Trooper Looper

I'd much prefer if it was the inside of the shop painted blue and the outside stayed the same originally.

@Theme Park Fanatic If the refurbishment does ever occur, I think my list of what needs to be done would be pretty damn long to be honest. I know a big number of families (even my own) are saying it's a bit the story was a bit unnecessarily dark for a family ride, that and the ride segment is a bit too scary for quite a few kids. I wouldn't really change the overall lighting apart from the dining hall. The new lighting in there ruins the mirror effect. Some of these choices of mine are optional, but I'd fix up the window on the facade and clean it up a bit. I know its supposed to look old, but I personally think they overdid it a bit. I'd change the Preston video and effects. I'd like the chandeliers back on flickering, it's very dark in there and you miss a lot of details, and tone down the actual backstory it tells you in there. Instead of Emily killing her parents, why not she simply disappears without a trace? I'd remove a lot of the UV words in the station and ride segment, they look really cheap to me personally. In terms of the props, I'd have a lot of different things here. The ride pretty much only has Emily, dolls, a hooded ghost, and some spiders, there not really unique and the lack of variety makes the ride pretty boring after a while. Duel/The Haunted House had a wonderful variety of ghouls/creatures, each scene offered something different from the others, which the ride severely lacks now personally apart from a few exceptions such as the Mirror Corridor. I'd remove half of the dolls in the attic of Spiders and add more spiders in there hanging down. I'd bring back the flying demon in the Grand Hall, but make it make sense in there with the story. I'd redo the trommel area and replace the fireplace with something a little more memorable. I think the Hide N Seek scene needs a lot of work. What a lot of people want is for it to go back to the giant lair, but have the hands be Emily's as if she's trying to find you in the house. The screaming heads needs new heads and sound effects apart from the last one which breathes smoke. The new heads need to be smaller/lighter since I hear the reason the mechanisms are so slow is because the new heads are too heavy. I'd have the new heads share the same style of the original ones but still being different and unique from one another. I think the Garden is very cluttered now with stick props. I'd get the old peppers ghost effect back in the hearse and replace the figure that jumps out with something like the cackling man, or why not a possessed person? As for the finale, I think too much happens in there. I'd remove the hand cloth, it doesn't scare anyone, though mint sure what id do in there. Let me know your thoughts!

Hey @Theme Park Fanatic, I've been thinking for a while about replying to your post, and, I won't lie, it's been quite a while to think this reply through properly since the ride opened. Firstly, I'm not a frequent visitor of Alton Towers. I only go around 2-4 times a year, some thoosies I know go around 10-15 times a year. As for my opinions of Alton Manor as a whole, I'm still not a great fan of it for the most part, heck, for some peculiar reason, I'm starting to Prefer Duel, though not because of the guns and zombies. I do agree that the Hide N Seek scenes are horrendous, though I've managed to notice from flashes that that Scenes from Duel are still there, though painted black. With your question about me knowing if the ride will undergo any changes for next year, I haven't a clue sorry. I'm as clueless as you and everybody else are. With the animatronics, this is my biggest problem with the ride, NONE OF THEM ARE MEMORABLE. I can remember still from Duel without a second thought, but I have to intentionally search POVs of Alton Manor to remember what's new. The only new thing that's memorable/an improvement is the Mirror Corridor. I can still remember you emailing John Wardley, asking him if anything from the original ride would remains, and him replying that, "Everything you knew and loved from the Original Haunted House will be here to stay." Looking back at that, I feel like I've kinda been punched in the stomach. There is almost NOTHING from the original ride left apart from what remains of the indoor queue, the dining room, some mechanics, a single prop, and the sinister gardens scenery. Pretyy much everything that I loved from the Haunted House and what made it 'The Haunted House' is now gone, and presumably carelessly thrown in skips and in little pieces. The ride used to be an atmospheric journey through an old house with a few jumpscares, now every scene is nearly cluttered with them aside from a few exceptions, and they all fall flat personally. They're trying to hard to be scary, rather than being good and appropriate. The new ghosts are also a huge downgrade. Back in Duel/The Haunted House, each being had its own personality by simply looking at their face, they were a little goofy, and unique to one another, and helped with a great variety of unexpected beings and scares, it have the ride a lot of charm, which a lot of modern dark rides lack. Now it's just an evil girl that's possessed, some evil dolls, a hooded demonic figure, and a few Spiders. That's it. Compare that to Duel/The Haunted House, its nothing in terms of variety and uniqueness. The John Wardley/Sparks Creative feel the ride had is now gone. Is it a bad new ride though, no, the lighting is a huge improvement from Duel, especiallythe UV, though I think it's a little too 'in your face' and sensory overload in a lot of places, if you get what I mean. Sometimes holding back is what makes a ghost train so effective. I think the ride is a 'bit' too scary and dark for quite a few families, especially with the unnecessarily dark story behind it, A girl that gets possessed, then killing her parents. I love the revamped area, so I spend a good hour in there chilling. The amount of kids from 7-9 I see either crying, a bit upset, or not even that happy are quite frequent, even on a busy day. The age demographic I see mostly happy after riding are people ranging from 12 years old and onward, ESPECIALLY Alton Towers Enthusiasts. For a family ride,I think this ride fails at that in a lot of places aside from the Outdoor area. My last time I went, I had around 5 rides on it, TRYING to enjoy it more than Duel, but failed. I noticed quite a few families coming off saying how much they miss Duel!! Sorry about this rant folks, I didn't know where else to post this but here. All in all, I'd rate 'The Exorcist/Annabelle The ride' a 6/10. Not great personally, but not terrible.

If anyone wants to see the Documentary, here you go!! https://youtu.be/bFp2FyHwspg

I'm really disappointed with The Curse at Alton Manor (I can already hear the horde chasing after me), let me explain myself. Is it a bad quality experience? Good lord no, the area and the queue is fantastic, and the characters that walk around are hilarious!! It has good lighting and some nice effects. I just think it's tone is very unnecessarily dark and grim, especially for being marketed as a family attraction. Personally I can only see people aged 12 and above really enjoying this ride and most below that age being more scared than actually having fun. They removed most of my favourite elements from duel/HH for either screens or dolls on sticks, which was a bad move Personally and removes a lot of the rides character. Most of the praise so far has came from mostly die hard UK enthusiats and nearly no reviews from the GP so far as it's only been open for one weekend, which is pretty ideal for most families to visit the park. Let the hype die down and see if the attraction can still stand on its own legs in terms of what it's target audience thinks of it, and ignoring the Easter eggs, since most of the praise so far has came from nods to past attractions in the ride. Sure the ride can be scary, but I think it needs some good humour to go with it (but good lord is the story way too dark and serious, and that's coming from me, a ghost train lover.) The park already has enough gritty themes and wacky cuddly themes, I think this could've been the chance to refurb this ride as a nice balance of both, offering something for everyone of all ages.

I don't really have a huge issue with the props going as ling as they're replaced with new props of the same quality, but personally for a good chunk of the ride didn't do this. The zombies being replaced by dolls were an easy improvement and was much creepier, same with the new screaming heads. But with things like the undertaker, the Flying Demons and the column ghost being replaced with literally nothing was just really disappointing for me, and no, I don't count projections as replacments. The Flying Demons literally could've been redone into something like demon dolls, with pale and cracked skin. Imagine if the one that used to hold the rat was now holding a human skull while saying something like "Delicious", it would've explained what happened to the guests lol. A bit gross though, ha! It's much darker and would fit in pretty well and explains the disappearance of the guests and Emily parents. But hey, that's just me. In terms of scenes of complete darkness, yeah, the giant's lair really shows this... yeah isn't not great is it. I'm sure the lighting will improve as the years pass, or they'll leave the effects to break until they're broken and replace the ride with a new one. Let's hope anything but the latter on that. It's a definite upgrade from duel in terms of lighting and effects, but personally props wise it's a downgrade for me in certain aspects.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW: So I rode it today, and I won't lie, it's a bit of a marmite situation. Some parts I really liked, some I didn't like. The area outside is simply fantastic!!! The new gravestones in the queue really fit the vive of the original ones being really finny deaths while some are nods to rides in the past. The indoor queue is okay, not a fan of the UV Words all over the wall, seems very generic to me. The actual new dolls house is great looking! Wish it was a bit brighter in there, turn up those chandeliers up a bit. The station is nicely done. Not too underdone but not too extreme. Now, onto the actual ride itself. So the poltergeist room is still there and integrated really well into the first scene, though the lights behind them don't seem to flicker as well as previously, but I'm sure the lighting will be perfected at the end of the year. The grand Hall.... oh boy, this is a downgrade to me, the Flying Demons are no more and are replaced by... a projection of Emily standing still. A small ghoul seems to swoop over you, which is a nice effect. The trommel. ITS BACK IN BUSINESS BABY. The trommel is actually tunring now, but the theming in the room is entirely different, from a gothic corridor with a giant skull about to swallow you whole is replaced by some portraits, a crack in the wall, and a very thin fireplace replacing the face. The giants lair is mostly pitch black, but there a new set between the trommel and the giant's lair with Emily. The window where the giant used to be (the only thing you can see in there) is repurposed with a trio of toys that resemble Emily and her parents, then a giant station hand prop is lit above right before you enter the hall of spiders. Most of it has been rethemed to an attic with dolls replacing the zombies, and a set of new spiders, thankfully the giant spider still remains, but with more eyes that glow now. The ghost corridor is completely different, with a car by your side which reveals Emily sitting in it, followed by a doll jumping put on your left. Now, onto the screaming heads. The iconic scream is sadly no more and the heads have been replaced with much larger and sinister ones, though they don't have any sound effects. The Sinister garden is still very familiar with most of the sets mostly untouced aside from additional props of dolls, but the undertaker, the lunatic, the grim reaper, and the column ghost are no more. With the undertaker and the column ghost being replaced by nothing, but the lunatic has been replaced by a doll, same with the grim reaper, with this doll sharing the same illusion to pirates of The Caribbean where the pirate turns into a skeleton. With the doll, it just disappears. The scene before the lab is where the giant dolls house is at. The final still has a lot of the old lab intact, but the zombies is replaced by toys and deformed dolls. Some of the walls are replaced by projections and set pieces such as oversized boxes. The final scare is where a static prop of Emily but giant trying to grab you, this was where the photo is, same where it was in duel. The gargoyle at the end has a clock in it's mouth, and that's the ride. The gift shop is much darker themed and the ride has its own merchandise. All in all, it's okay, but not my type of ghost train. It's a bit too serious and dark in some places personally, and I think the removal of most of the previous props and replaced with projections was a disappointment to me. But on its own, ignoring its past, its a nice dark ride, but maybe not for young kids. All in all first impressions are a 7.5/10

My thoughts regarding the dining room differ. This New's article mentions flying demons being in the attraction, which what those ghouls were called! https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/birmingham/2023/03/13/new-attraction-set-to-take-people-on-haunting-ride/

Don't Disney do that on Phantom Manor already though?

Here's a comparison between to when it was Duel to now.

I can't tell I'd you're being sarcastic or not... I think you're taking this too serious and stop saying things that'll happen when there's no evidence. If Tomb Blaster was being redone, there would've been an announcement from the park by now. No one can tell the future, its physically impossible 🙄 There are other things you can talk about the Refurb for Duel that isn't linked to Emily and Snowy, like the music, the facade, etc. It can be a bit annoying when you keep going on about Emily and Snowy, so I just wanna give some advice out (not in a rude manner), don't keep going on the same thing. I know this return is incredibly exciting for many, including me, but we have to remember that we the General Public don't know a damn thing what's going in inside there apart from a few photos. So saying that this is gonna happen with no physical evidence from the park officially isn't really well liked by many. Hope you understand. Anyway, out of that now, there seems to be some work being done to the facade, not a huge fan of it personally outside of the turret. It seems pretty bland and boring with the lack of colour, unlike the previous look, but I'm hoping this is still a work in progress and it'll hopefully look better when it opens.

I definitely think the dining hall is staying as if you notice the wall behind the girl in justnby the bust that used to scream at you before the scene, and you can notice the chequer flooring and the columns on each side. Do we know if the carriages will be similar or keep any of the old traits the older ones had?

Double post sorry, but in case of anyone's missed out, we've got our first prioer teaser!!

@Theme Park Fanaticmay I ask, what group are you on Facebook? I'd like to see if there's anymore news about this refurb!!

That's great news!!! Always liked the not too over the top theming on the pews/cars had with the wood-carved goat face. Glad they didn't retheme them, why would they anyway when it'd going to still be a haunted House theme? Thank you for sharing the news!