Dark Rides
www.parkworld-online.com
Haunted Mansion
In Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the sinister looking Haunted Mansion has a creepy facade spelt out the true meaning of evil, while the buzzard on the roof seems to mock the long line of guests waiting to ride. The eight ride vehicles are suspended, provided by the long- defunct Venture Ride Company, and provide hourly capacity of 250. Jim Melonic from Fantasies and Dreams, the newer company started from Bill Tracy’s Amusement Display’s Company, was contracted to do the facade, sets, and stunts. Funland started to build their dream dark ride in 1976, starting with a new concrete reinforced building to house and protect it from the Atlantic Ocean storms, and had hoped to finish it in a matter of weeks. But weeks would turn into almost two years, as there were several "bugs" to be worked out of the ride. The original ride mechanism was not built for dark ride cars, and there was no braking or stopping system in place either. Also, the ascending and descending sections were built all wrong as the cars could not make the grade. Al Fasnacht, owner of Funland, would go on to heavily modify the cars, add a braking system and re-do all the up and down sections of the rides layout. Melonic would have over 40 different people drawing sketches of the stunts and sets for weeks on end, each scene would take over two days to do, Melonic would also bring in some of the legendary Tracy stunts, cast from old molds, while also doing some of his own classic sets and stunts. Melonic’s original stunts included the Talking 3-D Head, Snake and Clock, Living Room scenes, Artwork with the Fireball painting, The hidden entrances and others, while he used Tracy Mineshaft and Truck gags among others. Almost two years later, the Haunted Mansion finally opened to rave reviews. The park only operates the Haunted Mansion in the evening to keep the sunlight out of the facade and ride.
As the sun begins to set, the Haunted Mansion takes on even more of a sinister look. Candles are flickering along the facade while the guests slowly shuffle ahead. In groups of two or three they climb into the heavy, black, and cast iron cars and crash through the red doors of doom to begin the ascent upward. They pass a graveyard, complete with a tombstone that reads"You," through the ice caves, where huge bats attack, pass a 3-D skull room illusion before entering the terrifying living room. Here a ghoul plays a creepy tune on a large pipe organ while drapes part with a hidden shock. There is a lot going on here including a secret passage. Gliding past more skeletons, a Frankenstein monster, and other stunts, guests begin the downward run, while a 3-D head is spinning around in a box, just at the bottom of the hill. There is yet one more hidden and shocking surprise before passing through one final set of doors.
A history of early dark rides
In the 19th century, carnivals and fun fairs were filled with freak shows, snake charmers, and exotically dressed dancers. But the Victorian fascination with the supernatural meant the ghost house was the biggest draw of all. Customers would watch, say, a re- enactment of Macbeth, or a tableau vivant, to be horrified when a see-through specter walked across the stage. The ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ trick, which used an angled piece of glass, an actor in the orchestra pit, and a projector, was fabulously frightening at the time. The evolution of dark rides, or ghost trains, happened at the same time in Britain and the US. In the early 1900s, funhouses were common in parks. These were walk-through attractions where rooms tipped and water ran uphill. Couples on dates would ride through the tunnel of love, where boats on rails would float by pastoral scenes and frisky hands would get slapped. In 1928, Leon Cassidy was manager of the
Tumbling Dam amusement park in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Restlessly inventive, he fiddled with the under carriage of a ride car until it could run on a single rail. Then he installed the track and cars in a tumbledown building at his park. The ride was fast, twisting, dark, and packed with back-lit horrors. After a customer complained that he was twisted around like a pretzel during the ride, Leon named both the ride and his new company after the salty snack. It soon became a must- have attraction in parks throughout North America.
In England, eager to keep up with the
latest thrill from America, Blackpool Pleasure Beach bought a Pretzel ride, which premiered in 1930. Of course, being a word play on an American snack, Pretzel made little sense in England, so the park named the ride after that year’s most popular stage show, the Ghost Train. It was an immediate success. Blackpool’s ride was rebuilt in 1936
bigger, better, and scarier. Joseph Emberton introduced the classic ghost-train track layout, a twisting journey in the dark, a fast sweep in front of the waiting queue, and a balcony each side where riders were allowed a quick blink in the outside air before returning to the horrors inside. These balconies were a genius move because the sudden lurch to the outside world meant riders would emerge disoriented and screaming, providing a perfect advertisement for the horrors inside. The Blackpool Ghost Train sparked a craze
for the dark rides across the UK, and Butlins installed a ghost ride at each of their parks.
North American editor Paul Ruben writing for Park World. Check out the next issue for more classic East Coast dark rides in Part 2 of this special feature.
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73
