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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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Trooper Looper said:
Hope this helped you out.
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My previous reply was (a little tongue in cheek) more related to you stating that John Wardley was the original designer, when as you have pointed out there was a large number of people involved.

I've no idea who did more of the designer work, John Wardley, Keith Sparks or if it was more collaborative. I just don't think your previous statement was accurate to state it would be better to have "the original designer" when referring to John on his own.
 
jon81uk said:
My previous reply was (a little tongue in cheek) more related to you stating that John Wardley was the original designer, when as you have pointed out there was a large number of people involved.

I've no idea who did more of the designer work, John Wardley, Keith Sparks or if it was more collaborative. I just don't think your previous statement was accurate to state it would be better to have "the original designer" when referring to John on his own.
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I get where you're coming from. I just find it more likely it would only be him returning and not any of the remaining Sparks Creative staff. I'd rather have all of them return to Duel than Just John, I really would.

John did make the rides very descriptive storyboard, drew a few concept arts of the Facade for the ride, came up with the idea of the Drawing Room, and supervised and have advice the attractions construction with Keith.
 
Trooper Looper said:
John did make the rides very descriptive storyboard, drew a few concept arts of the Facade for the ride, came up with the idea of the Drawing Room, and supervised and have advice the attractions construction with Keith.
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Sorry that's just not true, other than he came up with the tilted room idea. But it doesn't really matter, as John's role was much more senior than the design of the attraction, he was effectively the project director. He is retired now, but like many in the attraction world still happy to contribute to developments as and when he is hired to.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Many of the Parks attractions from that era are still very well received, so I doubt that Guests have changed significantly since 92.

Air at first glance and compared to Galactica will probably look like a downgrade to many, but the more you look into it, the more you appreciate what Air tried to create. Air was the good, untouched side of Nemmys rein in Forbidden Valley. Air was the hero, and Nemmy was the Villain. The reason why Air lacked a lot of themibg was because of a lot of Budget Constraints the project was given, as Tussauds at the time was being sold to a different company, so getting Money from Pearsons was a difficult task. If you look at Airs concept art, you start to understand what they were trying to achieve. IMO is made perfect sense in Forbidden Valley. Many guests would just expect the next SW in FV just to ne another Post Apocalyptic Themed Roller Coaster, but John put a twist to the rides tone and theme, whilst making sense still to be in Forbidden Valley.

Now onto the Smiler. The reason it fits so well in X-Sector is because it was designed and themed by the same guy who designed and themed Oblivion, John Wardley. It was his last project before retirement, and it still feels like something Tussauds would've made. Both rides share a similar tone, and theme. The only thing Merlin was probably doing with the Smiler was its budget, engineers, and probably just a handful of MMM creatives. Everything else, though, all by the magnificent mind of John Wardley himself.
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Just to correct you, I'm sure JW himself said - either in his book or in interviews, or both - that the reason Air didn't get the theming that was intended for it was that the money was effectively diverted and spent on the development of the ride system, notably the trains and seat tilting mechanisms. Remember Air at the time was one of a kind and like Oblivion, was a prototype.

And regarding The Smiler, wasn't JW more involved with the layout of the track and cramming in as many loops as possible rather than it's overall theme and theming objects?
 
MMM are more than capable, whether they have the budget available is another question!

Wardley has likely been brought in as a consultant to have a gander over the plans, which is perfectly fine. At the end of the day he’s retired, let him enjoy it!
 
Steve74 said:
Just to correct you, I'm sure JW himself said - either in his book or in interviews, or both - that the reason Air didn't get the theming that was intended for it was that the money was effectively diverted and spent on the development of the ride system, notably the trains and seat tilting mechanisms. Remember Air at the time was one of a kind and like Oblivion, was a prototype.

And regarding The Smiler, wasn't JW more involved with the layout of the track and cramming in as many loops as possible rather than it's overall theme and theming objects?
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Your right that Air was incredibly expensive from an Engineering point of view, but since there was little to no theming, wouldn't you think that Peasrons would've given them an additional extra budget to make the ride look good and share the same quality as Nemesis, to bring Guests in for not just the flying position?

Yeah, he was also just a consultant for the Smiler, but I image he did heavily inspire a lot of ideas and concepts in terms of the rides theming that soon came to fruition. That is the point of a consultant, is it not?

Also, can we please start talking about Duel again?
 
Hi all, just a note to say this thread has been all over the place today.

There are plenty of other threads where it would be appropriate to discuss Air, Galactica, Merlin vs. Tussauds, what age is the ideal age for a ride designer, etc. so on and so forth.

Could we keep this thread to the general vicinity of Duel. Thanks!
 
What do you guys suppose the are any of the Haunted House props that were taken out before Duel are just in warehouses behind the Towers collecting Dust?

Talking about its props, will we see any auctions by Towers when the ride potentially closes at the end of this year? If not, does this mean all or most of the rides props are staying :/
 
Trooper Looper said:
Your right that Air was incredibly expensive from an Engineering point of view, but since there was little to no theming, wouldn't you think that Peasrons would've given them an additional extra budget to make the ride look good and share the same quality as Nemesis, to bring Guests in for not just the flying position?
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Pearson sold Tussauds to Charterhouse in October 1998.
 
WillPS said:
Pearson sold Tussauds to Charterhouse in October 1998.
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Charterhouse of course did invest heavily into the Tussauds group in the early 2000s, but I think it was the focus on Splash Landings that meant no further funding was allocated to Air as they were already overspending on the hotel and waterpark.
 
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Just thinking, if Duel is getting a major refurbishment for next year, am I the only thinking that it might end up being another Valhalla debacle in which they at first bring out all these great pieces of hype yet the overhaul ends up being more extensive than first thought and the attraction ends up down for the rest of the season?

Hell, knowing Merlin's own incompetence, I'd even dare say you'd have a better chance seeing Valhalla opened again rather than Duel overhauled and in the best conditionit has ever been in! o_O Yeah you heard it here first...
 
QTXAdsy said:
Just thinking, if Duel is getting a major refurbishment for next year, am I the only thinking that it might end up being another Valhalla debacle in which they at first bring out all these great pieces of hype yet the overhaul ends up being more extensive than first thought and the attraction ends up down for the rest of the season?

Hell, knowing Merlin's own incompetence, I'd even dare say you'd have a better chance seeing Valhalla opened again rather than Duel overhauled and in the best conditionit has ever been in! o_O Yeah you heard it here first...
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In fairness, Merlin have generally been fairly good at delivering things on time, for the most part; I know Smiler and DBGT were delayed, but they were very much the exception rather than the rule. So I wouldn't worry about this being a problem.
 
Matt N said:
In fairness, Merlin have generally been fairly good at delivering things on time, for the most part; I know Smiler and DBGT were delayed, but they were very much the exception rather than the rule. So I wouldn't worry about this being a problem.
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I don't mean just the delivery aspect (unless this story about the Nemesis retrack has been delayed is true) but I mean the quality of what they've built over the years leaves me rather concerned. Actually was Thirteen only actually only finished a day before the start of the 2010 season?

TWODW being so underwhelming and half hearted has left a bad taste in the mouth and being a poorly done IP only adds to the feeling. Granted the plans for Jumanji land at Chessie does actually look good admittedly, we'll have to wait and see how it'll look when built and while I hope this means more high-quality themed areas on their parks, I hope that isn't the exception to the rule.

Any news about what this Duel overhaul, or if it is happening at all, would be very welcomed to get some idea what to expect. Hopefully that'll be sooner than later.
 
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