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Duel: The Haunted House Actually Strikes Back - Refurb Incoming

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pluk said:
A slant is a slope by another direction! Very tricky for some mobility issues I'd say.

The real solution of course is to have a properly designed and themed accessible entrance while leaving that clever trick in place for those it is suitable for.
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Why not just reuse the old Wheelchair Access entrance by the main exit, give it some theming, but relocate the photo booth and make more space for it?

Then fix the drawing room. It's supposed to be slanted, and if they want it to be Wheelchair accessible, then they have to remove that element of the room. And without that element, the room won't have that illusive feel to it anymore, then what's the point of the drawing room when it can't trick your mind?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Why not just reuse the old Wheelchair Access entrance by the main exit, give it some theming, but relocate the photo booth and make more space for it?

Then fix the drawing room. It's supposed to be slanted, and if they want it to be Wheelchair accessible, then they have to remove that element of the room. And without that element, the room won't have that illusive feel to it anymore, then what's the point of the drawing room when it can't trick your mind?
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Problem is, to access that door you have to go up the narrow exit ramp, and I think it opens outwards onto the ramp as well.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Why not just reuse the old Wheelchair Access entrance by the main exit, give it some theming, but relocate the photo booth and make more space for it?

Then fix the drawing room. It's supposed to be slanted, and if they want it to be Wheelchair accessible, then they have to remove that element of the room. And without that element, the room won't have that illusive feel to it anymore, then what's the point of the drawing room when it can't trick your mind?
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There isn’t a wheelchair entrance by the exit, that was the point, they had to to through the exit to get to the door.
The drawing room never really “tricked your mind” it was just a slightly sloped floor.
 
yoursilentface said:
To put things into perspective.....

My Mrs and 2 kids (14 and 11) are gutted Duel is closing....it's actually pretty popular you know!
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Wait, Duel has fans?! All serious though, I won't deny that the ride does have a following among general park guests though given the thoughts about Duel on here, you'd think it was the worst ride ever and I do wonder if we do live in our own bubble in which anything we don't like the GP do like it and vice versa with other rides. Kind of puts things in perspective wondering who's really right or wrong.

The blasters are actually liked by guests despite what we think though if they are to go from Duel, I highly suspect that Merlin will want to have the next dark ride (unless they decided to close Dungeons and bring back a dark ride in that area) on the park to have blasters on it to make up for the loss which I feel will be the case though where this might be built or if they'd ever go for it is anyone's guess.
 
They could push the boundary of the slanted room back to take up the space of the ‘chicken corridor’ behind it. Then the access ramp could still go around the side of the room and into the loading platform, leaving space to bring the slanted feature back as it used to be.
 
jon81uk said:
The drawing room never really “tricked your mind” it was just a slightly sloped floor.
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I remember the trick working very well a long time ago. It's not just meant to be a sloped floor for no reason, same as the Hex vault isn't just meant to be a spinning room. You may as well not have the slant at all now.
 
They could just do something different entirely in that room so that accessibility is facilitated, but no illusions are broken. There are plenty of sufficiently magical things they could do in that room while still allowing for accessibility!
 
jon81uk said:
But it was so obvious that the floor was slanted as soon as you walked on it, it didn’t feel like a trick.
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Yes but it was a good effect once you were in there and the room was darkly lit. The difference between now and before the change is pretty surprising. You can see how big the slant actually is now that youre standing at a different angle to the walls, it feels like a different room.

The effect was still more than just "wonky room". It's lost its purpose now and you may as well come up with a different concept for the preshow.
 
QTXAdsy said:
The blasters are actually liked by guests despite what we think though if they are to go from Duel, I highly suspect that Merlin will want to have the next dark ride (unless they decided to close Dungeons and bring back a dark ride in that area) on the park to have blasters on it to make up for the loss which I feel will be the case though where this might be built or if they'd ever go for it is anyone's guess.
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I think you've hit the nail on the head really... the blasters have more fans than the ride at this point.

One of the biggest issues I've always had with Duel is that it is not actually an interactive dark ride because nothing reacts to you shooting it, highlighted even more at the point when the zombies are supposedly "shooting back". This was why the ride was duff from day one, as it completely wasted the potential of both elements of the ride - it was neither an interactive ride nor was it a good Haunted House any more.

The absolutely ideal solution would be for them to build a proper interactive dark ride in the next few years. I know the park are unlikely to have the budget to invest in a prop driven interactive ride, but guests would absolutely lap up a Midway Mania or Maus au Chocolat type ride. Plus I think it may be a UK first, or near enough.
 
An I correct in saying the old on ride photo sales booth used to be in that sort of empty room immediately after exiting the station where you do a 180 degree turn? I am pretty sure it was when it was the Haunted House.

I wonder is the success of this will be used to gauge the possibility of other large scale dark rides in the park.
 
Squiggs said:
The absolutely ideal solution would be for them to build a proper interactive dark ride in the next few years. I know the park are unlikely to have the budget to invest in a prop driven interactive ride, but guests would absolutely lap up a Midway Mania or Maus au Chocolat type ride. Plus I think it may be a UK first, or near enough.
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Funnily enough, I could definitely see Merlin wanting to build a Toy Story Midway Mania attraction at Towers as well. I know a pure screen based dark ride attraction would be looked down by many of us for being cheap, even worse than what many of us feel for GG or even Charlie to some extent.

However, being a great interactive ride with blasters and 3D effects would be a win for many guests and would make up for the loss of blasters on Duel and i haven't even thought of what theme it could be. I know this is going off topic a bit but I wonder where they could build another dark ride on the park? Maybe.if they want to be cheap as possible maybe they gut out the dungeons building entirely and place the attraction in there.

Yeah, would mean losing the boat ride system in there after many decades though given it is older than the ride system on Duel, it looks like an easy target for removal though I suppose operating and maintenance wise might be a lot easier than Duel's ride system despite the age. Anyway, on the topic of Duel, I do suspect that Merlin are aware that losing the blasters might not go down well with some guests and if feedback proves to be the case with a revamped Haunted House them you can expect Merlin to bring forward interactive dark ride of some kind for the park.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Funnily enough, I could definitely see Merlin wanting to build a Toy Story Midway Mania attraction at Towers as well. I know a pure screen based dark ride attraction would be looked down by many of us for being cheap, even worse than what many of us feel for GG or even Charlie to some extent.

However, being a great interactive ride with blasters and 3D effects would be a win for many guests and would make up for the loss of blasters on Duel and i haven't even thought of what theme it could be. I know this is going off topic a bit but I wonder where they could build another dark ride on the park? Maybe.if they want to be cheap as possible maybe they gut out the dungeons building entirely and place the attraction in there.

Yeah, would mean losing the boat ride system in there after many decades though given it is older than the ride system on Duel, it looks like an easy target for removal though I suppose operating and maintenance wise might be a lot easier than Duel's ride system despite the age. Anyway, on the topic of Duel, I do suspect that Merlin are aware that losing the blasters might not go down well with some guests and if feedback proves to be the case with a revamped Haunted House them you can expect Merlin to bring forward interactive dark ride of some kind for the park.
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I can see NSTs building used as a small interactive Dark Ride, but somethings needs to be done with the Dungeons. A new ride system isn't one of them.

I think that the backlash of Duels closing date is mostly from people who never rode it as the Haunted House. I'm not surprised since Duel has unfortunately lasted twice as long at its Superior Former self in almost every manner.
 
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Trooper Looper said:
I think that the backlash of Duels closing date is mostly from people who never rode it as the Haunted House. I'm not surprised since Duel has unfortunately lasted twice as long at its Superior Former self in almost every manner.
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But aren't you one of the people who never rode Haunted House in its original form? So, how do you know may I ask? Duel is still the Haunted House, just in an altered, inferior and run down form.

Is there even a backlash? Does a couple of people whining on social media (like they do about just about everything) count as a "backlash"?

I'd wager that most people couldn't care less. As long as there's a decent dark ride in there next season, general punters would be happy wouldn't they? I don't think many people care about this like we all do, or as much as is being made out in this thread.
 
Matt.GC said:
But aren't you one of the people who never rode Haunted House in its original form? So, how do you know may I ask? Duel is still the Haunted House, just in an altered, inferior and run down form.

Is there even a backlash? Does a couple of people whining on social media (like they do about just about everything) count as a "backlash"?

I'd wager that most people couldn't care less. As long as there's a decent dark ride in there next season, general punters would be happy wouldn't they? I don't think many people care about this like we all do, or as much as is being made out in this thread.
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I have come across quite a few people online, mostly on places like YouTube, etc, but it isn't the majority which is a relief.

It isn't a big backlash, but a bit larger than I would've thought, which isn't saying much, but again, not miniscule either.
 
DistortAMG said:
Garmendale are yet to produce any PLC based system that utilises variable motion and blocks in the way that the HH transit system does. Therefor I am sceptical if they could carry it out competently. I very much doubt it is going to just be a direct PLC swap and nothing else. Infact, I am certain it is not going to just be that.


If they are updating the control system, there is going to be alot more that needs updating and modifying than just "swapping out the PLC's".

The reliability of the PLCs are not what are causing the issues with the ride system right not. The whole control system as a whole is a major factor, which will require new software and hardware. You are not going to run a brand new control system on old hardware, incompatibility being one of many reasons here. Plus a new control panel in the ops cab will not run on software written for something totally different 30 years ago...

If they did a direct replacement and kept the software, all the issues I believe they are setting out to fix with this refurbishment would still be present

My money is on Mack being involved even if only as an advisory.
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Interesting points, i certainly don’t know Garmendales exact capability’s but given the fact they’ve used them recently I suspect they have this capability in house. The dullard minutiae of how it’s done is probably not one for this thread but I’ll drop you a DM.

I don’t know the exact details of the upgrade (or if it’s even been mentioned) but given the age of the attraction and AFAIK, it hasn’t been upgraded to date this will be overdue. As I say depends on the aims and the specifics, as to what the scope of the job would be.

As my previous post stated, anyone who works in controls know the brains is just one third of the problem. There is the process and IO to consider which may be causing the headaches.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
QTXAdsy said:
Funnily enough, I could definitely see Merlin wanting to build a Toy Story Midway Mania attraction at Towers as well. I know a pure screen based dark ride attraction would be looked down by many of us for being cheap, even worse than what many of us feel for GG or even Charlie to some extent.
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I think something like Maus au Chocolat could work in the old Nickelodeon space, theme it to the kitchens of the old stately home.
 
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