So The Curse At Alton Manor has opened at Alton Towers Resort and close to 20 rides later over the first three opening days I have some The Curse At Alton Manor improvements that I would make that I personally feel would catapult this ride tenfold.
Let me just start by saying the negatives I have for this ride are so easy to fix that it’s a real testament to the work the Merlin Magic Making team have done on this attraction that has catapulted it to the UK’s best dark ride immediately. I’m really nitpicking with some of these and most are just tidy-ups or alternative suggestions.
It’s a ride that I’m still not bored of 20 rides later, it’s very re-rideable. I just can’t see myself ever getting bored with this experience and knowing that it’s still not even fully finished is exciting. It’s 95% completed according to the designers and the turnaround for this attraction has been insane.
From Duel to this top UK dark ride in a matter of months is actually insane but it doesn’t come without its flaws.
For the full in-depth review of Curse At Alton Manor CLICK HERE.
When it comes to specific improvements there will be SPOILERS included within this article as I make some suggestions. Just some things that I feel need to be addressed and added upon to really complete this absolutely outstanding ride.
It’s great but I just feel there’s just a little bit more they can do to step it up even more so, for example, throughout the ride, there are countless dead spots where either nothing is happening or the desired effect just isn’t being delivered to its potential.
During my rides, a variety of effects weren’t working correctly and these opening day/week teething problems will, of course, be an issue but the dead spots are consistent throughout every single section. The reliability of these effects is most definitely another concern of mine.
Many effects from the opening day two days later are now not working, some things aren’t activating and some effects yet to even be set up seem to be causing issues. Reliability is a big concern for me and I hope this is something that can be addressed over time as the ride has been down quite a bit since opening, usual teething / tweaking problems of course.
Without further ado, here are The Curse At Alton Manor’s problems and my rough solutions of what I’d do to fix them that wouldn’t cost a fortune to do, hardly anything at all!
Problem – The Banqueting Hall scene is chopped off after the mirror sections of the dining table. Focus is drawn to a mirror/screen featuring Emily Alton and a light cut-off scene but the back of the hall is completely black with no theming.
Solution – Theme the back of the banqueting hall with a few more bits of furniture/hall attire or dial up the lighting to make the floor a key focus whilst keeping the back walls black. Whilst the focus is drawn to the screen you’re heading towards the screen rather slowly and as a result, are surrounded by more of this dark blank space that becomes a dead zone briefly. This scene features the aftermath of Emily’s actions and just stacking some clutter or smashed plates or just something at the back of the room to fill this space would be great.
Problem – Straight after the Banqueting Hall segment there’s a jump scare featuring a creature flying above you. The problem is, you can’t see its face.
Solution – There was lighting focused on this particular jump scare on opening day and then an hour later it vanished and hasn’t been featured since. It’s a jump scare moment, you need to see what is making you jump. The audio works well but the figure is too dark to have that visual impact which needs to match the audio.
Problem – The trommel tunnel is back and working incredibly yet the opening fireplace has the red lights out on display and the jagged edges of the fireplace look cheap and unfinished without a wood effect added to them to blend it in with the rest of the fireplace. The fact that I even listed this small nitpick as a problem shows you that for the majority of the ride, it really is special!
Also at the end of the trommel, there’s completely black space with zero theming only a spinning clock and you can see the fire door and all this black open space with paint splatter on the floor and this area just looks quite empty and poor.
Solution – Add a wood effect to the sides of the jagged fireplace edges and hide the red lights so they’re not on full display, it makes the attraction look cheap and we all know it was far from cheap!
The end of the trommel was meant to have smoke / mist before entering but it kept tripping the sensors on the trommel tunnel so I’d simply make use of the black walls with a UV reveal effect (similar to the pre-show) but focus the UV paint on the time on the clock (midnight) and even use the UV to draw focus to the clock, for example, two giant UV hands gripping the clock, a spirit exiting the clock or simply UV text discussing this big event occurring at midnight.
UV is clearly something they’re focusing on and the footsteps to the nursery door is such a beautiful effect that leads you through a darker space so why not add it in this area.
Problem – The hide-and-seek scene is perhaps the weakest part of the entire ride where guests are plunged into absolute darkness as Emily plays a game with you. The thing is, the rides theme music drowns out Emily’s voice and the hide-and-seek effect is rendered pointless and guests are plunged into darkness for what feels like an eternity where nothing is happening.
Solution – The cheaper option here would be to dial down the theme music and have one speaker to the left of guests saying one line, one speaker to the right of the guests saying another and so forth. The speakers seem to be quite high up and as a result, don’t have that hide-and-seek binaural effect that the ride creators were intending.
The expensive option would be to have onboard binaural audio (in boxes similar to the ones you saw on the back of Duel) that would have Emily whisper in your ear as you go around, it wouldn’t be above your head, it would be up close and personal and incredibly creepy, especially within the darkness. Extend Emily’s dialogue to match the extended level of darkness you’re travelling within.
With so much black space in this section and the audio drowned out it’s so weak and well.. boring in this section. A projection of a girl running away… or little legs seen running as she’s off to hide or something of this nature would really add to this rather poor scene. This section certainly felt like a cost-cutting exercise.
Problem – The Attic scene is, without doubt, the most detailed and immersive segment of the ride with even the roof being themed (a rarity in any dark ride) but the three pop-up spiders with red eyes look so cheap and look cheesy that it detaches from all the other rather detailed and dark theming pieces.
Solution – Get rid of the awfully cheap red eyes that look like something you’d buy from The Range and have the spiders look more menacing, maybe even add an effect within the spiders or a reveal behind them to make the slow spider reveal more engaging and entertaining.
Problem – The floating heads scene is just more dead space with them not lit up properly and it’s just a dead zone that feels very underwhelming.
Solution – There is theming in this area it just needs to be exposed with more lighting and there need to be more than just one or two heads flying around to guide people to the next scene. We need to be engaged with the spirits that have possessed Emily and a simple projection of their possession of Emily or a simple reveal with better reveal lighting would be more effective.
Problem – Speakers playing audio as you go around being completely exposed with absolutely no effort put in to cover them up.
Solution – Put the speakers into box housing and theme them up around jack-in-the-boxes or similar Emily toys to disguise the speakers that are littered around the ride and make the attraction feel cheap in these places where no care has been taken to hide them from plain sight.
Problem – Merchandise feels like a giant oversight with old Duel merchandise making up large portions of the shop and very basic designs of logos being added onto keyrings, notepads, hoodies and T-Shirts. The embroidery of the new hoodies across the park however this season is a great addition, much higher quality.
Solution – Theme the merchandise around things that can be found within the ride. Dollhouse creations and replicas of certain things throughout the ride that people can take home and enjoy. Sell a replica doll house (make it creepy) and people can buy the individual items in-store to theme their own doll house.
Use lenticular posters to have Emily go from a good and innocent young girl into this possessed creature. Sell creepy dolls and have a range of them much like the old Living Dead Dolls range.
Sell creepy ducks and reach out to TUBBZ to get a custom flume duck themed with the Emily Alton worn and creepy look to them and have an Alton Towers range of TUBBZ flume ducks with a creepy twist.
Sell replica props such as the Newspapers announcing the Alton Manor death. Sell Doom & Sons merchandise relating to the old walkthrough attraction at the park.
I have another 50 ideas for great merchandise but I know Alton Towers read this website now and again and I’m not doing your job for you! But if you need some freelance creative direction, I’m right here.
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