DARK RIDE

A 'dark ride' or 'darkride' is an indoor amusement ride consisting of a vehicle and animated scenes. Leon Cassidy of the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company invented and patented the single-rail dark ride in 1928. Notable dark rides include the Futurama at the 1939 New York World's Fair and The Haunted Mansion at Disney theme parks. A dark ride does not necessarily have to be dark. Disney's "it's a small world", for example, is a brightly lit dark ride.
The roots of the dark ride go back to the late 1800s to "scenic Railways", "pleasure railways", and "mill rides". A boat dark ride is sometimes called an Old Mill or Tunnel Of Love.
In the United Kingdom, dark rides with a scary or ghostly theme are called ghost trains, although the 'ghost train' term is more usually applied to the simpler midway or traveling funfair style of dark ride as opposed to modern hi-tech dark rides. Notable UK examples have included 5th Dimension (Chessington World of Adventures), and Haunted House (Alton Towers), Both were developed by The Tussauds Group. Another notable UK dark ride is the Ghost Train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Contents

Shooting Dark Ride

Examples of Shooting Dark Rides

Uses in popular culture

External links

Shooting Dark Ride

A 'shooting dark ride' is a variation on the conventional dark ride in which riders aim for targets located throughout the ride. Each ride vehicle is equipped with a hand-held or vehicle mounted light gun. "Shooting" a target may result in one of more responses, such as objects moving or lights changing color. The more targets hit, the higher a player's score.
Some shooting dark rides are conventional dark rides that have been converted. One such example of this is ''Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!'' at Alton Towers. Another example is Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The ride formerly operated as Delta Dreamflight and later ''Take Flight'', until converted into its current form. The new ride utilizes the same layout and track system as the old ride, but with new ride vehicles.

Examples of Shooting Dark Rides

★ at Universal Studios Florida

★ Buzz Lightyear themed attractions at various Disney parks

★ ''Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back!'' at Alton Towers

★ ''Gobbler Getaway'' at Holiday World

Uses in popular culture

On ''The John Larroquette Show'' Larroquette's character hung a carnival sign in his office during the first episode: "This is a Dark Ride." He suggested the sign should also be posted "at the end of the birth canal"

External links

★ Laff In The Dark Information and history of the dark ride and funhouse amusement industry

★ The Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts (DAFE)

★ The Haunted Report. The only blog covering the Haunted Attraction/Dark Ride Industry

★ Autumn Chill, an international directory of dark rides, haunted attractions & ghost tours

★ Haunted Attraction Magazine The Trade Publication for the Haunted Attraction Industry

★ Dark rides in the UK