This article needs to be updated.(December 2020) |
Formerly | Sally Unlimited (1977-1982) Sally Industries (1983-1991) Sally Corporation (1992-2019) |
---|---|
Industry | Manufacturing |
Founded | 1977 |
Founder | John Wood John Fox John Rob Holland |
Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Rolf Paegert (CEO) John Wood (Chairman, President) Rich Hill (Creative Director, Ride Designer) |
Products | Dark rides, animatronics |
Number of employees | 35 |
Website | www |
Sally Corporation (also known as Sally Dark Rides) is a dark ride and animatronic manufacturing company based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. The company serves amusement parks, attractions, museums, and retail clients worldwide. It offers complete design/build services from concept to installation, including scripting, audio and music production, props and sets, lighting and special effects, electronics, and project management.
Sally Corporation was founded in 1977 by high school friends John Fox and John Rob Holland. [1] The company began by manufacturing animatronics for various commercial applications, [1] including an animated figure of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, which was created for Neiman Marcus and later donated to the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas. [2] After Sally had been in business for 6–9 months the second hire for the new company was John Wood who had previously worked with Fox. The first hire was an office manager, Nancy Hafner. John Fox left the company in 1983. [1] Holland stayed with the company until 1988. [1] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sally Corporation went on to develop interactive dark rides. John Wood continues to serve as the Chairman and President, with Rolf Paegert assuming the role of CEO following a corporate restructuring in January 2023. [3]
Name | Park | Location | Type | Opened | Status | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Around the World in 80 Days | Alton Towers | Alton, Staffordshire, England | Redeveloped Dark Ride | 1986 | Defunct | Refurbishment | [4] |
Boo Blasters on Boo Hill | Canada's Wonderland Carowinds Kings Dominion Kings Island | Vaughan, Ontario, Canada Charlotte, North Carolina, United States Doswell, Virginia, United States Mason, Ohio, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2010 | Operating | Cedar Fair retheme of Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion; Variant of the Ghost Blasters II Model. | [5] |
Challenge of Tutankhamon | Walibi Belgium | Wavre, Walloon Brabant, Belgium | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [6] [7] | ||
Den of Lost Thieves | Indiana Beach Seoul Land | Indiana, United States South Korea | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [1] | ||
E.T. Adventure | Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Hollywood | Orlando, Florida, United States Universal City, California, United States | Conventional Dark Ride |
| Operating at Orlando Removed at Hollywood | Animatronic Figures & Plants Only. | [8] |
El Ultimo Minuto | Dinopolis | Teruel, Spain | Conventional Dark Ride | Operating | [9] | ||
Ghost Blasters (Ghost Hunt) | Castle Park Great Canadian Midway Lake Compounce | Riverside, California, United States Clifton Hill, Ontario, Canada Bristol, Connecticut, United States | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Operating | [7] | |
Ghost Blasters II | Elitch Gardens Theme Park | Denver, Colorado, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2008 | Defunct | Rethemed to Kaleidoscape by Meow Wolf in 2019. | [10] |
Gobbler Getaway | Holiday World & Splashin' Safari | Santa Claus, Indiana, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2006 | Operating | [7] | |
The Great Humbug Adventure | Santa's Village | Jefferson, New Hampshire, United States | Interactive, Redeveloped Dark Ride |
| Operating | Redesigned by Sally for the 2020 Season. | |
The Great Pistolero Roundup (Quick Draw) | Family Kingdom Amusement Park Frontier City | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Operating | [4] [11] | |
Haunted Castle | Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Galaxyland | Santa Cruz, California, United States Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | Custom Dark Ride | Operating | [4] | ||
Haunted Hotel | Myrtle Beach Pavilion | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States | Redeveloped Dark Ride | Defunct | [4] | ||
Jocco's Mardi Gras Madness | Six Flags New Orleans | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | Defunct | [note 1] [7] | ||
Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D | Warner Bros. Movie World | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [12] | ||
Justice League: Battle for Metropolis | Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags St. Louis Six Flags Great America Six Flags Mexico Six Flags Magic Mountain | Arlington, Texas, United States Eureka, Missouri, United States Gurnee, Illinois, United States Mexico City, Mexico Valencia, California, United States Jackson, New Jersey, United States Austell, Georgia, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | |||
La Aventura de Scooby-Doo | Parque Warner Madrid | Spain | Interactive Dark Ride | 2005 | Operating | Spanish Variant of Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion. | [9] |
Labyrinth of the Minotaur | Terra Mítica | Benidorm, Alicante province, Spain | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [9] | ||
Laser Raiders | Legoland Windsor | Windsor, Berkshire, England | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [13] | ||
Lost Kingdom Adventure | Legoland California Legoland Florida Legoland Malaysia | Carlsbad, California, United States Winter Haven, Florida, United States Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [13] | ||
Mine of Lost Souls | Canobie Lake Park | Salem, New Hampshire, United States | Redeveloped Dark Ride | Operating | [4] | ||
Mystic Mansion Spökjakten | Park at OWA | Foley, Alabama, United States | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Operating | Variant of the Ghost Blasters II Model. | [14] |
Nights in White Satin: The Trip | Freestyle Music Park | Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States | Conventional Dark Ride | 2008 | Defunct | [15] | |
North Pole Adventure | Happy Valley Happy Valley Happy Valley | Chengdu, China Shenzhen, China Shanghai, China | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Operating | [6] | |
Reese's Cupfusion | Hersheypark | Derry Township, Pennsylvania, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2019 | Operating | ||
Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge | Hersheypark | Derry Township, Pennsylvania, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2006 | Defunct | [16] | |
Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion | Canada's Wonderland Carowinds Kings Dominion Kings Island | Vaughan, Ontario, Canada Charlotte, North Carolina, United States Doswell, Virginia, United States Mason, Ohio, United States | Interactive Dark Ride |
| Defunct | [17] | |
Scream In The Dark! | Ripley’s Entertainment Zone | Pattaya, Thailand | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | [4] | ||
Sesame Street: Street Mission | PortAventura Park | Catalonia, Spain | Interactive Dark Ride | 2019 | Operating | ||
SpongeBob's Crazy Carnival Ride | Circus Circus Las Vegas | Winchester, Nevada, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2023 | Operating | ||
The Temple | Legoland Billund | Billund, Denmark | Interactive Dark Ride | Operating | |||
Treasure Hunt: The Ride | Cannery Row | Monterey, California, United States | Interactive Dark Ride | 2023 | Operating | [18] | |
Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol | Lost Island Theme Park | Waterloo, Iowa | Interactive Dark Ride | 2022 | Operating | ||
Vi På Saltkråkan | Astrid Lindgren's World | Vimmerby, Sweden | Conventional Dark Ride | 2007 | Operating | [19] [20] | |
*Ye Old Mill | Playland | Rye, New York, United States | Redeveloped Dark Ride | 2001 | Operating | Refurbishment | [21] |
Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure | Six Flags Over Texas | Arlington, Texas, United States | Redeveloped Dark Ride | 1992 | Defunct | [22] | |
Zombie Paradise | Tokyo Dome | Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan | Conventional Dark Ride | 1992 | Defunct | [23] [24] |
Name | Premiered | Theme | Known Installations | Current Venues | Status | Characters | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daniel and the Dixie Diggers | 1982 | Dixieland Jazz |
|
| Operating |
| Available in Quintet, Trio, and Showboat Variants. |
Hank & Beau | 1982 | Country, Bluegrass, Dixieland Jazz |
|
| Operating |
| Can be separable for solo acts. |
Sally at the Piano | 1983 | Piano Lounge |
| Operating |
| Namesake of the company. | |
Gwen and the Magical Music Makers | 1983 | Medieval, Musical | N/A | Defunct |
| Daniel and the Dixie Diggers Showboat Retrofit. | |
John Phillip Tuba | 1983 | Marching Band |
| N/A | Defunct |
| One set exists in private ownership. |
The Berenstain Bears | 1985 | Unknown | N/A | Defunct |
| Papa Bear figure repurposed for Rusutsu's Sally at the Piano. | |
The Magic Lantern Theater | 1985 | Steampunk, Vaudeville | N/A | Defunct |
| Co-production with Landmark Entertainment Group. | |
The WizBangs | 1985 | Magic | N/A | Defunct |
| Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamics Retrofit; Equipment & Programming Only. | |
Ratón Chito y Sus Amigos | 1985-86 | Unknown | N/A | Defunct |
| Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamics Retrofit; Show Controllers Only. | |
Bubba and the Badland Band | 1987 | Country, Bluegrass (English) Unknown (Korean) | Operating |
| Available with or without Mark Twain. | ||
Billy Jo and the Bluegrass Boys | 1987 | Country, Bluegrass | N/A | Defunct |
| Redesigned in 1995. | |
Care Bears: Care-A-Lot Castle | 1987 | Care Bears | N/A | Defunct |
| ||
Jethro P. Hogg | 1988 | Country, Bluegrass |
|
| Operating |
| Can be paired with the Trio Daniel and the Dixie Diggers. |
Ursula and the Oom-Pa-Pas | 1989 | Alpenländische Volksmusik | Operating |
| Exclusive to Rusutsu Resort. | ||
Rocky and the Railroad Ramblers (The Man & Dog) | 1992 | Country, Bluegrass | In Storage |
| Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamics Retrofit; Equipment & Soundtrack Only. | ||
Chu-Lin and the Zoo Notes | 1993 | Zoo | N/A | Defunct |
| Exclusive to Madrid Zoo Aquarium. | |
The Rockin' Rascals | 1993 | Rock and Roll |
| N/A | Defunct |
| Daniel and the Dixie Diggers Trio Retrofit. |
Banda Chic Chic | 1994 | Unknown |
| N/A | Defunct |
| Exclusive to Chico Cheese's. |
The Jammin' Jesters | 1994 | Medieval, Rock and Roll, Broadway |
|
| Undergoing Refurbishment |
| Reconfigured Gwen and the Magical Music Makers. |
YeYe and the Little Airplane Band | 1994 | Chinese folklore | N/A | Defunct |
| Exclusive to Splendid China Florida; Monkey King exists in private ownership. | |
The Flintstones Bedrock Trio | 1996 | Stone Age, Rock and Roll | N/A | Defunct | Destroyed upon Bedrock City's closure. | ||
Rocky and the Ramblin' Rascals* | 1998 | Country, Bluegrass | Operating |
| Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamics Retrofit; Equipment & Soundtrack Only. | ||
Cross Eyed Critters | 2020 | Country, Rock | Operating |
| Miss Foxy and Bubba Bear retrofits from Bubba and The Badland Band are used. Cooper Manning provides the voice for Ernie. |
Paramount Parks was a subsidiary of National Amusements-owned Viacom, headquartered at its Paramount's Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time of its acquisition, the company owned and operated five amusement park/water parks, which annually attracted 13 million patrons. Viacom assumed control of the company as part of its acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994.
Kings Dominion is an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia, United States, twenty miles (30 km) north of Richmond and 75 miles (120 km) south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the 280-acre (1.1 km2) park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and attractions including 13 roller coasters and a 20-acre (8.1 ha) water park. Its name is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island near Cincinnati, and the nickname for the Commonwealth of Virginia, "Old Dominion."
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John Richard Wardley is a British developer for theme parks in the UK and Europe: an innovator of special effects, dark rides and roller coasters in the themed attraction industry. He is known for Nemesis at Alton Towers and other major roller coasters in the UK and Europe.
E.T. Adventure is a suspended dark ride located at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, United States. Primarily designed in-house by Universal Creative in collaboration with Steven Spielberg, the ride first opened to the public at Universal Studios Florida in 1990. Guests experience the iconic flying-bicycle chase scene from Spielberg's 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. They are also introduced to E.T.'s homeworld, the Green Planet, which is inspired by the 1985 novel E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet by William Kotzwinkle. John Williams, who scored the original film, created an original score for the theme park ride, which also features over 300 animatronics and exotic plants designed and manufactured by the Sally Corporation.
An old mill is a type of amusement park ride where unaccompanied boats float on guideways and traverse through dark tunnels. These themed dark rides originated in the late 19th century and are known by a variety of names, including tunnel of love and river cave. While generally considered a gentle ride, a variation of an old mill featuring a climactic splashdown ending, similar to the modern-day log flume, is known as a mill chute.
Looney Tunes River Ride was a dark boat ride at the amusement park Warner Bros. Movie World at Gold Coast, Australia. The ride was unveiled on 3 June 1991, the same time as the park, and was closed on 1 February 2011 to make way for the Junior Driving School.
Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion is a Scooby-Doo-themed interactive dark ride series created by Sally Corporation based on Hanna-Barbera's long-running animated television series. The ride transports guests in a vehicle equipped with light guns that are used to shoot at various targets to collect points throughout the ride. At its peak, the ride model was located at seven amusement parks around the world including Canada's Wonderland, the location of the first installation that debuted in 2000. Initially known under a variety of names, the ride's Scooby-Doo theme has been replaced by Boo Blasters on Boo Hill at several locations and removed from others. The last remaining installation is La Aventura de Scooby-Doo at Parque Warner Madrid in Madrid, Spain.
Phantom Theater was a dark ride located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, United States. Manufactured by Morgan Manufacturing, the ride opened to the public on April 11, 1992. Its design incorporated a continuously moving chain of vehicles similar to Disney's Omnimover ride system. The attraction was furnished with sets and characters created by R&R Creative Amusement Designs, Inc., and it was themed as a haunted, abandoned theater.
Ghost Blasters is an interactive dark ride franchise, designed and created by Sally Corporation. The franchise includes many locations at various amusement parks throughout the United States and Canada. Riders on "Ghost Blasters" are equipped with laser guns, as the attraction travels through a themed "haunted manor". The goal of the attraction is to accumulate a high score by aiming and firing at lit targets.
Batman Adventure: The Ride is the name for a series of Batman-themed motion simulator rides installed at various Warner Bros.-branded parks around the world. The ride was first installed at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia in 1992, before being installed at Warner Bros. Movie World in Bottrop, Germany and Parque Warner Madrid in Madrid, Spain in 1996 and 2002, respectively. The installations in Australia and Spain later closed in 2011 and 2014, respectively. The ride is still operating today at the German park, but has been rethemed to Time Riders after the park lost its Warner Bros. licenses in 2004.
Warner Bros. Classics and The Great Gremlin Adventure was a dark ride located at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia, and Warner Bros. Movie World in Bottrop, Germany. The ride has been replaced with the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster and Van Helsing's Factory in the two parks respectively.
Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D is an interactive dark ride created by the Sally Corporation that is located at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia. It opened on 22 September 2012 and requires riders to shoot their laser blasters at targets in order to defeat an alien threat. The ride is touted as the world's first Justice League-themed ride and the first ride of its type to feature 3D projections. Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D has been well received with many praising the ride's special effects and immersive theming.
Lost Kingdom Adventure is a Sally Corporation Interactive Dark Ride located at Legoland theme parks around the globe. Locations include Legoland California, Legoland Windsor, Legoland Billund, Legoland Florida, Legoland Deutschland, and Legoland Malaysia.
Boo Blasters on Boo Hill is an interactive family dark ride designed and manufactured by Sally Corporation. The ride opened in 2010 at four Six Flags amusement parks — Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Kings Island. The ride was a slight alteration and replacement of Scooby-Doo! and the Haunted Castle after Cedar Fair chose to remove all Hanna-Barbera branding from each of their parks by 2010.
ETF Ride Systems is a Dutch manufacturer of amusement ride systems. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by the ETF Group. The company has manufactured both tracked and trackless systems for both dark and outdoor rides.
Wonder Mountain's Guardian is a 4D, interactive dark ride roller coaster at the Canada's Wonderland amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Park management first proposed a dark ride located inside Wonder Mountain around 2004. Technology and budget limitations at the time delayed the project's planning and design stages until 2011. The steel track was manufactured by ART Engineering; it is approximately 304.8 metres (1,000 ft) long and has a maximum height of about 18.3 metres (60 ft). The ride also features one of the largest drop tracks in the world reaching a height of 9.1 metres (30 ft).
Justice League: Battle for Metropolis is an Interactive dark ride located at several Six Flags theme parks across North America. The ride is a collaboration between Sally Dark Rides, Alterface, Oceaneering International, and Pure Imagination Studios, and is themed to the Justice League, DC's famous team of superheroes.
Pixar Pier is a themed land at Disney California Adventure, based on that of Victorian boardwalks that were once found along the coast of California. Despite its name and the presence of a nearby human-made lake, Pixar Pier is not actually a pier, but a waterside area of the park. Incredicoaster sprawls across much of the area, with various other attractions and forms of entertainment scattered around it.
SpongeBob's Crazy Carnival Ride is an interactive dark ride at the Circus Circus hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The ride was first announced in August 2023 and promotional material was previewed at an International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions event in November 2023. The attraction, themed to the characters of the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, is licensed by Paramount Global. The ride was manufactured by Sally Corporation and it opened on March 1, 2024.