Curse at Alton Manor

The Curse at Alton Manor is a dark ride at the Alton Towers theme park near the village of Alton in Staffordshire, England, opened in 2023.^[1] The ride opened in 2023. There is a minimum height restriction of 0.9 metres. Guests under 1.1 metres must be accompanied by an adult.^[2]

The Curse at Alton Manor
The entrance sign for The Curse at Alton Manor
Alton Towers Resort
Area	Gloomy Wood
Status	Operating
Opening date	18 March 2023
Replaced	Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back!
Ride statistics
Attraction type	Dark ride, haunted attraction
Manufacturer	Mack Rides
Designer	Merlin Magic Making
Theme	Haunted
Capacity	1,920 riders per hour
Vehicle type	Car
Vehicles	35
Riders per vehicle	6
Rows	2
Riders per row	3
Duration	6 minutes 15 seconds
Fastrack, Ride Access Pass available
Must transfer from wheelchair
Assistive listening available

The ride originally opened in 1992 as The Haunted House, before a retheme as Duel – The Haunted House Strikes Back! with the addition of interactive laser shooting in 2003. The same ride system and building was re-used for The Curse at Alton Manor with a new theme and scenes.

Development

After an initial teaser, Duel closed on 6 September 2022^[2] and its replacement was announced as The Curse at Alton Manor the following January.^[3] Later details revealed that the ride's new premise would revolve around a character named Emily Alton (played and voiced by Imogen Turner),^[4] based on the little Victorian ghost girl that inhabited a dollhouse in the queue area of both the Haunted House and Duel.^[5] A main theme of the ride is that her spirit seeks revenge for being left alone and neglected in the house.

As part of the renovation, the laser guns and targets were removed and the ride vehicle capacity restored to six passengers. The attraction officially opened to the public on 18 March 2023.^[6]

Ride experience

A Gothic canopy outside the ride serves as the entrance to the woodland queueline. Guests queue through the same graveyard in Gloomy Wood used for Duel, but with new theming elements such as new tombstones with epitaphs that reference to previous attractions at the park, old toys such as dolls, stuffed animals, building blocks, and plaques displaying short poems placed around the queue that introduce riders to the story of the ride. Guests enter the manor house now repossessed under mysterious circumstances, where it is up for sale, and that an open house is being hosted. The first room features a real estate listing for the house priced at £1,992,000 (a reference to 1992, the year the Haunted House originally opened).

Moving into the second room, a replica doll's house based on the mansion sits at the centre of the room. An unseen narrator explains that in 1892, the Alton family hosted a lavish party in celebration of New Year's Eve, but at the stroke of midnight, a violent storm ravaged the mansion killing the Altons and all guests in attendance. However, 11 year-old Emily, the only child of Henry and Elizabeth Alton, mysteriously disappeared and remains unaccounted for. Emily's voice is then heard whispering "Let me show you what happened", and the ghostly images of Henry and Elizabeth Alton during the fateful night appear inside of the parlour of the doll's house. Emily enters and begs her father for permission to attend the party. Henry cruelly dismisses Emily to her room in the attic, calling her a "wretched little creature". Emily appears in the attic crying. Angered, she picks up a doll and snaps its neck. A now-possessed Emily begins to glow with violet-coloured supernatural energy which spreads to the rest of the doll's house causing her parents and the party guests to vanish. The entire room of the ride now becomes bathed in ultraviolet light and reveals manic scribblings by Emily written all across the walls.

The guests enter the boarding station which is adorned with New Year's party decorations. Guests board the ride vehicles and they turn a corner, passing a painting of Emily and her parents; the latter of whom disappear as Henry can be heard calling his daughter a "wretched little creature". They then approach a stone archway, as purple energy fills it and Emily whispers "This is my house."

The vehicle then enters the dining hall, approaching a stained glass window of the Manor which then smashes with a purple energy. The corpses of the party guests are seen sat at tables and Emily herself appears levitating at the other end of the room in a seemingly endless hallway before vanishing in a flash of light. After guests encounter a demonic figure suddenly appearing above their heads, they then pass by Emily's nursery, as her footprints and handprints are seen all across the walls of the corridor. They then approach a large painting of Emily's parents, and as this happens Emily says "Along the walls, down the hall, way up high, time to die!". As she says this, a purple bolt of lightning flashes across the painting of Emily's parents.

The vehicle then turns a corner and encounters a giant fireplace. Emily's voice can be heard saying "You're mine!" as the riders are dragged into the smoke filled fireplace and pass through a trommel tunnel, with sinister messages scribbled all over the spinning walls and a giant clock face spinning at the end of the tunnel further disorientating guests.

The vehicle turns a corner and enters a dimly lit room with a small figure of Emily who tells the guests "Let's play hide and seek." A demonic shadow rises behind Emily as the guests turn the corner into complete darkness. Emily taunts the guests as she hides around the dark corridors, appearing as a corporeal apparition (achieved using Pepper's Ghost) before disappearing and then being seen hiding around a corner through a window . The guests then encounter a large puppet show with marionette figures of Emily and her parents, which Emily describes as her "perfect family". Suddenly, Emily's giant hand appears reaching for the riders as she shouts "Found you!".

The vehicle then enters the attic, encountering various possessed eyeless dolls. Emily then asks the guests if they're afraid of spiders as her shadow can be seen on the wall transforming into a spider. The guests then encounter more dolls and spiders before coming face to face with Emily, who has transformed into a giant spider which the guests pass underneath. Emily can also be heard singing a creepy rendition of The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The guests then enter a long corridor of mirrors; guests can see themselves as they pass the mirrors before their reflection disappears. Emily appears in the reflection of the empty ride vehicle, sitting in the front row. Suddenly another doll appears before guests encounter a projection of a demonic skull which screams at the guests. The vehicle then enters complete darkness with spirits passing over the guests' heads and even breathing smoke onto them.

The vehicle then enters the Manor's gardens on a stormy night, where they encounter various voodoo dolls as well as a hearse. Emily can be seen sat on a swing and vanishes as the vehicles pass her. The guests are then shrunk down by Emily and enter her giant doll's house, which is filled with various toys, dolls and Easter eggs for various attractions at the resort in the past and present. Emily frantically searches for the guests as her hand can be seen reaching inside the doll's house and her eye can be seen peering through a window, which turns to a sinister black as she yells "There you are! You're mine!" Guests turn the corner as a giant-sized Emily reaches for the guests and screams (the on-ride photograph is taken here) before the ride then turns around the corner and enters the unloading platform, where guests disembark the vehicles.

Guests exit into the ride's dedicated store "Attic of Antiquities", where guests can purchase their on-ride photos as well as various gifts and souvenirs.