The 25 best new themed rides opening in 2025

Our last entry into the list is expected to be the best new dark ride attraction that guests will be talking about worldwide for years to come.

Located within the new Dark Universe portal at Epic Universe, which is home to all the classic Universal Monsters characters from over the years, guests will enter the frightening-looking manor of the Frankenstein family, where it is said that Dr Victoria Frankenstein has been working for years to continue her family’s legacy.

This all started with her famous ancestor, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who created the legendary Frankenstein Monster, but your experience here will feature so much more. Rumor has it that Victoria has captured almost all the legendary Monsters from the Universal films, such as the Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

She’s been keeping them in the dungeon below the manor, experimenting with ways to control them to make the world safe from monsters forever. Only… as it always seems to happen with this kind of attraction, something goes horribly wrong – the screaming starts, the gnashing of teeth begins, and you find yourself running to escape with your life.

This all-new dark ride creation will be located within the latest Wizarding World of Harry Potter-themed land, built within Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, opening in May.

Like the previous Wizarding World lands that opened at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, each is anchored by an epic dark ride experience that ties extensively into the events and characters of the Harry Potter film series.

Unlike the past two attractions that were set within a timeline more concurrent with the events of the films, this will be the first attraction set in a timeline that takes place after the events of the final film, where the villainous Dolores Umbridge is set to go on trial at the Ministry of Magic to answer for her crimes.

While we can expect that much chaos will begin to unfold the minute we set foot into the courtroom, the ride itself is only half of the experience. Like all the other Wizarding World-themed attractions, Universal Creative has promised an extensive and highly themed experience for the attraction’s queue.

The experience is said to have the riders pass through the Floo Network from the films, where guests will magically be transported on foot from the Paris Ministry of Magic back to the British Ministry in a grand special effect.

One of the most highly anticipated new rides opening at Universal’s new Epic Universe park is Mario-Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.

This will be the third ride, following the opening of the original version under the name Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge in Universal Studios Japan in 2021, followed by the Bowser’s Challenge version at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2023.

The new Orlando version is expected to be a clone of the others, though likely featuring some technological improvements learned along the way. Guests wearing AR headgear are loaded into multi-passenger Mario Kart racing vehicles that run along two parallel tracks within the attraction building for a wild race to the finish line.

Disney closed the Test Track attraction at Epcot in June 2024 to revamp the overall story and themed experience within the attraction while keeping the same high-speed slot-car style ride system that it has been using here since 1999.

The first version of Test Track, which featured a more industrial factory/testing facility theme, closed in 2012 and was replaced later that year with the second version that had a more high-tech, almost Tron-style vibe to the indoor vehicle test scenes.

After running that version for 12 years, Disney felt the time was right to retheme the attraction for a third time. However, it is worth mentioning that each retheme of the attraction also seems to correspond with the signing of a new sponsorship deal with Chevrolet/General Motors.

Much of the new storyline that will open in this third version of the attraction has been kept under wraps so far, but with the ride expected to open this summer, it shouldn’t be much longer until we learn more about what to expect.

Little is known about exactly what the new experience here will be, other than this will be a new attraction themed to Disney’s Zootopia animated film, and it is replacing the now closed “It’s Tough To Be a Bug” 4-D theater attraction in the center of Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando.

The former attraction was an interesting 4D theater located below the park’s central icon, the Tree of Life, and featured a number of animatronic “bug” characters that would appear throughout the experience.

Keeping in mind that the old attraction just closed and the new one is supposed to be open before the end of the year, the new Zootopia: Better Zoogether attraction is likely to offer a similar style 4D Theater experience featuring the popular animated characters.

France’s Futuroscope is known for creating various adventure theater and dark ride-style experiences, but its latest attraction will be unlike anything we’ve seen anyone build before.

Mission Bermudes will take riders on a “rocking boat ride” into the infamous Bermuda Triangle, using Mack Rides’ unusual new Rocking Boat power track-guided flume ride. The ride experience is thought to be primarily outdoor but may also feature some indoor sections as guests are pulled deeper into the mysterious Triangle.

Loaded into a small 8-passenger boat, they will pass through a jungle, experience rapids, enter a cave system, and encounter a terrible storm. As this is a water ride, the experience will end with a large splashdown. The entire experience will feature several impressive special effects and highly themed environments, making an experience that dark rides fans will be very interested in learning more about.

Europa-Park will be adding yet another amazing dark ride concept to the theme park this season, this time featuring the race car adventures of the park’s mascots, Ed and Edda, within Grand Prix EDVenture.

Europa-Park is owned by the Mack family, of Mack Rides fame, who are transforming the park’s former revolving theater attraction into their prototype for the new Mack Rides GamePlay Theater concept.

On a technical level, the attraction will be similar to Ghostly Manor being built at Paultons Park this year. However, Grand Prix EDventure will offer an entirely different themed experience that will also tie into the Grand Prix of Europe animated film coming to theaters in 2025 (pictured).

Under construction for the past few years, the all-new Ghostly Manor dark ride opening at Paultons Park in 2025 is taking over the park’s former 4D Theater space. Ghostly Manor will also use a fascinating new ride system from Mack Rides called the GamePlay Theater. The project team also includes Lagotronics Projects, Leisure Expert Group and Themics.

Riders are loaded into vehicles attached to a large turntable, while the individual cars can turn around 180º as well. The idea is that guests are loaded onto both sides of each car unit and rotate around the turntable, experiencing thrills built into sets while facing the inside of the circle.

When the time comes, they will be spun around to face the outer circle, which will be full of interactive screens where they can use Phantom Blasters to shoot at ghosts haunting the Manor

Six Flags’ new park, which is coming to Saudi Arabia, makes the list again with a more traditional dark ride experience called Enchanted Greenhouse.

This unique dark ride will transport guests inside trackless dark ride vehicles from ETF Ride Systems through a greenhouse gone wild designed by Jora Vision. Using the interactive technology from Alterface, guests will work to unlock the mysteries of this crazy greenhouse setting they find themselves trapped in, located within the Twilight Gardens-themed section of the park.

Unlike Into the Deep, which is expected to be a little more frightening, Enchanted Greenhouse is said to be a family-friendly experience, suitable for all ages.

If seeing a Six Flags park on this list seems a little strange, it is because this is no ordinary Six Flags park we are talking about. While the chain has not customarily been known for its dark rides, this latest entry will open at the new Six Flags Qiddiya City theme park, which will open by the end of the year in Saudi Arabia.

Built from the ground up, this new theme park will feature the thrills Six Flags is known for and several dark rides with unique themes. Into the Deep is perhaps the most interesting sounding one; developed with Six Flags by Triotech, it has been described as an interactive dark ride that will take guests down to the bottom of the ocean for a wild encounter with a world like you’ve never seen before.

If Triotech is involved, it seems a sure bet that the riders will be armed with a targeting blaster system and be given the chance to shoot at various targets on interactive screens throughout their journey into the mysterious dark depths.

It shouldn’t be surprising to see Universal show up several times on the list this year, as this will be the rare time it is opening an entirely new theme park, chocked full of amazing new rides we’ve never seen.

Hiccup’s Wing Gliders resides within the Isle of Berk, themed to the animated film series, How To Train Your Dragon. It has been described as a multi-launch family coaster from Intamin that essentially travels around the entire themed land, passing through or over almost every other attraction and pathway on the island at one point or another within the highly themed and very colorful Island of Berk.

I’ve been told to think of this as a family version of Universal’s smash-hit Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure coaster, also from Intamin, over at Universal’s Islands of Adventure park.

While they say that this new interesting looking park in Mexico will open before the end of the year, I’m not so sure.

If it does, the park will have attractions that look to be very highly themed, though the best of all might be Delia’s Adventure, a mostly indoor dark ride that will use Mack Rides very unusual Inverted Power Coaster ride system that was first put to use at Europa-Park for the very creative Arthur dark ride.

Delia’s Adventure is thought to be using a nearly identical track layout to Arthur, which means that it should feature both slow dark ride elements throughout the adventure, along with more thrilling coaster like moments, including some outdoor high-speed track.

The unique nature of Mack’s Inverted Power Coaster is that not only is the speed of the trains fully controlled for the entire experience, able to speed up and slow down at will, but the rider’s cars are also programmed to rotate so that the guests will get the best views of the various dark ride scenes as they move throughout the attraction space.

The new Donkey Kong-themed Mine-Cart Madness attraction coming to Orlando is also a copy of the same named attraction that just opened at Universal Studios Japan in December 2024 (pictured)

This is an entirely new roller coaster concept that Universal patented as the Boom Coaster, which hides the true roller coaster track (mounted sideways) below a facade of fake mine cart tracks, temple ruins and other assorted obstacles.

The gimmick is that by hiding the true track below the individual mine cars, the vehicles are able to appear as if they are jumping over gaps in the track at times, as well as maneuvering through other obstacles in unique ways.

The new experience is set to be a staple attraction within the new Super Nintendo World land, within Universal Orlando’s new Epic Universe theme park, when it opens on 22 May 2025.

I don’t know much about this attraction coming to the same expansion at the park that will also open the new SpongeBob-themed dark ride this year, except that it is themed to the more kid-friendly Star Trek: Prodigy animated series from Nickelodeon.

Star Trek-themed attractions are rare and are usually held to a fairly high bar when it comes to the theming within the experience. I can only assume that the rumored space simulator experience coming to entertain guests on Star Trek: Wild Galaxy will live up to the “Trek” reputation for a quality experience.

The addition of this new themed motion simulator adventure featuring the characters from the Despicable Me and Minions animated films is the anchor attraction for an entire mini Minion-themed land within the park that has replaced the former Madagascar-themed land and attractions.

The ride film and overall experience is essentially the fifth version of the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem attraction that has already opened in Universal’s Orlando, Hollywood, Japan and Beijing theme parks

In 2020, when SeaWorld Orlando opted to close down the traditional motion cabin simulator ride that served to transport guests into their Wild Arctic indoor animal exhibit at the pandemic’s start, most assumed they would reopen it later.

Unfortunately, the simulator portion of Wild Arctic never reopened to be given a proper send-off. However, this has given SeaWorld ample time to develop a great replacement idea.

Working with Mack Rides, it has come up with an entirely new Flying Theater concept that fits into the former attraction space. Mack Rides’ Airrific ride system creates two separate running flying theater domes.

Meanwhile, the production crew visited the Arctic several times to gather reel after reel of amazing footage that will be edited together for the new adventure featuring entirely real natural environments and animals instead of editing in computer-generated creations.

Gardaland opted to close and retheme the park’s Carsari: La Vendetta del Fantasma dark flume ride in 2024 and will transform it into an all-new pirate adventure with a fun animal twist.

Featuring a new pirate crew of animal-themed characters led by Captain Nine Lives, guests will embark on an all-new adventure in search of pirate treasure when the new attraction opens in April.

In a world where so many parks seek to quickly attach themselves to existing IPs for all their attractions, there is always something special when a park seeks to create its own custom experience, inviting guests to visit an entirely new world we’ve never seen before.

If this ride sounds familiar, it should, as the original Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, a custom layout enclosed wild mouse coaster from Mack Rides, first opened in 2002.

After 21 years, the ride at Warner Bros. Movie World needed a major refurbishment. It was closed at the start of 2023 for a multi-million-dollar series of upgrades that would see some track replacement, new magnetic brakes, new lift technology, new ride vehicles, and new special effects. The park is also making overall upgrades to the indoor haunted coaster’s theming.

Look for the all-new Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster to reopen by late 2025.

As part of a new land opening at the Land of Legends theme park, this will be the second installation of SpongeBob’s Crazy Carnival Ride, following the original, which opened last year in Las Vegas at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino.

The attraction uses slow-moving dark-ride carnival vehicles to take riders on a trip through a carnival midway, where they use interactive pointers to play various carnival games, striving to get the highest overall score by the end of the ride.

While I’m not entirely familiar with Ravenburger Spieleland, it seems it is owned by toy and games creator Ravenburger, which uses the ride-through attraction format to bring its popular Scotland Yard game to life as a new interactive ride experience.

Guests will climb aboard a convertible car and go on a high-speed adventure chase through both indoor and outdoor environments. According to the park, the decisions made along the way by the guests will affect the outcome, making every ride a unique experience.

The overall concept behind Expedition Nautibus at Grand Aquarium de Saint-Malo is interesting, as it marks the grand merger of two existing physical attractions within the park that will be realigned with an all-new storyline to create an even bigger multi-experience attraction concept.

 

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The project is said to be overseen by BoldMove Nation and will mix the Nautibus (2001) ride with a stand-up simulator attraction called Abyssal Descender, which was added in 2016.

Guests will first enter the experience the former Abyssal Descender attraction as a pre-show set-up experience that will lead them into boarding the former Nautilus submarines, which move guests through an actual water environment via an overhead track system above the water.

While I don’t know the storyline being told here, the unique nature of the concept will provide an interesting sense of realism and adventure to the experience.

While the park’s opening has been delayed several times, pictures from the site show that it appears ready to go.

In the center of the park is a large fake volcano mountain structure, and within lies The Secret of Arayat, a new dark ride that will feature the GCI efforts of Red Raion animation studio, with Lagotronics Projects overseeing the project and Metallbau Emmeln providing the ride vehicles.

Guests will enter the depths of the Mount Arayat volcano in search of a valuable gemstone.

Set up to be one of the highlight attractions of the new Mattel Adventure Park when it finally opens in Arizona later this year is the rather strange concept of mixing the Queen of the Mattel toy empire, Barbie, with her own themed flying theater attraction.

While the concept could end up as a bad idea, I don’t think anyone quite anticipated how much of a hit the live-action Barbie film that came out in theaters in 2024 would be either. So, it would be best to reserve final judgment about Barbie’s Flying Theater until it actually opens.

Sometimes, the best fun can be had when you are immersed in a fun roller coaster within a themed environment, and colorful themed environments are something that Parc Asterix does very well.

 

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In this case, guests will meet Cétautomatix, who serves as the blacksmith and inventor in Asterix’s village. It looks like Cétautomatix has become a bit obsessed with the concept of racing Roman Chariots, and guests at the park are just in time to take his latest creation out for a spin. Quite literally in fact, as the attraction is a Gerstlaurer Spinning Coaster.

Madurodam is a small park in the Netherlands known for creating highly themed miniature replicas of famous Dutch historical landmarks, cities and events.

While this may sound more like a kind of Lego Miniland, just without the Lego Bricks, over the past decade or more, the park has begun to create more interactive attractions and displays. Ones that might put the guest in control of a particular experience, such as controlling the flow of water through a landscape or man a cannon at the New Amsterdam exhibit to see what the city of New York was like in the 17th century.

This year, Windjager (The Windchaser) will be the park’s first attraction with moving vehicles. It will take guests on an adventure to see how the Netherlands has used wind power for centuries.