I have been requested by a few visitors to include some pictures from my trip to Florida last year and if im honest Ive been a bit lazy posting some of these, one request is for Journey to Atlantis at Sea World.  I didn’t get to ride this due to an ear infection picked up earlier in the week on some water other water rides. For anyone planning on visiting Seaworld in the near future from the reports Ive had its not a ride to be missed.

Originally installed in 1998 by Mack rides Journey of Atlantis is clased as a water coaster or as some enthusiasts title liquid coaster.

Top of the ride.

View looking from the bottom of the final drop.

Trains climbing the lift hill of Jounrey

 

Heres a couple of video showing some POV views.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks for reading.

One of the many highlights for me of a trip to somewhere like Disney is the dark rides.

With attractions like It’s a small world and Pirates topping the list. This first set of photographs covers most of the small world ride, however some photographs and sets are missing due to the fact the ride is very dark in places and ISO 1600 on my camera is the best I have for low light.

Its a short ride and to me one of the great disney classics.

Before getting to the attraction here’s some history gathered from Wiki.

It’s a small world History.

In 1956, Walt Disney attended a conference, along with many other notable celebrities of the time, at the invitation of President Eisenhower. The conference was about founding a national organization to help promote world peace through international civilian travel. (This dream became a reality in 1956, when Eisenhower founded the People to People Student Ambassador Program.) Inspired by the ideas from the meeting, Disney returned to California and set to work, creating the “It’s A Small World” ride at Disneyland.

Like several other Disneyland attractions, “It’s a Small World” originated with the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair (it was Pepsi’s pavilion.) After the fair closed, the ride was transferred to Disneyland along with three other attractions from the fair that year; Primeval World Diorama, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress.

The attraction’s design was done by Mary Blair, who was also an art director on several Disney animated features (including Cinderella and Peter Pan). Like many Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, scenes and characters were designed by Marc Davis, while his wife, Alice Davis, designed the costumes for the dolls. Blaine Gibson sculpted the animatronic figures, while Harriet Burns painted them. Many of the dolls were created by Joyce Carlson who is honored with a shop window along the Magic Kingdom’s Main Street U.S.A. The sign there reads: “Dolls by Miss Joyce, Dollmaker for the World.” Rolly Crump designed the Tower of the Four Winds (a huge structure controlled by the four winds, which stood at the entrance to the attraction at the World’s Fair).

The name of the ride was originally “children of the world”. When Walt Disney demonstrated it to songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the ride’s soundtrack featured numerous national anthems all playing at once. Disney said, “I need one song.” In response, the brothers wrote one of the best known Disney tunes of all time: It’s a Small World (After All). It is argued that the song may be the most performed and translated song on earth.

On January 22nd, 2008, Disneyland closed its version of the ride until November 29th for refurbishment. Rumors of removing the rainforest scene for a United States scene were squashed by a memo from Marty Sklar, but various Disney characters will seamlessly be added throughout the attraction, which has received mixed feedback.

Paris.

In Disneyland Resort Paris, the ride is different from, but similar to, the other versions of the ride. The backgrounds and music are all different and there is a new room: a North America room, with dolls representing Canada and the United States. This version also has a complete Middle Eastern section in which the song is sung in Arabic. In the finale scene, the song is sung in German and English as well as French.

The song, we all know the song

The well-known catchiness of the song is due not only to its constant repetition for the duration of the ride (which lasts about fifteen minutes, not including time in line), but Robert B. Sherman explains that the structure of the song may also play a role:

Like many songs, “It’s a Small World” has a verse and a chorus. One thing which makes this song particularly ‘catchy’ is that the verse and chorus work in counterpoint to each other. This means that you can play the same chords over and over again, but with different melodies. The repetitive, yet varied pattern tricks your mind into absorbing the work without it becoming tiresome to your ear.

Additionally, the World’s Fair version of the song is the one commonly heard on various Disney compilation albums. The song also inspired a Disney Read-Along.

The song was later given two covers for the dance video game Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix: a Eurobeat cover by ABeatC All Stars and a Happy Hardcore instrumental remix entitled “IT’S A SMALL WORLD (Ducking Hardcore MIX)” by TOMOSUKE and U1-ASAMI, which featured sampling of Donald Duck and was the hardest song in the game. In Ecuador, this song serves as a theme for the chain of toy stores called Mi Juguetería. The original 1964 version of the song can be heard as one enters the store.

The Ride.

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Want to discuss this further visit the forums

I was in a group of about 50 members of Club Pleasure Beach and we got to ride Traumatizer (now relocated to Blackpool as Infusion) and the Cyclone wooden roller coaster (which was later demolished).

Also included in the tour was a Q&A session with one of the parks directors and a look into the workshops located behind the cyclone and finally a tour of the ghost train with the lights on.

These are the pictures taken at this event.

Scary looking head

This stunt jumps up when the cars go past.

Im not sure what this is, it looks like an old rag.

Behind one of the stunts.

From the front end.

Opening coffin, a dark ride default stunt 

An open coffin.

Walking into the ride.

Generally walking around.

Activated as the car goes past, it drops down.

Workshops located behind the Cyclone.

A bit of History about the ride. The Black hole is a Schwarzkopf Jet star 2 coaster with a length of 1919ft, Height of 44’3 and a duration of 1min 50 seconds. It was originally brought to Alton Towers as the Black hole in 1983 before going through a couple of name changes, New Black Hole, Black Hole 2 and finally back to Black hole again. The ride was closed in 2006.

So finally heres a set of photographs taken in July 2007 from inside the Black Hole Tent at Alton Towers.

From outside, some of the old artwork.

Some of the original theming still hanging about

A bit dark but showing the full dome.

Track lying across the floor

Shot of the cars.

Clearly showing the supports still in place.

The ride cars.

Control systems

The loading bay, still pretty much intact.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

This article isnt going to be a ride spoiler as such, more an in depth looking behind the scenes of one of the parks most spectacular dark rides.

Hex is a Vekoma Haunted Swing ride, it has operated at the park since 2000. Its located in the towers and well you cant really miss a big great tower.

The control room for Hex is around the back of the towers. Here’s a couple of shots of the main ride operators console.

In the shot below you can see a screen just where the operators elbow is. This controls the full attraction from start to finish the music/effects everything. Its all perfectly timed for the audience. Just behind the green wall is the final queue line to get into the ride chamber itself.

And a close up of the panel (for the guy in Canada who said it wasnt made by Vekoma.!

The rotating room.

*SPOILER*

As you have probably guessed the attraction sits inside a huge drum similar to a washing machine with a center pivot for the seats. the room rotates in huge pit and its quite difficult to get a decent picture, but heres my effort anyway.

This is a picture taken from the side of the attraction looking up, the big white steel bar is the pivot point for the seats.

This is taken from the first operators console looking back at the queue line.

A couple of similar views at different angles.

Turning around now looking at the operators console.

Ever wondered what those numbers are whilst your queuing for Hex. Basically it tells the operator how many people have passed through the entry turnstile. Hex has a capacity of 78 people every few minutes, once they hit 78 the pre show starts.

Once through the turn style this is where you wait for the rest of the customers.

Once enough people are in the queue the doors in front are open and you enter the video room.

Inside the video room.

Im not going to spoil this for anyone, if you want to see the show theres a copy on youtube.

After the show which lasts a few minutes the doors open and your led into the next room.

Again I wont spoil this for anyone who hasn’t been through Hex, so heres a few photographs.

The lighting rig in the center of the room, this is dropped to the floor during winter for maintenance.

The theming in Hex is fantastic.

After a short time you are lead through to the ride.

Seats.

And finally the fallen branch. – Don’t know what this means then take a trip through Hex next time your at Alton Towers.

Thats the end of the tour, thanks to Alton towers and Club pleasure beach for arranging this tour, we also viewed a few more attractions at Alton towers this day, to see a complete list of behind the scenes tours on ridemad click Behind the scenes

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Space Invader 2 was originally called space invader when it arrived at the park in 1984, after been refurbished by Kumbak coasters in 2004 it reopened as Space Invader 2.

Anyone that remembers the original Space invader will remember the very uncomfortable and often bumpy ride.

I have memories of the old space invader been a very bumpy ride with some extreme brakes in the dark. As part of this tour we were left to look around the attraction with senior management for about 30 minutes.

It was ideal for most of the group and we just walked around taking photographs and looking at some of the very odd looking space theming most of which you miss whizzing past at 30-40mph.

Some of the 80′s style space 1999 theming.

Some of these spacemen inside the ride are hardly seen when you go past in the cars, they look tacky and believe me they are but that just adds to the attraction in my opinion. I don’t think any of us ride space invader 2 for the fantastic effects.

Some more of the props.

Hanging in the middle of the attraction is a satellite.

This is one odd looking alien.

and a close up of its face.

Some track shots, the ride is 1490ft in length and has a height of 59ft.

This is a pretty good effect when your on the ride in the dark.

Passing through some more space themed artwork.

Mid ride operators console, this isnt manned during normal operational hours.

One of the trains, Pleasure beach staff compared the cost to a Porsche boxster..gulp!!!

Finally the run back into the station. Brakes in the center of the track.

Id like to thank Club Pleasure Beach for arranging this tour and to Keith and his staff at Pleasure Beach Blackpool.

Collection of other behind the scenes tours Behind the scenes.

If you want to use any photographs on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

Ive split this article in two, initially ill take a look at a behind the scenes tour done during July 2007 this will be followed up with some history and photographs of the haunted house written by the Mik the editor of the Haunted one.

Familiar scene outside Duel.

One of the first things to see when you enter the ride itself is he rocking table and chairs.

The guy is hiding in one of the corners.

Walls are covered in Spiders.

I must admit I have never seen this rat before and ive been on this ride an awful lot of times.

Signs not normally noticed when riding, this one is just before the revolving tunnel.

Revolving tunnel with club members in the way

The illusion which creates bats flying overhead.

More zombies.

Zombie.

This guy swings out when you go past, again full of targets.

Scary Spider.

Skeleton, at one point this guy had a hat on.

Further around looking back at the skeleton.

Looking back from the garden room. This room is very hazy so ive tried to remove some of this in photoshop.

One of the most memorable characters the undertaker.

Looking back at the undertaker.

Grim reaper.

more theming.

A few coffins.

Approaching the end of the ride.

A couple of random photos.

The maintenance area.

and again.

One of the control system computers in the maintenance area.

Techy stuff.

In the control box.

Car location planel.

Finally back in the ride station.

Now for a look at the original Haunted House.

Designed by… John Wardley

In conjunction with… Keith Sparks and Sparks Creative Services

Ride Transit System by Mack Designs

Portraits produced by Alton Towers in-house art department.

Year of Design 1990

Year of Opening March 1992

Fibreglass and Poly-foam props produced by Rex Studios

Atmospheric smells provided by Dale Air

Foggers provided by Peasoup

The Haunted house was designed by John Wardley back in 1990 after Alton towers research showed that people thought that the park was mainly aimed at the teenage market.

John Wardley designs for the runaway mine train and the haunted house, were accepted and the ride build proceeded. It took a further two years to get the ride from drawing board to reality. Keith Sparks Company Sparks Creative services were drafted into helped to create the theming within the ride. Sparks creative services enlisted the help of a number of dark ride subcontractors these including Mack rides who designed the 300m transit system and 32 coffin style cars. Each Car cost £18,000 to make and contain an on board computer system that communicates between the ride station and other cars to help keep the distance and speed needed in certain sections of the ride. Rex Studios were involved in the fibreglass and poly-foam construction and Dale air and Pea soup used their expertise to create the atmosphere smells and foggers. Also involved in the construction was the Alton Towers in-house art department they helped create effect throughout the ride but mainly the dressing of the queue area.

The ride was opened officially in March 1992 by Philip Schoffield and the ride proved to be a great success. It was the first expensively created haunted dark ride of its kind in the UK and some thought it surpassed that of the haunted mansion.

The original haunted house integrated sounds, lights, animatronics, aromas and optical illusions on a massive scale. The original queue area is very similar to today’s Duel queue are however the atmosphere was far more intense with many people fleeing before they even got to the ride station.

The ride incorporated seven pieces of music that included The Entrance Hall, The Drawing Room, The Tunnel of Doom, The Giants Lair, The Ghoulish Garden, The Final Chase and Escape! It also incorporated several separate sound effects such as Emily Alton’s haunting lament and Thunder score. There is a debate at the moment to who actually composed the haunted house score, all I can say is that the music is copyrighted to G Smart at Beulah Music Wales.

The ride stood tall as a flagship attraction at Alton Towers for many years but slowly declined from Alton Towers favour and that of the general public, basically because the ride became shabby and under maintained and also rider expectations became too much. There is also a shadier side to the demise of the haunted house attraction, unbeknown to Alton Towers and the Tussauds Group copyright issues arose in relation to the portraits that hung within the ride and they were forced to remove them.

Tussauds need to do something fast to ensure that the expensive ride was able to continue and the idea of Duel and a revamp was needed. Guns were added and new props and portraits were installed and the ride became popular again. Unfortunately the revamp swallowed up the original special effects and new lighting enabled the rider to see the hidden mechanics of the ride. The concept of Duel was good but seemed to be rushed and ill thought through. Leaving die hard dark ride fans divided over the haunted house conversion. I myself felt that the mystery, magic and atmosphere of the ride was gone and didn’t provide the sparkle that a flagship Alton Towers Attraction should have. It seemed to me that the ride was lost in ideas, concepts and suspense; however I must admit that adding the blasters does give the ride definite re-ride appeal.

Haunted One

I would like to pass on a huge thanks to Mik at the Haunted one. for taking the time out to write about the history and provide me with the haunted house photographs. Anyone interested in finding out more about the attraction be sure to visit the http://www.hauntedone.co.uk

If you want to use any photographs that are watermarked on this blog please get in touch paul@ridemad.com im quite happy to share and have high resolution copies of everything used, to see the complete gallery visit the Ridemad Gallery

Thanks for Reading.

George sent me some information recently about the planned closure of a further two dark rides in the US The Zombie Castle (pictured above) and the flying witch both at Playland Amusement Park in Rye, NY.

In an attempt to put a stop to this Laff in the dark have started a petition to save these rides, for more information and to lend some support please visit The Editorial page.

If you would like to see some additional information about these rides please take a look at the Laffinthedark articles covering both rides in full detail including a behind the scenes tour.

Flyingwitch.
Zombie Castle.

Any support you can offer will surely be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

Information and photographs compiled by Bill Luca and George LaCross of http://www.laffinthedark.com

1928: The single-rail dark ride is invented

Pretzel Shop Superintendent Elmer Lawrence (left) and William Cassidy (right)

Entrepreneur Leon Cassidy, in partnership with Marvin Rempfer, took over Tumbling Dam Amusement Park, a traction company park (or trolley park) on the east side of Tumbling Dam Pond, now known as Sunset Lake in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

The partners made many additions to the park and one of the attractions that they felt the park needed was an Old Mill, a very popular ride that debuted in 1900 with boats floating through a cavern of darkness with either eerie or historic dioramas. Since an installation of an Old Mill wasn’t economically feasible for their park, Cassidy and Rempfer began looking for a cheaper alternative and started tinkering with a spare Dodgem car. Soon they had a “dry” version of the mill which took riders through a darkened pavilion in small cars that followed a single electrified track. It premiered in 1928.

Cassidy and Rempfer vigorously promoted the new and as yet unnamed ride, and decided to hold a contest to allow the public to choose what the ride would be called. They proclaimed that on Memorial Day the new name would be chosen from entries submitted by park patrons. A $5 gold piece would be awarded to the winner, provided he or she was present in the park at the time the name was announced.

A young Miriam Dawson took the golden prize for her name, “The Firefly”, inspired by the characteristic sparking of the electric pickup at the rail. The name didn’t stick, though. Cassidy and Rempfer were uncomfortable with the association of sparks with wooden buildings, and soon assigned the name “Pretzel” to the attraction after a rider exclaimed that he felt like he’d been bent into a pretzel by the twisting path followed by the car.

With the success of their new ride and the interest shown by other park owners, Cassidy and Rempfer quickly established a company to manufacture and market the Pretzel ride. Initially built to resemble Model A Fords, the cars were redesigned with the familiar pretzel-shaped decorations.

Each 40-pound iron pretzel casting also served to add weight to the nose of the car to help keep the front wheel from jumping the track. The new 20-gauge sheet metal cars had a tapered shape similar to the touring pushcarts that were popular on the Coney Island and Atlantic City boardwalks. This car would remain the company’s single standard rolling stock almost until World War II.

The Pretzel Ride took the amusement business by storm. Routinely outgrossing all other rides on the midway, Pretzels were rapidly being installed in nearly every fun park in the nation, and foreign countries were also asking for them. Leon Cassidy purchased an abandoned trolley barn on South Avenue in Bridgeton to use as the main factory. A standard Pretzel ride in 1929 had five cars, 350 feet of track and gave a ride of one and a half minutes in duration. Purchase price was $1,200.

From the beginning, right up through the late forties, Pretzel was using ‘car-powered’ stunts; hinged cast-iron bars set into the floor and positioned so that the car wheels would roll over them, throwing a linkage to cause a devil’s head to pop up, or the emergence of “Al E. Gator” from his barrel just ahead of the passengers. No motors, no relays, no air cylinders… low-tech.

Pretzel stunt Al E. Gator in the Laffland dark ride in Central New York’s Sylvan Beach Amusement Park.

They would use similar means to trip the noise makers, gadgets that would set up such a racket that riders would think the car had knocked over a trash barrel.

1930: Traver takes notice

The Traver Engineering Company of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, headed by legendary coaster designer Harry Traver, wanted a piece of the dark ride action and began marketing its own dark ride under the name “Laff In The Dark.” Traver’s dark ride was a lower-cost version with wooden cars, targeted at budget-minded parks. This ride employed dual trackwheels and positioned the hot rail on the floor aside the main steering track in an attempt to skirt the Pretzel patent. Leon Cassidy initially considered suing Traver for infringement, but ultimately decided, rightly, that the competition would be too insignificant to warrant the expense of litigation.

Traver apparently entered a contractual agreement with comic strip syndicates, as many of his stunts were plywood cutouts of comic strip characters including Popeye and Maggie and Jigs. A Traver installation would also include a plywood cutout mule that would kick at passing riders as well as two alley cats that would engage in a face-off.

By 1932, Traver was broke and his chief engineer Ralph Chambers purchased the Beaver Falls firm. Traver and Chambers failed to surpass the sales of Pretzel dark ride installations. but they still made quite a legacy for themselves. Many of the former Laff In The Dark rides are fondly remembered including a larger than usual model installed at Crystal Beach Amusement Park on the shores of Lake Eerie, Canada. That park closed in 1989. The only remnant of a Chambers Laff In The Dark is the Zombie Castle dark ride at Playland Park in Rye, New York. Originally a 1930s Chambers Laff In The Dark installation, it received a complete overhaul in 2001 although the ride’s newer cars still use undercarriage hardware salvaged from the original Chambers cars.

It’s interesting to note that neither Traver or Chambers obtained a trademark on the Laff In The Dark name as a number of Pretzel dark rides were either installed with that name or renamed Laff In the Dark over the years.

A new beginning: 1946

After a hiatus during the years of World War II, the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company reopened under the leadership of Leon’s son William Cassidy. The company soon expanded its operation to include different types of kiddie rides, although the dark ride was Pretzel’s signature ride. In 1953, Pretzel introduced its spinning dark ride car. The car was fashioned in an oval shape with a high, heart-shaped upholstered seat back. Riders sat facing outward toward the side rather than forward. Once inside the ride, a floor trip unlocked the passenger unit, which was mounted on a spindle, independent of the chassis. The riders were then rotated alternately clockwise and counterclockwise as the car traced the usual labyrinthine path. The longest dark ride employing a fleet of Pretzel spinners was Coney Islandís Spook-A-Rama in Brooklyn, New York. This encompassed two buildings and sections of outdoor track.

Spook-A-Rama is still in operation although the ride has been downsized to the larger of the two buildings, and the Pretzel cars have been dead-bolted to keep them from spinning. But Spook-A-Rama remains to this day, a great example of the golden era of dark rides.

Some stills from Spook-A-Rama.

In the late 1950s Pretzel developed the “Double Decker”, a two-level ride in which the cars were hoisted to the second story by a lift chain.

William Cassidy sold the rights to build the rides in 1979.

Animated Display Creators pitches in: 1950′s

Animated Display Creators (ADC). A company founded in 1938 by Van Olkon, was best known for its lifelike point of purchase displays in stores and trade venues. Entering the 1950′s, advertising budgets were being directed away from window displays and toward the new promotional medium of television. So, ADC turned to creating ghoulish stunts and displays for dark rides.

While it did not design or install dark rides, ADC played in an important role in the dark ride legacy by virtue of the variety of pieces it created. Its figures could be purchased to redecorate facades or be used to supplement the stunt line-up in a dark ride. One of the best examples of this was the 1954 installation of the Pretzel dark ride Laffland at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park in central New York State. The ride came with standard-issue Pretzel stunts such as Al-E-Gator and the Jersey Devil, but the park’s owner also bought and installed four ADC-designed stunts. With ADC’s products, park owners could either re-theme or spice up their dark rides, hence keeping them running for years to come.

Tracy’s reign of terror: 1960

Bill Tracy, who by most accounts began his career as a window display art director and designer, entered the dark ride game later in life. But he breathed new life into the industry with his gruesome and sometimes politically incorrect displays.

Torture: The female victim, with heaving breasts, from Bill Tracy’s Torture Chamber scene

Tracy had at least three different offices and work complexes though his career but the most famous and most productive was in Cape May, New Jersey where he operated the Outdoor Dimensional Display Company. Tracy’s team was responsible for not only designing new dark rides and fun houses in the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, but rethemeing existing Pretzel dark rides and other venues such as Old Mills and Mill Chute rides. For his ride cars, Tracy supplied a model known as Hush Puppies although he also subbed out rolling stock work to the Alan Herschell Company.

Tracy’s stunts were shocking even by todays standards a woman getting sliced in half by a table saw and a man getting flushed down a toilet. One of Tracys best surviving works is the Haunted House at Trimper’s Rides & Amusements, Ocean City, Maryland.

I would like to thank Bill and George for providing all the text and pictures for this article. If you would like to learn more about dark rides take a look at the http://www.laffinthedark.com

Thanks for Reading.