Dark Rides
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Should We Continue Building Dark Rides for Everyone?
T
his might be a slightly unpopular opinion, but after working on dark rides and attraction development for quite a few years, I have
started to wonder if we are sometimes trying a little too hard to make everybody happy. And maybe that is actually making some of our attractions less interesting. We all know how it happens. You start a project
with a strong idea, sometimes even a slightly crazy one. Then the discussions begin. It needs to work for families. Teenagers shouldn't
find it childish. It can be scary, but not too scary. The story needs to work internationally. The humor needs to translate. It should be original, but guests also need to immediately understand what is going on. Operations has requirements, marketing has requirements, management has an opinion and, if there is an IP involved, another layer gets added. None of this is wrong. These are exactly
the discussions I have myself every day. We are spending serious money and of course an attraction needs to work commercially. But there is a danger in it. Slowly, that strange character becomes less
strange. The scary scene gets toned down. Somebody asks if a moment might confuse younger guests, so we explain it. That weird idea from the first concept suddenly feels too risky.
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Six months later, there is nothing really wrong
with the attraction. But is there still something really right with it? I think we sometimes confuse designing for
a broad audience with making broad creative choices. Why can't a family dark ride have thirty seconds that are genuinely scary? Why can't there be a scene where almost nothing happens? Or a character that is simply weird without explaining exactly why? One sentence I hear a lot in our industry is:
“Will the guest understand this?” It's a fair question. I've probably asked it
hundreds of times myself. But occasionally I think the answer should be: maybe not. And that's okay. Guests don't need us to explain every detail.
Sometimes not completely understanding something is exactly what makes it interesting. You want to look again. You talk about it afterwards. I also wonder if we focus too much on everybody
giving an attraction an eight out of ten. I'd happily accept a few sixes and sevens if there are also people giving it a ten and telling their friends: “You have to experience this.” Because those are the attractions we remember. So perhaps on the next project we should
ask ourselves one slightly more uncomfortable question:
Who are we actually willing to disappoint? Because trying not to disappoint anyone might be exactly how we end up surprising no one.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robin van der Want is Project Development Director at Jora Vision, a creative design & build company responsible for the realization of, among others, dark rides such as Snorri Touren at Europa-Park, The Enchanted Greenhouse at Six Flags Qiddiya City, Popcorn Revenge at Walibi Belgium, and the upcoming new dark ride SCORE! at Gröna Lund. Want to challenge Robin’s opinion or share
your own? Come and visit Jora Vision at booth #S4322 during IAAPA Expo Europe in London to continue the discussion and learn more about SCORE! and Jora Vision’s latest dark ride projects.
DARK RIDE EDITION 2026
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