Trooper Looper

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.

Are you sure. You might've had the wrong email. Here's his official one: http://www.john-wardley.co.uk/contact.html By God if he did reply to you, please take a screenshot and share it. I'd love to see the email. But to answer your questions, I'd love to see it's name return to 'The Hainted House'. I wouldn't mind if they added something to the name, but hope they keep It's original name with it. Quite sad that there probably won't be a swamp scene in the new ride. That looked wicked with the big dragon coming out of the gargoyles mouth. :( Really hope he keeps projections, screens, and a lot of digital stuff outside of the attraction and sticks with proper illusions and Animatronics. still bot a huge fan of Emily being heavily involved with the ride. Hope she only gets one scene and doesn't pop on every scene to deliver some exposition.

Let's just hope Emily is only present in the queue line instead of the actual ride section, replacing the unique ideas and inhabitants of the house. I wouldn't mind if she was just mascot, but not something like Ratatouille at DisneyLand Paris where the main character is in most scenes. Also, sorry @Theme Park Fanatic but there's been photos of the Trommel face being ripped out on Towers Street twitter. Let's just hope they're only removed for technical reasons, maybe to get access to certain areas of the Trommel. Both photos below are credited to TowersStreet. The first photo of the jaw, and the second is of both of the eyeballs that'd roll in red.

I've not done too many rides in my life, but here's my top 10 in general speaking, and I'll explain why. 10) Tomb Blaster If this was its pre 2020 vetsion, it wouldn't even be a top 35, but since then, I think it's a wonderful experience with a good narrative and some great lighting and scenes. 9) Vampire Yeah, it's a bit rough, but it's interaction with the terrain and the unique swinging trains. The queue and station do a phenomenal job building up the tension to the eventual ride experience. Easily the best themed in the UK. 8) Hex, The Legend Of The Towers Whilst I may give the actual Madhouse experience to the Huanting, Hex really makes up with it's Incredibly storytelling, lighting, sets, and the audio! It's one of the most immersive and engaging Indoor rides out there, thanks to the story being mostly true. The smell pods are fantastic as well! 7) Spaceship Earth If I could describe Spaceship Earth with one word, it'd be magical, it has a great concept of showing how the Human race has evolved over time and what our intellect has done to our races benefic. The narrative is really charming as well, and the ride carries some simple, but great effects. Let's not forget how long the ride is, I think it's around a good 14 minutes long. For a Dark Ride, that's Incredible. Really wish they kept more of Epcits original attractions, would've loved to have rode them. 6) Pirates of the Caribbean (Florida) I've haven't had the chance to go do Disneyland in California Yet, but for now I'm still really grestful to have ridden the one in florida, even though its considered the inferior version. The Queue is really charming and feels quite real. The main ride section has some really great drops, lighting and set pieces for a water ride, especially the Scene where the Pirate ship is attacking the costal forts. Its a must do for me I'd I ever get to go to Magic Kingodn ever again! 5) Revenge of The Mummy I rememberbeing absolutely terrifiedwhen queuingfor this ride for the first time. This ride is a perfect mix of pure adrenaline fun, and nightmare fuel. The Mummy animatronic at the beginning absolutely scared me when I first saw it from it's realistic movements, thinking it was real. The launch is really good, the layout is really thrilling for an indoor Coaster, and the pyrotechnics in the fake station are a highlight as you can feel the heat coming from those flames! One of the best indoor rides period. 4) Oblivion While it may be a short ride, it definitely makes up for that Drop. Honestly, still one kf the best drops on any roller coaster out there. The branding and themong make up for a great queueline and really makes you nervous whenever you're queuing up for it. Let's not forget the Fantastic footage of the Lord of Darkness on the queueand station, he's definitely the cherry on the cake and can easily make first timers reconsider when queueing. It's also got one of the best Soundtracks for any coaster and really fits with the late 90s, gritty, Sci fi feel. 3) Duel/The Haunted House If I had to pick one ride that I'd say was underrated or unappreciated, I'd pick this one. Duel or The Haunted House is easily one of the most charming, and immersive dark rides in the UK. Yeah, it's not looked great for a while, but the props and scenes are still some of the best made ever. The ride system is also a one of a kind and has a phenomenal throughput. I can only imagine how amazing the ride was when it was the Haunted House, especially in its first few years. I don't really touch the blasters, I mostly just enjoy the screen and take it in which is easily the battery experience. Statistics wise, it's not all that impressive as a ride, but it has such character snd some really unique ideas that I think it makes up for easily. It also has a great indoor queue, well at least before the 2021 change. It had abroom that was slanted to it was meant to look normal, giving off a very odd and unique sensation when in there. Let's hope this refurb keeps it's charm and uniqueness. 2) Apocalypse (Rest in Peace) Boy, what a great Drop tower this was. This was one of the few rides left that still gave me that stomach Drop feel. The Drop was really forceful, the theeming was really good and made you feel anxious when queueing inside the main drop tower chamber, watching the cars go up and fall back down as high speeds. This was one of the few rides I was still scared to go one even though I loved it. You will be missed Apocalypse. 1) Nemesis Oh, where to begin. One of the most intimidating, Intense, and Well themed coasters in the world. The soundtrack is beyond words and really makes the area around the ride feel that much better. The way the Coaster interacts with the terrain is incredible, and some of the elements on the ride are also some of the best on any Inverted Roller Coaster. The monster in the pit is one of the best themed stations on the outside and really does stick with you after many years. One of the best and unique rides ever made, when it reopens, go ride it! You won't regret it!

Really excited for this retrack. Shame it isn't the Cobra Roll, but a retrack is better than none. As many have already said, let's hope we see the ride gain a fresh coat of paint with this new track. If they have to paint the new pieces, they'll probably have to repaint the whole thing for it to blend in.

Ah, should've worded my paragraph better sorry. I just think the lighting will be very generic, as we've seen on the Gruffalo Fiver Ride. But again, hope I'm proven wrong, MMM did a great job with Tomb Blasters 2020 refurbishment, it's wonderfully lit now, its eerie, and you can barely see he walls and ceilings anymore! I doubt the ride seys are rotten, as its been kept inside for over 30 years, so they're probably in decent state material wise. I would've thought that if they are completely gutting it, they would've auctioned a few props by now. IDK, maybe they're waiting until everything is out of the rides building before doing so.

Well, with the recent photos of the original set pieces being g ripped out, you're more truthful than you think you are sadly... So, the Garden, The Hall of Spiders, and The Trommel is being stripped out as far as we know. I'm taking a guess that they'll all be replaced by lights, screens, stationed props, and projections with no proper theeming...

I think that they shouldn't change Duel all too much, just execute it differently, that's all, and a relight with some repaints and new sfx. Hope they don't rip out much of the original scenes when it was The Haunted House. Those scenes really make the ride so unique and special to me. Oblivion doesn't need a helix at the end. I think it's perfect as it is. If there was a helix, I feel that the vertical drop would give out a lot less impact to the riders and those who are watching.

They were heading into the Storage shed the guy eho posted it said! I doubt they'd retheme them, why bother if they're already spooky themed and the ride is still going to be a Ghost Train Next year?

A scare maze for Molly Leigh would be great. With Emily alton though, I think she'll be more of a chatacter mascot for promotion rathan a story being about her. For the last 30 years, she's been just a minor Ghost pepper effect in the queue. I doubt a story about her would make much sense to the General Public outside of Enthusiasts. Another reason why I'm a bit reluctant on it is because the scenes in the original Haunted House were very different to one another, as if they were their own story, instead of something like "next scene, exposition by Emily, next scene, exposition by Emily, etc." Another reason is because the HH was designed to be a laff in the dark and high quality pier Ghost Train. The ride wasn't designed to have a heavy narrative.

With the sound of these screens, I would actually like to see them utilised as some background, like rain. I sincerely doubt that Merlin will replace ecery acene in the ride as John Wardley is involved, and I think he knows really well how much the original ride means to people. John Burton has also hinted the ride potential return to the Haunted House a few times on his twitter. This was twitter kn the same day people found out about the '06+09= The Duel is over' board was noticed in the exit corridor. Vague, I know, but still a bit of a coincidence that it was tweeted on the same day moments after the board was posted if you ask me, and with the following Tweet of him stating that Duel is 'My House', on it's closing day. With Regards to @Marley, I just have a genuine love for the more classic dark rides in the country. They just seem to hold a charm and character that none other since has managed to encapsulate. And I love the attention to detail they have. I just think that the late 20th century was of dark rides is very much nonexistent nowadays as all of them have either been rethemed, demolished, or burnt down, such as (Toyland Tours, The London Dungeon Boat Ride, Terror Tomb, Tinkaboos Sweet Adventure, Professor Burp Bubbleworks, and Wicked Whitches haunt). And with Duel/The Haunted House being the last surviving Dark Ride one from that era, I think a total gutting would be a huge shame. I'd just love to seem them restore most of the ride back to their former glory but add new stuff to it such as new scares, a couple or few new scenes, etc.

I just don't want a single screen in Duel outside of safety videos XD. To me, no matter how well hidden and how well done they are, screens and projections have always ruined the Dark Ride experience for me, especially on Ghost Trains. Screens just look really out of place, heck even a kid can tell that it's a screen because of how much light it emits onto the surrounding walls and how the screen is never truly dark. You can see the edges of the screen really easily. I think realistic movement would look really out of place in The Haunted House. The sets in there aren't realistic looking purposely, again because it was designed to look and feel theatrical, like an actual Theatre play. If the sets were more realistic looking, it would've made more than enough sense for them to add realistic moving animatronics, but they're not.

I'm going to be completely honest here, but to me this isn't a good Ghos Train, and it's what I fear what'll happen to Duel. What makes this worse is that Zombie used to be ShrieksVille at Pleasure Island, which the themibh for the ride there was also designed by Keith Sparks and his team just a year after The Haunted House debuted, and it looked loads better! Compare the 2 rides. In Zombie, it seems a lot was retained from ShrieksVille, so the Sparks Themibg is mixed with screens here, and it looks horrific sorry with the screens. This is why I'm against Towers modernising The Haunted House and giving it projections and screens. It just does look right and it sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm Sorry that I don't like it unlike you. Heres what itbused to be before relocated to Ocean Beach, the Experience starts around 17:20, Shaun actually explains it really well why it was really good when in the gift shop. Another fun fact, if you listen carefully, you'll hear some of the sound effects that were used on The Haunted House.

You're right, modernising can be a good on dark rides. But I think With The Haunted House, on a technical level outside of its ride system, it was never that modern, even in 1992. Bubbleworks had loads more animations and better animatronics, and that opened 2 years earlier. I think the reason it isn't isn't modern is because John and Keith wanted the ride to be as theatrical as possible and didn't want it to be ultra realistic. If you think of it as well, in your case, why is Hex regarded as the best madhouse in the world when loads others are way more modern and technically superior? Even the Haunting has more animatronics and very smartly hidden projections, so why is Hex regarded as the best? Because of its setting, ambience, and Music! Hex has no animatronics, but the way it's executed is what makes it amazing. You don't need the latest tech to create a great attraction. I think this was or is the same case with The Haunted House. Sure they could add more with the same design and style like the original ride, but I still firmly believe if they implement a certain amount of Modern Tech, it could ruin the experience unintentionally, especially with projections and screens. The best thing they could do if they want to replace a scene is to keep the design faithful to the 1992 original for the new scene, but don't overly modernise it, outside of safety standards and reliability of course. Many of the best regarded Ghost Trains still use mostly very simple animations such as props on animatronic sticks, simple illusions, and great music and lighting, etc, The Haunted Mansion, Terror Castle, The Orignal ghost Train at Blackpool, and Kneobles. Kneobles Ghost Train is still updated annually to this day ever since it opened in the 70s, but it doesn't go overboard with the modern tech. If alton wanted a new Ghost train from the ground up, with the facade destroyed, the area rebuilt from the ground, a Modern Ghost Train would be very valid and I agree with you on that aspect, but with this parks 30 year old Ride, I don't think it would work as well as many people would think. Here's a few examples on how to keep a classic Ghost Train still great after many years:

In full honesty, I a but nervous about this 'refurb'. With photos of the sets being ripped out and some of them in the Invitations queue, I feel like it's more like going to be an entire gutting inside the ride excluding the system. I feel like they'll go over the top and modernised it too much and it'll lose all of its charm and character, but I still have a glint of hope of the Haunted House returning either in its orignal state, or some scenes going back on their 19o2 state and some later scenes having new additions, and some scenes replaced overall. But I doubt it'll return. This is Merlin, theu dint respect any old ride excluding Nemesis. I'd love for the Haunted House to return! But as we see more of the refurb taking place, it just feels more and more hopeless. I just hope I'm proven wrong!

It is entirely possible, but it could be some of the unused ideas John wanted to add to the house every season. He had a 5 year plan, but Tusauds rejected it. This Could be him finally implementing those 5 unused ideas.

I think they can implement a lot of modern stuff with the classic stuff personally. I checked Bla Target out, and I can't see what you mean by modern. Most of the tech in there seem to be just simple swinging arms, push in and push out sticks outside of a few animations, Which The Haunted House mostly had back in the day. But if that's what you classify as modern, I'd love to see them do something like that to Duel! Personally, what is actually bad about the orignal 1992 Haunted House variant returning (as that most likely won't happen) with a few new stuff in there? Heck, I didn't even know Duel was a Proper Ghost Traon until last year when I saw a POV of the Haunted House. I have no nostalgic connection to The Haunted House, not even Duel, I just generally really love the way it looked back in 92, especially how it has such a unique look to it in this modern world. The best thing I think they should go for is half and half in this situation to satisfy both sides of the argument, people who want something new, and people who want the Haynted House Back. Refurb half the scenes back to their Pre Duel state, and remove the other half of the scenes and replace them or enhance them. For example below. Green = Refurb back to 1992 state. Yellow = Enchancd or modernised that scene with the existing concept or props. Red = A new scene, simply put.

Efteling had to close Spooksclot unwillingly because the showbuilding and was really unsafe and was in a very poor state and it was too expensive to repair it up to modern safety standards. Spookslot was literally a hazard. If its showbuilding wasn't in a bad state, Spookslot would most certainly still be operating currently. With regards of John Wardley, the reason he wasn't really involved with Wicker Man was because Merlin wanted to have a completely new team of designers, but they had some trouble with the first Drop, Thats when they brought up John about it. MMerlin ever forgot about him, he just simply retired willingly. So it makes sense we'd want to come ooutof retirement temporarily to be part of this project because it's one if his own creations. He's been dying to see The Haunted House in better days ever since it became Duel, heck he even showed his distaste of it of as Duel and said the blasters ruined the experiencre of what the ride was originally designed for, and that was from 2012 I believe.Of course he can't say no to when he has the chance to change one of his rides into a better state than it is now. I see a lot of people say that technology has improved so drastically over the years. So what? It doesn't automatically mean it'll be a better attraction. What matters is execution. A ride can still be great without the most modern technology in the ride outside if safety standards for obvious reasons. Modern tech or not, execution is what always makes a great ride, not its level of technology. I'm not saying it can be modern and can't be good, of course It can be modernised and be executed well, absolutely! But simply implying that there's new tech in there does not automatically tick all the boxes except for engineers. Merlin have closed 2 rides at the same time before. Remember when it was announced that Ripsaw and Air would close at the end of the 2015 season? If they announced 2 rides closing in such a small span of time, they could've very well done the same with Duel and Nemesis again.

While Hex is easily the better attraction, I just really liked Duel because of personal taste. I neither was born when The Haunted House became Duel, but I've always loved the idea of having the chance to experience it in its superior form in today's day and age. I've met loads of youngsters who want it to revert back to the Haunted House. While that chance may be slim, you're right, at least it will be better than Duel has been for the last 3 years. I still think it's pretty wild that John Wardley is involved and is most likely going to tear up most of the original scenes that HE implemented with Keith all those years back, though he could be just replacing certain aspects as he originally made a 5 year plan when it opened in 1992 to have a new minor added scare every year, but that never happened. This could be him taking his chance to finally implement those 5 ideas hes been wanting to add for years. Another thing I'm surprised many haven't brought up, surely if Duel would have a radical makeover that drastic as many thoosies think, wouldn't we see it have a similar closing event like Bubbleworks, even that was in its terrible Imperial Lether form and was still celebrated in its closing day. Or at the least it would've would've officially confirmed by Towers that Duel is closing on a certain date. While many enthusiasts don't like Duel, you'd be surprised how much of the General Public love it. Guests would want to ride it once more as they remember it fondly as before its 'huge change'.

This is Merlin were talking about. Name 1 ride outside of Nemesis and Vampire they actually respect in a historical manner and don't mess them up with screens and still sets: This is it, the UK best Dark Ride is no more... just because its old doesn't mean its bad, Merlin. It doesn't need to be new and modern to be a great ride. People loved because of its old and charming feel. They're just taking away hat makes the ride so great now. Unfortunately people on TowerStreets Forum don't see the fuss about it and are actually glad the original set piece sure being ripped out. Weird.