Dark Rides
The dark is rising…
A staple attraction at any amusement park, the first dark rides appeared as early as the nineteenth century. Tunnels of love and ghost trains have increasingly given way in the last ten years to interactivity and special effects, with trackless and intricately themed dark rides providing a family-friendly, highly marketable offering that can function on a small footprint. Park World spoke to a number of dark ride specialists to find out how they’re innovating around the dark ride format
Talking tech With many theme parks already sporting at least a basic dark ride, manufacturer of interactive and media-based attractions Alterface has launched a new mobile action device named ‘Nomad’ (see diagram) for wireless pointing and shooting during the ride experience. Based around Alterface’s existing interactive technology, Nomad is designed to widen the scope of all interactive attractions.
Bazyliszek, at Legendia theme park, Poland
Without needing any amendment to the ride system, Nomad can turn an existing attraction into an interactive one using advanced projection techniques, video mapping or physical targets. “This means that we further broaden the spectrum of an already quite universal technology while guaranteeing that the attraction stands the test of time,” explains Benoit Cornet, Alterface CEO and founder. Existing rides can be redeveloped using media content or any type of interactive set-up. “We believe this is good news as those rides typically use specially designed buildings, not easily re-used, and usually the dimensions of the different scenes make them ideal for the integration of sophisticated projection technologies.” The devices are wireless and self-powered, and can be hand carried, meaning that the technology has the potential to make pre-shows and even queuing lines into part of the interactive experience, allowing people to take their devices with them upon embarking the ride vehicles. It offers, “laser sharp precision”, and can work on any type of background, from screens to walls to animatronics, or even smoke screenss. Any type of shooting and pointing trigger can be applied, whether a magic ‘wand’ or a gun, dependent on the ride’s narrative. Nomad can also be integrated into non-Alterface ride concepts to upgrade attractions and to meet the growing visitor demand for interactivity and digital enhancements.
36 AUGUST 2018
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