The Curse at Alton Manor - NEW for 2023

[ML27]

I don’t think it harms the ride in any aspect though.  Yes it seems like there’s a lot of Easter eggs on paper but when you ride the ride. You have to be pretty hardcore to notice it or get the reference. It gets the goons excited and fits with the story. I’d rather have eggs related to the park as the rides part of the park. Rather than generic branded stuff. 

 

John B gets praise because after years of DBGT and minor additions (all before his time) . He’s pretty much came in and owned these new attractions as the face of them and there’s direction now. Where there wasn’t before. He interacts with the fans, he’s visible to gander what people want and semi accountable for his attractions. 
 

John Wardley was always the poster boy for attractions. But as same as John Burton there were more people working on it than just these figure heads. 
 

I think people are excited for John B as it’s a new generation of attractions and he’s effectively learning from John W

[Mark9]

On 3/21/2023 at 9:53 AM, 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? 

 

I personally like that there seems to be a creative lead who has become the face of the attractions. It helps that he clearly has a passion for the parks and the products delivered. 

 

It's something that has been missing from Merlin since John Wardley semi-retired. I don't think John Burton is as creative or as entertainment minded as JW is. But I think the passion and enthusiasm is the same. You can always tell from an attraction when there's care and dedication poured into it. 

[Theme Park Fanatic]

I’m happy to say I watched a POV of Alton Manor and noticed the wheel on the hurse is spinning 

[Cornflakes]

On 3/21/2023 at 9:53 AM, 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?

This is most likely the exact same situation as when John Wardley was the creative lead at Tussauds. Creative projects like this always require massive teams, you only need to watch the recent documentary on The Haunted House to see that it was the product of a large creative team working together. 
 

The leaders on creative projects always get the lions share of praise (Or criticism!) because they are the public face of the project. It’s the same reason we revere film directors even though they’re one part of a larger team. John Wardley’s role in his projects is most likely over-estimated by quite a few enthusiasts.

 

Also, @Theme park Fanantic pre Tussauds, shops on Towers Street sold brands like Gucci and Cartier, among others. Pretty wild to think about designer brands being on sale at parks these days!

[Matt N]

Well, I rode this for the first time today! I'll admit that I initially struggled to coherently review the ride, and my actual first ride itself was a bit of a blur, but having watched a few POVs of the ride, I can better process what happened, and I now feel more at liberty to talk about it in a bit more depth.

 

Be warned; this review does contain spoilers of The Curse at Alton Manor. If you do not want spoilers, read no further.

 

Let me start with the area. Gloomy Wood looks brilliant; given that they haven't changed much, the area feels weirdly fleshed out and lively compared to how it did before, and I'm a big fan of the darker colour scheme that they've adopted with the facade and area buildings. It looks great!

 

As the ride was walk on when I did it, I didn't get to see an awful lot of the outdoor queue, but what I did see looked very nice. I particularly liked the copious amounts of smoke; this made it feel very ambient!

 

Moving onto the indoor queue; this hasn't changed a huge amount, but has been spruced up somewhat to fit the new theme. The vestibule looks very similar to how it did before, but they have added some cloth over the theming items to make it look like it's been "repossessed". The more notably different room is the Drawing Room, which, although quite similar to how it was before on the face of it, does feel notably enhanced to me. There's now a pre-show telling the story of Emily Alton, and this culminates with some brilliant projection mapping and a really surprising reveal of UV paint all over the walls, showing what seem to be Emily Alton's deranged ramblings. I thought this was a very clever effect, and set up the ride very nicely!

 

Let's move onto the ride itself. Now as I said, I found this to be a bit of a blur when I physically rode, and as stupid as it sounds, I had to watch a few POVs to actually process it. It is a lot to take in, and as someone who's a bit of a weakling when it comes to horror stuff, I did find the first ride a bit overwhelming. With that being said, I do feel that the ride is a definite improvement on its predecessor Duel, and in terms of production value, I think it's a nicely done ride overall, although there are odd things I'd improve. I won't do a scene-by-scene breakdown, but some key points of interest include:

• I thought that projection mapping was used to great effect within the ride, and I felt that it definitely did add something.
• The Trommel Tunnel is working again, and I have to say that this effect did surprise me! I'd never actually experienced this effect in a working state (I.e. spinning) before, and I never really understood what people thought was so great about the Trommel Tunnel. I have to say that its use within The Curse at Alton Manor definitely proved me wrong on that front; it is a surprisingly convincing effect, particularly when paired with the spinning clock at the end, and it was probably one of my favourite individual effects in the ride!
• The mirror scene that replaced what was previously the Skeleton Corridor now houses a very clever effect, wherein you seem to disappear from the car and Emily Alton "replaces" you. I thought that this was very clever!
• The ending is an excellently executed jumpscare; I have to admit that I audibly shrieked when the massive Emily head suddenly appeared!
• Paradoxically, the ride feels very similar to how it was before, yet also very different, if that makes any sense?
• There was perhaps more reuse of old scenes from the previous iterations than I was expecting, but I think that this mostly works well because the park have made these scenes befitting of the new storyline; they feel very different to how they were before.
• There were some surprisingly impressive physical sets built new for the ride; I was particularly impressed with what they've done with the Attic scene.
• I've heard people mention the dark area between the Trommel and the Attic scene. I think the audio does still make this area feel quite unnerving, but I do get what people mean when they say that it feels a bit unfinished. I think it could do with an extra something to properly finish it off; maybe some UV paint like in the pre-show and exit corridor, or some light flashes?
• The other scene that I don't think entirely works is the Screaming Heads scene. I'm not entirely sure how it fits into the ride, and it feels a bit out of place to me.
• As I said above, I do think that it's quite an overwhelming attraction overall. When combining the noise, the darkness and the jumpscares, it is quite a lot to take in. Although with that being said, that could just be because I'm not the biggest horror lover and it was my first ride on a ghost train-style attraction; I felt similarly about Duel the first time I rode that.

Overall, I thought that it was a nicely executed ride; Merlin Magic Making have done a very good job given the budget and timeframe, and they have definitely improved upon Duel, in my view! If I'm being completely honest, however, I didn't exactly come off feeling entirely blown away. I'd stop short of saying that I was disappointed, because as I said, it is a very nicely done ride with high production value overall, in my view, and my initial gut reaction upon exiting could well be due to my initial struggling to process it all. I did only have 1 ride, after all.

 

I must admit, though, that I'm not sure the ride entirely lived up to some of the hyperbole being thrown around for me. It's a very nicely executed ride overall, but it's not my favourite dark ride in the UK and I would still say that I prefer Hex within the park. That could be down to it not being entirely my sort of thing, it could be down to the fact that I felt a little overwhelmed by it on my first ride, or it could be down to the fact that I only got 1 ride on it, but for whatever reason, I'm perhaps not feeling as enamoured with it and enthralled by it as many others seem to be. It's nice and it's well executed, but I'm not quite gelling with it like everyone else seems to be for some reason; I don't deny that they've done very well, but I'm not quite on board the hype train like everyone else seems to be. I apologise if I come across a bit cynical or moany here, but I'm just being 100% honest about how I personally felt about the attraction on my ride.

 

Nonetheless, it is a nice ride overall, I'm sure that it will be tweaked and improved with time, and Alton Towers should be really proud of what they've pulled off!

[LukeKenno]

Gave this a couple of goes yesterday, felt quite underwhelmed when I came off, it does have some nice sets and effects on the ride which are an improvement to previous and the trommel and clock was my favourite part was great to see that all working. But for me overall I found it a bit dull, I gave it another go in the afternoon to see what another run through was like unfortunately it was Dark from the usual spot after the Trommel to just after the old screaming heads which was a shame so missed the spiders and mirror effects 2nd time round. Was walk on both times so didnt see too much of the queue or pre show, The hosts were in their new character in the morning but in the afternoon were just normal and was asking everyone their thoughts on it, John Burton was also outside in the afternoon talking to various people

[Theme Park Fanatic]

What happened to the Undertaker animatronic that used to be in the Goolish Garden? 

[Theme Park Fanatic]

I have a feeling Alton Manor will be closed for a week while extra theming and repairs are installed.

[JoshC.]

6 hours ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

I have a feeling Alton Manor will be closed for a week while extra theming and repairs are installed.

 

Any particular reason you think this?

[MattyMoo]

12 hours ago, JoshC. said:

 

Any particular reason you think this?

 

Psychic.

[Theme Park Fanatic]

3 hours ago, MattyMoo said:

 

Psychic.

You’re exactly right @MattyMoo!! Yesterday I predicted that my housemates favourite Football Team would lose the match at Wembley. Moreover Alton Manor is exhibiting the same problems present when Nemesis Sub Terra opened in 2015. Alton Towers’s response was to close  Nemesis Sub Terra for 2 weeks and fix and add effects.

[MattyMoo]

I knew it. Maybe I've got powers too 😵

[Benin]

Wouldn't really say adding the scare corridor to Sub Terra 'fixed' anything.

 

More made it worse.

[MattyMoo]

Just seen on the Twitters that TCAAM has had it's queue time board fitted, praise the lord.

[Mark9]

1 hour ago, MattyMoo said:

Just seen on the Twitters that TCAAM has had it's queue time board fitted, praise the lord.

 

The 5 minute queue time will be seared into that board by the end of the season.

[Benin]

By queue you mean walking round the empty queueline and maybe stopping to merge with 50 RAP users?

[JoshC.]

Rode this yesterday.

 

It's a good Ghost Train ride. Not the best one I've done, but it does have a nice story which you can sort of follow (which is less common in my experiences with these rides).

 

Without posting anything too spoilery, but also giving mild spoilers, I particularly liked the mirror scene and the final scare (the physical prop is well hidden).

 

At the same time, there's 3 scenes which are effectively just pitch black, and they don't quite work. One almost does, because it's a "hide and seek" style scene, but it needs something a bit more (lighting effects with eyes or something). The other two pitch black scenes need something.

 

Now here's something which seems to be controversial. I preferred Duel. I significantly preferred Duel. Part of this is because I'm a sucker for interactive / shooting dark rides, and Duel was just a ton of fun for me as a result. The other part of it is that Duel never felt like an attraction which took itself too seriously. It had the spooky / scary theme, but seemed to have a bit humour / light-heartedness sprinkled in a a result. Alton Manor takes itself a bit more seriously, and goes the full nine yards on the creepiness scale, but doesn't have any sort of humour or 'fun-ness' to it.

 

Now this is very much just a me thing. Is Alton Manor 'better'? Yeah, probably. It's got some cool effects and a nice story and a good creepy vibe. It's definitely on the higher end of ghost train rides I've done. But given a choice, I would rather ride Duel any day.

[MattyB]

46 minutes ago, JoshC. said:

Rode this yesterday.

 

It's a good Ghost Train ride. Not the best one I've done, but it does have a nice story which you can sort of follow (which is less common in my experiences with these rides).

 

Without posting anything too spoilery, but also giving mild spoilers, I particularly liked the mirror scene and the final scare (the physical prop is well hidden).

 

At the same time, there's 3 scenes which are effectively just pitch black, and they don't quite work. One almost does, because it's a "hide and seek" style scene, but it needs something a bit more (lighting effects with eyes or something). The other two pitch black scenes need something.

 

Now here's something which seems to be controversial. I preferred Duel. I significantly preferred Duel. Part of this is because I'm a sucker for interactive / shooting dark rides, and Duel was just a ton of fun for me as a result. The other part of it is that Duel never felt like an attraction which took itself too seriously. It had the spooky / scary theme, but seemed to have a bit humour / light-heartedness sprinkled in a a result. Alton Manor takes itself a bit more seriously, and goes the full nine yards on the creepiness scale, but doesn't have any sort of humour or 'fun-ness' to it.

 

Now this is very much just a me thing. Is Alton Manor 'better'? Yeah, probably. It's got some cool effects and a nice story and a good creepy vibe. It's definitely on the higher end of ghost train rides I've done. But given a choice, I would rather ride Duel any day.

Interesting take Josh!  I felt the original Haunted House didn't take it self too seriously which translated over to Duel.  However I wasn't a fan of Duel.  POV's I've seen appear to show they've done a good job on the re-theme.  Currently weighing up a trip this year or waiting for Nemesis to come back next year

[Theme Park Fanatic]

I’m anticipating substantial improvements to be made to Alton Manor this Christmas. The ride is tremendous overall. This being said a couple of scenes for instance the Dark patch following the Trommvel Tunnel is a downgrade of Duel. I am delighted that Emily Alton and Snowy have evicted the tacky Zombies!!!

[Theme Park Fanatic]

@Trooper Looper I know that all the incarcerations of the Haunted House have a place in your heart. I recall reading that Alton Manor disappointed you. Since Alton Manor’s initial opening in March has your opinion changed? I must admit I think Alton Manor is largely an improvement over Duel. Despite this one a scene is a definite downgrade. This scenes namely the blank hide and seek area are namely the blank scenes following the Vortex Tunnel. @Trooper Looper do you know if Alton Towers has plans to change this season during the next closed season? Another thing I disapprove of is the removal of some of the amazing animatronics. The animatronics I mourn are the smaller Spiders in the Hall Of Spiders and the Undertaker in the Goolish Garden. 

 

Upon the opening of Alton Manor the Park were asking for riders opinions. I presume this was so Alton Manor could be refurbished to guests satisfaction. 

Personally I think this post is a waste of time as I knew Alton Manor will be overhauled over the closed season. Despite this I wanted your views. Lastly you are a frequent visitor to Alton Towers, so could have overheard conversations regarding Alton Manor or you could have asked these questions yourself.

 

Any information or opinions you could provide me with would be greatly appreciated.

[Trooper Looper]

On 6/23/2023 at 1:25 AM, Theme Park Fanatic said:

@Trooper Looper I know that all the incarcerations of the Haunted House have a place in your heart. I recall reading that Alton Manor disappointed you. Since Alton Manor’s initial opening in March has your opinion changed? I must admit I think Alton Manor is largely an improvement over Duel. Despite this one a scene is a definite downgrade. This scenes namely the blank hide and seek area are namely the blank scenes following the Vortex Tunnel. @Trooper Looper do you know if Alton Towers has plans to change this season during the next closed season? Another thing I disapprove of is the removal of some of the amazing animatronics. The animatronics I mourn are the smaller Spiders in the Hall Of Spiders and the Undertaker in the Goolish Garden. 

 

Upon the opening of Alton Manor the Park were asking for riders opinions. I presume this was so Alton Manor could be refurbished to guests satisfaction. 

Personally I think this post is a waste of time as I knew Alton Manor will be overhauled over the closed season. Despite this I wanted your views. Lastly you are a frequent visitor to Alton Towers, so could have overheard conversations regarding Alton Manor or you could have asked these questions yourself.

 

Any information or opinions you could provide me with would be greatly appreciated.

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.

[Benin]

Wonder if the 7-9 age range also found the original Haunted House scary. I certainly wasn't a fan of those attractions at that age (still not big on scare attractions either).

 

However times have changed. Cheesey lite dark rides aren't the in thing, and the rise of mascot horror and modern tastes require different approaches. I do wonder how much of many opinions is down to nostalgia almost, and perhaps giving the original Haunted House far more of a aur around it given a lot of younger enthusiasts didn't ride it. And due to those old enough to have ridden it in its hey-day of the 90s saying it was great has pretty much led to a very skewed view on things. See also those who wanted the original Bubbleworks back, it was never going to happen, and nor should it have given how times have moved on and it would've been a poor imitation anyway.

 

This isn't helped by the way in which John Wardley is seemingly viewed these days as almost messiah-esque. He's literally a PR mouth for the parks now, nothing more. Given his comments on how they've done something great to the capacity of Mandrill Mayhem it's clear you cannot believe things that come out from him in such events or press bits. Which is a shame given that he's inspired many enthusiasts to follow such a career but I guess it's heavily managed by Merlin as to what he can and can't say. 

 

Haven't done Curse yet, not going to Towers whilst Nemesis is shut. But it's clear that there'll always be some divide over the existence. Whether it be down to those who push the mystification of the original, or those who miss the brain dead version of Duel. 

 

As a filler ride to most peoples day it seems fine enough. Definitely seems some improvements need doing and we've yet to see what the newer version of Merlin's approach is to such things. Dark rides are often difficult to get right first time after all, even the original Haunted House had its issues, and Hex hasn't always been the atmospheric powerhouse it is today.

 

Also can we ban the term "thoosies" on here. Honestly makes me want to vomit when I see it. Stupid Coaster Twitter. 

[Theme Park Fanatic]

It appears Alton Manor is set for an overhaul!! Personally I hope a proper scene is added to the Hide and Seek,former giants lair,scene following the Vortex Tunnel. With this scene changed Alton Manor could be Europes best Dark Ride. @Trooper Looper I know this information will be music to your ears. Your passion for Alton Manor and its predecessors is evident. Like myself I feel parts of the Alton Manor retheme are a downgrade of Duel.

 

@Trooper Looper what areas of Alton Manor do you hope are changed during the refurbishment? I’m shocked that Alton Towers have listened to guest feedback and are undertaking changes less than a year after Alton Manor’s initial opening. It’s rare that disappointments at the Merlin Theme Parks are addressed so quickly.

[JoshC.]

25 minutes ago, Theme Park Fanatic said:

It appears Alton Manor is set for an overhaul!!

Where has this information come from?

[Theme Park Fanatic]

3 hours ago, JoshC. said:

Where has this information come from?

@JoshC. the information has come from here! Sean’s sources are normally correct, for instance he reported that Nemesis Sub Terra would reopen.