Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back!

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.HistoryThe 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".