I really do think they need to think what to do with the haunting as it don’t fit the western theme but with the story your stepping back into time to the late 1700’s makes no sense with the pre show video.
Now with the Wild Bills Hotel and Saloon they could could use the cafe as the Saloon and the Haunting rethemed as a Hotel you still go thought the gate and the garden but the trailer had its cab removed and the trailer been themed as a reception building. Inside the area where the staff sit down has been turned into a reception deck and your still asked to watch the screens for checking in information. Will Bill welcomes you to his hotel and he hopes to enjoy your stay and the staff are bell boys and take us to our rooms.
As we walk into the next corridor we hear a laugh and a warning get out before it’s too late. Then the Skeletons come down but there wearing cowboy clothes.
You enter the next room which is a bar area and the painting is now a outlaw and he warns us that we shouldn’t have come and shows us what happened to the last guests who checked in and there’s a piano playing itself then he said there’s no escape and laughs.
The Bellboy this is to dangerous I better get you to the dinning room as you all be safe in there.
The mad house has been totally stripped and themed to look like a dinning room with a big table in the middle and the outer walls having plates, Guns and pictures Etc.
The bellboy says you will be safe in here I will try to get the sheriff.
It goes dark and the pictures of bandits come to life and they say see u in hell and laugh. Then the room starts turning and projectors of the bandits projected onto the walls. The ending the lights turn off with just the bandits flying around and the air blasts from the vampire days go off to feel like gun shots and the lights come on and the doors open with a sheriff voice saying get to the saloon now you will be safe in there.
That’s a rough idea I’m sure we all can add or remove bits.
The current version seems really popular among guests. If the general Public love it, why bother changing it? Every time I've been on this year, other guests just seem really engaged with the (now returned) original story and are enjoying it a lot more!
A Western Change for it seems very unnecessary for me personally. Why change an already great product with seemingly better reception than it hasn't received for a really long time? We have a Castle themed to Christmas right in the middle of a Pirate Themed Area, I don't see why The Haunting couldn't be another exception, especially for a ride nearly 30, which is really impressive.
Every park has their ride where some rode it when they were young and when they're parents they'd want to take their kids on it. As of now, it seems like outside of The Haunting, Drayton Manor really lacks the rides in that department.
Out of everything, I think it shows that guests aren't that concerned about themes not being coherent in a themed area. Remember air? That was never themed to Forbidden Valley, yes was beloved by the general public.
It personally also shows how well the original story with Doctor X has aged compared to Dr Ghostman, and after seeing the video in Gold rushes queue, can they really top the high production, heavily stylised and cinematic original video?
I think instead of wanting a unnecessary retheme, we should be wanting more Restoration and Improvements to the ride as it currently stands. It's a brilliant product the original 1996 assets, and I really doubt Drayton could top it nowadays. Those are just my thoughts anyway.
