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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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My gut feeling is the existing walls and static scenery will mostly stay (with new paintwork and the odd addition/ subtraction), the major changes will be to the rides animated scenes and the lighting.

I would assume there will be an homage to original HH but with new scenes and new takes on existing scenes, possibly a more involved story (original HH was a modern take on a laugh in the dark traditional haunted house so didn’t exactly go down a narrative route).
 
Dave said:
My gut feeling is the existing walls and static scenery will mostly stay (with new paintwork and the odd addition/ subtraction), the major changes will be to the rides animated scenes and the lighting.

I would assume there will be an homage to original HH but with new scenes and new takes on existing scenes, possibly a more involved story (original HH was a modern take on a laugh in the dark traditional haunted house so didn’t exactly go down a narrative route).
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Time will tell :)

But again, what happens if The Haunted House props aren't for sake if there's an auction for Duel? How will they utilise the older props for the new attraction? What do you guys think?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Time will tell :)

But again, what happens if The Haunted House props aren't for sake if there's an auction for Duel? How will they utilise the older props for the new attraction? What do you guys think?
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If there is an auction and some props are not for sale. That does not mean they are being kept. You have missed out that possibility also.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I doubt they'd destroy 30 year old props without TRYING to auction them off. Imagine how many old school fans would be angry at them lol!!
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Why not? I am sure they will auction stuff. But auctioning off everything. Nah.

Stuff could start falling apart when moved, given its age. Props could be a logistical nightmare to move and transport meaning they get destroyed. Plus many more reasons.

If there is an auction, like Bubbleworks, Pirate Adventure and any other highly themed attraction, I expect there to be a small selection of items on auction.

There was a pretty small selection of items on auction for Bubbleworks yet they removed the whole ride! Seeing as it is rumoured this attraction will have lots kept, I would expect less items.

Pure speculation right now though.
 
DistortAMG said:
Why not? I am sure they will auction stuff. But auctioning off everything. Nah.

Stuff could start falling apart when moved, given its age. Props could be a logistical nightmare to move and transport meaning they get destroyed. Plus many more reasons.

If there is an auction, like Bubbleworks, Pirate Adventure and any other highly themed attraction, I expect there to be a small selection of items on auction.

There was a pretty small selection of items on auction for Bubbleworks yet they removed the whole ride! Seeing as it is rumoured this attraction will have lots kept, I would expect less items.

Pure speculation right now though.
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Agreed. Though I'd love to have one of the Paintings from the queue if they ever get auctioned online!

I firmly believe most of the work taking place will be in the Drawing Room and the Lab Finale, with the Trommel Just behind them. Get that Trommel working again!!!!
 
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Assuming they market a return of the HH as a 'new' attraction for 2023 (unless they also bite the bullet and get a permeant flat ride in place) I do wonder if it might get a surge of a second coming of popularity among the GP not seen since it first opened, just look at old footage of the park and seeing how big the queue line was getting into the place in fact I can remember when I first went in 1997 that the queue was slowing moving its way through the portrait room, could it be that the graveyard extension queue line might be left permanently opened unlike now when it is only rarely these days? I was lucky

I agree that it would be downright impossible to return back to its original 1992 state though I could see that if they are to bring back several old features of the ride such as the giant, they could be updated and advanced such as the giant have blinking eyes (not sure if the original ever did) or perhaps the spider scene could have a peppers ghost effect of many more spiders climbing up around the wall which would make that scene far more nightmare worthy if you have a fear of spiders. This has happened with likes of the Haunted Mansion and other dark rides around the world so I wouldn't be surprised if Towers were to do this and if JW is playing a part in this project then I have no doubt that things that he wanted effects wise which were difficult to do back 30 years ago could easily be done today with the technology we have now he'd be determined to see some of these things finally become a reality. Yeah, kind of like what George Lucas did with the original Star Wars trilogy by adding many CGI elements to them which many hate though on this occasion, I'd think we'd be all opened armed for this to happen.

IMO, I would like to see an actually storyline for the ride which honestly adds a lot for any ride, look at how much we love Hex because of the storyline, a new HH would benefit for a new story which I think many guests do appreciate rather than something like Thirteen which even to this day I still have no clue what the backstory for the ride is other than some routine maintenance work that goes horribly wrong or something stupid like that. Can someone correct me on this? Also, I don't think 1990's cheese won't exactly fly with today's audience mostly the kids who want hardcore and not something like GG, they'd want a real scary HH which in some ways seems to be what BPB are doing with Valhalla to make it more darker...that is if they can get the damn thing to open so who knows what tone they'd be going for here for Duel?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Time will tell :)

But again, what happens if The Haunted House props aren't for sake if there's an auction for Duel? How will they utilise the older props for the new attraction? What do you guys think?
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There is no requirement for them to sell old props.

If an old prop is serviceable and meets their needs they will titivate it and reuse it. If it’s not serviceable or doesn’t fall within the new plan they will throw it or sell it.

I mean Towers might choose to sell some iconic pieces but a lot of HH had already gone and some of the remaining props are a bit big (spider).
 
QTXAdsy said:
Assuming they market a return of the HH as a 'new' attraction for 2023 (unless they also bite the bullet and get a permeant flat ride in place) I do wonder if it might get a surge of a second coming of popularity among the GP not seen since it first opened, just look at old footage of the park and seeing how big the queue line was getting into the place in fact I can remember when I first went in 1997 that the queue was slowing moving its way through the portrait room, could it be that the graveyard extension queue line might be left permanently opened unlike now when it is only rarely these days? I was lucky

I agree that it would be downright impossible to return back to its original 1992 state though I could see that if they are to bring back several old features of the ride such as the giant, they could be updated and advanced such as the giant have blinking eyes (not sure if the original ever did) or perhaps the spider scene could have a peppers ghost effect of many more spiders climbing up around the wall which would make that scene far more nightmare worthy if you have a fear of spiders. This has happened with likes of the Haunted Mansion and other dark rides around the world so I wouldn't be surprised if Towers were to do this and if JW is playing a part in this project then I have no doubt that things that he wanted effects wise which were difficult to do back 30 years ago could easily be done today with the technology we have now he'd be determined to see some of these things finally become a reality. Yeah, kind of like what George Lucas did with the original Star Wars trilogy by adding many CGI elements to them which many hate though on this occasion, I'd think we'd be all opened armed for this to happen.

IMO, I would like to see an actually storyline for the ride which honestly adds a lot for any ride, look at how much we love Hex because of the storyline, a new HH would benefit for a new story which I think many guests do appreciate rather than something like Thirteen which even to this day I still have no clue what the backstory for the ride is other than some routine maintenance work that goes horribly wrong or something stupid like that. Can someone correct me on this? Also, I don't think 1990's cheese won't exactly fly with today's audience mostly the kids who want hardcore and not something like GG, they'd want a real scary HH which in some ways seems to be what BPB are doing with Valhalla to make it more darker...that is if they can get the damn thing to open so who knows what tone they'd be going for here for Duel?
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Of course it's impossible for it to return fully identically to what it used to be like. I'd just like to see the remaining scenes from the Haunted House given a Proper TLC, repaint, lighting, animatronic fixture, etc. I think some of the old Sound effects are still around, since on British Theme Park Archives POV of The Haunted House, you can clearly hear that the Demon Ghosts sound effect is editing within the video, along with the Screaming Heads, Old Hall of Spider music, The Undertaker, Cave Ghost, and the Column ghost (u think). I wouldn't be surprised if Alton Tower's has a copy of those audio files, and I think that the old audio box which holds the Haunted House sound effects in the ride is still there to this day, but it's just not in use.

Like I said, I'd love to see The Ghost corridor effect made with modern (or more reliable) technology! Same with the Brudge Troll that used to be in the Finale, but was changed after a fe weeks since the props was so heavy ot didn't move most of the time.

The original Haunted House was never intended to be a full on scary Ghost Trains. It was a mix of a fairground Ghost Train with a laff in the Dark.
 
Personally, I would keep a similar haunted house-type concept, but get rid of or change most of the ride itself. I wouldn’t keep exactly the same scenes as exist now.

In terms of some of the changes I’d make:
  • I’d apply a bit more of a clear narrative. I know the HH never really had a narrative, but I do feel that some sort of more nuanced story might benefit a modern take on this ride style. I think the concept has a lot of potential if you take a narrative-driven route!
  • I’d perhaps make it a tad less reliant on jumpscares. I’d still have jumpscares in there, but I’d try and employ other immersive techniques as well that focus more on building ambience rather than out and out scaring. Maybe some smoke or smell pods might help there? Or some animatronics that don’t scare per se, but maybe just move in a weird fashion to add to the eerie vibe?
  • I’d add a new soundtrack in there that’s slightly more atmospheric than the more dramatic video game-type one they play now, which I think is more befitting of the Duel ride experience than an ambient haunted house-style ride. I actually quite like the current exterior soundtrack in Gloomy Wood and wouldn’t be averse to that continuing to play, but I reckon a nice ambient IMAScore track would do well on the ride itself.
  • I’m not too sure on specific scenes, but I don’t think I’d keep them as they are now. I’d try and pay homage to some of the ideas of the HH, but I wouldn’t be keen on keeping the exact same scenes and props like some are keen for.
But overall, my personal hope is that they do something mostly new that leans on the same sort of concept rather than a flat out “revival” of the HH that uses exactly the same scenes, exactly the same props, exactly the same soundtrack etc.
 
Best case scenario IMOP would be closure for September is in preparation for new Scarefest attraction that has little hints of future development. Closed season sees the guns completely gone and the effects freshened up. Complete overhaul? No, but certainly some new scenes added. Perhaps some Gothic/Tim Burton inspired overlay - bye bye zombies, hello Dracula/ Frankenstein/ Wolfman/ Creature from the black lagoon (copyright/ licensing rights?). And please, please, please no generic CGI screens. O and clean up the grotty exit.
 
It'll be closed until 2023. I believe the budget is modest but not in the amount that would be needed for a complete replacement of everything.

Certainly with a good team, a few million and the right objectives - we could end up with something really nice.

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AstroDan said:
It'll be closed until 2023. I believe the budget is modest but not in the amount that would be needed for a complete replacement of everything.

Certainly with a good team, a few million and the right objectives - we could end up with something really nice.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk
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I'm guessing it'll have a budget of £2,000,000. Most of that is replacing the Lab Finale and refurbishing the ride System by Mack. Drawing room is probably going to have quire a bit of work, such as a new wallpaper, fixing effects, and fixing the broken window that's now covered. Hopefully they'll reroute the Wheelchair access to the Giftshop again, but make enough room for them. Would like to see the Drawig room give off the slanted effect again.


And I'm guessing the remaining money will be slent on doing up the facade, such as replacing the Crypt outside with a different crypt of some kind, new signage, cleaning the Exterior queue properly, not just a quick broom. The main house facade needs some TLC, it's covered in ivy or dead remnants of ivy. It's colour is fading, etc.

The rides scenes will be spruced up, repainted props, relit scenes, and repaired animatronics and audio.
 
Trooper Looper said:
The original Haunted House was never intended to be a full on scary Ghost Trains. It was a mix of a fairground Ghost Train with a laff in the Dark.
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This. Whatever happens is, I hope, in keeping with Wardley’s idea that the ride should be a laughs and frights ride - not something to terrify the pants off guests. With the advances in technology since 1992 I’m quite sure there are tonnes of ways they could make the new HH particularly scary but my hope is that Merlin remember how many people loved the ride for what it was, spooky but with the right mix of fun too.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I doubt they'd destroy 30 year old props without TRYING to auction them off. Imagine how many old school fans would be angry at them lol!!
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You appear to underestimate how many bits of old attractions are still kicking around back of house, or used as decorations in workshops :)
 
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