Dark ride

A dark ride—also called a ghost train when it has scary themes—is a special kind of indoor amusement ride. Riders sit in vehicles that move through rooms filled with lights, sounds, music, and animation. These rides often use special effects to create fun scenes.

Dark rides have been around since the 1800s. They can have many different themes, like tunnels of love or spooky stories. The goal is to tell a story that lets riders be part of the action as they move through the ride.

Terminology

A dark ride is a special indoor amusement ride. Riders move through different scenes with lights, sounds, and effects. Some dark rides use black lights. These lights make certain parts glow, changing how big or small the space feels. This creates magical illusions, like flying or traveling through a storybook. Famous examples from Disneyland include Snow White's Scary Adventures, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Alice in Wonderland. These use glowing effects to tell exciting stories.

History

The first dark rides appeared in the late 1800s and were called "scenic railways" and "pleasure railways." They used small boats to carry riders through water-filled canals. One early example, A Trip to the Moon, started at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.

In 1928, Marvin Rempfer and Leon Cassidy of the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company made the first single-rail electric dark ride.

Famous dark rides include Futurama at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

Today, dark rides use simple animations and sounds or advanced animatronics and special effects. The passages often change direction, with sudden curves and ups and downs to surprise riders.

Empirical research

Researchers from the University of Liechtenstein looked at how people feel about dark rides. They found that the stories in the ride help people feel more connected to the experience. This happens because riders get fully involved in the ride's world. The researchers also think that what people already know about the story and their own cultural background can change how much they enjoy the ride.

Variations

Dark rides come in many different forms, and these types do not always overlap.

Ghost train

In places like the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, China, and Australia, dark rides that have a spooky theme are called ghost trains.

The first ride to use the name “Ghost Train” was at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The ride was brought in 1930 and was originally called The Pretzel because of the twisty shape of its track. But since pretzels weren’t well-known in Britain, it was soon renamed after The Ghost Train, a play that ran for a year in London and had a film version shown in 1931. It was rebuilt in 1936 and has looked the same ever since. Blackpool Pleasure Beach is also home to Valhalla, a large indoor dark ride.

In Australia, there is a dark ride named The Ghost Train at Luna Park, Melbourne. Another ride with a similar name was destroyed by fire in 1979 at Luna Park Sydney.

This idea is also popular in the United States. One well-known ghost train in the country is The Haunted Mansion, which first opened in Disneyland in Anaheim, California on August 9, 1969.

Interactive dark ride

Interactive dark rides let riders take part in the story of the attraction. The very first interactive dark ride ever built was El Paso at the Belgium theme park Bobbejaanland.

Most interactive dark rides are shooting dark rides. These rides ask riders to aim and shoot at targets during the ride using handheld or vehicle-mounted light guns. Hitting a target correctly usually causes special effects, like flashing lights or moving the target. The more targets riders hit, the higher their scores at the end of the ride. How riders use the light guns can differ between rides, from fighting aliens on Men in Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida to calling turkeys on Gobbler Getaway at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. The systems of regular dark rides can easily be changed into shooting dark rides. Examples include Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back! at Alton Towers (until 2023 when the ride was changed) and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The latter uses spaces that previously held If You Had Wings, Delta Dreamflight, and Take Flight. A newer dark ride, Wonder Mountain's Guardian at Canada's Wonderland, has the world’s longest interactive screen at over 500 feet (150 m).

Among non-shooting interactive dark rides, Etnaland’s award-winning Haunted School is described by Park World magazine as “one of the most unique dark rides”. It is themed to a school exam, where riders answer multiple-choice questions individually. Riders get a school report at the end of the ride based on their answers. While technically a coaster, the Gekion Live coaster at Joypolis had parts of a dark ride. It used to have a shooting part, but was later changed to a dancing part (tapping buttons on the restraints).

Trackless dark ride

The Walt Disney Company was the first to create a trackless ride system for its dark ride attractions. Trackless dark rides use automated guided vehicles that don’t need guide rails. This lets the vehicles cross paths, go backward, and turn around. Some trackless dark rides, like the Big Red Car Ride at Dreamworld, used a buried wire to help them navigate. Others, such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park, Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland, or Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy at Disneyland Paris and Epcot, use Wi-Fi and RFID-based local positioning systems. This system gives the vehicles more flexibility to move in random ways. Magnets in the attraction’s floor keep the vehicles “on track” with a main computer system telling them where to go. The earliest form of this technology existed in warehouses, where electric lifts moved across floors to carry boxes. Also, this technology has been used in robot vacuums that use motion sensors to move around floors since 1996. The trackless dark ride system as we know it today started in 2000 at Tokyo Disneyland’s “Pooh's Hunny Hunt” attraction– a dark ride based on Disney’s 1977 animated film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. However, while Pooh's Hunny Hunt started the trackless ride system, it was Hollywood Studio’s Tower of Terror and Epcot’s Universe of Energy that first used the technology.

The use of virtual reality in creating trackless technology is often missed. The Disney VR Studio, started in 1992, explored virtual reality technology for theme park rides. Before helping create the trackless system, the VR Studio used virtual models to design attractions such as California Screamin' at Disney's California Adventure Park. Disney has used virtual simulations to let designers experience roller coasters before they are built and to show complex new ride vehicles such as the free-moving vehicles in “Pooh's Hunny Hunt”. Also, this computer modeling is a powerful tool for breaking language barriers. Showing a virtual model of “Pooh's Hunny Hunt” to Japan helped lead to the ride being built at Tokyo Disneyland because it used imaging instead of speech.

Social Barriers

Some dark rides can be too intense for some riders, as they may have bright flashing lights, black lights, sudden drops, stops, or other sudden movements that could trouble riders who are sensitive to such things. As more thrilling rides are made, more attractions are limiting riders with certain needs. Most commonly, guests who cannot ride are those who are too heavy for the ride vehicle to hold safely or stop the safety harness from locking. Other ride limits include those who are not tall enough or too tall to fit in the ride’s scenes, or those who do not have a certain number of arms and legs. Ride rules are made to keep all guests safe during the ride and are shown throughout the lines to prevent the companies from being responsible if a rider gets hurt. But, according to Title III of the Americans Disability Act, it is against the law for amusement parks to treat any persons with disabilities unfairly. So, companies such as The Walt Disney Company must make sure any person with a disability who still meets the ride’s rules can ride. This often includes guests who use wheelchairs or crutches.

Services such as the Disability Access Service (DAS) at Disney theme parks make sure guests with disabilities have the same chances to enjoy rides as other guests. Companies such as Universal Studios offer similar services such as the Attractions Assistance Pass (AAS). The DAS pass lets guests pick a spot in an attraction’s line, choose a time to ride, and come back at that time. This helps guests who cannot wait in a trackless dark ride line still ride without being there, but they still wait the same amount of time as other guests. Many trackless dark ride lines are tight, enclosed spaces that can be hard for people with wheelchairs or helpers to move through.

Also, because trackless ride systems are complex and the vehicles run all the time, more ride stops and breakdowns happen. Because these attractions have many parts, breakdowns happen more often and take more time to fix. Hollywood Studio’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance had more than 540 unplanned stops in 2022. This can be upsetting for guests since trackless dark rides are often very popular but also break down the most. Long wait times and frequent ride stops can be frustrating for guests.

Enclosed roller coaster

Main article: Enclosed roller coaster

Even though some roller coasters may be indoors, simply putting a roller coaster inside does not make it a dark ride. Dark coasters are roller coasters that have detailed paths, special effects (such as animated characters, fire, smoke, and sound/lighting), and a dark ride part that quickly changes into a roller coaster-style path with big turns, sharp turns, steep drops, and spins. Some have backward motion, and many use launch systems instead of lifts. Examples include:

• Flight of Fear at Kings Island and Kings Dominion
• Blazing Fury at Dollywood
• Revenge of the Mummy at many of the Universal Destinations & Experiences (themed to The Mummy film franchise, featuring a launch from the dark ride section into the coaster section)
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the Magic Kingdom and Shanghai Disneyland
• Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster at Warner Bros. Movie World (a wild mouse roller coaster with a ghost-train section, vertical lift and backwards drop)
• Space Mountain at Disney World, Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland
• Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain at Disneyland Park (Paris)
• Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (themed to an escape from the haunted Bavarian Black Forest, with a free-fall track section)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT

Test Track at Epcot, Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea, and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure each use a slot car track instead of a roller coaster, but they pair dark ride scenes with a fast thrill ride.

Saw – The Ride at Thorpe Park has an enclosed dark part with flashing lights and special effects, before the car goes into the outdoor part of the ride.

Other attractions incorporating dark ride elements

Particularly in Disney-built or inspired parks, many attractions use traditional dark-ride features, such as animatronics and theater lighting, but are not “dark rides” because guests do not get on vehicles. Examples include the walk-through displays in Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle, and theater-based Disney attractions like Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Hall of Presidents, The American Adventure and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (and its now-closed Disneyland replacement America Sings) had four rooms that turned with audiences around a fixed center with show scenes.

The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Railroad both include short dark-ride scenes, but mostly move guests outdoors. Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain at several Disney parks, and Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars at Hong Kong Disneyland also include some dark-ride parts, but work mostly as indoor/outdoor roller coasters.

Eatrenalin in Europa-Park is an attraction that mixes dark ride parts, such as trackless ride vehicles and themed rooms, with a fine dining experience.

List of dark rides

Some dark rides have closed down over time. When this happens, the name is written in italics with the closing date shown after a dash.