Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few months – you’ll know The Curse at Alton Manor is due to open at Alton Towers Resort on the 18th March 2023. Alton Towers have created an incredible campaign, slowly teasing the different threads of The Curse at Alton Manor storyline. It started with a mysterious dolls house that appeared in the centre of London – and then clues hidden in countdown videos. Now, Alton Towers have teased a bit more of the ride with both the TV advert, AND some photos filled with Alton Manor Easter Eggs. We’ll be looking at those Easter Eggs shortly.. but let’s go back a little bit to bring you up to speed.
What is The Curse at Alton Manor?
The Curse at Alton Manor is Alton Tower’s new ride for 2023 – maybe the first of two – we’ll look at that in another post! It’s actually in the ride building that was occupied by Duel (which opened in 2003 and closed in 2022), and then before that, The Haunted House (which opened in 1992). It’s understood that The Curse at Alton Manor will utilise the same MACK Rides system, but take riders through entirely new scenes.
The latest press release for The Curse at Alton Manor gives some more details about the storyline for the ride –
Those brave enough to cross the threshold of The Curse at Alton Manor will also be confronted by flying demons, levitating dolls and haunted chandeliers when the attraction opens its doors this week.
The haunting and immersive dark ride charts the terrifying story of Emily Alton – the troubled daughter of a pair of Victorian high society figures who prefer partying to parenting, until one night when they disappeared into thin air. The only person remaining was Emily, and some say she still haunts Alton Manor to this day looking for the one thing denied to her – play.
Through a dozen extraordinary scenes, visitors are taken on a step-by-step journey as Emily wreaks her awful revenge.
Alton Towers Press Release – 13th March 2023
So.. what are The Curse at Alton Manor Easter Eggs ?
With the most recent press release came a selection of images, which show both the exterior, and some of the interior scenes. You can see them all in the gallery below – these are all completely as they were on the release – no tweaks or edits.
Can you see the Alton Manor Easter Eggs?
There’s a LOT of detail in these images, which give a little nod to various elements of Alton Towers, both past, and present. It’s really nice to see these – to your average guest, they might not mean anything – but to ride enthusiasts and Alton Towers fans – they are FANTASTIC.
Let’s zoom in a bit on the salient bits of each image to find The Curse at Alton Manor Easter Eggs and decode what they all mean. I *think* I’ve got them all – but, you might see some others I’ve missed. Let’s go with this picture first..
Okay – so this is where we have to get a little ‘zoomy’ – I missed all the easter eggs in this photo on my first glance! Let’s look closely on the bottom right where the ride track is curving to the left..
So… We can see a ‘Toy Car’ box – with ’05’ – Queen of Speed – well this is a nod to Rita – The Queen of Speed which opened in 2005. Next to that we have a box of matches – the brand? It looks like ‘Beornen’ – the FIRE obsessed, Wicker Man building ‘villagers’ – clever! Then, just tucked around the corner there’s some kind of ‘Toyland Tours’ inspired Toy Box – Toyland Tours was in the Alton Towers Dungeon building. Before it was Toyland Tours, it was another ride – let’s look at the next image and we’ll discuss it further..
No Zooming required here – well, not really! We’ve got some interesting props – let’s look at those ‘World Brand Pins – Quantity 80’, this is absolutely a nod to Around the World in 80 Days – A dark ride that was converted to Toyland Tours! Then we have the Wild Mouse Poison – from Jackson Pharmacy – a double whammy Alton Manor Easter Egg! The Alton Mouse was a ride located in ‘Coaster Corner’ – behind Talbot Street (Now The World of David Walliams), when it left the park in the early nineties it became ‘Wild Mouse’ in Idlewild, Pennsylvania. ‘Jackson Pharmacy’ is no doubt a nod to Alton Towers LEGEND – Francis Jackson.
The final Easter Egg we can see here is the U.G Products Corkscrew – from Maison Talbot. So there we have the Corkscrew, which lived in ‘Ug Land’ until it was removed in 2008. Maison Talbot, or, roughly translated to the House of Talbot – John Talbot was an Earl who lived IN the Towers.
Right – let’s have a closer look at the final image –
So this photo has a few of the Easter Eggs that are quite obvious.. but a few that need a bit of a zoom, and colour tweak. So, let’s do that..
Well this image is looking mighty… SHARP!! So, we’ve got two types of Blade – Blade is the name of Alton Towers’ Pirate Ship, and there’s a Ripsaw blade – a nod to the now deceased Huss TopSpin – Ripsaw. I’m wondering who ‘Marques Deposee’ is – do any of you know? Drop a comment at the bottom!
We’ve got some Nicholas Roodyn Paint Stripper – A Duel Formulation. That’s clearly a clever spelling mistake to elude the heritage of The Curse at Alton Manor. Dr Nicholas Roodyn was a genetic scientist who featured in the storyline for Duel – with the green ‘slime’ in a barrel similar to the prop barrels in Duel. Then we have some ‘Toy Parts’ – from the Dollhouse Company on Talbot Street – 91 Talbot Street specifically. Toyland Tours opened on Talbot Street – but not in ’91 – in 1994 – which, uhm, yeah… anyone understand that? Drop a comment below!
Are those all the Alton Manor Easter Eggs ?
So there we have it, all The Curse at Alton Manor Easter Eggs I can see. I *think* I’ve got them all, but as I say above, there are a few anomalies and gaps in my knowledge. I’m certain Alton Towers have not made any mistakes – so can you help me? I’d love to hear.
I can’t wait for The Curse at Alton Manor, it really looks utterly incredible. We really need a proper groundbreaking dark ride in the UK and I think we’ll get it on March 18th.
