by Jan Maarten de Raad, Jora Vision
Ever since the first seaside funfairs carried away stoked visitors on a ‘scenic railway’, a dark ride is the most distinctive way for a destination to tell a story. Where other parks might have a similar double-looping coaster or a just-as-splashy log flume, your dark ride is always unique to your park.
It’s not for nothing that dark rides are on the top lists of many a theme park aficionado. From Disney exemplars like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion to European classics such as Efteling’s Droomvlucht or Blackpool’s Valhalla. Some of these adventures stem from a different era but still draw a daily crowd.
To be sure, we came a long way from the rickety railway tours that started it all. The coming years we’ll see some staggering dark ride innovation, both in their design and construction. Here are five of them.
Push the tempo – the rise of the story coaster
The boundaries between dark rides and coasters are fading fast. You must no longer choose between a tranquil tour of an enchanted cave or being tossed around 200 ft in the air on a steel colossus. Combining the best of both, so-called ‘story coasters’ blend story scenes with high-G ride segments.
Of course, this development is not completely new. Some even trace this back to the 70’s and argue that Disneyland’s Space Mountain is a story coaster. This ride is more of a themed coaster since there is no real development in the story. Still, Florida’s Revenge of the Mummy or Expedition Everest do fit the story coaster definition and aren’t exactly new. However, there is a trend here: these fusion rides are no longer exclusively for the big guys.
From VinWonder’s Eagle Warriors to Movie Park’s Studio Tour; even regional parks can afford to add some speed to their storytelling attractions. By making smart design decisions, the cost can be brought down to only a fraction of what you used to pay for such rides.
The development also happens the other way around. We see coasters evolving to incorporate storytelling elements from the get-go. Enthralling pre-shows and lavish theming in the queue are no longer a rare sight. We predict this development will grow and blossom in the coming years, merging thrill rides and dark rides even more.
Screen the screens – hiding and integrating media content
Media content in dark rides has been on the rise for years. It’s both blessing and curse. A well-placed screen lets you add anything you can dream up for a bargain: renegade aliens, cuddly critters, explosions without fire hazards, tidal waves without splash damage. You can gun down escaped popcorn or hunt a mythical beast. It’s fantastic!
Sadly, there is a price to pay for this dark ride innovation: some media content stands out like an animated dragon in an empty field. Flat rectangular displays contrast sharply with a lifelike environment. To add, by using projectors your animated wyvern is highlighted so it contrasts with its surroundings. It might just look like you’ve hung a giant TV in the middle of your ride (which you have, but we want to keep this a secret, don’t we?).
Luckily, media and decoration are increasingly integrated. Carefully crafted rockwork camouflages those utterly straight screen edges. Pots, pans, and other props cleverly hide screens. By making use of special black projection screens, the highlighting effect can be mediated.
Additionally, smart media illusions help blend video with the scenery. From the age old Pepper’s ghost up to forced perspective with smartly skewed video mapping: there are many techniques to choose from.
Rides like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway cleverly show what is possible with seamless media integration. And this is only the start of the utility of combining projection, animatronics, and integrated video. Show experts like Freckled Sky use mixed reality storytelling techniques that mix all kinds of content into one irresistible experiential cocktail: one we will surely get to taste in many dark rides soon.
Content swapping and creating – fresh ways to use media content
One of the downsides of dark rides is their limited re-rideability. Even the most elaborate rides only offer more of the same each time you step into the vehicle. The same is true for coasters, of course, but they offer tummy-tickling thrills that are enough to do it ten times over (for some). Dark ride devotees aside, most visitors only ride them once per visit.
But what if it could offer something new every time? This is where the dark ride innovation of changeable and generative content comes in.
Changeable content means that everything a dark ride has to offer can be adjusted, without interfering with the hardware and decoration. This is comparable to a seasonal overlay, but no lugging of heavy Halloween pumpkins. Just press a button and voilà : new lighting design, fresh animatronic movements and novel audio tracks. You can concoct a completely new story by smartly tweaking ride elements.
A great example is the Monsters After Dark version of Guardians of the Galaxy. A Halloween version that only triggers after sundown. This allows guests to experience two versions of the same ride in one day.
On a whole different level is generative content. Here the content is generated on the spot, just for you. The applications are almost unlimited. Have a water dark ride that has a varied duration? Generate the video for each boat. This way it lasts just as long as the trip past the (well hidden) screen. Want your magical tree to address people by their first name? Make the audio on the spot, based on visitor profiles. Want to fill a forest with the animals from a child’s drawing? Have an AI bring it to life.
We can go on and on about the potential. Choose your own route, your allegiance, your experience…
It might sound like futuristic babble, but it will not last long until it’s here. Already you can encounter your own mugshot in Star Wars adventures or lose yourself in a live generated kaleidoscope. The exact applications are being figured out. Doing it right takes some expertise, but generative content can improve both the experience and the shelf-life of your ride by a thousandfold.
Hold your fire, have a blast – cooperative and less destructive interactive concepts
Trigger happy visitors can have a blast in interactive dark rides. Projected beasts, wooden monsters and Styrofoam villains get a daily dose of reckoning gunfire. The years ahead we will see more innovation and the coming of age of the interactive dark ride. Already some rides make clever use of interactivity to let you trigger effects instead of wrecking rampage (or both). Still, no longer it is only about racking up the most points by shooting at anything that blinks.
A few developments will go hand in hand. First, the individual scoring screens in the vehicle will fall out of grace. As they break immersion and focus on competition, these carnival counters do not always fit the story at hand. Some rides will eliminate scoring entirely or replace individual points with a cooperative result per vehicle. No longer will you have to leave grandma behind in the scores; now you can work together as a team.
And how about a battle between vehicles? Nothing is more fraternizing than aiming at those pesky people that you have been queueing behind for so long. A friendly shootout of sorts might even influence the outcome of the ride. Wave with your wizard wand and send the opposite vehicle down to the dungeon, while you ascend into the throne room.
We will see more than just firing away. There is more you can do with interactivity than just wreaking havoc. Grow otherworldly plants, repair Grandpa’s old aeroplane, or help the kind forest fairies hide from nasty trolls. There are many friendly implementations to create. We cannot lift the veil yet, but Jora Vision is working on a unique interactive dark ride where there are many more nice things to do than just blasting everything to bits.
Lastly, we might soon get rid of the big, wired guns altogether. Motion control is within reach. Controlling effects with simple gestures is already possible in rides like W.E.B. Slingers, but there is more to wave at than tiny evil robots. With a simple gesture, you open a door or move your vehicle in another direction. Make a bow, wave your hand, and a whole new world opens right in front of you.
I like to move it, move it – free-roaming vehicles
From a cleverly hidden wire in the floor, to fully free roaming cars: trackless vehicles have been around for years. Still, the use of dynamic movement patterns is, in most rides, minimal. It is puzzling that there are still no cars that sweep you through a ride differently every time. Where are the dance scenes that deftly maneuver your vehicle from the front to the back on a pumping beat? Well, they are coming.
One of the most promising ways an autonomous vehicle is used now is in the ‘erratic’ dark ride developed by Jora Vision and Alterface.
After sitting down, the vehicle will launch you on an unpredictable journey that differs every time. Carefully counting the vehicles will not help you predict the route: there is no fixed cycle. This leads to greater guest surprise and re-rideability. After a scene, you join an elegant choreography in the central hall. This design not only enriches the personal journey but sparks curiosity about the experiences of others.
Combined with the techniques we mentioned before, the free-roaming vehicle is a true game changer. How about controlling the movement with your body? Dodge the lasers coming at you by literally curving your body in the right direction. Swirl around on a samba by following the right dance instructions. Or enter a hidden space by flicking your magic wand just right.
Dark ride innovation – we’re just getting started
Our industry often operates under a veil of mystery. There are many upcoming rides that we get to work on, but that still must be kept a secret. We can however share that one of Jora Vision’s new dark rides will be exciting guests in Six Flags Qiddiya. That park will not only boast a groundbreaking coaster but also a mesmerizing dark ride that is growing as we speak. Here we will incorporate some of the ideas discussed in this article.
The grumpy reader might blame us of listing dark ride innovations that have been going on for years, instead of sharing fresh trends. And, in a way, that’s correct. True breakthroughs in rides are exceptional and uncommon. More often, progress is achieved through a gradual and continuous process, where new ideas and innovations grow organically from the foundations laid by existing rides.
So, no sudden leap into the unknown, but a careful refining of the great things that already exist. Luckily, there are many professionals who know perfectly how to integrate the newest techniques to tell your story. Because, after all, that is what makes a dark ride great: using everything at your disposal to share an unforgettable tale.
