The theme park industry has been on fire over the last several years, with amazing and unheard-of new attraction concepts opening, on top of the opening of several new lands, and even an entirely new theme park or two.
With a cyclone of activity everywhere you look, let’s break it down and take a look at the 26 best theme park attractions in the world as things stand today.
Before I begin, this has been perhaps one of the hardest lists I’ve ever had to make, as the onslaught of fantastic new attractions has been so staggering that it really forces you to choose between technological perfection and pure childhood nostalgia and emotion.
But that’s a part of the equation for any top-tier attraction as well, as themed perfection doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t also make riders “feel” something.
So, with that in mind, sometimes what may be your favorite attraction might not be someone else’s, no matter if it has an impressive IP or not.
IPs help build both an active fan base and nostalgia, so while you will see a large number of IP-based attractions here, please do appreciate those that dared to create something great without the aid of an established IP.
26.Danse Macabre - Efteling (the Netherlands), 2024
Efteling's Danse Macabre dark ride, with its gothic feel, opened in 2024
Image courtesy of EftelingEfteling’s Danse Macabre is a unique creation that serves as both a dark ride and a “haunted spectacle”. The attraction had big shoes to fill as it replaced the park’s beloved Spookslot.
Guests enter the attraction via an eerie new area of the park, a very dark, gloomy forest that surrounds the ruins of a medieval abbey.
Within, a supernatural story unfolds involving a cursed orchestra performing the famous composition, Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
Adding to the theme is a new ride system from Intamin that features a series of church-style pews mounted to individual rotating sections, all of which are then mounted to one giant disc that can tilt, heave, and rotate as well.
As the music swells, the platform tilts, rises, drops, and spins, creating the sensation of being swept into a ghostly dance.
Rather than relying on jump scares or intense thrills, Danse Macabre focuses on atmosphere, elaborate scenery, animatronics, lighting effects, and synchronized movement.
25.Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge - Universal Epic Universe (USA), 2025, & Universal Studios Japan (Japan), 2021
Mario Kart: Bowsers Challenge at Universal Studios Hollywood brings the much-loved game to life
Image courtesy of Universal
One of the greatest and most well-known IPs in the video game universe has finally broken down barriers and smashed into the theme park realm, first with the opening of the highly anticipated Super Nintendo World in Japan, and later as part of Orlando’s incredible Epic Universe park in 2025.
It wasn’t enough to just turn the world of the Mario Kart video game into a dark ride; the creators also sought to bring an interactive augmented reality system to life.
Guests enter Bowser’s Castle, passing through one elaborate set after another, paying ample homage to the Nintendo video game universe of characters along the way.
Wearing special AR goggles attached to the Mario hat, riders race through a blend of physical scenery, projection effects, and virtual elements, collecting coins and throwing shells at Team Bowser while competing alongside Mario and friends.
Rather than focusing on speed or large drops, the attraction emphasizes immersion, interactivity, and game-like scoring, allowing riders to experience the feeling of being inside a real-life Mario Kart race.
24.Symbolica - Efteling (the Netherlands), 2017
Efteling's Symbolica dark ride won a Thea Award shortly after it opened
Image courtesy of Efteling
Without a doubt, the years spent developing the Symbolica dark ride with ETF Ride Systems helped establish the park’s flagship dark ride experience.
Guests are taken on a magical journey through the enchanted palace of King Pardulfus, guided by the mischievous court jester (and park mascot) Pardoes.
Riders are whisked away on a magical journey aboard trackless vehicles that travel through lavish halls, secret chambers, treasure rooms and fantastic gardens, all hidden within the palace walls.
Symbolica chooses to rely heavily on richly detailed sets and animatronic effects rather than too heavily on projections.
The fact that your journey can also take one of several different route variations as you travel through the castle only helps to create a sense of wonder and exploration, as each journey can be different from the one before.
23.Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway - Disney’s Hollywood Studios & Disneyland (USA), 2020/2023
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disneyland uses a unique dark ride system
Image courtesy of Disney
Featuring the same trackless dark ride vehicle technology that was used in Galaxy’s Edge, Disney created a very different and unique adventure ride experience.
Guests enter the attraction, which appears at first to look like a giant train ride, led by a locomotive car under the control of Goofy.
The illusion that they are riding a train is solid at first, as the individual cars move in perfect unison, until “something goes wrong”.
Then, all the cars are soon separated from Goofy and venture off to experience their own adventure through a series of large-scale rooms that transform via projection effects, branching off into individual simulator-style projection rooms.
After this, they merge back together to bounce through a carnival, survive a tornado, get washed down the sewer and even take a dance lesson with Daisy before all is said and done.
22.Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (Mandalorian & Grogu) - Disneyland & Disney’s Hollywood Studios (USA), 2026
The first version of the Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run attraction, which opened in 2019, has been officially retired, with guests taking on an all-new mission aboard the Falcon with help from The Mandalorian and Grogu.
The attraction hardware remains the same, though the video game-style hardware and processors are said to have been upgraded to deliver better pixel-pushing power on this all-new adventure, which lets you branch off and choose one of three entirely different missions this time.
You can opt to chase a bounty through the Capital planet of Coruscant, venture into orbit around Endor and dodge the wreckage of the second Death Star, or take a trip back to the Bespin Cloud City in search of the galaxy’s most wanted.
This was a timed release, set to come out at the theme parks at the same time as the Mandalorian & Grogu film.
And say what you want about the film experience, but the multi-mission action presented here is far superior to the first generation of the attraction and gives both the Gunners and Engineers plenty to do during the attraction, so the pilots don’t get all the glory.
Note: If you want to choose the mission, sit in the “left engineer” seat.
21.Pirates of the Caribbean - Disneyland Park (USA), 1967
Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland was the original version of the popular ride that spawned several new iterations, as well as a film franchise
Image courtesy of Disney
This is the granddaddy of all the Disney dark rides. The original Pirates of the Caribbean first opened in 1967 in California, and it has since been copied and reimagined for Walt Disney World in 1973, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, and Disneyland Paris in 1992.
A fun factoid for today’s audiences is that in this case, the attraction was created decades before the feature film series starring Johnny Depp opened in 2003.
Once the film series became successful, Disney began a series of modifications to the theme park attractions to add animatronics and characters from the film series, such as Captain Jack, Captain Barbossa, Davy Jones, and Blackbeard, to the attractions.
Beyond that, several scenes within the attractions have also been modified over the years to keep up with the times, removing things that might be deemed potentially offensive by today’s audiences.
20.The Haunted Mansion - Disneyland (USA), 1969; Walt Disney World (USA), 1971; Tokyo Disneyland (Japan), 1983; and Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris (France), 1992.
Disney's Haunted Mansion has such a cult following that it is even available as a wedding venue
Image courtesy of Disney
The second big attraction of the classic era of Disney attractions that almost everyone is required to experience during their visit.
Pirates and the Haunted Mansion serve as a one-two- knockout punch from Disney’s bygone era of classic Disney Imagineers who worked directly under Walt himself to create the Disney theme park experience.
More than Pirates, however, I think Disney’s Haunted Mansion has served as the inspiration for countless other theme park attempts to create their very own haunted attractions over the years.
Some have chosen to use a similar ride system, while others have created their own versions of classic Mansion scenes in their creations, from singing graveyards and ghostly ballroom parties to haunted mirrors and revenge-seeking brides… Disney's Haunted Mansion was the first to create them all
19.Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure - Tokyo DisneySea (Japan), 2024
Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure at Tokyo DisneySea opened with the new Fantasy Springs land in 2024
Image courtesy of Disney
For the first time, Peter Pan has been freed from the confines of Fantasyland with the creation of this state-of-the-art dark ride in the new Fantasy Springs land at Tokyo DisneySea.
Guests get to join Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy and the Lost Boys on a mission to rescue John from Captain Hook.
You’ll soar through the world of Never Land aboard pixie-dusted flying boats in an attraction concept that draws inspiration from Universal’s popular Spider-Man dark ride.
By combining large-scale physical sets with 3D projection screens, your enhanced motion dark ride vehicle is able to create the sensation that you are flying over various landscapes, through the middle of pirate battles, and past “the second star to the right” before returning Wendy, John and Michael to the safety of the London nursery and Nana.
Note: It is anticipated that Disney will once again use this same dark ride technology in California when it opens the new Avengers-themed dark ride at Disney California Adventure, which is now under construction.
18.Enchanted Tales of Beauty & The Beast - Tokyo Disneyland (Japan), 2020
This impressive new dark ride combined trackless ride-vehicle technology with incredible sets and cutting-edge Disney animatronics to bring the classic Disney animated film to life.
Riding aboard a giant enchanted teacup, guests will move through the Beast’s castle, but this isn’t your average dark ride.
Where normally each car on a dark ride would move through the various scenes at a set pace, one after the other in an endless cycle, this attraction sends the cars through in groups, where they pause together to watch a whole scene and musical number from the film play out before moving on to the next scene.
The attraction opened as part of a huge expansion of the park’s Fantasyland area and ends with the same climactic moment from the film, where the curse is broken and The Beast is musically transformed back into a human before your very eyes.
Many consider this the ultimate dark ride at Tokyo Disneyland at the moment.
17.Journey to the Center of the Earth - Tokyo DisneySea (Japan), 2001
The mighty Mount Prometheus volcano in the center of Tokyo DisneySea would not be complete without serving as the signature thrill ride experience within the park.
Riders are transported to the underground lair of Captain Nemo via a Terravator and led to climb aboard his latest creation, a high-speed subterranean vehicle. You buzz through various caverns featuring giant crystals and glowing mushroom forests as you travel ever towards the Earth’s core.
Here you’ll have a brief encounter with one of the largest animatronic figures ever created, a frightening lava monster, all while trying to escape the wrath of the erupting volcano, which launches riders up and out of the mountain at high speed.
16.Mystic Manor - Hong Kong Disneyland (Hong Kong) 2013
Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland has a unique take on the classic experience
Image courtesy of Disney
Hong Kong Disneyland was originally created on something of a limited budget and failed to feature its own versions of many classic Disney theme park attractions.
While it had Space Mountain, it didn’t have Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, or even a Haunted Mansion, so Disney decided to do something about it with a series of new expansions.
While Big Grizzly Mountain opened in 2012 as a modern replacement for Big Thunder, it was Mystic Manor's creation the following year that caught everyone’s eye.
Instead of trying to create a Western experience with singing ghosts like the other parks, Disney chose to embrace the world of spirits and cursed objects by creating a groundbreaking new trackless dark ride experience within the manor of Lord Henry Mystic.
Through the ill-advised actions of Mystic’s mischievous monkey, Albert, a literal Pandora’s box is opened, flooding the Manor with cursed artifacts from all around the world.
Statues dance, paintings move, floating musical instruments perform a creepy symphony all on their own (Thanks to composer Danny Elfman), all while chaos erupts around you, threatening to rip the very fabric of the universe apart.
15.Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts - Universal Studios Florida (USA), 2014
The second of three gigantic Harry Potter-themed dark rides to be built at Universal Orlando.
This one combines an Intamin SFX coaster-style system with a Spider-Man-style blend of ultra-realistic scenery and 3D projection screens to send you off on an adventure into the dark, cavernous world below the Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Your cars will move fast, go slow, tilt, turn, and even launch at high speed in the climactic finale as you go on a wild adventure that takes place at the same time as the events of the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
14.Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey - Tokyo DisneySea (Japan), 2024
Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea takes inspiration from Epcot's Frozen Ever After
Image courtesy of Disney
This cutting-edge new attraction was inspired by the Frozen Ever After dark boat ride that first opened at Epcot in 2016 and was then closely replicated two more times for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2023 and Disney Adventure World in 2026.
Tokyo DisneySea, however, wanted to create its very own unique version as part of the new Fantasy Springs land and really succeeded at creating its own masterful adaptation of the concept.
Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey features countless animatronic characters from the film, some incredibly stunning special effects scenes, and manages to create some incredible (and singable) musical moments from the film as riders in a boat slide forward and backwards through the world of Arendelle.
13.Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! - Disney California Adventure (USA), 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! rethemed Disneyland's Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror ride
Image credit Scott Brinegar/Disneyland Resort
Serving as a rethemed replacement for that park’s Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror attraction, this is one of the rare moments when a “reskinned” attraction evolved into something just as popular as the original concept.
The attraction takes the tried-and-true Twilight Zone crazy elevator-out-of-control action and applies the wacky, wondrous musical selections and characters from James Gunn’s epic Guardians of the Galaxy films to create an irreverent new attraction.
It served as an anchor for the new Avengers Campus expansion and the future Marvel attractions to come at Disney California Adventure.
12.Zootopia: Hot Pursuit - Shanghai Disneyland (China), 2023
Zootopia: Hot Pursuit takes riders on a mission to rescue kidnapped pop star Gazelle
Image courtesy of Disney
Opening in December 2023, Shanghai Disneyland expanded by building an entire Zootopia-themed land, headlined by a single but epic attraction.
The technology behind the new Zootopia: Hot Pursuit attraction is very similar to what Disney Imagineering created for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, featuring several of the same technical elements and physical thrills, but reskinned to serve an entirely new story set in the Zootopia universe.
Set just after the events of the first film, the riders are sent on a mission with the Zootopia Police Department to rescue pop star Gazelle, who has just been kidnapped.
The attraction uses a mix of practical sets, animatronics, special effects and projection scenes to bring the various environments of the Zooptopia universe to life.
While this unique attraction was made just for the Shanghai park, I can see Disney eventually wanting to copy it at another one of their theme park resorts elsewhere in the world before too long, especially if the IP remains popular.
11.Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (USA), 2010; Universal Studios Japan (Japan), 2014; Universal Studios Hollywood (USA), 2026; and Universal Studios Beijing (China), 2021
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was a first-of-its-kind creation at Universal's Islands of Adventure
Image courtesy of Universal
This is the first and most replicated attraction, becoming an iconic staple of every Wizarding World of Harry Potter land at Universal theme parks worldwide.
The ride system was also a first-of-its-kind creation, taking an industrial KUKA robot arm used for heavy-duty manufacturing plants, adding seats to the business end of the robot arm, and then mounting the whole Frankenstein creation to a mobile dark ride platform.
I’m sure there were quite a few people who just thought that the concept was so wild that it would never work. But it did… and the theme park world has never been quite the same after this wild new concept created a ride experience like no other.
10.Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Islands of Adventure (USA), 2019
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure took the story coaster to new levels
Image courtesy of Universal
Universal Creative and Intamin worked together to create a wild motorcycle-and-sidecar-themed launch roller coaster experience like no other. The wild, mostly outdoor creation takes guests on a thrilling, high-speed run through the Forbidden Forest.
Along the way, you encounter all manner of creatures, from the troublesome Cornish Pixies, Centaurs, the Blast-Ended Skrewt, and even a visit from Fluffy.
Meanwhile, your magical motorbike is soaring over ruins, through the forest and into dark caverns to get tangled in the Devil’s Snare, before you escape back to safety once again.
Bottom line… this family story coaster pushes the extreme limits of the category while being an absolute joy to ride every second of the journey.
It moves, looks and feels as if you were really on a magical motorcycle, and to be honest, I could ride it all day long and never get sick of it.
9.Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance - Disney’s Hollywood Studios & Disneyland (USA), 2019/2020
Rise of the Resistance takes riders on a journey with several 'wow' moments
Image courtesy of Disney
By far, this is one of the most unique and epic theme park attractions ever designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance isn’t just a ride; it’s an 18-minute-long, multi-segment theme park journey.
Riders are first recruited by the Resistance and then smuggled off-planet aboard a secret transport shuttle. Unfortunately, you get captured by the First Order and are pulled inside a massive Star Destroyer hangar, where you are taken prisoner and locked up in a cell to be questioned.
While this already sounds like the plot of an entire thrill ride already, the actual main attraction or ride part of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance has not even started yet.
The good guys arrive to rescue you from your jail cell, which then serves as a secret loading bay for your upcoming trackless dark ride escape ride through the heat of a First Order Star Destroyer.
You journey past enemy droids, countless stormtroopers, full-scale AT-ATs, and Rylo Ren himself, before you manage to climb into an escape pod and jettison yourselves back to the safety of the planet below.
With more “Wow!” moments than I can count and at least one alternate path your vehicle can take, this is a ride you’ll feel like you need to experience more than once before you can get a grasp of just what happens to you along the way.
8.Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure - Shanghai Disneyland (China), 2016
Scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure attraction at Shanghai DisneylandImage courtesy of Disney
By far, this has been the most popular and impressive opening-day attraction at the Shanghai Disneyland theme park.
This was also the very first “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction to be designed from the ground up to be primarily themed around the feature film IP's storylines and characters.
Disney was also looking to really up its game here and created an entirely new flume-style ride concept featuring boats that were not only carefully controlled every step of the way but also able to be turned to face the various scenes and special effects at just the right time and from the right angle.
The attraction features very large and impressive physical sets, a good number of lifelike animatronic figures, and several projection scenes along the way.
It appeared as if Disney wanted to create its own version of Universal's Spider-Man-style attraction system while hiding the fact that what seemed like a standard boat-ride attraction was, in reality, the furthest thing from it.
7.VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure (USA), 2021
VelociCoaster offers an intense ride experience, as well as a themed queue and appearances from Jurassic World stars
Image courtesy of Universal
By far and wide, this is not only the most impressive roller coaster that Universal Creative has ever built, but this out-of-control Intamin creation may very well be one of the finest roller coasters on the entire planet.
Set in the Jurassic World event timeline, the roller coaster features Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt reprising their characters from the film as the doomed dinosaur theme park makes final preparations to open a wild ride that launches riders right into the Raptor Pen for an encounter you’ll never forget.
Beyond the impressive roller coaster ride ahead, the attraction features a very well-themed queue that even features a close encounter or two with some of the Raptors, before you are asked to stow your gear and climb aboard.
The coaster experience is intense, to say the least, and aptly named, as, like the vicious Raptors themselves, you might swear that this roller coaster is out to kill you.
Between the multi-launch points, soaring through the rocks and tropical landscape of the Raptor Pen, the outrageous inversions and gigantic top-hat element, it all comes to an epic conclusion as you are sent through the indescribable Mosasaurus Roll over the water.
Here, you just might experience what it is like to have your soul begin to leave your body, if just for a moment, before it is snapped right back into the flesh of your body as the train hits the brakes.
As the ride ends, you do have a moment to reflect upon your series of life choices that have led you here… and if you really want to jump in line to ride this again.
See also: Universal Orlando’s new VelociCoaster: more teeth, more thrills
6.Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror - Disney’s Hollywood Studios (USA), 1994
Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror introduced a new type of drop ride
Image courtesy of Disney
While Disney has created a number of fantastic attractions over the years, I’d say that the creation of the first Twilight Zone attraction would have to go down as its first really serious “thrill ride” concept.
Up to this point, even the best Disney attraction could still be best described as a highly themed family ride, with only Splash Mountain having dared to offer a more physical thrill that surpassed other similar ride experiences.
But here, Disney went on to create something the world had never seen before: a highly themed, enclosed drop ride.
The industry had thus far produced only a handful of so-called “freefall drop” attractions, and while the Imagineers could have copied those same rides and even enclosed them (it was considered!), that wasn’t good enough in the end.
A regular “free-fall” gravity-powered drop wasn’t good enough because Disney wanted to pull you down faster than gravity and then shoot you back up again… and yank you up and down again and again.
All the while, it completely embraced the spooky and unsettling theme of The Twilight Zone, threatening to send you to a place that you just might never come back from.
It was creepy, unsettling… and it really worked, as The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror is now perhaps one of the most iconic Disney ride experiences in the entire world, with the original ride system having never been completely replicated at any other theme park.
5.Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - Epcot (USA), 2022
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind sees riders being launched backwardsImage courtesy of DisneyWhile Disney was the first to create the concept of an indoor space-themed roller coaster in the 70’s with Space Mountain, Guardians of the Galaxy was the response from modern-day Imagineers, who decided that a traditional indoor coaster experience just wasn’t enough of a thrill anymore.
Instead, the design is a highly themed attraction that features Disney’s first-ever backwards roller coaster launch aboard controlled, rotating vehicles that can direct your focus towards other planets, ships, and even immense cosmic beings, all while rocking to one of several randomly selected song tracks.
Part roller coaster, part dark ride, all tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you will find yourself completely out of control and likely laughing all the way to the end.
By far, this is one of the most fun attractions I’ve ever been on, and, combined with the desire to hear the different audio tracks, you will want to ride it again and again.
4.Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye - Disneyland (USA), 1995
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye featured another ride first for Disney
Image credit Contributor19, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Between the creation of the Twilight Zone in Florida and Indiana Jones in California, this served as a launch point for Disney Imagineering to dream up and build its first all-new ride systems in quite some time.
Indiana Jones features Disney’s first EMV (Enhanced Motion Vehicle) ride system that essentially merged the technology of a motion simulator platform with the mobile ride platform of a dark ride experience in order to create a very authentic feeling off-road jeep adventure ride.
With this creation, guests would go on to enter the cursed temple of the god Mara, who awakens at your intrusion and unleashes their wrath upon you all.
While this opened in the mid 90s, it is still just as amazing even today, and it is worth mentioning that Disney is now working on bringing an all-new version of the Indiana Jones Adventure to life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
I can’t wait to see what they have in store for this one.
3.The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man - Universal Islands of Adventure (USA), 1999
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is thought by many to be the best theme park dark ride
Image courtesy of Universal
For the past 25 years, without hesitation, if someone asked me what the best theme park ride in the world was, I would point to Spider-Man.
Universal cut new ground with their amazing vision of an all-new ride experience unlike anything ever built before. Amazing sets, combined with integrated, massive 3D projection screens, bring the world of Spider-Man to life in an era long before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
Due to the fact that Disney now owns Marvel, eventually, but hopefully not too soon, I think we might see this ride eventually forced into retirement.
This is such a shame, as it is still one of the best rides ever built and able to go toe-to-toe with just about any other popular ride experience and still come out on top.
2.Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry - Universal Epic Universe (USA), 2025
The story of Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry picks up after the events of the final Harry Potter book
Image courtesy of Universal
An opening-day attraction at Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park, Universal has once again created an experience so massive that park guests will spend as much time discussing how amazing and massive the queue is as they do raving about how good the ride itself is.
The story gets a bit complicated as you travel from the Wizarding World of Paris back to England via the Metro Floo and arrive in the Ministry of Magic just in time to sit in on the trial of the villainous Dolores Umbridge.
In true theme park fashion, something goes wrong.
In this case, the Death Eaters arrive to break Umbridge out of her shackles to go on a rampage throughout the Ministry in an effort to obtain a Time-Turner device to travel back in time to ensure Voldemort’s war to take over the Wizarding World will be successful.
Your journey through the Ministry is taken aboard a magical elevator car, able to not only go up and down, but sideways, frontways, backwards and spin about, so you can take in the view of immense practical sets, lifelike animatronics, and rampaging magical creatures.
These all combine to create one of the most complex theme park experiences of all time. Which is exactly what you would expect from a new Universal theme park.
1.Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment - Universal Epic Universe (USA), 2025
Monsters Unchained at Universal Epic Universe sees the studios Classic Monsters on the loose
Image courtesy of Universal
This is the big one: Universal’s love letter to the studio’s Classic Monsters library of characters, all wrapped together in a single Dark Universe to create the most impressive dark ride experience I’ve ever seen.
Passing through the “portal” to enter the world of Dark Universe, guests pass through the village of Darkmoor and move towards the imposing Frankenstein Manor, now taken over by the good Doctor’s descendant, Dr Victoria Frankenstein, where the ride begins.
She, too, has taken an interest in the “family business”, you might say, but seeks to repair the damage done before by finding a way to capture and control all of the world’s monsters.
Aided in her efforts by Igor and a new Frankstein Monster, riders climb aboard amazing robotic vehicles for a tour into the depths of the Manor, where the legendary Dracula has been imprisoned.
As you might guess, Drac breaks free and releases the other trapped monsters all at once, setting the stage for an epic battle for the ages featuring The Mummy, Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Brides of Dracula, the Phantom, and so many others.
The robotic arm vehicles pivot and pitch in all directions as the monsters and forces of Victoria wage war all around you. Along the way, you’ll come dangerously close to some of the creatures, presented both in projection and in full animatronic glory, featuring some of the most rapid and lifelike movements I have ever seen.
The result is a breathtaking adventure with so much going on all around you that you really will want to get in line to ride it again.
It’s also fun to note that while the Hollywood studio side of things had tried and failed to create a shared Dark Universe for their monster creations, Universal Creative was able to sweep in and create a theme park world for them instead, which is quite simply perfection.
Editor’s note: this article was originally published in 2020 and has been fully updated and rewritten for 2026 to reflect the latest trends and attraction openings in the theme park sector.
