Trooper Looper

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!

We got a teaser!!!

1) The Haunted House 2) Professor Burps Bubbleworks 3) Journey into Imagination 4) Space Mountain: De la terre à la lune 5) Toyland Tours 6) Tinkaboos Sweet Adventure 7) Terror Tomb 8) Shrieksville 9) Jaws, the ride 10) Horizons

@Theme Park FanaticWell, The Sparks Group did design both The Haunted House and Wicked Witches Haunt, so that probably explains why so many of the props are the same style, but John Wardley wasn't involved with Wicked Witches Haunt. If you're interested in that style, I highly suggest looking at the now defunct Shrieksville that used to be at Pleasure Island in cleethorpes. It was made a year after The Haunted House debuted in 1992, and was also designed by Sparks, which it also used a lot of familiar sound effects from The Haunted House. In scenes with Emily Alton being involved, only 2. The Skeleton Corridor, and the Finale. I'd rather have more unique scenes in the ride rather than something like the Gruffalo River Ride where there's exposition and the same characters reappear. In terms of the Giant Whitch prop, I doubt it'll be reused as we haven't seen it for 20 years now and is probably stored for preservation, or left to rot, and hopefully not the latter. I'd love to see a lot of Former Spark Group members to be given a gravestone or at least hinted in the new ride as an Easter egg.

1) The facade 2) The Drawing Room (Indoor Queue) 3) The Grand Hall 4) The Screaming Heads 5) The Sinister Garden Wouldn't really want the old scenes incorporated for Emily, but would rather have new scene implemented for Emily and have the old scenes speak for themselves in their original manner.

Double post sorry, but if anyone's interested, Euro Theme Park Archive has released a trailer of his Upcoming Haunted House documentary!

No problem. Thank you for taking your time to resolve this wee accident and being respectful in the situation! Anyway, let's try and actually discuss about Duel now!

I can still see it! Just press the backspace key on the keyboard, When writing the post, like deleting a letter, but a picture, it still works!!

Press/click the three dots on the bar your profile pic is on above the post of the screenshot, then select edit when it comes up, then delete the screenshot, and if you want to replace it with a edited version, just go over it in a colour, just doodle over both email addresses and your name. If you can't find a way to edit the screenshot on another app, just delete the screenshot. Don't allow any more bots to see it!

It's okay, you didn't mean to. It was a mistake, but by god, PLEASE EDIT THE SCREENSHOTS ON PAGE 9 OF THIS FORUM!!! YOURS AND JOHNS EMAIL IS STILL ON THERE!!!!!

Don't worry, I censored your name and email address on tower's Streets duel forum

You're right on his emial being revealed @Theme Park Fanatic I sugges to edit your screenshots and hide yout email. Don't want your privacy leaked, that's all. I think that JWs rides are just more unique as most of Disney rides heavily inspire pther rides or knock offs are made in other countries, but that doesn't seem to be the case with any of John's and Keith's work over the decades, they've managed to stay unique and beloved by many, even after their closure because they were never copied like HM and Pirates of the Caribbean. The closest ride I can thin of that feels very JW even before Chessington was built was Journey Into Imagination.

To me, I think he's legues above most of Disneys Imagineers because he adds such a lovely charm and unique feel to his rides that I haven't seen any other attraction not by him manage to recapture that feel. That and he's incredibly passionate about his career! Passion always leads to some great things being made!

Blimey its actually him!!! I'm more so surprises he replied to you!! This is brilliant news!!! I guess he must be relieved that it isn't a an Email about Nemesis XD! The Hainted House is probably his most passionate rife he's made outside of Nemesis that's still standing, so I'm sure he's more than thrilled to see epeiple still adore the Attraction, even if not many nowadays knew it ised to be a unique Haunted House ride. May I copy the screenshot to the TowersStreet Duel refurbishment forum if that's okay? I'll give you credit.