OqwE

It was a cool themed part of the queue, under a canopy covered in ivy and fog. You'd walk between tombs and past grave plaques on the wall. It hid the ugly building from view as you walked in and made the space feel very different to the horrible concrete square. There used to be bat sounds from the rafters.

Then you'd head into the dark tunnel with the flickering lanterns and windows, which used to have choir and tolling bells echoing inside.
There was also a simple pepper's ghost effect in one of the windows which hasnt worked properly for years, and more detail/better lighting behind the windows.

This was before they started batching before the station too, it was much creepier when you used to queue in it rather than breeze straight through.

I remember it being a classic build up to the grand station, but declined massively over time (bad maintenance as usual). It just feels like walking into a tin box now, since like any ride the effect was all in the sound, lighting & scenery..

For anyone interested in Vampire and Bubble Works in their old days, I'm currently attempting to recreate the interiors in 3D for a book on Sparks, the studio that created them. Also the Alton Towers Haunted House (see the Duel topic). This after sadly most the photo archives on the two classic rides (when they were first built) were destroyed by a fire some years ago.

To raise funds to recreate the missing scenes to a photo-realistic standard, from all the original production records and plans, I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign this month. It would be brilliant if anybody wanted to contribute, if we beat the target the recreation will be able to go ahead.

For more information on the book see the Kickstarter video on the link!

The music in the station sounds so much better now. I'm so glad the original track has finally been restored.
 
That track is a Gothic masterpiece, the other one sounds awful in comparison.

The atmosphere was really good in the station the other day. I don't know how it was in the past but the soundtrack was a massive improvement, and the lighting was much better too. I just hope they get better announcements because as Kerfuffle said, he sounds bored during them, and the music cuts out during them which is annoying.
 
What wasn't so good, was operations. It was on one train, with the other one seemingly in parts bagged up next to the brake run which is worrying. I understand it's just a Christmas event, but it was causing much longer queues than it should have had. I really, really hope that second train is back by March.

The chandeliers are back! Brilliant.
 
However there not as big as they use to be