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Duel at Alton Towers closing on 6th September - retheme or refurbishment for 2023?

Must confess I'm a little disappointed and surprised in the park for not doing an official announcement.

Like it's cool to do these geeky teases and keep things mysterious I guess. But ultimately they've shut a ride down with 2 months left of season and not made that clear to the wider audience, and that's a bit of a sucky move.
 
After seeing it in person on Sunday, it feels quite lazy as far as new attraction marketing goes. It just seems so generic, and they could have really had some fun with it. Feels like a bit of the rest of the resort at the moment, churn it out and get home.
 
Take this with as much salt as you like, but coasterverse on Thorpe Park Mania found an interesting social media post where someone claims to have heard a manager at Alton Towers spreading a rumour: https://forum.maniahub.com/topic/2701-duel/?do=findComment&comment=283652

If you don’t wish to read the link, the social media post being alluded to says as follows:
Heard an interesting “rumour” from a manager at Alton Towers this week.

Duel is going to be Emily themed and the ride is going to be inside the doll’s house.

Everything is going to be massive so you feel like you’re Emily’s size in the doll’s house!

As I say, it’s a rumour from a reliable source, but to me, it sounds like an EPIC idea!
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That sounds intriguing… it would certainly line up with the suggestions that the new ride might be Emily Alton themed, and it would also line up with the “want to play” hidden in the “Property Repossessed” signs in the area…

It sounds like quite a cool concept to me! I do wonder if Emily Alton might be slightly too much of a niche reference for most guests, but if they’re able to sell Emily Alton well enough as a new character, then I think it sounds like a really interesting concept!

What do you guys think?
 
Crazycoaster said:
What is an Emily Alton? 👀
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Sorry, I should have clarified.

Emily Alton is a young girl seen in the indoor queue for Duel/The Haunted House playing inside a doll’s house. She is seen via a hologram that projects into a physical doll’s house and activates every now and then, through a Pepper’s Ghost type effect.
EDIT: A video would probably explain this better:
 
Could be really creepy with haunted dolls everywhere, like a haunted it's a small world.

I think it works if it was one section of the overall haunted house, rather than the whole thing being inside the doll's house.
 
The more I think about it, the more logical this theory sounds. I apologise if I sound a bit far-fetched, but let me put on my tin foil hat for a second and speculate… because in my view, it could possibly add up based on some of the limited info we have from Alton Towers:
  • On the day the closure was “announced”, the park put “This is my house” on the chalkboard announcing it. Many assumed that this was written by Emily Alton. With this in mind; what if it was talking quite literally and hinting towards the ride being turned into Emily Alton’s doll’s house?
  • On the “Property Repossessed” signs around the Gloomy Wood area, certain letters in the sign were highlighted in red as though written in blood. These letters spelled “Possessed, Want to Play”… I don’t know about you, but to me, “want to play” would certainly line up with the ride being themed to Emily Alton’s doll’s house.
  • The teaser videos seen through the peep holes in Gloomy Wood showed a hand holding a doll… could that have been Emily Alton playing with a doll, hinting towards an Emily Alton doll’s house theme?
As I say, this is just me putting on my tin foil hat and doing some good old speculation… that rumour being true is far from a foregone conclusion. Just about anything could be happening at this stage. However, I’ll admit that in my eyes, that theory may possibly add up based on the limited evidence we currently have from Alton.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Really hoping this is wrong...

View attachment 22427

My Source: FB

Original source trustworthyness out of 10... Somewhere between 0 and 10, I have no idea.

Original Source Link: https://www.coastercloud.com/news/duel-2-0/
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I’d take that with a pinch of salt. All the rumours suggest that the ride system is staying, and we don’t know how reliable this site is. I’m open to surprises, but I am sceptical of this being anything other than a comprehensive retheme of the existing ride system, personally.
 
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