Because I am bored I decided to make this so I can voice my ideas for Alton Towers and so other people can also voice theirs.
(1) Keep the outdoor Duel queue open no matter what - Probably the best thing about Duel Live was the fact that I got a rear opportunity to experience the outdoor graveyard queue for Duel. This outdoor queue is easiy the best part of it and greatly improves the ride as a whole,...it's just so apnospheric and (in a way) makes the ride seem magical again.
(2) Keep at least 2 costumed characters roaming the park at all times - One of the highlights of my day at AT is stumbling across a costumed character roaming the park. I don't even care if I see Shark Tooth Jack running around X Sector, at least it's somthing.
(3) Have costumed ride opps - eg:- Dress the ride opps in 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' in purple lab coats, and dress the Duel ride opps in victorian era costumes. At the very least, put the Choo-Choo Lady back on Runaway Mine Train.
(4) Put up more signs in the park - I have seen a fair few (first time) visitors get lost in the gardens when looking for Haunted Hollow (from Mutiny Bay).
Now for Scarefest Addition.
(1) make permenent scarefest lighting - Put up permanent coloured lighting around the park for use at Scarefest and other late night events. At the very least put some coloured overlays over the flood lights.
(2) Re-theme Duel for Scarefest - permanently install alternate lighting and even some pull down scene setter curtains to use for covering up scenes that don't work for Scarefest addition.
I have a very good idea for it and will post a walkthrough of the complete Duel Scarefest Addition ride experience in a later post on this topic.
(3) Permanently install more lights in Haunted Hollow - as it is, at the moment, almost impossible to see anything in Haunted Holow at night.
Now yours
Cost efficient ways to greatly improve and restore Altons "magic"
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Count-Vonduel
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Last edited by Count-Vonduel on Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
I was going to have a pic of Hobs Pit but I forgot how to make pics show up 
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Count-Vonduel
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- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 11:45 am
- Location: ...look behind you...
VonDuel Mannor
The haunted House Strikes Back
By Count-Von-Duel
Before you read on, I just have a few things to clear up first.
(1) This will contain major spoilers for the normal Duel ride.
(2) It may sound expensive, but since all the alternate lighting and curtains are permanent, then it will be worth it in the long run.
(3) Before you read this I just want to give you a perspective of it so you don't misunderstand - although there are less actual jump scares in this, it is more jumpy than the normal Duel. The problem with the normal Duel is that there are so many jump scares one after another that after the first few scares almost nothing will scare you anymore, but in this, the focus is more on quality than quantity and thus there will be build up to the scares instead of the usual onslaught of flat BOO! moments.
Before I start talking about Duel, I just wanted to talk a bit about Haunted Hollow.
In Haunted Hollow, there are 4 statues, one of a grave digger, one of a butler with a lantern, one of a cook with a bowl, and one of a screaming maid.
There should be plaques on the four statues.
Grave Digger - Gregory The Gravedigger worked his plot now with his work left to rot.
Butler - Benethan The Butler died at the Bay now guides others who have lost their way.
Cook - Clarabel The Cook used to poisen the guests but soon after was laid to rest.
Maid - Mary the Maid cleaned the plates but soon after met her fate.
This is important to the rides' story, as Mary, Gregory and Clarebel appear in the ride, and Benethan plays a big role in the ride.
Outside of the ride in Gloomy Wood, the normal music is replaced with the old Gloomy Wood music, that they used for the Haunted House, and later for 2009 Duel Live.
The outdoor queue is always open even if there is no queue for the ride.
The first room will look the same as normal except for a red curtain in the doorway leading to the green room,
much like in 2009, a butler or maid will let in groups one by one. Upon entering the house, the butler/maid will give you a breifing.
(Butler/Maid - "Welcome to Von-Duel Manor, You must be here for the tour yes? I will let the master know that you are coming, please wait here and don't touch anything".
The butler/maid goes through the curtains, (the Butler/maid stands just outside the ride station, and when the Count finishes his lines and the riders are getting on the ride, then he comes back to get the group in the entrance hall), when he comes back, he open's the curtains to lead the group through the green room.
(The maid/butler stops the group in this room to say some more lines thus giving the group infront time to board the ride.
Butler/Maid - "This used to be the room of Emily Alton, but after the...incident, only her memory remains. After this the house became abandoned untill about 12 years ago when the Count moved in".)
The ride station will be as normal except for a single actor in the room (Count Von-Duel).
(while this is happening, the butler/maid will be letting in the next group).
Count Von-Duel - "Welcome to Von-duel Manor, I have arranged for transportation around the Manor but remember that it is not perfect. At the moment the built in defence system is not working, so please don't try and use them. Oh and a word of warning, it is at times like this when the um...past guests tend to get a bit restless and...well some of them are not very nice, not all of them mind you, but I would reccomend trying to avoid them. Oh and one last thing, try and stay inside the manor, and make sure you stay in the light, this last one is VERY impotrant.
Please enjoy the tour."
After this you get in the ride car and off you go.
IMPORTANT
Every 2nd car will be missing so that the effects can't be ruined by the car in front.
IMPORTANT
The rides' main theme will be the one from the 2009 Duel Live instead of the normal Duel theme.
IMPORTANT
The Blasters and LED targets will be turned off.
In the first scene, a curtain will be (permanently) placed in front of the breathing wall, hiding it from view. (This curtain will be able to be pulled down in front of the breathing wall, and then hoisted back up out of view when you are done with it). It will have the same wall texture on it, but with loads of phrases scrbbled on it, (example of some of the phrases - 'IT STALKS THE DARKNESS, - NO ESCAPE ,- STAY IN THE LIGHT ,- HE IS WATCHING, - RUN ,- IT IS NOT A HUMAN, - STAY OUT OF THE FOREST' and many more).
When it gets to the Screaming Bust, instead of the usual strobe lights, it will have a dim light (same colour as the lights in the outdoor graveyard queue).
In the Dining Hall, everything will be normal, except for an actor dessed as a maid.
After the Dining Hall, everything is normal, until you get to the spinning tunnel, which will have an actor in the archway to the left (dressed as a female cook) scaring people (by banging a wooden spoon on a pot), to distract riders from the animatronic zombie that usually jumps out at riders from the right of the tunnel. After this, the tunnel itself and the splitting face at the end of it will be normal.
The next scene will be normal as well.
The next scene (Hall of Spiders), will be different with the first two zombie jump scares turned off entirely, and no lighting in the area of said zombie jump scares. Instead, there will just be a pair of red eyes accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing, like the eyes in Hex.
After this (when it comes to the first spider), the scene will be as normal, but with both of these jump scares turned off as well. They are instead, replaced by an actor scaring people and when it gets to the giant spider, there are no strobes but instead there is a deep blue light.
Like this.
The next scene after the giant spider (Electric Bill's Hallway/Seleton Hallway), the music in this scene will be quieter than normal and this scene will be alot diferent. There will be a dim light illuminating the (incredibly detailed) wall on the right hand side, and Electric Bill will do his same old routine of pulling the lever to plunge the room into darkness, but this time, when he does, everything will be pitch black, nothing to look at along the hall, instead the heavy breathing sound will come on again, (when the ride car is facing away from where Electric Bill was) a small white light will appear at the far end of the long hallway (The pair of red eyes will also re-appear behind the ride car at this point, just above where Electric Bill was) at this point, a voice will be heard.
Voice - "RUN TOWARDS THE LIGHT AND DON'T LOOK BACK".
At this point, the heavy breathing will be replaced with a loud growling noise coming from just behind the ride car slowly getting closer and closer.
Voice - "IT'S COMING RUN"!!!
When you get to the light, it will dissappear.
Voice - "NOW GO"!!!
At this point the growling will stop.
This next scene will be normal, but with slightly different sound.
The music will still be quieter than normal and the screams will also be quieter and you will hear the heavy breathing, but quieter than in the hall.
After the first wall mounted face, the breathing will start to get louder, and after the second wall mounted face, it will get even louder and then the monster will finally reveal itself.
This thing accompanied by a loud growling sound.
The next scene (garden/graveyard) will stay the same untill you pass the Undertaker when a howl will be heard and the hunchback thing on the wall well be replaced by a werewolf,
somthing like this.
It will then stay the same again until the very last seconds of it.
When it comes to the Piller Demon, there will be an actor dressed as a grave digger, who will bang his shoval on the wall to scare riders, and then the Piller Demon will appear.
The wall with the tunnel, leading to the lab scene, will have a curtain covering both the wall and the doors at the side, with a forest texture on it, so it looks like you are going into a forest.
The next scene will be completely different.
The final (usually the lab scene), will this time be the forest scene and have curtains covering almost all of the scene with a forest texture, making it so that you can't see any part of the lab scene.
After you go round the first corner, there is a bush that when passed by, will shake and make a growling noise. After this, there is nothing until it gets to where the zombie in the furnace usually is where there will be some bushes with an actor (dressed as a werewolf) inside them who will then jump out and scare the riders.
The photo point (instead of the normal window) will be a tree with a hole in the side (where the head will pop out of it to take your ride photo).
Just after this, you will start to hear a quiet growling noise, and as you go round the corner (were the zombies with blasters usually are), there will be a load of artificial branches, and as you go under it, a strobe will start from above the the branches (to mimic lightening accompanied by a clap of thunder) to reveal that there is a werewolf in the branches snarling and growling lowdly at you delivering one final scare.
somthing like this...just imagin that there is a werewolf in the large gap.
The wall with the gargoyal on and the one next to it, wth the doorway to the ride station in it, will NOT have a curtain on, giving the effect that you found your way back to the house.
The exit will be normal.
The End.
EDIT - I added a proper ride name, a preshow, I put speech marks on the dialogue, I fixed one spelling error and made some more changes including adding pictures.
The haunted House Strikes Back
By Count-Von-Duel
Before you read on, I just have a few things to clear up first.
(1) This will contain major spoilers for the normal Duel ride.
(2) It may sound expensive, but since all the alternate lighting and curtains are permanent, then it will be worth it in the long run.
(3) Before you read this I just want to give you a perspective of it so you don't misunderstand - although there are less actual jump scares in this, it is more jumpy than the normal Duel. The problem with the normal Duel is that there are so many jump scares one after another that after the first few scares almost nothing will scare you anymore, but in this, the focus is more on quality than quantity and thus there will be build up to the scares instead of the usual onslaught of flat BOO! moments.
Before I start talking about Duel, I just wanted to talk a bit about Haunted Hollow.
In Haunted Hollow, there are 4 statues, one of a grave digger, one of a butler with a lantern, one of a cook with a bowl, and one of a screaming maid.
There should be plaques on the four statues.
Grave Digger - Gregory The Gravedigger worked his plot now with his work left to rot.
Butler - Benethan The Butler died at the Bay now guides others who have lost their way.
Cook - Clarabel The Cook used to poisen the guests but soon after was laid to rest.
Maid - Mary the Maid cleaned the plates but soon after met her fate.
This is important to the rides' story, as Mary, Gregory and Clarebel appear in the ride, and Benethan plays a big role in the ride.
Outside of the ride in Gloomy Wood, the normal music is replaced with the old Gloomy Wood music, that they used for the Haunted House, and later for 2009 Duel Live.
The outdoor queue is always open even if there is no queue for the ride.
The first room will look the same as normal except for a red curtain in the doorway leading to the green room,
much like in 2009, a butler or maid will let in groups one by one. Upon entering the house, the butler/maid will give you a breifing.
(Butler/Maid - "Welcome to Von-Duel Manor, You must be here for the tour yes? I will let the master know that you are coming, please wait here and don't touch anything".
The butler/maid goes through the curtains, (the Butler/maid stands just outside the ride station, and when the Count finishes his lines and the riders are getting on the ride, then he comes back to get the group in the entrance hall), when he comes back, he open's the curtains to lead the group through the green room.
(The maid/butler stops the group in this room to say some more lines thus giving the group infront time to board the ride.
Butler/Maid - "This used to be the room of Emily Alton, but after the...incident, only her memory remains. After this the house became abandoned untill about 12 years ago when the Count moved in".)
The ride station will be as normal except for a single actor in the room (Count Von-Duel).
(while this is happening, the butler/maid will be letting in the next group).
Count Von-Duel - "Welcome to Von-duel Manor, I have arranged for transportation around the Manor but remember that it is not perfect. At the moment the built in defence system is not working, so please don't try and use them. Oh and a word of warning, it is at times like this when the um...past guests tend to get a bit restless and...well some of them are not very nice, not all of them mind you, but I would reccomend trying to avoid them. Oh and one last thing, try and stay inside the manor, and make sure you stay in the light, this last one is VERY impotrant.
Please enjoy the tour."
After this you get in the ride car and off you go.
IMPORTANT
Every 2nd car will be missing so that the effects can't be ruined by the car in front.
IMPORTANT
The rides' main theme will be the one from the 2009 Duel Live instead of the normal Duel theme.
IMPORTANT
The Blasters and LED targets will be turned off.
In the first scene, a curtain will be (permanently) placed in front of the breathing wall, hiding it from view. (This curtain will be able to be pulled down in front of the breathing wall, and then hoisted back up out of view when you are done with it). It will have the same wall texture on it, but with loads of phrases scrbbled on it, (example of some of the phrases - 'IT STALKS THE DARKNESS, - NO ESCAPE ,- STAY IN THE LIGHT ,- HE IS WATCHING, - RUN ,- IT IS NOT A HUMAN, - STAY OUT OF THE FOREST' and many more).
When it gets to the Screaming Bust, instead of the usual strobe lights, it will have a dim light (same colour as the lights in the outdoor graveyard queue).
In the Dining Hall, everything will be normal, except for an actor dessed as a maid.
After the Dining Hall, everything is normal, until you get to the spinning tunnel, which will have an actor in the archway to the left (dressed as a female cook) scaring people (by banging a wooden spoon on a pot), to distract riders from the animatronic zombie that usually jumps out at riders from the right of the tunnel. After this, the tunnel itself and the splitting face at the end of it will be normal.
The next scene will be normal as well.
The next scene (Hall of Spiders), will be different with the first two zombie jump scares turned off entirely, and no lighting in the area of said zombie jump scares. Instead, there will just be a pair of red eyes accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing, like the eyes in Hex.
After this (when it comes to the first spider), the scene will be as normal, but with both of these jump scares turned off as well. They are instead, replaced by an actor scaring people and when it gets to the giant spider, there are no strobes but instead there is a deep blue light.
Like this.
The next scene after the giant spider (Electric Bill's Hallway/Seleton Hallway), the music in this scene will be quieter than normal and this scene will be alot diferent. There will be a dim light illuminating the (incredibly detailed) wall on the right hand side, and Electric Bill will do his same old routine of pulling the lever to plunge the room into darkness, but this time, when he does, everything will be pitch black, nothing to look at along the hall, instead the heavy breathing sound will come on again, (when the ride car is facing away from where Electric Bill was) a small white light will appear at the far end of the long hallway (The pair of red eyes will also re-appear behind the ride car at this point, just above where Electric Bill was) at this point, a voice will be heard.
Voice - "RUN TOWARDS THE LIGHT AND DON'T LOOK BACK".
At this point, the heavy breathing will be replaced with a loud growling noise coming from just behind the ride car slowly getting closer and closer.
Voice - "IT'S COMING RUN"!!!
When you get to the light, it will dissappear.
Voice - "NOW GO"!!!
At this point the growling will stop.
This next scene will be normal, but with slightly different sound.
The music will still be quieter than normal and the screams will also be quieter and you will hear the heavy breathing, but quieter than in the hall.
After the first wall mounted face, the breathing will start to get louder, and after the second wall mounted face, it will get even louder and then the monster will finally reveal itself.
This thing accompanied by a loud growling sound.
The next scene (garden/graveyard) will stay the same untill you pass the Undertaker when a howl will be heard and the hunchback thing on the wall well be replaced by a werewolf,
somthing like this.
It will then stay the same again until the very last seconds of it.
When it comes to the Piller Demon, there will be an actor dressed as a grave digger, who will bang his shoval on the wall to scare riders, and then the Piller Demon will appear.
The wall with the tunnel, leading to the lab scene, will have a curtain covering both the wall and the doors at the side, with a forest texture on it, so it looks like you are going into a forest.
The next scene will be completely different.
The final (usually the lab scene), will this time be the forest scene and have curtains covering almost all of the scene with a forest texture, making it so that you can't see any part of the lab scene.
After you go round the first corner, there is a bush that when passed by, will shake and make a growling noise. After this, there is nothing until it gets to where the zombie in the furnace usually is where there will be some bushes with an actor (dressed as a werewolf) inside them who will then jump out and scare the riders.
The photo point (instead of the normal window) will be a tree with a hole in the side (where the head will pop out of it to take your ride photo).
Just after this, you will start to hear a quiet growling noise, and as you go round the corner (were the zombies with blasters usually are), there will be a load of artificial branches, and as you go under it, a strobe will start from above the the branches (to mimic lightening accompanied by a clap of thunder) to reveal that there is a werewolf in the branches snarling and growling lowdly at you delivering one final scare.
somthing like this...just imagin that there is a werewolf in the large gap.
The wall with the gargoyal on and the one next to it, wth the doorway to the ride station in it, will NOT have a curtain on, giving the effect that you found your way back to the house.
The exit will be normal.
The End.
EDIT - I added a proper ride name, a preshow, I put speech marks on the dialogue, I fixed one spelling error and made some more changes including adding pictures.
Last edited by Count-Vonduel on Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I was going to have a pic of Hobs Pit but I forgot how to make pics show up
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TheOutpatient
- Member
- Posts: 314
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 9:02 am
- Location: UK
- Contact:
as kind of a side note:
Aesthetic magic does seem to be quite expensive, there's only a few ways to cut corners and its still relatively expensive. Even a decent costume costs a lot, its just a fact of life/the universe, that if something looks good, its because effort went into it and that effort costs money. I'm becoming more and more convinced that a themepark is a buisness in luxury - real luxury is a big part of the appeal.
Of course there is the none-material side to the magic but I think AT is doing fine with that atm.
Aesthetic magic does seem to be quite expensive, there's only a few ways to cut corners and its still relatively expensive. Even a decent costume costs a lot, its just a fact of life/the universe, that if something looks good, its because effort went into it and that effort costs money. I'm becoming more and more convinced that a themepark is a buisness in luxury - real luxury is a big part of the appeal.
Of course there is the none-material side to the magic but I think AT is doing fine with that atm.
