Duel

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 dark ride ride in Europe, originally featuring a large-scale design with theatrical effect sequences. The attraction was redesigned with interactive laser guns in 2003, replacing some scenes. 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, co-produced by Keith Sparks and John Wardley, as "a spin-off from Prof. Burp's BubbleWorks". The transit system used to take riders through the show was built by MACK Rides; it was a bespoke format penned by John Wardley 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, many of the original scenes had been altered by the park on an ad-hoc basis and the effects needed maintenance. 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 was composed by David Buckley, played on a loop throughout the ride; replacing the original eight track score 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.

The Swamp finale is also the only scene to have been removed in its entirety in the 2003 refurbishment. It was replaced by a walled set depicting a basement labyrinth, with multiple zombie props popping up from barrels and standing on metal gantries overhead. The only surviving effect was the modified splitting face, which was moved to the end of the trommel tunnel and given a UV makeover. The surviving scenes and illusions are now significantly changed from the original ride.

## Scarefest

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. The laser guns and all the LEDs were switched off, so that riders were not distracted by the shooting and focused on the ride. The music was replaced throughout the ride, with a different, more atmospheric piece used instead of the usual Duel theme.

Duel Live made use of the original outdoor queue line, often with other actors roaming the wooded area. For the 2008 version, the queue featured gravediggers and werewolves creeping up on the guests, though in 2009 this was reduced to one actor in a hooded robe. Guests waited at the door instead of walking straight in, before being greeted by either a maid or a butler (the performers alternated during the 2009 version, but in 2008 only the butler featured) and given a brief talk about what was inside and why the guns were switched off. The TV screens in the Drawing Room were covered with cloth and muted, and the original spooky music turned up; the room being similar to what it was in the original Haunted House. During the 2008 event, the maid jumped out at guests as they entered the Drawing Room.

In 2008 Scarefest, Duel ran as normal during the morning and afternoon, before switching over to Duel Live after 3:00PM. It featured approximately four live actors on ride. The format changed for 2009 in which Duel Live ran all day, with about eight different actors on ride. When Alton Towers released details for the 2010 Scarefest event, it was notable that Duel Live was absent from the attractions line-up. Instead, the attraction was renamed "Skelvin's Haunted Adventure" for the 2010 event, and it was based around the park's Halloween mascots, particularly the character 'Skelvin'.