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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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Matt N said:
I don’t think Jumanji was a retheme, in fairness; that was a brand new ride where they built an entirely new ride system from Oceaneering for it.

As such, any retheme Duel gets will likely have a greater budget allocated for theming, as the cost of building a brand new ride system won’t be there taking money away like it was with Jumanji.
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Ahhh sorry, I would class it as a retheme as it still uses elements of Ramses prop wise including the entire original queue, show building and exterior.

I don’t have high hopes for the Duel retheme at all. But hopefully they’ve got some good external companies involved…
 
I'd imagine some serious money needs to head to the ride system. It struggles already, it'd be a bad refurb if they didn't at least try and fix it a bit
 
Poisson said:
I'd imagine some serious money needs to head to the ride system. It struggles already, it'd be a bad refurb if they didn't at least try and fix it a bit
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I'm sure since Mack are still around, they'd be more than up to the task to give Duels ride vehicles some newer hardware. You can hear the electronics when the ride turns, so it'd be nice if they fixed that so you'd hear nothing when you go round a corner.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I'm sure since Mack are still around, they'd be more than up to the task to give Duels ride vehicles some newer hardware. You can hear the electronics when the ride turns, so it'd be nice if they fixed that so you'd hear nothing when you go round a corner.
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Knowing Merlin they’ll probably ignore Mack and get Garmandale or something cheap in to try fix the system.
 
I'm certain that the giant Flume duck will make a long awaited return to move to Duel in which the overhauled ride will be themed to you escaping from a man eating giant duck that wants your soul! :p

TBH though, having something cute like in a scary setting is always far more terrifying than zombies IMO. Honestly though, that duck even today has a bit of cult following among the GP and enthusiasts alike and the thought of it returning will certainly cause brown trousers for many!
 
It would be great to see that duck make a come back as some zombie duck over Scarefest wouldn’t it.

Anyway - Duel. How about making it 4D like they did with Gangsta granny where the cars can rotate as they move along the track?
 
I'll hopefully get round to finishing up my Gardaland report in the coming weeks, but had the chance to experience Jumanji (just about, given that they closed the queue forty minutes early with no warning...)

It shares something in common with Duel in that it wisely employs an excellent, dynamic system for a dark ride. Unfortunately, that system is almost entirely wasted on the ride itself, which feels like a cross between Gangsta Granny and Tomb Blaster, but shorter and less convincing. I rode Challenge of Tutankahmun at Walibi Belgium the following week, which is outstanding in comparison, despite being twenty-years older and not operating under the contractual obligations of an IP.

No idea what's coming with Duel, but Merlin's dark ride design impulses can be terrible, designed with the philosophy of their major investments. A few memorable moments or USP-equivalent mixed with a whole load of unconvincing nonsense. The moment in Jumanji in which the headlights on your vehicle scan an unpainted black wall and an emergency exit is baffling. I think there's a little too much nostalgia, borrowed and otherwise, for the original Haunted House on here, but when you're bouncing around in front of a video screen for the two of the three minutes you spend on Jumanji, you realise just how much depth and charm it possessed.

As such, hopefully the foundations of Duel/HH are still strong enough that hopefully they can't screw it up unless they really overthink it...
 
Plastic Person said:
I'll hopefully get round to finishing up my Gardaland report in the coming weeks, but had the chance to experience Jumanji (just about, given that they closed the queue forty minutes early with no warning...)

It shares something in common with Duel in that it wisely employs an excellent, dynamic system for a dark ride. Unfortunately, that system is almost entirely wasted on the ride itself, which feels like a cross between Gangsta Granny and Tomb Blaster, but shorter and less convincing. I rode Challenge of Tutankahmun at Walibi Belgium the following week, which is outstanding in comparison, despite being twenty-years older and not operating under the contractual obligations of an IP.

No idea what's coming with Duel, but Merlin's dark ride design impulses can be terrible, designed with the philosophy of their major investments. A few memorable moments or USP-equivalent mixed with a whole load of unconvincing nonsense. The moment in Jumanji in which the headlights on your vehicle scan an unpainted black wall and an emergency exit is baffling. I think there's a little too much nostalgia, borrowed and otherwise, for the original Haunted House on here, but when you're bouncing around in front of a video screen for the two of the three minutes you spend on Jumanji, you realise just how much depth and charm it possessed.

As such, hopefully the foundations of Duel/HH are still strong enough that hopefully they can't screw it up unless they really overthink it...
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Perfectly put. Merlins Dark Rides are just appalling all round, which is why i don't want yhem touching Duel, cause you know they're gonna ruin it with screens and blank walls.

Just hope that the rumours of JW spotted around Duel was true, I'd love e to see the HH come back with some new stuff to it. Heck, maybe they can make the Ghost Corridor Scare actually work now, along with the Troll.
 
I actually prefer Gangsta Granny to Duel myself (at present), so I must confess that I wouldn’t personally mind a retheme if it was done in that style.

I am disheartened to hear that Jumanji doesn’t live up to expectations; I thought it looked quite good in the POVs I saw around its opening. Clearly proof that POVs don’t tell the whole story, if nothing else!
 
As I said before regarding screen based dark rides which many have issue with, its not just Merlin are guilty at this, pretty much nearly every theme park operator are doing this too, Disney especially now seem to have at least one screen feature on any new ride or refurbishment they've done. I'd be honestly shocked if they didn't fully embrace going all in on the screen based experience and largely kept to physical props, funnily enough W&G at BPB is something a great exception to dark rides nowadays even if it is a reskin of a previous attraction. You'd think Merlin would learn from their past mishaps with dark rides but then again it would be like touching a burning stove over and over again without learning that maybe you shouldn't really be doing that...

If it does turn out good (90% believe that it won't) then I'll eat my hat and spend a day at hell on earth known as M&D's...go on Merlin, I challenge you to a duel! ;)
 
It’ll be interesting to see what they do with Duel next year I’ve got to admit, it used to be my second favourite dark ride on park behind Nemesis Sub Terra, so I just hope whatever gets done brings out the potential the building has.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Just hope that the rumours of JW spotted around Duel was true, I'd love e to see the HH come back with some new stuff to it. Heck, maybe they can make the Ghost Corridor Scare actually work now, along with the Troll.
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The chances of long retired JW coming back to helm a full restoration and return of the original HH are about 0.0001%.

Anyway, comparing GG with Duel is like comparing a nearly new Hyundai with a 30 year old beaten up Mercedes with an oil leak, most of the electrics broken, a wing mirror being held on with gaffer tape and lashings of Halfords own brand touch up paint all over it. If you get what I mean? We can't really compare the 2 as such.
 
Matt.GC said:
The chances of long retired JW coming back to helm a full restoration and return of the original HH are about 0.0001%.

Anyway, comparing GG with Duel is like comparing a nearly new Hyundai with a 30 year old beaten up Mercedes with an oil leak, most of the electrics broken, a wing mirror being held on with gaffer tape and lashings of Halfords own brand touch up paint all over it. If you get what I mean? We can't really compare the 2 as such.
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Quite funny how both of us see things differently. I see GG as an appalling Dark ride that had good potential but was wasted in favour of screens, cardboard cutouts, and a pretty bad story if you ask me with some below average Voice Acting. It's new and clean yeah, but that doesn't tick it as an immediate upgrade to any other Dark Ride. The only 2 things I like about GG in terms of the ride experience is the smell Pods and the cannon finale.

Yeah, Duel this year is looking in shambles unfortunately, but I still prefer it over GG from its large scale props, charming feel, a damn good and rare ride system, and great detail in the scenery.

I see GG as a new car, yes, but it doesn't stick out from the rest of most cars of todays era. It's efficient, that's all I can say about it.

Duel is the Ran Down car from the 80s, like a Gulf GTI, yeah its seen better years, but when everything's fully working and it's given a decent clean, it just creates that rather magical and simplistic experience that GG doesn't offer. Well that's how I see it anyhow.

I wonder if that Merlin Magic Making Van is still behind the showbuilding currently?
 
I think “appalling” is the wrong word for Gangsta Granny, even if you dislike it I don’t think it’s anywhere close to appalling. Duel is in such an awful state, I swear the guns stop working earlier and earlier every time as well. I’m anticipating another 2/3 rides on it maximum for me between my Oktoberfest and Scarefest visits, and am expecting it to be in an even worse state. Hopefully banners or signs pointing to a 2023 refresh are up in Gloomy Wood by Scarefest as a teaser
 
Danscott22 said:
I think “appalling” is the wrong word for Gangsta Granny, even if you dislike it I don’t think it’s anywhere close to appalling. Duel is in such an awful state, I swear the guns stop working earlier and earlier every time as well. I’m anticipating another 2/3 rides on it maximum for me between my Oktoberfest and Scarefest visits, and am expecting it to be in an even worse state. Hopefully banners or signs pointing to a 2023 refresh are up in Gloomy Wood by Scarefest as a teaser
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Same here. Such a shame on of Towers most important non coaster attractions is just being left to rot. I'm still hoping that the Rumours about JW being potentially involved with Duels future is true, even though I'm a little skeptical. I'd rather have him involved rather than some Random Attraction Designer Hired by Merlin that's never ridden it or knows little about the rides history outside of being "used to not have guns, now it does." If you get where I'm going.
 
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