The Warehouse Ride

[Blizzard]

Lets start shall we...

Duel, one of the parks most famous ride, is quite frankly not living up to its concept. The exterior of the ride is still in great condition, it does really look like a proper "haunted house". Only what's happened to the loud bass music? I don't often hear it played much, and if it is played the sound & bass needs turning up a notch! The Music, along with the façade, should be the first major draw for guests. These days it just doesn't seem so powerful an atmosphere as it used to I'm sure!

Lets move on into the ride shall we...

So you enter the ride up the steps into the brilliantly themed interior walkthrough, this is all still looking & working well. Then you enter the car, and i'm afraid here there is only one thing I can say...

Those bloody blasters!

I understand the blasters are a focal point of duel, only I feel the ride relies on them far too much, after riding the ride twice with my cousins a week ago, we all agreed that the second time without using the blasters we all saw & took in so much more of the wonderfully crafted scenery! Bearing in mind these are non-enthusiasts ie you're average mainstream guest.

Only here lies the problem, if you can take yourself away from those darn blasters, you notice a bit too much... About 50% of the ride now you can actually tell you're in a warehouse, you can see the roof, the girders, everything! This is where lighting should come in.

If the lighting was used correctly as it was back in the days of the haunted house, the warehouse structure should not be at all visible. (I mean you don't even have to look up much at all to see it!) This should be a scary, dramatic, fun & magical experience. Going through a warehouse full of walls that look like they would fall at the slightest touch isn't.

All that never used to be visible, its all down to maintenance & lighting, not to mention that the ride needs a huge refurb anyway. These days people have far higher expectations, and duel just doesn't live up to those expectations these days.

I agree, much of the rides downfalls are due to lack of maintenance & bad lighting settings, but the ride definitely needs a massive update. It should be made to feel more adventurous and just that little bit more real feeling. The digning room scene is still the best part of the ride to me, if the rest of the ride could be of a similar standard nit would be all the better! The garden scene is also great, but that is where the warehouse becomes too visible, it just looses its charm.

I still ride duel on every visit just for novelty's sake, always hoping it will be more entertaining, but it just fails to do that in my opinion.

What do you lot think on this?

 

[Novas]

I hate all blaster rides. I can't think of a single one that I've been on that has been anything more than pointing the gun at a mass of lights and pulling the trigger as many times as possible before your arm feels like it's going to fall off.

Still, atleast it's not as bad as Toy Story Mania...

 

[James]

Every single friend I've taken on Duel, non-enthausiasts have agreed that the ride is far more enjoyable without the blasters.

One of my friends even said it's "a waste of time when you could be actually enjoying the ride, not pointlessly waving around a piece of plastic that detracts you from it" - makes me wonder if many other guests think the same.

I think the shooting was just a 00s novelty, a bit like 3D in cinemas (which is now on a slow decline) - it was fun at the time but just something people would like for a short while. If anything it is now more of a gimmick.

Seeing the warehouse can be a bit of a problem. I'm sure a few lighting changes would fix it though. As long as lighting focuses on the scenery then guests should be concentrating on this enough for them not to notice the warehouse around them. With a warehouse the size of Duel though, there is no easy way to hide it - it's a massive building to cover.

 

[Alastair]

With a warehouse the size of Duel though, there is no easy way to hide it - it's a massive building to cover.

If you've ever ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Magic Kingdom (or indeed any of the Disney parks) - THAT is the way to cover up a huge warehouse. And by huge, I mean the ceiling is much higher than that on Duel. Yet you go into it and genuinely feel as though you're outside at night, it's so well done. No trace of the warehouse is evident.

 

[electricBlll]

Haunted Houses shouldn't necessarily be convincingly immersive, though. Part of the charm of a great ghost train is that it's all fake and melodramatic but you have a romp anyway. I'm sure you could tell you were in a warehouse if you looked out for it since the ride opened, the problem is now there isn't much to distract you after most of the big effects have been toned down/removed.

Duel is a great ride and lots of fun but there could have been so much more to it.

 

[NF2]

Whilst I agree with Alaistair about POTC, that's probably the exception rather than the rule, even Disney are guilty of this at times - Dinosaur has sections with bare concrete walls and even Forbidden Journey at IOA has some very obvious warehouse moments. Convincing a guest they are outdoors when they are actually inside is a VERY tough act to get right and I can think of very few successful examples.

With Duel some parts are worse than others - obviously the lab area at the end can afford to look a little industrial, but that's laziness and a coincidence more than it is a conscious effort at theming. I can't really recall what this section felt like back when it was the Swamp but seeing it was the same space I imagine the issues would have been the same. Like others have said, all they can do is keep the lighting from allowing riders to see anything not part of the ride experience. POTC does it with very low lighting and a high ceiling, whilst this means the outdoor illusion is fantastic, I find it can be a little too dark at times which means you can't make out the details if the scenery.

But maybe that's just me

 

[GaryH]

We seem to be forgetting though that Duel is for families, and kids love guns, lasers and shooting things!

 

[josht]

We seem to be forgetting though that Duel is for families, and kids love guns, lasers and shooting things!

The modern children, but yeah they do

 

[delta79]

I have ridden duel with my daughter, she was happily shooting away not seeing the building fabric that is visible. I on the other hand lost points to her, as I kept taking my eye of targets to look at the building fabric.

 

[Earthwürm]

I hate all blaster rides. I can't think of a single one that I've been on that has been anything more than pointing the gun at a mass of lights and pulling the trigger as many times as possible before your arm feels like it's going to fall off.

Still, atleast it's not as bad as Toy Story Mania...

I've been to a fair few theme parks around the world and never found a blaster ride as enjoyable as the Golden Nugget Shootout at Drayton Manor. It's different in that its very light in that building, it doesnt rely on the dark to hide its flaws. Very compact but that actually works in its favour as its not so long you're bored and aching. There's no LED's. The targets are well placed meaning you have to actually look for things to shoot. And it's actually interactive like so many others claim to be, in that shooting targets triggers effects around the ride (you can shoot the bottles off the walls!). I'm no huge fan of blasters, but if a park has to have one, they'd struggle to do much better than DM, and that's something I never thought I'd say!

 

[MPDarby]

I hate all blaster rides. I can't think of a single one that I've been on that has been anything more than pointing the gun at a mass of lights and pulling the trigger as many times as possible before your arm feels like it's going to fall off.

Still, atleast it's not as bad as Toy Story Mania...

I've been to a fair few theme parks around the world and never found a blaster ride as enjoyable as the Golden Nugget Shootout at Drayton Manor. It's different in that its very light in that building, it doesnt rely on the dark to hide its flaws. Very compact but that actually works in its favour as its not so long you're bored and aching. There's no LED's. The targets are well placed meaning you have to actually look for things to shoot. And it's actually interactive like so many others claim to be, in that shooting targets triggers effects around the ride (you can shoot the bottles off the walls!). I'm no huge fan of blasters, but if a park has to have one, they'd struggle to do much better than DM, and that's something I never thought I'd say!

I 100% agree. I've always felt that golden nuggets gets a bad press but it is a good ride. The only problem (as with a lot of rides at DMP) is the lack of maintenance. A bit of tlc wouldn't go a miss.

If AT insist on a shoot 'em ride it should be like this but I would love to see the Haunted House return to its original state.

 

[James]

If you've ever ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Magic Kingdom (or indeed any of the Disney parks) - THAT is the way to cover up a huge warehouse. And by huge, I mean the ceiling is much higher than that on Duel. Yet you go into it and genuinely feel as though you're outside at night, it's so well done. No trace of the warehouse is evident.

I've never been to the Magic Kingdom one sadly. Although I did visit the one in Paris back in 2003/2004.

I do agree that Disney do it very well. Although I did notice one or two empty spot on the DLP ride. But then I'm very anal with dark rides so can easily observe every little spot of the ride and pick out flaws. On the whole though, I do agree, you would never know you were inside a warehouse.

---

Duel used to do it quite well. Alton will never quite reach Disney standards, although I think the original Haunted House is the nearest a UK park has ever gotten to that kind of quality. It still is a great dark ride. It's just with years of changes and then the Duel additions the great care and attention to hide the warehouse has been lost.

It's not ruined now though. I still think you can be immersed as long as you aren't looking up. We're enthusiasts so naturally look out for what's not working, your average guest does not aim to look for corrugated metal when they're on an haunted house ride.

The only thing that doesn't work for Duel for me are the LEDs. It was a small fad that I could quite happily see the back of.

 

[djtruefitt]

I hate all blaster rides. I can't think of a single one that I've been on that has been anything more than pointing the gun at a mass of lights and pulling the trigger as many times as possible before your arm feels like it's going to fall off.

Still, atleast it's not as bad as Toy Story Mania...

I've been to a fair few theme parks around the world and never found a blaster ride as enjoyable as the Golden Nugget Shootout at Drayton Manor. It's different in that its very light in that building, it doesnt rely on the dark to hide its flaws. Very compact but that actually works in its favour as its not so long you're bored and aching. There's no LED's. The targets are well placed meaning you have to actually look for things to shoot. And it's actually interactive like so many others claim to be, in that shooting targets triggers effects around the ride (you can shoot the bottles off the walls!). I'm no huge fan of blasters, but if a park has to have one, they'd struggle to do much better than DM, and that's something I never thought I'd say!

I 100% agree. I've always felt that golden nuggets gets a bad press but it is a good ride. The only problem (as with a lot of rides at DMP) is the lack of maintenance. A bit of tlc wouldn't go a miss.

If AT insist on a shoot 'em ride it should be like this but I would love to see the Haunted House return to its original state.

I have to agree! I really quite like Golden Nugget, yes there are quite a lot of bad parts of the ride, but there are also lots of good points! You could do the ride 4 or 5 times and hit different targets, which reveal/do different things. Something the likes of Duel doesnt, you are just shooting at random lights all over the walls. At least on golden nugget there are very few targets, the targets are harder to hit and when you do hit one they do something!

We did Golden Nugget a few weeks ago, and it seems in quite good condition, with the majority of effects working.

 

[Blizzard]

Would it not make sense to add flat ceilings to the rooms or something? It would hide the warehouse and make lighting more efficient. Only I imagine the would be many hurdles stopping them from doing this. If it just felt more like a "haunted house" with separate rooms so you actually feel like you're exploring an abandoned house? If low-ceiling corridors were added with doors either side, where the train takes a sharp left through a doorway and into another room. The dining room scene is a perfect example of good scene making. Some "bang doors" wouldn't go a miss either making it feel more confined, separating the rooms/areas. Something like that anyway.

And that final zombie section has to go, its a complete waste of space, and the blasters turn off well before you reach the station anyway so it kinda ends the ride on a downer.

What bothers me is that the ride just has so much potential!!!

 

[Dungeons master]

I've too noticed the warehouse look inside went on 10th August and went on it about 3 times in a row, only because we had a child with. First ride I used the gun, 2nd ride the laser gun was broken so gave up shooting, and just viewed it as a standard ghost train, which I thought was better. Does anyone find that after you use the gun for a minute your fingers hurt afterwards?
The best bit is the slanted floors at the beginning kind of reminds me of a fun house. If anyone has been to lego land discovery centre I find kingdom quest a better shooting ride, shooting at tv screens.

 

[Alastair]

Does anyone find that after you use the gun for a minute your fingers hurt afterwards?

Yeah, if you aren't a pianist then the lactic acid build up happens very quickly

 

[Olii]

On a somewhat off-topic, but also on topic I suppose, note, being the grammar nazi that I am, I have noticed a spelling mistake in the Duel extended queue line;

As I'm sure most people are aware, in that sense, the word is spelled 'plague'.

Spelling mistakes look as though they may be becoming a recurring theme at Alton, don't they?