The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023

[Marley]

1 hour ago, MattyMoo said:

What do we reckon the queue is going to get to today? 180 mins?

gonna take a stab in the dark and say ~60mins.

 

Will live queue times be displayed on the alton towers website?

[Marley]

[Benin]

RIP In Peace.

[Mark9]

 

There's something so ludicrous about this having a 60 minute queue. 🤣

[MattyMoo]

I saw a 120 minute queue advertised early today 🤣

[Mark9]

1 minute ago, MattyMoo said:

I saw a 120 minute queue advertised early today 🤣

 

I screen shot it so that in 2024 when I revisit and wait less than 5 minutes, I can look back in my memories and smile. 

[Trooper Looper]

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

[Benin]

The pre-show makes me think someone went to Movie Park Germany and liked the Van Helsing queue.

 

I'm not sure what you really expected regarding a lot of the older props/ghosts. Few would make sense in terms of the new storyline (everyone has vanished, but the undertaker is still there for example) and in terms of budget I think they were essentially stuck reusing a lot of Duel mechanisms which were always cheap and somewhat off-putting.

 

Based off POV viewing, there's a definite air of not quite completeness about it. 2 sections in complete darkness certainly doesn't make sense to me considering it's quite filled in everywhere else. Presumably timescales and priorities as with all projects.

 

I'd imagine they'll tweak and edit things as they go. Much like the original Haunted House. From an initial standpoint though it looks a vast improvement over what Duel had turned into, and shows the difference 30 years makes.

[Trooper Looper]

37 minutes ago, Benin said:

The pre-show makes me think someone went to Movie Park Germany and liked the Van Helsing queue.

 

I'm not sure what you really expected regarding a lot of the older props/ghosts. Few would make sense in terms of the new storyline (everyone has vanished, but the undertaker is still there for example) and in terms of budget I think they were essentially stuck reusing a lot of Duel mechanisms which were always cheap and somewhat off-putting.

 

Based off POV viewing, there's a definite air of not quite completeness about it. 2 sections in complete darkness certainly doesn't make sense to me considering it's quite filled in everywhere else. Presumably timescales and priorities as with all projects.

 

I'd imagine they'll tweak and edit things as they go. Much like the original Haunted House. From an initial standpoint though it looks a vast improvement over what Duel had turned into, and shows the difference 30 years makes.

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.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

Does anyone think Alton Manor is unfinished and will temporarily close for a while for finishing touches,like Nemesis Sub Terra did in 2012? I think Alton Manor would benefit from extra theming and minor tweaks. I think that by July/August Alton Manor will be complete and even better than it is currently. 

[thorpephan]

11 hours ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

Does anyone think Alton Manor is unfinished and will temporarily close for a while for finishing touches,like Nemesis Sub Terra did in 2012? I think Alton Manor would benefit from extra theming and minor tweaks. I think that by July/August Alton Manor will be complete and even better than it is currently. 

 

I imagine now they might try and get some fixed before the Easter school holidays as that's the next popular period of the season, and when a lot of people will visit and make first impressions . And then some other issues sorted for the 6 Week July-Aug holidays. 

[MattyMoo]

Minor detail but not really minor detail - how can a new attraction open and somehow the LED queue time board isn't installed and in place?

[Cornflakes]

5 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

Minor detail but not really minor detail - how can a new attraction open and somehow the LED queue time board isn't installed and in place?

merlin.

[Benin]

Throughput means it doesn't need one. Even on opening day the queue had gone to standard levels.

[coasterverse]

On 3/17/2023 at 6:05 PM, Theme Park Fanatic said:

People will enter the shop expecting to purchase an antique and discover Alton Towers merchandise for sale.

 

Nobody - I repeat, nobody - is entering a shop in a theme park expecting antiques.

[Benin]

33 minutes ago, coasterverse said:

 

Nobody - I repeat, nobody - is entering a shop in a theme park expecting antiques.

 

I dunno, Blackpool do sell old ride parts.

[coasterverse]

52 minutes ago, Benin said:

 

I dunno, Blackpool do sell old ride parts.

 

Wouldn't really class those as antiques per se, but about as close as you would get to one in a theme park I suppose... but the point still stands that the majority of the general public are not going to see that sign and thing "Oooh! I'll grab a nice new antique dining table whilst I'm here!"

[thorpephan]

2 hours ago, coasterverse said:

 

Nobody - I repeat, nobody - is entering a shop in a theme park expecting antiques.

 

I mean, if they did I'd be interested lol. Love antique shops and brick-a-brack and collecting old dolls to make halloween displays! I'd legit be down if they did!

 

They could like sell glass dolls eyes or semi-classy spooky things. 

[thorpephan]

Whatever happened to the dolls heads that used to  be in Derren browns GT gift shop? They should ship those up and they'd fit so well as probs around TCAAT even on the ride or as theming in the shop. 

[coasterverse]

27 minutes ago, thorpephan said:

Whatever happened to the dolls heads that used to  be in Derren browns GT gift shop? They should ship those up and they'd fit so well as probs around TCAAT even on the ride or as theming in the shop. 

 

I know for certain at least one of them sold at auction last year (not sure if it was a job lot, I remember seeing it and posting about it in the DBGT thread)

[Cornflakes]

6 hours ago, coasterverse said:

 

Nobody - I repeat, nobody - is entering a shop in a theme park expecting antiques.

In Broome era Towers you could buy designer clothes, glass & ceramics and even full furniture pieces from different shops on Towers Street! Maybe antiques aren’t such a crazy suggestion after all

[Theme Park Fanatic]

2 hours ago, Cornflakes said:

In Broome era Towers you could buy designer clothes, glass & ceramics and even full furniture pieces from different shops on Towers Street! Maybe antiques aren’t such a crazy suggestion after all

@Cornflakes what brands of clothing and furniture did you used to be able to purchase on Towers Street.

[Matt 236]

Towers Street changed a long time ago, I believe. Longer than probably the majority of users here knew what it was like. 
 

However, there were shops on both sides of the street, a bit like main street in Disneyland maybe. But then around the mid nineties the street saw some changes, with most of the right hand side changed into offices. The left hand side was changed into the Towers Trading shop we know today. 

[Glitch]

Why does John Burton get so much credit / praise for everything. Yes he has creative direction but surely he's spread over so many projects at this point that there's teams of great people doing all the work but not getting any credit?
 

Is he the next John Wardley, seems like he's trying to fill those boots? 

[Benin]

1 hour ago, Glitch said:

Why does John Burton get so much credit / praise for everything. Yes he has creative direction but surely he's spread over so many projects at this point that there's teams of great people doing all the work but not getting any credit?
 

Is he the next John Wardley, seems like he's trying to fill those boots? 

 

Yes.

 

It's probably also helped that he's also a goon (he's come a long way from his heady days in the RCT3 community). But as the new face of Merlin's attraction team he will get the main flood of praise (much like Wardley did). Also seems fairly active online and knows how to get the interest of goons.

 

Always weird when people revere those in any industry mind. Can always backfire and lead to issues as we've seen before. But that's some weird trait of the modern world where because we can interact (directly and indirectly) with people many develop relationships that are completely non-existent. Hence how influencers and social media stars get an array of fans ready to throw hands if anything negative happens.

 

I'm sure JohnB is lovely, though I feel he and others on the team went overboard with Easter eggs on Alty Mans. Which is a definite goon thing to do.