What is a "Dark Ride?"

[bkroz]

On here, we've had a few rousing discussions about what it takes to be a "roller coaster." What is a "roller coaster" and what isn't? That discussion might be as never-ending as wood vs. steel.

 

In the same vein, I had an interesting discussion with a close friend. What defines a dark ride?

 

Does it have to be dark? Because some aren't. Sinbad's Storybook Voyage simulates daytime. "it's a small world" is pretty darn bright. 

 

Does it have to be a ride? Wouldn't Waldameer's Pirate's Cove be most effectively called a "walkthrough dark ride?" And if so, wouldn't you say the same thing of Poseidon's Fury?

 

Does it have to have a plot? Nights in White Satin didn't.

 

Does it have to pass through multiple rooms? Alton Tower's HEX doesn't, and Tomb Raider didn't. But are those "dark rides?"

 

What about simulators? Is Star Tours a dark ride? After all, it is dark and a ride, and features a plot and characters and settings. 

 

One could even ask if it needs to be indoors? Idlewild's Neighborhood of Make-Believe is an outdoor attraction, but does that disqualify it from being a dark ride? If so, does it become one at night when the theatrical lights turn on to illuminate the animatronic scenes? What about Jurassic Park: River Adventure, which is mostly outdoors.

 

Hmmm... Just an interesting thought! Where do you draw the line? How do you define a dark ride?

[Steph88]

I personally don't count Pirate's Cove as a dark ride. Edit to add: I consider it more like a fun house.

 

In order for me to call something a dark ride, it must be an actual RIDE, and be 50 percent or more indoors. Light or dark doesn't actually matter to me, though dimmed lighting or total darkness is a plus.

 

Not sure if that's an accurate assessment but that's just how I classify them in my mind. The important thing is, there needs to be more of them.

[Thrill_Biscuit]

Philosophically, I'd say any ride that is enclosed, with elements that are only visible through the use of special lighting (spot, strobe, black, etc.), regardless of the time of day outside.

[jcgoble3]

To me, a dark ride has the following distinguishing features:

1. First and foremost, it must be primarily a ride. Walk-through attractions do not count.
2. It must be mostly or entirely indoors. Outdoor rides never count.
3. It must be lit primarily or entirely with lighting that is part of the theme or set. Rides that normally operate with general lighting for the whole room (other than in the loading/unloading area) don't count.
4. It must be gentle, with little or no thrill factor so that young and old, and thrill-seekers and chickens, can enjoy it together.
5. Finally, it should be as inclusive as possible, with no strong forces or thrill ride–like restraint systems that exclude riders because of physical conditions. This and #4 together exclude rides such as Spiderman at IOA, as well as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

[The Interpreter]

4 and 5 exclude Laff In The Dark.

As a child, dark rides scared the yell out of me.

No way is Laff In The Dark not a dark ride.

If it isn't, Banshee isn't a roller coaster.

[jcgoble3]

I'm not familiar with Laff In The Dark. What, specifically, about it do you think excludes it under those criteria?

[The Interpreter]

It was an extremely frightening ride. Most children under 12, and many adults, came off it trembling, shaking and crying. Scares were its primary goal. And it excelled at that.

[IBEW_Sparky]

For an answer to that question, see Cedar Point in 2016.

[jcgoble3]

Scares alone don't disqualify it in my book. By "thrill factor", I meant the type of thrill/fear you get on something like Banshee or The Beast. A haunted house–type ride, even a scary one, still qualifies under my #4.

 

I probably ought to rejigger #4 and #5, though. I originally had them as one, then decided to to split them, and I think I could have chosen a better way to do the split.

 

But first, I'm hungry.

[The Interpreter]

What about rides like Blazing Fury, which used to end with a big drop and kersplash?

[purdude86]

I would classify them as an actual ride that traverses a path through a building, and it must be primarily indoors.

I'd also consider them to be more of a slower moving ride too, not a roller coaster. But can have a coaster/dark ride hybrid like Crush's Coaster, Escape from Gringotts, or Laff Track. Would classify these as primarily still coasters but with dark ride elements. A true dark ride has to allow you to really take in the scenery and not just fly by it real quick.

As long as it meets this criteria i'd consider it one. They can vary in intensity and thrills. Tame, family ones like It's A Small World and other Fantasyland rides to high thrill ones like Transformers and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

[The Interpreter]

What about Haunted House at Camden and Devil's Den at Conneaut, both of which are little mouse coasters that RCDB says are not coasters? You fly by the scenes...

[KI Guy]

It was an extremely frightening ride. Most children under 12, and many adults, came off it trembling, shaking and crying. Scares were its primary goal. And it excelled at that.

Did you ride it yourself, if so at what park? I always hear about Laff in the Dark in amusement park history. You've got to love Laffing Sal!

[The Interpreter]

Many, many times.

At Camden Park in Huntington, West Virginia in the late Fifties and early Sixties.

[KI Guy]

Wow, that's awesome! I like Camden Park by the way. They have the best Whip that I've been on. The haunted house was great as well.

 

 I hope the park makes enough money to stay around for many years. Those quaint, small parks are a dying breed.

[bkroz]

 

To me, a dark ride has the following distinguishing features:

1. First and foremost, it must be primarily a ride. Walk-through attractions do not count.
2. It must be mostly or entirely indoors. Outdoor rides never count.
3. It must be lit primarily or entirely with lighting that is part of the theme or set. Rides that normally operate with general lighting for the whole room (other than in the loading/unloading area) don't count.
4. It must be gentle, with little or no thrill factor so that young and old, and thrill-seekers and chickens, can enjoy it together.
5. Finally, it should be as inclusive as possible, with no strong forces or thrill ride–like restraint systems that exclude riders because of physical conditions. This and #4 together exclude rides such as Spiderman at IOA, as well as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

 

Interesting qualifications. But if Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man isn't a dark ride... then what is it?

 

A category like "dark ride" seems very broad and inclusive to me. I imagine "dark ride" as a wide categorization that could then be sub-divided into smaller categories: classic dark rides, multimedia dark rides, interactive dark rides, dark ride coasters, [(EDIT:) maybe even walkthrough dark rides,] etc. To me, your qualifications (primarily 3 and 4) seem akin to saying "It's only a roller coaster if it goes upside down" or "It doesn't count as a roller coaster unless the whole family can ride it."

 

Maybe those are things that make a good dark ride in your opinion, but should the definition be that exclusionary? Perhaps your 5 qualifications together fit a classic dark ride, but how is Curse of DarKastle not a dark ride at all?

[KI Guy]

Dark Ride- an indoor vehicle-centric ride in a mostly dark environment wherein the majority of said ride's thrill/amusement is visual or suspenseful in nature.

 

That cover all the bases?

[jcgoble3]

Spider-Man is, put simply, a thrill ride. Not everything needs to, or should, fit neatly in standard categories. Sometimes a ride is just a ride.

 

As for Curse of DarKastle, again, I'm not familiar with it. Can you describe it for me?

[KI Guy]

Not that it really matters, but to me Spiderman is a dark ride and a darn good one at that. If you took away all visual stimuli and rode with only the actual movements of the ride alone it would be kind of lame, right? Then it's probably not a "thrill" ride. I'd say a thrill ride is primarily about physical thrills.

Edited July 18, 2015 by KI Guy

[RingMaster]

Spider-Man is, put simply, a thrill ride. Not everything needs to, or should, fit neatly in standard categories. Sometimes a ride is just a ride.

 

As for Curse of DarKastle, again, I'm not familiar with it. Can you describe it for me?

 

Curse of DarKastle is, literally, Spider-Man without Spider-Man. Same ride vehicles, same ride technology, even some of the same perspective tricks like simulating a free-fall. 

[bkroz]

Spider-Man is, put simply, a thrill ride. Not everything needs to, or should, fit neatly in standard categories. Sometimes a ride is just a ride.

 

As for Curse of DarKastle, again, I'm not familiar with it. Can you describe it for me?

 

So wait. Imagine two rides.

 

One is a hurl-and-twirl style zipper ride at a local carnival. A thrill ride.

 

The other is the Spider-Man dark ride at Niagara Falls in Canada, which is essentially a low-budget, non-motion-simulating version of Islands of Adventure's... Same concept, just on a slow-moving classic dark ride track. A dark ride, even by your definition.

 

Categorization aside, you would say that Universal's Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is defined more accurately like the former rather than the latter...? Because it spins? Hm. 

 

GYK, just playing Devil's Advocate to make sense of a complex question to which there may be no right answer.

[bkroz]

Dark Ride- a vehicle-centric ride wherein the majority of said ride's thrill/amusement is visual or suspenseful in nature.

 

That cover all the bases?

 

So then Idlewild's Neighborhood of Make Believe is a dark ride. 

 

Not saying I agree or disagree. But that certainly is a vehicle-centric ride wherein the majority of said ride's thrill / amusement is visual or suspenseful in nature.

 

I might say the same of Disneyland's Autopia frankly. Or the Disneyland Railroad, especially bolstered by the Grand Canyon and Primeval World Dioramas. 

[KI Guy]

I'll fix it.

[jcgoble3]

Spider-Man is, put simply, a thrill ride. Not everything needs to, or should, fit neatly in standard categories. Sometimes a ride is just a ride.

 

As for Curse of DarKastle, again, I'm not familiar with it. Can you describe it for me?

 

So wait. Imagine two rides.

 

One is a hurl-and-twirl style zipper ride at a local carnival. A thrill ride.

 

The other is the Spider-Man dark ride at Niagara Falls in Canada, which is essentially a low-budget, non-motion-simulating version of Islands of Adventure's... Same concept, just on a slow-moving classic dark ride track. A dark ride, even by your definition.

 

Categorization aside, you would say that Universal's Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is defined more accurately like the former rather than the latter...? Because it spins? Hm. 

 

GYK, just trying to make sense of a complex question to which there may be no right answer.

 

Universal's Spider-Man has a lot of dark ride elements, yes, but it also has a number of thrill ride elements, such as simulating a free-fall, etc.

 

I think KI Guy said it best: a true dark ride is based around visual entertainment and "thrills". Physical thrills, or the simulation of such as Universal's Spider-Man does, push it into "thrill ride" classification. It might be best to say that Universal's Spider-Man is a hybrid of a dark ride and a thrill ride, but to call it simply a dark ride is IMHO incorrect.

[bkroz]

Fair enough. Not directly to you, goble, just a few thoughts: 

 

What about the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter? Dark ride? You didn't move an inch. So is it a show?

 

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror? Purely a thrill ride / dr0p tower? So, same classification as Drop Tower at Kings Island? Or could we begrudgingly admit it's a hybrid dark ride / thrill ride?

 

Tomb Raider: The Ride? Same? DAFE (Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts) grappled with that question. Is their classification like the RCDB is for roller coasters, where many take it as official?

 

EDIT: Here's DAFE's categories, by the way: http://www.dafe.org/rides.html

[TheCandyManCan]

New definition of dark ride:

 

1. Does it ride in an enclosed theme building

2. Is it a cheap version of any modern first person shooter?

[RingMaster]

 

2. Is it a cheap version of any modern first person shooter?

 

Considering the technology behind 4-D interactive dark rides these days (especially now with Justice League: Battle for Metropolis), I'd assume they're more expensive than even your Modern Call of Black Duty Advanced Ops Warfare 3.

 

Although someone really ought to team up with Activision/Treyarch and design an interactive dark ride in the style of and with elements found in the franchise.

[TheCandyManCan]

I wouldn't be so sure. If you remember, Call of Duty costs are ridiculous. Modern Warfare 2 cost 250 million overall. Development was 50 million.

 

It's a cheap knock off. The graphics, experience, and overall style is a joke. Arcade cabinet shooters offer more fun than that. Again, I also don't need to play a FPS at the park. I bought a ~400 PS4 for that. I go to the park for atmosphere, rides, food, and memories. 

 

Lastly, Activision nowadays is just, meh. If I could choose a contract if I worked for Triotech I would avoid them. There are much better design studios than them now.

[BB1]

I have basically three categories of dark rides: Dark coasters, Dark water attractions (something is in the water....), and Dark conveyors. Personally, if you put something in the dark, it's a dark ride.

[The Interpreter]

Some say I've been in the dark for years.

Hmmmm.