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Haunted House back or Duel?

what would you prefer, The haunted House back or stay with Duel?

  • Duel

    Votes: 10 28.6%

  • The Haunted House

    Votes: 27 77.1%
  • Total voters
    35
J

jordanthomo

TS Member
I went to Alton Towers today and i went on dual twice. On my second ride on Dual, i couldnt be bothered to use laser gun and score points as i'd be walking around all day. I found that it was better experience and thrill if you werent using a laser gun! i was wondering if you had a choice, what would you choose, the Haunted House back or stay as with the Dual?
 
Re: Haunted House or Dual?

Before I start my opinion I must say that it's spelt "Duel" not "Dual".

I've never ridden the Haunted House before but Duel is amazing. I've never tried without the laser before but I'd think it would be quite boring. As I normally go with a family member or friend we enjoy to do bets before we go on the ride for some fun so I would probably go for Duel, but I can't really decide properly as I've never ridden the Haunted House before!
 
Cheers for correction :), yeah me and my mate always have a bet when we go on it. However, i think it would be better without using a laser gun. I think AT could make the ride more scarier to make it a better experience although some people nevar really foucse on the objects appearing. They just focuse on shooting!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Boring without the guns? BORING? BORING?!?!?!??!!!!?!!?

I don't want to live on this planet any more.
Click to expand...

You think it's Fun without the guns? How? I Imagine it would be boring, but I've never tried it before. I've always loved to get the highest score possible so I wouldn't even think of just leaving the gun.
 
If you'd asked me this last year, I'd have said Duel without a doubt (Im a bit of a secret Duel fanboy :p ) - however, with there being less LEDs this year, and with most/all the effects working etc, I actually found it quite fun without the guns.

So I'm in two minds, in summary. I think Towers should perhaps consider trialling the HH (maybe "Duel: The Haunted House") for Scarefest, with the original music and no LEDs, so I can see (close to) what the HH would've been like.
 
I never use the guns anyway! So in my opinion, The Haunted House would be a terrific ride minus the horrible red, yellow and green LED's on the wall. Not to mention the annoying laser gun sound effects destroying the effect of some terrific music!

Who looks more scared?

Alton_Towers_Haunted_House.JPG


4394866546_f758596ed0_z.jpg


You tell me...
 
The point of the original Haunted House was to scare you. It's hard to be scared when you have a gun in your hand.
I dispair at kids these days. They wouldn't know a good dark ride if it slapped them in the face.
 
Why isn't this topic a poll?

Anyway, Haunted House. My golden rule for interactive 'shooting' dark rides is that the shooting must trigger some sort of effects, or have some impact on the ride world. Interactive implies it's a two way process. Duel is not interactive, as there is no way to interact with the ride itself.
 
Despite only having done Duel about five times, I actually found it more enjoyable to not bother using the guns. Mainly because the triggers were so stiff that I risked getting RSI. :p I never did the Haunted House, but I'd imagine that it would be better than Duel.
 
I hate haunted house's, even them ones at the traveling fair, I can not stand them. The only reason I go on duel (with one hand on the gun, and the other over my ears!) is so I can feel like a zombie hunter, and thats the same for lots of people my age!
I get so scared, that my highest score, in many, many visits is only just above 2000 :eek:
So if the Haunted House did come back, I would not go on it :eek:
 
All people do is shoot at the targets and forget about the acutall ride they are on. The ride would be so much better without the guns, and maybe even a little change to the track to make the ride more faster and a tiny drop would be good!
 
Now I would prefer the Haunted House which should be of excellent "second to Disney quality" and that would be amazing quality. But it's all about re-rideability and I've only rode Duel without blasters a few times and by the third time or so I started to get bored of it. So I'd say Duel as many enjoy more than once for the rerideability factor of beating your score.
 
The Haunted House definitely takes my vote (If there was a poll then it's exactly what I would've chosen) rather than Duel.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7tn3QIK8Wk[/youtube]

The Haunted House had so much more to the ride because it was meant to scare you, it was meant to be a little cheesy with Hammer Horror like effects but never to a funfair standard and it was meant to be an immersive experience overall. That was the point. I never got to experience the original, the most I can do is see old POVs and promotional material (All of which send a little dark ride shiver down my spine) because that kind of well thought and well crafted ride, much like other dark gems at then Tussauds parks, will never truly exist anymore. It was a ride of the 90s that was replaced too soon.

Duel merely exists for the sake of the guns, it was a surefire way of making more people interested in the ride and getting them through the Entrance Hall. Not that I'm saying the entire place would be ripped down if that option was ever given, Wardley forbid! It doesn't help that Duel's guns essentially nil the point of the ride either as the ride is quite rightly meant to scare you but because you're concentrating so much on little targets than the theming aesthetics, you're not getting the correct experience. It's the same for Tomb Blaster at Chessington; So many unique touches yet you're more interested in a greater score than your fellow visitors.

I'm glad however that the original SFX and music is slowly coming back to the ride, bringing it back to the glory days essentially and reversing the money making damage by late Tussauds.
 
Duel gets harsh criticism, it's really great fun, and over the last 24 months it's had constant improvements made and it's now arguably better than it ever was.

However I'd take the old Haunted House over it and would think twice.
 
I secretly love Duel, regardless of what it used to be like... I never rode the HH - but appreciate the positive changes to the ride this year so can understand the magic and love that many people have for the ride. I enjoy doing Duel both with and without blasters - but I think that for it to work properly either way it needs to be seriously invested in one way or t'other.

If Alton want to bring it back to the HH and remove the blasters, the scenes need work and new ones need adding in order to make it properly scary for a modern audience. Shooting rides are popular though, and if they want to get more visitors onto Duel - they ought to make the ride truly interactive. Dark shooting rides such as Buzz Lightyear at DLP are brilliant because they don't over-do the targets and shooting most makes certain things happen - which makes every ride that bit different...

Possibly shooting to prevent scares happening? If you miss the target, something will jump out at you? It could be marketed at the first haunted house where you decide your fate? Not so much about scores but about choosing to get scared or not?
 
My issue with Duel was they took away some really good parts of HH then added a lot of little dots that have absolutely nothing to do with the creatures in the house. If they had made at least some of the zombies react to the shots you fired and added much better scenes then i'm sure it would have been accepted much more positively.

Now we seem to be getting some of the old HH goodness back though which at least helps
 
There is a poll and yeah i just find shooting at targets gets boring after i while, but if your a person who goes to AT around twice a year then Haunted House would be great to give you a scare and just to sit back and enjoy the ride. Instead of using a gun and not taking into account of the amazing effects around you! :)
 
Unfortunately I never had the chance to experience the Haunted House however just from seeing the atmosphere in the house now I can see how terrifying it must have been before it was turned into a B&Q lighting department.

From riding 'Skelvin's Haunted Adventure' at Scarefest I can see how much more scarier the attraction is without the guns, and it did make me jump a lot even knowing what was coming next. So with the original effects and audio it must have been amazing! :D

I hope they bring the attraction back to its former glory without laser guns but I understand that'll never happen ???
 
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