My Favourite Dark Rides








I love dark rides! LOVE. Even the crap ones, I'll go out of my way to find them. Dark rides <3

Have a random selection of ones that I like (I'm not including things like ToT or Mystery Castle because in my opinion they are more drop tower than dark ride, I'm choosing to represent the ride in the classic sense):


Ratatouille (can't remember its proper name) - Walt Disney Studios Paris, France 
The suspension of disbelief this attraction thrusts upon you is ridiculous, so good to the point that I actually did a ride where I tried to 'take myself out' of the ride and have a look at things from a technical perspective, but it just kept drawing me back in. It's excellent, everyone go ride it now.

Fata Morgana - Efteling, Netherlands
The amount of animatronics in one room oh my Christ. And I love things themed to stuff you don't get that often, it's nice to see something a little different even if one can't help but feel all of these attractions are a little bit more 'inspired' by Disney than the creators would care to admit.

Maus au Chocolat (definite rodent theme here) - Phantasialand, Germany 
I'd been on Toy Story Mania before riding this but wasn't exactly blown away by what was effectively a game on wheels. Maus on the other hand is fantastic! It has an original (enough) theme, a great storyline, a fun game that doesn't distract from the narrative, and it ends in a cake shop. yes.
The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman - Universal's Islands of Adventure, USA 
Arguably, Transformers is better 3D technology or whatever, but I love Spidey. I prefer the use of live sets alongside the screens over just screens any day. I wish they'd bring back the original soundtrack though!


Trans'demonium - Parc Asterix, France 
I don't have much of a memory of this other than it reminded me of a Tim Burton directed nightmare, and what's not to love about that? It was utterly mad and full of 'what the hell was that?' moments, which are always a winner.


Pirates of the Caribbean Disneyland, USA 
Nothing like a classic Disney E-ticket dark ride, and for me Pirates is king. The Cali version is my favourite, mostly because of the bayou setting at the beginning of the ride but also because it has all the good elements of the Paris version and they have seamlessly incorporated the Sparrow animatronics. It's very very enjoyable.

Droomvlucht - Efteling, Netherlands 
I sat with my mouth agape the entire ride. The detail! The smell! The fairies! It was like somebody had been inside 7 year old Jordan's imagination and put it there in front of me to ride through. I adored it, it had an incredible sense of nostalgia for me and that just added to the enjoyment.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - Universal's Islands of Adventure, USA
I couldn't exactly NOT include it, could I? It's ridiculous, the queue is as legendary as the ride (if not more so) and there's a real element of peril, which I enjoyed. That and the ride vehicles are interesting and different.

Hobs Pit - Pleasurewood Hills, UK 
OK, I visited and rode this when it was at its peak during Halloween and had extra actors and stuff, but my god I just was not expecting how good this was! It was actually scary and for a moment I actually believed I wasn't in a shack in the middle of the Norfolk countryside but actually down a mine fearing for my life. Excellent, shame I'll never get to experience it in the same way again.

Indiana Jones Adventure - Disneyland, USA 
Another 'Wow!' moment, when you go through into the 'open' bit of the ride and there are just cars and snakes and crystal skulls and whatever else all just going mad in one room. And I LOVE the movement of these ride vehicles, a sense of complete lack of control and it's awesome. 

So that's my top ten dark rides off of the top of my head! This list is based on rides I personally have been on so I know I'm missing things like Mystic Manor. What do you guys think? What would you have included? Feel free to comment below!


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