Questions about dark rides and other things.

[FutureProbeMe]

Hello, theme park aficionados! I am merely just beginning to really get into theme parks. I am one of those people who has spent their entire life mainly confined to Disney and Universal. So, my question is, where can I find awesome dark rides outside Disney and Universal parks?
Also, are there any parks in the U.S. that focus on an edutainment, much like the old EPCOT Center?
Are there any dark ride/roller-coaster type combos or something similar?
Finally- and this may be a weird question -are there any U.S. parks that are especially interesting to the engineer type? Whenever I am on a ride, I tend to look at things that everyone else ignores. I try to get a glimpse of the "guts" of the ride and figure out how a particular sequence works. I have done this since I was a wee little lad.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[vfire]

Unfortunately, dark rides are a dying art at most parks outside of Universal and Disney. I've heard that Kennywood has a few of them, though they converted one of their classics into a horrid Garfield ride with flats.

One I would recommend checking out is the Old Mill at Rye Playland just north of NYC. It's a little under 10 minute flume dark ride about gnomes protecting their gold from a dragon and other baddies. It was built before WWII, and was conceived as an old-fashioned tunnel of love with a long, dark straightaway towards the end for couple cuddling. Well worth checking out if you're in the area as it's pretty close to unique.

[ni_teach]

you might want to check out Laugh in the dark website for the history of many of these attractions.

http://www.laffinthedark.com/

[AtomicBear]

Originally Posted by FutureProbeMe

Hello, theme park aficionados! I am merely just beginning to really get into theme parks. I am one of those people who has spent their entire life mainly confined to Disney and Universal. So, my question is, where can I find awesome dark rides outside Disney and Universal parks?
Also, are there any parks in the U.S. that focus on an edutainment, much like the old EPCOT Center?
Are there any dark ride/roller-coaster type combos or something similar?
Finally- and this may be a weird question -are there any U.S. parks that are especially interesting to the engineer type? Whenever I am on a ride, I tend to look at things that everyone else ignores. I try to get a glimpse of the "guts" of the ride and figure out how a particular sequence works. I have done this since I was a wee little lad.

Thanks in advance for any help!

While most parks don't have "awesome" dark rides at the level of Pirates or the Haunted Mansion, they do seem to be making a come back. I posted some links to ride to New and Old ones that you might find interesting.

There is the Curse of DarKastle at Bushe Gardens.

YouTube - An exclusive Curse of Dark Castle...

Which uses a systems like Spiderman at Universal.

Sallycorp does some simple rides including the Scooby Doo and Ghost Blaster rides as well as the upcoming GooseBumps attractions. Sally Corporation: Animatronics and Dark Rides. There new version of Ghost Blasters has a neat ending in which the background gose from scary to sunny.

YouTube - Ghost Blasters - Elitch Gardens

Halloween Productions has done some dark rides as well. Designers of Dark Rides, Blacklight Mini-Golf and Haunted Houses.

Six Flags has the Yosemite Sam Gold Rush ride:

YouTube - Yosemite Sam's Gold River Adventure at...

as well as Monster Plantation (which is going to open in May newly renovated as Monster Mansion) Construction Photos: Monster Mansion.

Dollywood has some dark ride elements in there Mystery Mine Coaster.

Kennywood just did their Ghostwood Estates ride:

YouTube - Ghostwood Estate Dark Ride at Kennywood

Silver doller city has some old school dark rides: Roller Coaster & Theme Park Rides: Silver Dollar City Branson

[aimster]

There is the Curse of DarKastle at Bushe Gardens.

Note that this is at the Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. Busch Gardens Tampa doesn't have any dark rides.

[AtomicBear]

Your right.