John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
There is a precident for this - BPB had a diagrammatic map on the back of their main map a few years ago. Colour coded lines included thrill rides, family rides and non-ride attractions.
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Towers Loving Care
- Thread starter Randomizer462
- Start date
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I believe that they wanted to do more than they have but budgets did not allow for it.
Dave
TS Founding Member
It’s a plant, who cares what they have spent.
Fountain would have been nice but they would have needed an 18ft high fence around it with “danger of death” signs posted every 3 inches.
Steve74
TS Member
I think TLC replied on that post somewhere that the first order of personalised bricks have been delayed because of the bad weather a few weeks ago.
themeparkfan
TS Member
What a shame the tunnel isn't working especially as duel will probably be the only open ride on the theme park with hex tomorrow (reference mirror newspaper) what a shame there are not more indoor rides
Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk
That's not grey, they're gold!
JSG093
TS Member
For those curious about Duel here's some shaky phone footage I shot earlier -
Some thoughts -
-The PreShow videos have been replaced with
-LED UV is hit and miss. Thought the front of the trommel and the window zombies looked good though I thought the garden and other areas looked bad. Nowhere near as bad as Tomb Blaster though.
-The animations that were slow/broken remain the same, although they are working on the trommel.
-Disappointed the repetitive stock sound effects are still in use and haven't brought back the originals.
-Only one screaming head lit up though looked good, will have to wait what the final result is like.
-New music is pretty good.
It's a lot better than it was and TLC is ongoing so some things will be timed and lit up properly, but without a proper redevelopment it's probably the best you can get.
Some thoughts -
-The PreShow videos have been replaced with
that run of the mill ATMOSFX Living Portraits DVD you see everywhere (The Haunting Drayton Manor, Dracula Experience Whitby, Terror Tower Scarborough) and peoples living room windows at Halloween.
-The animations that were slow/broken remain the same, although they are working on the trommel.
-Disappointed the repetitive stock sound effects are still in use and haven't brought back the originals.
-Only one screaming head lit up though looked good, will have to wait what the final result is like.
-New music is pretty good.
It's a lot better than it was and TLC is ongoing so some things will be timed and lit up properly, but without a proper redevelopment it's probably the best you can get.
DiogoJ42
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Metropolitan Line
The other day, someone at work mentioned that when she took her daughter to Towers last year, "nothing was working in the Haunted House".
I showed her some of the pics in this thread of the old UV vs the new LED crap. Her comment? "I think I prefered it when nothing worked."
(To be fair, she has worked in lighting as long as I have).
I showed her some of the pics in this thread of the old UV vs the new LED crap. Her comment? "I think I prefered it when nothing worked."
(To be fair, she has worked in lighting as long as I have).
waffa
TS Member
It looks like they blew all their budget on an a soundtrack that sounds like the godfather theme
Seriously though it feels so ad hoc and low budget, the led lighting has no drama or subtlety and theUV is so purple and bright it just ruins its effect.
The repainted Screaming heads look great but is ruined by the bright UV lighting up its mechanism and the head in waiting behind!
The main focus should have been getting the mechanisms back to their original speed with resoration of the original lighting and sfx...the lunatic hasn't even got his hair back the poor guy
also the atmosfx paintings in the drawing room ....
Seriously though it feels so ad hoc and low budget, the led lighting has no drama or subtlety and theUV is so purple and bright it just ruins its effect.
The repainted Screaming heads look great but is ruined by the bright UV lighting up its mechanism and the head in waiting behind!
The main focus should have been getting the mechanisms back to their original speed with resoration of the original lighting and sfx...the lunatic hasn't even got his hair back the poor guy
also the atmosfx paintings in the drawing room ....
JSG093
TS Member
The AtmosFX portraits are by far the worst thing. The majority of the original HH portraits were based of Les Edwards artwork and thus had to be removed, although he offers licensing for using his artwork on his website and rumor is they archived the reproductions, so something potentially could have been set up if that's true but obviously they'd need the budget for it.
Full credit to the guy that lives in the gardens conservatory (I like to think that) for producing a terrific full soundtrack though. A lot of people are saying they preferred the old track but I can't say i'll miss it and definitely feel this new set of tracks is a lot more effective.
Full credit to the guy that lives in the gardens conservatory (I like to think that
) for producing a terrific full soundtrack though. A lot of people are saying they preferred the old track but I can't say i'll miss it and definitely feel this new set of tracks is a lot more effective.
Imagination
TS Member
That music is god awful....hopefully it sounds better in person/is a grower.
PeteB
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Ok, well I haven't seen in it person but there's a few things I can pickup and critique from that video. First of all:
The rainbow puke colour scheme!
Why does every scene need to be fully washed in full power red, green, or blue with very harsh hotspotting? It's not natural or theatrical. The original ride was lit in warmer and softer tungsten colour temperatures in scenes which didn't require blacklight.
Seriously, lighting is a major issue here. Take a look at how these two new(ish) Disney dark rides are lit - it's done with LED, except for the real black light tubes (which you can actually see in one shot on Pirates).
Mystic Manor (Hong Kong Disneyland)
Pirates of The Caribbean (Shanghai Disneyland)
Again, these rides are lit in softer and warmer tungsten yellows/off-whites, with only pale blues, reds, and greens used for effects or highlights . I would hope that the new LED fixtures they've installed in Duel would be the RGBW type - W meaning White which allows for the creation of pastel shades. If so it should be an easy fix.
I would also like to see most of these new lights covered in frost filters to soften the harsh look. Barn doors should also be used to better control where light hits in each scene.
Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about the LED UV's. We knew from previous photos this what they were using and I'm quite saddened. Often in dark rides, blacklight is not used to make things glow, rather it's used to make things disappear - i.e. black walls and black painted mechs. This can't be done with the fixtures they're using, so it's hopeless. All of the special effects which require blacklight are now ruined unless they rip out the fixtures and buy new, real black light tubes.
The new ride audio is a nice refreshing touch, it's a little whimsical and not as forboding as the original Haunted House soundtrack but it's a vast improvement on Duel. Although I did prefer Duel's outdoor graveyard music (and actually prefer the original Gloomy Wood music over that).
The queueline tidy up (both exterior and interior) is very nice and a good job well done, however I must agree that the home halloween decorations (living portraits) were a dredful choice and not something I would expect to see in a theme park. PLEASE replace the video in these screens with something custom made. Also what would have made them vastly better is if the screens had been treated with an oil paint texture and the brightness levels turned down so they look like real paintings - like the living portraits in Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey. The only saving grace here is that they've replaced the silly news broadcasts, which I'm glad to see the back of.
Lighting is once again an issue in the queue, with random hot spots of red and green appearing out of nowhere.
I'm not sure if the lightning strikes behind the windows have been restored? That would be very nice if they had.
The timing and movement quality of the animatronics and effects around the ride doesn't appear to have been touched at all. 90% of what I saw there either isn't working, or timing is completely off. One scene in particular which should be addressed first is the screeming room. It's a very effective scene with only a few moving parts, the rest is all done with strobes. Fix this please! Of course, it will never be what it was because the blacklight effect is ruined.
I was really hoping for the splitting face effect at the end of the trommel to have been removed. Saddly it hasn't.
Various bits of paintwork around the ride do look nice. Credit where credit's due. It's brought some of the detail and clarity back, although this would have looked even better had scenes and effects been lit correctly.
To sum up, based on what I can see, I'd give the following scores:
Lighting - 1/10
Audio - 7/10
Paintwork - 8/10
Animatronics Maintenance - 2/10
Queueline - 4/10
Just my opinion, but I hope a lot of this can be fixed in the coming weeks.
- EDIT - Does anyone know if the smell pots have returned in the queue entrance hallway and around the ride?
The rainbow puke colour scheme!
Why does every scene need to be fully washed in full power red, green, or blue with very harsh hotspotting? It's not natural or theatrical. The original ride was lit in warmer and softer tungsten colour temperatures in scenes which didn't require blacklight.
Seriously, lighting is a major issue here. Take a look at how these two new(ish) Disney dark rides are lit - it's done with LED, except for the real black light tubes (which you can actually see in one shot on Pirates).
Mystic Manor (Hong Kong Disneyland)
Pirates of The Caribbean (Shanghai Disneyland)
Again, these rides are lit in softer and warmer tungsten yellows/off-whites, with only pale blues, reds, and greens used for effects or highlights . I would hope that the new LED fixtures they've installed in Duel would be the RGBW type - W meaning White which allows for the creation of pastel shades. If so it should be an easy fix.
I would also like to see most of these new lights covered in frost filters to soften the harsh look. Barn doors should also be used to better control where light hits in each scene.
Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about the LED UV's. We knew from previous photos this what they were using and I'm quite saddened. Often in dark rides, blacklight is not used to make things glow, rather it's used to make things disappear - i.e. black walls and black painted mechs. This can't be done with the fixtures they're using, so it's hopeless. All of the special effects which require blacklight are now ruined unless they rip out the fixtures and buy new, real black light tubes.
The new ride audio is a nice refreshing touch, it's a little whimsical and not as forboding as the original Haunted House soundtrack but it's a vast improvement on Duel. Although I did prefer Duel's outdoor graveyard music (and actually prefer the original Gloomy Wood music over that).
The queueline tidy up (both exterior and interior) is very nice and a good job well done, however I must agree that the home halloween decorations (living portraits) were a dredful choice and not something I would expect to see in a theme park. PLEASE replace the video in these screens with something custom made. Also what would have made them vastly better is if the screens had been treated with an oil paint texture and the brightness levels turned down so they look like real paintings - like the living portraits in Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey. The only saving grace here is that they've replaced the silly news broadcasts, which I'm glad to see the back of.
Lighting is once again an issue in the queue, with random hot spots of red and green appearing out of nowhere.
I'm not sure if the lightning strikes behind the windows have been restored? That would be very nice if they had.
The timing and movement quality of the animatronics and effects around the ride doesn't appear to have been touched at all. 90% of what I saw there either isn't working, or timing is completely off. One scene in particular which should be addressed first is the screeming room. It's a very effective scene with only a few moving parts, the rest is all done with strobes. Fix this please! Of course, it will never be what it was because the blacklight effect is ruined.
I was really hoping for the splitting face effect at the end of the trommel to have been removed. Saddly it hasn't.
Various bits of paintwork around the ride do look nice. Credit where credit's due. It's brought some of the detail and clarity back, although this would have looked even better had scenes and effects been lit correctly.
To sum up, based on what I can see, I'd give the following scores:
Lighting - 1/10
Audio - 7/10
Paintwork - 8/10
Animatronics Maintenance - 2/10
Queueline - 4/10
Just my opinion, but I hope a lot of this can be fixed in the coming weeks.
- EDIT - Does anyone know if the smell pots have returned in the queue entrance hallway and around the ride?
Last edited:
Bert2theSpark
TS Member
I must say that the new Duel looks great, It gives a new atmosphere on the ride and the 'Duel' scenes and 'Haunted House' scenes both work together but they work in such a way that feels complete and not like the maish mash mosh Duel we knew before.
The lighting looks to have drastically improved offering quite a few more jumpscares in the ride and offers a great atmosphere and the audio give a great vibe off too. It feels like a retheme but with the same name and theming.
The lighting looks to have drastically improved offering quite a few more jumpscares in the ride and offers a great atmosphere and the audio give a great vibe off too. It feels like a retheme but with the same name and theming.
waffa
TS Member
It's not the triggers it's the mechanisms themselves that need servicing, they run so much slower than they used to and lose any of the shock effect
It also seems the LED lamps have a bad fade time, meaning the light doesn't fade to black they just turn off at a certain point which looks quite cheap and untheatrical
It seems like the intention is there to make Duel decent again, but all the decisions seem a tad amateur and frankly a waste of money and time to simply add some uv glitter on a ageing turd
It also seems the LED lamps have a bad fade time, meaning the light doesn't fade to black they just turn off at a certain point which looks quite cheap and untheatrical
It seems like the intention is there to make Duel decent again, but all the decisions seem a tad amateur and frankly a waste of money and time to simply add some uv glitter on a ageing turd