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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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TomW said:
Can I just ask out of interest where the rumors came from that Duel will be receiving an overhaul this closed season?
I really hope this does come to fruition.
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The TLC social media feeds said that Duel was scheduled to receive some TLC this closed season.

:)
 
TomW said:
Can I just ask out of interest where the rumors came from that Duel will be receiving an overhaul this closed season?
I really hope this does come to fruition.
Click to expand...

Its specifically mentioned in this interview with Wayne who is in charge of TLC.

https://www.kiphakes.com/2017/06/behind-the-scenes-at-alton-towers-resort-towers-tlc.html

When Wayne was asked about what next he said
"Where I really want to get is in to Duel, hopefully we’ll be able to get in there and give it some Towers TLC."
 
TomW said:
Can I just ask out of interest where the rumors came from that Duel will be receiving an overhaul this closed season?
I really hope this does come to fruition.
Click to expand...
The information that there was going to be a refurb came from the official TLC twitter account.

As for what they will do with duel I actually think its mainly simple things that need to be fixed a lot of the physical theming is still there. The main problems with the ride are lighting and repair. They need to place more emphasis on keeping the existing effects working. If they cannot maintain the rides effect to a decent standard maybe the best approach is to change the effect to work or remove them.
Lighting mainly needs dimming so you cant see the effects mechanisms, this would be quite easy to sort out.
A new Imascore soundtrack would be really cool I don't think the current soundtrack is too bad but more atmosphere is welcome.
The shooting aspect of the ride does slightly detract from the experience of the ride but some people seem to really like them so I'm not bothered what happens.
If SW8 is in Gloomy wood (I think there will be a re-name of the area) then maybe they will add some things related to that.
Possible things for the future
Ultimately moving forward I think we might see an IP for Duel such as Ghostbusters and I would personally welcome this as a development.
 
Im pretty sure Duel will get some TLC for next season, however, given the budget cuts, I dont expect them to have much money to spend on refurbishments. I think it will be the odd touch of paint, fixing of a few effects or lights, and thats it.
 
jon81uk said:
When Wayne was asked about what next he said
"Where I really want to get is in to Duel, hopefully we’ll be able to get in there and give it some Towers TLC."
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Did something more concrete come after that, or was that the last word on the matter? I only ask because I am sure there are a lot of things they would like to do.
 
I think aside from that there was the Towers Loving Care page confirming some work on Duel this closed season, although that is updated mostly (or all) by Wayne anyway.
 
So, lets come up with a list of the top 5 things you would do in Duel......

1. Address the lighting in some areas where the mechanics of some of the props can easily be seen, i.e. the heads flying above you

2. Fix trommel tunnel once and for all - if it cant be fixed, thinking back to the Altonville Mine tours, maybe fill it with smoke and put a strobe light in there to disorientate people

3. Scrap the zombies scene at the end and replace it with something new, not quite sure what but the industrial setting just does not work within the haunted house. If they do keep the zombies, then maybe change the industrial theme to an outside theme, with zombies in the house gardens etc...

4.With reference to 3 above, if they do this, add smoke effects!

5. Tidy up the entrance bit, get the smells working again as you enter, face in the fireplace, lightning effects working on the windows etc.
 
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To me duel needs ripped out and started again. I love the facade, the entrance and first hall with the dolls house (face in fire or not) and the station, but everything after is fairly awful.

The reasons for this in my opinion are;
1) the lighting is awful, and has been touched upon many times. However as well as the lights illuminating the moving parts of the animatronics, they also fail to properly light up the scenes. A lot of the time I've no idea that I'm supposed to be in someone's house.
2) the targets for guns, being bright LEDs distract you from looking at the scenes anyway. The better shooters I've been on (Buzz Light-year, and in perticular Men in Black) use targets that's are part of the scenes, this forces you to look at the scenes and appreciate them and animatronics. The ones used at towers largely distract from them. There is also far too many at some points.

Personally, I'd rip the guns out and turn it back into a decent haunted house. But I think there is no chance at all of that happening. As it stands it's a filler attraction and regardless of what they do with it it will probably stay as such. Most guest will ride it once per visit and move on.
 
Apart from the lighting, the timing of the pneumatic animatronics needs sorting. Things have fallen waaaayyy out of sync with the cars.

I don't know if it's a sensor issue or whether the pneumatic actuators are worn out due to the hundreds of thousands of cycles they've gone through over the years. Probably the latter.
 
Bunny Munro said:
To me duel needs ripped out and started again. I love the facade, the entrance and first hall with the dolls house (face in fire or not) and the station, but everything after is fairly awful.

The reasons for this in my opinion are;
1) the lighting is awful, and has been touched upon many times. However as well as the lights illuminating the moving parts of the animatronics, they also fail to properly light up the scenes. A lot of the time I've no idea that I'm supposed to be in someone's house.
2) the targets for guns, being bright LEDs distract you from looking at the scenes anyway. The better shooters I've been on (Buzz Light-year, and in perticular Men in Black) use targets that's are part of the scenes, this forces you to look at the scenes and appreciate them and animatronics. The ones used at towers largely distract from them. There is also far too many at some points.

Personally, I'd rip the guns out and turn it back into a decent haunted house. But I think there is no chance at all of that happening. As it stands it's a filler attraction and regardless of what they do with it it will probably stay as such. Most guest will ride it once per visit and move on.
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totally agree. As you say people ride it once per-visit, when the whole point of duel is to make it re-rideable, So WHY NOT change it back to a haunted house!
Also why don't they think outside the box when it comes to interactivity, riders could be armed with torches - which activate effect - or 'paranormal investigating' equipment which interacts with the scenery and lighting etc, and they have to 'find' the ghosts.
 
emmerse2891 said:
riders could be armed with torches - which activate effect - or 'paranormal investigating' equipment which interacts with the scenery and lighting etc, and they have to 'find' the ghosts.
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Now that is a great idea...

It would be even better if each rider had a different piece of equipment / weapon which activated different ride events or effects.
 
I
MaxPower said:
Now that is a great idea...

It would be even better if each rider had a different piece of equipment / weapon which activated different ride events or effects.
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That would be an incredible ride experience.
Something really interesting and you could imagine families standing in the queue organising themselves into jobs. Then re-riding and swapping roles.
 
It's been done before, the Monsters Inc ride in Japan has torches that activate animatronics... Whether Merlin could do something similar I'm not sure...

Do agree that a complete gutting would be in order, though whether I would remove the transit system or get a new one in is debatable...
 
skyscraper said:
How about a brand new one with rotating cars? (would it fit?)
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Rotating cars would be good, not spinning - just slowly turning every now and again - imagine thinking your safe in the back, only for the car to rotate and proceed slowly backwards into the darkness - also onboard surround sound audio, back pokers, seat vibrators and air jets/blasters (even if you close your eyes you'll not be safe).
 
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