Efteling has managed to hold over the years with consistent quality and the same character, and this is ranged over decades. There are a lot of dedicated and Creative people at the Towers, but they never attempt to recreate that feel of the Tussauds era, especially with JWs rides from 1992-2002. They always try something unfamiliar or very corporate for the sole purpose, sometimes at the same time. The closest thing we've had to a modern Tussauds attraction is The Smiler, but that was designed by JW. If it was someone else, it wouldn't even be thematically appropriate and would have a generic sci fi design.

Back onto Duel though, I still see the chance of JW being involved being a 50/50. If he's involved with Nemesis' retrack, I don't see why he wouldnt want the chance to finally give life to one of his earliest creations if Merlin give him the chance to participate.

I don't want John to be the park's Idle forever, I want him to inspire other Creative people to be just like him, with how he themes his attractions, how unique they are, and then to feel like something pulled right out of The Parks Golden era, but new.

I really want The Park to evolve with these new creatives in a healthy manner, but still hold that Tussauds charm of the 90s and early 2000s in a new way, whilst preserving what's already there.
 
Last edited:
Trooper Looper said:
This is exciting to hear thank you!!

Hopefully this means Duel won't have its props and scenery ripped out and only will be majorly worked on.

What do you think will happen in Duels future then with all these rumours about?
Click to expand...

It indicates nothing, I am sorry to say it but you are adding 1 and 1 together here and getting the number 10.
 
I've seen videos on YouTube recently where they've said a lot of the effects are back working again (not perfect but better), so maybe all they're doing is repairing what's broken bit by bit and all this "duel refurb" is just [enthusiast] rumours?

Have to remember that Towers have not said anything official (the guy looking after the toilets in X-Sector does not count) so we can't expect any more than just fix what's broken and if, come opening day 2023, nothing has happened then we shouldn't have a go at Towers, especially if by then all the current effects are fixed.
 
I think something has to be happening with the ride vehicles with so many of them suddenly not in use. Seems way more than just what breakdowns would cause
 
Poisson said:
I think something has to be happening with the ride vehicles with so many of them suddenly not in use. Seems way more than just what breakdowns would cause
Click to expand...
Perhaps it's harder to get spare parts from Mack since Brexit. It also explains why Hex has been closed down most of the year.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top