Best non Disney, Disney style rides (dark rides etc)

[EricMontreal22]

What are everyone's fave examples of rides that are so good (in a Disney style way) you could see them feasibly being in a Disney park? I mean in terms of theming, "story" or experience, animated figures (AAs) etc...

I have to say that as much as I love roller coasters and nearly all kinds of rides very few parks (And prob most would agree here) have the kinds of experiences Disney has--rides that try to transport you to another world in a way.

Even the underated Fantasyland dark rides (even in their original 1955/58 "cardboard cut out" versions) which have relatively simple technology are so much more carefully and artistically done than most dark rides I've experienced (you know the old "carved up zombie behind chicken wire" rides)

Of course Universal comes damn close in their best examples... (and there are long gone examples like Pacific Ocean Pier with its pirate ride--pre Disney--Banana Boat train, etc, that New York park with its earthquake themeride etc0 I haven't actually gotten to experience many of the big amusement parks otherwise so I'd love to hear what rides or experiences people would rank close by

[filmfreak11]

With Universal, I'd have to say:

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Men in Black: Alien Attack, & Bluto's Bilage Rat Barge.

E.T. Adventure, Cat in the Hat, Dudley Do-Right and Jurassic Park are pretty close.

I don't know, it's my winter break and I'm just not thinking

[Ride Warrior]

Jurasic Park river rafts, Men In Black: Alien Attack, the Mummy coaster and Spiderman at Universal. Journey To Atlantis and the Artic simulator ride at Sea World.

[Peabody]

IMO there are no longer and great dark rides in the true Disney Style outside of Disney or Universal.

The only thing that ever came close was Phantom Theater at Kings Island which was around from 1991 or so to 2003 I think. That was easily the best outside of Disney, IMO. It had a "pepper's ghost" room to rival the HM, great theming, good AAs, good story, etc.

There were many nice (but often crude by Disney standards) AA dark rides around the country, but by the early-mid 90s most were gone. The only surviving one that comes to mind now is Monster Plantation at Six Flags over Georgia (in rough shape now).

Almost every dark ride built in the last 10 years is a Sally Co. built shooting dark ride....they can be very fun, but are no Buzz Lightyear. Other than that, the only other I think is Curse of Darkcastle at Busch Europe, which is a really nice "Superman at IOA"-esque ride.

[EricMontreal22]

I love Buzz and haven't yet experienced men in dark but otherwise I'm rapidly getting very tired of the cheap versions of shooting dark rides that are popping up everywhere--and I'm such a dark ride fan I'll usually ride *any* cheap dark ride, even if no one else will.

Phantom Thater sounds great! Why did it close?

Are these kinds of rides just too hard to make/expensive for other pakrs to try to rival Disney and Universal? I have to admit it makes me worrisome (to an extent) when Disney does do a ride that doesn't exactly have their usual detailed theming--like the Paris Disney Indiana roller coaster and the similar Disney Sea one, even if on their own they're pretty good coasters

[sleepyjeff]

Mondors Challenge at the Enchanted Forest Theme Park near Salem, Oregon.

It's kinda like Buzz, except that ride vehicles are trackless and instead of Zurg you are in a land that is kinda like Lord of the Rings.

[EricMontreal22]

I guess some would include the much missed Knott's Beary Farm ride which I believe was even done by Disney's Rolly Crump

Interesting about Pahntom Theater--I found a link at http://www.dafe.org/attractions/dark...om/phantom.htm that I had read before and yeah it soundes neat nad was apparantly one fo the top 5 rides at the park--they mention they replaced the ride every ten years (it was Hann Barbera boat ride first0 and that's why Scoobyr eplaced it but it doens't sound as good

And thanks for the head's up to the Enchated Forest ride! I lived in Victoria, BC, and we used to always get ads for Encahnted forest on the Seattle TV stations--it always looked "pleasant" but not liek there were any rides that would interest me. But the new ride from the very little info online looks fantastic--the setting and creatures were hand done by the founder of the ride but it looks very Disney/professional not handmade like some dark rides. Hope they go more in that direction

[kcnole]

The only other place I've seen compete is Universal.

As for rides they have some great ones. I actually like Jaws better than Jungle Cruise although the Jungle Cruise is awesome as well. Men In Black is a better attraction than Buzz. And ET is probably one of my all time favorite dark rides. I don't know if we can consider the Mummy a dark ride even though it has dark ride portions but its one of my favorite rides of all time.

So most of the rides at Universal or IOA could be there although not all of them.

[kcnole]

IMO there are no longer and great dark rides in the true Disney Style outside of Disney or Universal.

Check Busch Gardens Europe as they have some great ones such as Curse of Darkastle although its not a traditional dark ride with animatronics.

[SpaceMTFan]

The best traditional dark ride I've been on is the "Haunted Mansion" at Knoebels.. Wow, they really went all out on this one and it features a ton of great classic effects.

One dark ride that looks AMAZING is "Challenge of Tutankhamon" at Walibi Belgium. Its by Sally and uses fire, animatronics, special effects and trackless cars. Due to that, if you have a good enough score... you have 2 bonus rooms. Here's a link to a video: http://www.sallycorp.com/Video/Tut_Tour.htm

Europe got a ton of unbelievable dark rides. Efteling with "Dreamflight", which features a track system like Peter Pan's Flight and "Fata Morgana", which uses boats like Small World/POTC. Animatronics? Fata Morgana got 130 and the park even went as far as separating each room with curtains, doors, smoke, etc. http://www.s104638357.websitehome.co...rgana_main.htm

[Thriller]

I say come on over to Europe. There's not a lot but I know of at least a couple of rides that are Disney-esque.

Of course, De Efteling stands out with its darkrides. http://www.wonderlijkewcweb.org/attr...gana/fata6.htm
(text is in Dutch but the pictures should give you an idea, especially at the very bottom)

Then there's Droomvlucht (Dreamflight), also at De Efteling
http://www.rides.nl/attractie/fotos/94
Everything Peter Pan should have been.

Perhaps not darkrides technically, but I'm sure you've heard of Mad Houses? De Efteling has one of the best: Villa Volta. It's based on a local legend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Volta

But the best Mad House, in my opinion, is Hex at Alton Towers in the UK. The setting inside a real castle, based on a real legend, it really is an amazing attraction.http://www.towerstimes.co.uk/rides/hex/hex.htm

And the best non-Disney themed coasters is also at Alton towers: Nemesis. It happens to be my favorite coaster, even without the theming - it's an extreme ride. It doesn't have a lot of theming material-wise, but it's completely effective and eerie.
http://www.rcdb.com/ig776.htm?picture=27
http://www.rcdb.com/ig776.htm?picture=21
http://www.rcdb.com/ig776.htm?picture=17
More pictures: http://www.rcdb.com/ig776.htm

^^ And what SpaceMTFan says, Challenge of Tutankhamon is good. But MIB is the best shooter darkride I think. Disney really should be embarrased about there attempts compared to these two.

[Alice's Wonderland]

Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey PA, when you go through the "tour" it's actually a dark ride. You sit in a hershey kiss and you go through a mock up of the factory. It smells really, really good.

[Peabody]

Originally Posted by kcnole

Check Busch Gardens Europe as they have some great ones such as Curse of Darkastle although its not a traditional dark ride with animatronics.

You didn't read the whole of my post, did you?

[SexkittenGwen]

thank you for the heads up about europe parks, ill be there from feb 24-march 12...I heard De Efteling is only 30 mins away from paris , so its in my list of things to do =)

[filmfreak11]

Originally Posted by Peabody

You didn't read the whole of my post, did you?

Rarely do people here bother to read everything and THEN post. Unless the thread has more importance for discussion.

I bet no one will respond to this post. If you're reading this, post something about this.