Secrets of the Dark
Having visited a large amount of parks, many of them opt for a dark ride attraction or some sort of indoor experience. These come in all shapes and sizes and in this article I am going to try and cover most of the variations and how different themes can completely change the experience.
First off is one of the most popular dark rides - A Haunted Swing:
These are found throughout the world and are presented on very large scale but also very small. They come with all sorts of stories, from ancient curses to magicians to weird scientific experiments, each one offering a slightly different twist on the original concept. Here are a few of the main ones:
The Haunted Swing - Pleasure Beach Blackpool, UK
This being one of the original concepts for this ride design (I’m guessing due to its age.) This ride is not really part of a clever storyline which the other themes seem to follow, but more of an extra to the mirror maze and wierd exhibitions in Impossible. It has a very poor throughput and due to its age does seem to be held on by masking tape and doesn’t really offer the experience that the bigger ones create but it’s still interesting to see where the initial plans came from.
The Haunting - Drayton Manor Park, UK
This was a different twist on the Pleasure Beach idea and features a haunted house being inspected by “Ghost Buster” style employees. The build up is much more heightened with an attack in a claustrophobic corridor and an encouter with the houses lord who sends you into the main ride. Although the ride does lead to a bit of an anti-climax, it has some great effects that set it over a bog standard haunted swing with air jets that create a nice atmosphere. Unfortunately this ride is not batched well and you can be waiting for long periods of time during busy periods.
Hex, Legend of the Towers - Alton Towers, UK
Hex is a wonderfully creepy experience with an enthralling story and great pre shows to really heighten the tension. The ride itself is beautifully themed and looks stunning with a great soundtrack and lighting effects. This ride has great throughput and barely ever has a queue but would still be worth the wait. The story is the main thing that makes this one stand out, especially with the chained oak tree tale being true! All in all, one of the more expensive haunted swing installations but it is clearly visable from the theming and decor of the main “Vault.”
Houdini’s Great Escape - Six Flags Great Adventure, USA
This has to be one of the best Haunted Swings I have experienced and is amazing from start to finish, with a great pre show explaining Houdini’s work, showing some of his tricks and how his wife is trying to contact him for the final trick he never performed, the trick you are about to experience. A creepy section then follows with a blackout moment a possible contact with the ghost of Houdini. You then progress through into his workshop with books and some of his experiments sat on a long table. In the middle on the table is a talking head in a crystal ball which really amazed me. Its livelyness and ability to interact was great and really added to the atmosphere. Once again an original soundtrack and great lighting effects finished the ride itself off nicely. One of the attractions which most people say Six Flags parks are missing!
Well that was a selection of Haunted swings, now onto 4D attractions of which there are really only 2 main ones and have really bridged so many gaps between animation and live action as well as free movement in a ride vehicle. These are as follows:
The Amazing Adventures of SpiderMan - Univerlsal Studios Islands of Adventure, USA
A technological marvel and the first of its kind, this truly was a breakthrough in ride technology. As you board your ride vehicles it is unclear about what you are about to experience. Once seated you place your 3D glasses over your eyes and the vehicle moves on. With tilting and spinning motions you follow a ride track through a variety of different scenes featuring all the characters from the marvel comic hero Spiderman. With interaction between the animation and ride veichles you feel absorbed in the atmosphere and adventure. With smoke effects and explosions the ride leads to an amazing climax and really shows why it gets such good reviews! Truly different to anything you will ever experience but unfortunately this amazing attraction ususally comes with a lengthy queue line and anything up to 2 hours is normal to experience this unique attraction.
Curse of Darkastle, the Ride - Busch Gardens Europe, USA
Very similar to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, this ride is much darker and more sinister in approach and has amazing theming from queuing through the castle gardens to moving through the entrance hall to board your herse style vehicles that will take you on your tour around the haunted castle, owned by a deranged werewolf! Once again the amazing combination of animation and vehicle movement really engulfs you in the story with falling movements and mind tricks that make you feel you are falling from the castle towers. Once again an amazing experience and one of the best dark rides in the world. It is well worth over an hour of queuing.
Now onto another type of dark ride, interactive laser tag. The basic concept is to shoot at targets using your blasters/shooting aid whilst moving in a car along a designated track. Once again these come in a variety of styles from haunted houses to egyptian tombs to alien invasions. These are great family attractions for theme parks and usualy have good capacity and good ride lengths. The only problem is that they can require large amounts of space and usually require a flat peice of land for installations. Here are a few varieties:
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - Disney Resorts, USA
A Buzz Lightyear twist on laser tag shooting with brightly coloured targets, with a much wider appeal than some of the other attractions, it has great lighting although at times the actual ride anamatronics can be quite dull with things just spinning when there could be much more potential, especially from Disney. But all in all, a much more family orientated ride.
Duel, The Haunted House Strikes Back - Alton Towers, UK
Once the Haunted House, this attraction featured an overhaul to become a laser shooting style game with a much darker and sinister story. You are lead to believe you are entering a small house invaded by zombies which soon turns out to be a huge course of undead assaults. Unfortunately the original ride lost a lot of its value and some of the better scares were lost to the thrill of shooting walls and spiders, but at the same time gained a lot of re-riding value with guests wanting to beat their own scores. With a very good throughput there is barely ever a queue for this ride and is definately worth getting on, even if you do get repetitive strain injury if you try for a good score!
Men in Black, Aliens Attack - Universal Studios, USA
This ride is the most technological of this brand of dark ride and is something that the designers should be proud of. From start to finish the sets and landscapes are immense, not forgetting the creatures created and the way they respond to the laser technology, although I found it hard to score it really did great things for the senses and provided an awesome ride. Unfortunately once again this ride can be very popular and its only complaint is its bizarre capacity of 3 riders per row which is often a great opportunity for single riders but not so much for general guests.
Although not a ‘flat’ ride the next few rides are indoor coasters and their variations. Generally speaking these are now lacking around the world and range in quality from a coaster in a shed to an extravigantly themed tomb with amazing special effects.
X:/ No Way Out - Thorpe Park, UK
In its day, this ride was an amazing experience, after all what’s more intimidating than a giant futuristic pyramid sat in the middle of the park and a sign warning of the worlds first backwards in the dark coaster! Sounds interesting, but to be fair this ride is very weird and creepy and did have a great build up with a long twisted queue line full of weird things to look at. Unfortunately due to a popularity decrease part of the queue was removed and used for the Fright Nights the park hosts at halloween. The ride itself is short but a unique coaster experience non the less with random stops and starts, air being blown in the face and weird sound effects. Although this coaster is showing its age, it was once a great ride and can still attract guests on the busy days.
Flight of Fear - Kings Island/Kings Dominion, USA
Flight of Fear is a very cleverly themed coster. As you enter the queue line you are led into what looks to be area 51 and one of its secret hangers. Inside you encounter a giant glowing ship and a twisted queue line filled with alien exhibitions. There are no clues as to what this may even be, nothing until you actually arrive on the station platform after entering through the doors of the flying saucer and watch the long trains launch out of the station but thats it, the train disappears into the darkness. You have no idea what’s about to happen which really makes this ride stand out from the rest. It creates a great atmosphere and really gives both parks a unique indoor attraction.
There are many other dark rides/attractions out there and I will be covering them bit by bit. As you can see, this was a pretty chunky article and I’ve only skimmed over the surface so over the next few weeks/months I’m going to try and get some interesting articles together. Still to come
- 4D Cinemas
- More Dark Coasters
- Children’s Dark Rides
- And of course, some scary walk through attractions
