THE SOUL OF THE DARK RIDE

Why dark ride is a unique attraction that no park should be without? Read the article to know how to create experiences to make the people smile, surprise, thrill and spark joy

10 Ago , 2021 Marketing department

The Dark Ride is a typical attraction for families in which, various transportation systems follow a path in the shade with high level of scenography and possible animatronics, interactive screens and different types of special effects.
One of the great all-time classic rides present in the world of Luna Park from the end of the 19th century. With varieties from the “Ghost-Train” to the “Tunnel of Love” where entire families or groups of friends share a great adventure together.
While the classic Ghost Trains had scenes with the aim to scare visitors nowadays the Dark ride has evolved into a real platform bringing stories of fantasies, fears and mysteries to life. All with a very specific goal: to surprise, amuse, scare and create memories for a lifetime. From single visitors or sharing the experience with the whole family (from children to grandparents) or with friends.
From a construction point of view, it is undoubtedly on of the most complex attraction that can be found in a park. It combines various specialists to allow an infinity of customization:
• scenography
• lighting systems
• special effects
• transportation system
• building
• sounds
• video effects
• underground systems

At Gosetto we take care of all the aspects listed above. We truly specialize in customizing and tailoring every Dark Ride to every customer specific wishes.
For Global Village we developed the Dark Ride “Transylvania Towers”, with the aim of making the guest experience terrifyingly memorable.
Also the building is completely realized in construction steel, the transportation system is based on 12 suspended cars and a customized scenography are developed detail in according to the specific needs of the customer to have a classic ghost train but with a storyboard that dictates the guidelines of the most modern dark ride.

INTERNATIONAL IP Intellectual Property AND INTERNAL IP
Storyboards can be based on international IPs for example Disney, “Peter Pan” or “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Internal IPs are created by the park or based on legends or stories of the place where the park is located .
An international IP that gave us particular satisfaction was the Smurfs at Comic Station in Antwerp. For Comic Station we provided a transport system with 4-seater car moving sideways on a monorail. The custom-made car body was made in the style of a tree trunk. The entire theming and interactive videos contributed to telling the story of these famous magical blue characters. The interactive screens are controlled by a magic stick inspires to electrify and excite all.
For the internal IP, stories are created from scratch,. In this case we need to mention our latest transport system we created for LISEBERG; the Dark Ride is called Underlandet and is located in the “Kaninlandet” area (the land of the rabbit). Visitors were familiar with these characters, but wat the rabbit character did underground has always been a mystery. The Dark Ride is based on this concept, the underground life of the rabbit.
The project started almost 3 years ago, it was supposed to open in the spring of 2020, but has been postponed to next year due to COVID.
This is a typical dark ride for all ages (even the youngest of two years old can ride) and offers families a reason to ride it together, generation after generation. The ride has different banking and up and downhill for an overall length of 202 meters for a duration of approximately 4 minutes.
Creating an internal IP requires a lot of work of course, but in addition it brings a lot of satisfaction. It can bring to life a park character or mascot or tell, or storyline needed to be told. Further it allows you to have a unique attraction, really one of its kind worldwide, and custom made to suits the visitors wishes. Each park knows exactly what their guests want to see.
Another example that we are really proud of, is the Haunted School created for Etnaland in Italy. Based on the concept of an Italian school in the early 1970s, this Dark Ride is also equipped with an interactive system. The journey is divided into eight scenes: entrance, bathrooms, the various classes each with a different academic subject (Italian, history, music, …) and for each of them there are questions that visitors must answer by choosing button A, B or C, if the answer is correct they score points, if it is not answered correct something bad is going to happen.
Unique in the world, this dark ride has received several awards even on international level, it’s a perfect educational Dark Ride that combines utility with pleasure.

WHY A DARK RIDE?
Nowadays, families are looking for experiences which bring them together. The experience needs to amuse, surprise, thrill and spark joy. The park wants to create experiences to make the people smile.
With dark ride you can do this in several different ways:
• Falling in love
• Scaring
• Creating great memories
• Creating pure entertainment and excitemen
The dark ride is a unique attraction that no park should be without, and that is perfect for both indoor and outdoor parks.

WHAT CAN WE OFFER?
The particular attention to the whole family, that has always distinguished us, made us concentrate mainly on Family Rides and in this specific case on transport systems offering various possibilities of shapes and/or combinations:
• Number of seats in the cars from 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 seats to adapt the attraction to the needs of each park
• Speed changes along the path (acceleration and deceleration) to produce a greater thrilling effect and also to increase the capacity
• Swing motion with our suspended car to fly viewers over the scenes
• Various levels for more suspense of waiting downhill (so you never know when it will end and what will happen next)
• Banking of the track to improve the adrenaline of instability and fear of falling suddenly
For greater customization and to make the visitor an integral part of the storytelling, we can also equip our cars with sounds, vibrations on the seat, touch (a fake touch on the back), rotation and interactivity.

We are currently working on some great improvements in the dark ride field with the development of attractions that are compact in size and can be fitted into any layout, and very adrenaline-pumping with various speed changes and strong acceleration / deceleration.
Coming soon, after the biggest bumper car, we will present to you the BIGGEST TRAVELING SUSPENDED DARK RIDE, EVER BUILT!