Area Gloomy Wood Opening date 2003 Attraction type Dark ride Opened 2003 Manufacturer Mack Rides Vehicles 35 | Status Operating Replaced The Haunted House Designer Tussauds Studios Duration 6 minutes Theme Gothic architecture Row 2 | |
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Similar Beast, Twirling Toadstool, Beastie, Around the World in 80 Days, Hex – The Legend of the Towers | ||
Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back! is an attraction at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire. It opened in 1992 as The Haunted House and was the largest ghost-train ride in Europe. There is a minimum height restriction of 1.1 metres for younger riders unless accompanied by an adult.
History
The Haunted House was designed by The Sparks Group and John Wardley. The transit system used to take riders through the show was built by MACK Rides; it was specifically designed to allow a high throughput whilst leaving the cars to travel the ride separately, and at varying speeds in different areas to allow the effects to best surprise visitors. Upon opening at the start of the 1992 season, The Haunted House gained much publicity and remained one of Alton Towers' major rides for many years. Some of the ride's larger animations experienced technical problems in the ride's first season, leading to some effects being replaced the following year; most notably a scene in which a phantom flew above riders on an overhead track.
By 2002, the ride's visitor numbers dropped and many of the original scenes had been altered by the park on an ad-hoc basis. Tussauds Studios decided to add laser guns and a zombie theme to the ride in a refurbishment. Towards the end of the 2002 season, a poster was placed outside the Haunted House, advertising the new name and opening date, along with the slogan: "Whatever you do, don't miss! Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back".
A new theme tune with two different in tone stereophonic sections heard in different zones was composed by David Buckley, to be played on a loop throughout the ride; replacing the original eight tracks produced by Graham Smart. Changes to the show itself included the replacement of many animated characters with zombies. Also the paintings displayed in the preshow rooms were replaced with new versions, due to plagiarism claims with the originals. The ride reopened with the new laser quest element at the start of the 2003 season.
For the 2008 and 2009 annual Halloween 'Scarefest' events held at Alton Towers, the ride became host to "Duel: Live!" This attraction featured live actors situated in different scenes around the ride, to scare riders while in their cars.