A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, such exhibits include tunnels of love, scary themes and interactive stories. Dark rides are intended to tell stories with thematic elements that immerse riders. Not only does the queue tell a story, but the story unfolds throughout the attraction.
Alton Towers Resort is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, mini golf and hotel complex. In 2021, it ranked first for attendance among amusement parks in the UK, with an estimated 1.8 million visitors.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, or simply Tower of Terror, is a series of similar accelerated drop tower dark rides located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea, Walt Disney Studios Park, and formerly located at Disney California Adventure. The attraction is inspired by Rod Serling's anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, and takes place in the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel in Hollywood, California. The Tokyo version features an original storyline not related to The Twilight Zone and takes place in the fictional Hotel Hightower. All versions of the attraction place riders in a seemingly ordinary hotel elevator, and present a fictional backstory in which people have mysteriously disappeared from the elevator under the influence of a supernatural element many years previously.
Indiana Jones Adventure is an enhanced motion vehicle dark ride attraction based on the Indiana Jones film series, located at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Guests accompany intrepid archaeologist Dr. Indiana Jones on a turbulent quest, aboard military troop transport vehicles, through a dangerous subterranean lost temple guarded by a supernatural power.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is an interactive shooting dark ride attraction located in the Tomorrowland area of the Disney theme parks. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, this attraction combines a carnival game and a third-generation Omnimover system. It is inspired by Disney/Pixar's Toy Story franchise, and contains several elements loosely based on the cartoon series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
Chessington World of Adventures Resort is a 128 acres theme park, zoo and hotel complex in Chessington, Greater London, England, around 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Central London. The complex originally opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931; the theme park aspect was developed by The Tussauds Group, debuting on 7 July 1987 as one of the first combined animal-amusement parks in the UK. The theme park, which features over 40 rides, is now owned by Merlin Entertainments, following its merger with The Tussauds Group in 2007. Under Merlin, Chessington has been increasingly developed into a resort and tourist destination, including two on-site hotels, swimming pools, a campground, spa and fitness facilities.
The Crypt was an indoor Giant Top Spin ride located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Former park owner Paramount Parks collaborated with HUSS Park Attractions to design and manufacture the ride, which opened as Tomb Raider: The Ride on April 5, 2002. The flat ride featured a variety of special effects that correlated with the theme of the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider from Paramount Pictures. Under new ownership by Cedar Fair, Kings Island removed all references to the film from both the ride and its indoor queue line following the 2007 season. It reopened as The Crypt in 2008. An outdoor, smaller version of the ride opened at sister park Kings Dominion in 2005 as Tomb Raider: FireFall and closed in 2019.
The Exterminator is a steel roller coaster located at Kennywood amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The coaster was manufactured by Reverchon Industries.
Vampire is an Arrow suspended swinging roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures theme park in London, England. It opened in 1990 in the new Transylvania area and is the only Arrow Dynamics suspended roller coaster still operating outside of North America.
Men in Black: Alien Attack is a shooting interactive dark ride located at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, based on the film, Men in Black, itself based on the original comic book of the same name created by Lowell Cunningham. The ride opened in 2000 after a five-year development process. The ride has generally been well received, winning an Outstanding Achievement award from the Themed Entertainment Association.
Rameses Revenge was a Top Spin ride at Chessington World of Adventures Resort theme park in southwest London, England, introduced in 1995. It was the world's first top spin ride to feature a drown-upside-down element.
Flight of the Hippogriff is a junior roller coaster at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the many Universal theme parks. It is present at Universal Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Beijing. Designed by Universal Creative, the first installation opened at Islands of Adventure on June 18, 2010. The new ride was a redesign of an existing roller coaster known as Flying Unicorn, which the park closed in 2008 to begin its transformation. The design change was implemented to fit the new Harry Potter-themed area that was being constructed at the park. Flight of the Hippogriff is a mild alternative to the area's more extreme rides such as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Following a successful launch, identical versions of the roller coaster were installed at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood over the next several years, with the Beijing version opening with the park in 2021.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a motion-based dark ride located in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-themed areas of Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida; Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California; Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan; and Universal Studios Beijing in Beijing, China. The ride takes guests through scenes and environments in and around Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter series of books and films. Mark Woodbury, president of Universal Creative, described the ride as an in-depth look at the world of Harry Potter, which utilizes never-before-seen technology which transforms "the theme park experience as you know it". The ride first opened at Islands of Adventure with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on June 18, 2010; subsequent versions opened at Universal Studios Japan on July 15, 2014, at Universal Studios Hollywood on April 7, 2016, and at Universal Studios Beijing on September 20, 2021.
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 Cedar Fair 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.
The 5th Dimension was a dark ride at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort in southwest London, England, when the theme park opened and was the first major special effects attraction of its kind in the UK. The ride closed at the end of the 1993 season and was replaced by Terror Tomb, which in turn has been replaced by Tomb Blaster. The ride was designed with cars that could stop and rotate to face what was happening in the scene; the same transit system is in use today.
Terror Tomb was a dark ride attraction at Chessington World of Adventures in southwest London, England, themed as an adventure inside a haunted tomb. The ride opened in 1994 along with the Forbidden Kingdom area. All music was composed by Graham Smart, including the hard rock song featured in the ride's finale.
Elmer's Flying Jumbos is a Red Baron ride operating at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in London. Originally in the area of Toytown, it later moved to the Zufari area and then finally Adventure Point. In the spring of 2020, it was renamed Elmer's Flying Jumbos. As of May 2023, the Chessington ride continues to operate after a long 36 years.
Scorpion Express was a mine train themed powered roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures in Greater London, England. It opened with the theme park in 1987 as the Runaway Train. The original ride was closed in 2012 for refurbishment and reopened on 14 March 2014, with the same track layout but new name and theming. Scorpion Express is set in a small mining village, featuring an animated metalwork scorpion.
Image of the exterior
Reserve and Ride available
Wheelchair accessible
Must transfer from wheelchair
