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UK Dark Rides are Amazing

I make it no secret that dark rides are one of my favourite attractions out there. They are so immersive, fun and great family experiences. They have a charm and are great vessels for storytelling, they have lovely soundtracks and are perfect during the rain. I love these rides so much and want to talk about those in the UK as we have some great ones out there. 


Wallace and Gromit: Thrillomatic 

There seems to be a consensus that this is the best dark ride in the country and I will not be disagreeing with this sentiment. The nostalgia of the Aardman claymation classics makes this irresistible to enjoy, especially with the incredible scenes. Me and Austin may know the majority of the audio and we are definitely proud of that. It's how a tracked dark ride should be: charming, fun, immersive, engaging and memorable. One massive tick for me there. 🧀



River Caves

Staying in Blackpool, you can really tell I love that place. This ride is one of the oldest at the park and with occasional updating, it really stands the test of time. The Angkor Wat room is one of the best scenes out there even if you do have to fight for your life on that lift hill lmao. Obviously this ride has charm and is quite long with some lovely scenes throughout and a little drop at the end so no complaints from me.

Toucan Tours

This ride was one I was desperate to get on to as when I'd seen videos of the park this ride stood out more than anything else. Located in the Pyramid, this monorail ride is nice enough just going round the building but the guys at Fantasy Island decided to take it to the next level and boy am I glad they did. It's nothing groundbreaking (And I know I love it way more than I should) but that's not what makes a good ride necessarily. It all looks nice in their and the theme is consistent throughout and we managed to do it twice while there and I am very happy with that haul in all honesty.


Sheriff Showdown

This was so fun to do, the 'You Got A Bonus' is the obvious standout that everyone talks about (of course we love this too, and I beat Austin in case you were wondering 🤠) and while all of that is a great laugh, the ride itself is also fun. On the short side for a dark ride but nevertheless this is still great, Drayton deserve a lot of credit for recent investments and I have everything crossed that they bring another dark ride in, at least just for me. 




While these are all great rides we have a great selection of supporting dark rides that while not as good as the former, still offer fun experiences and are still essential to a day on park. 

Gangsta Granny

This is a nice new ride that opened in 2021, I still think a trackless dark ride would be perfect for Towers but this is not bad by any means. It combines screens, physical sets, sound and smells better than any other ride but perhaps due to my unfamiliarity with the book but it just did not leave me with that feeling that a ride such as Wallace does for whatever reason.

Seaquarium

This ride was fun with a very catchy song that does not stay out of your head. It was not a perfect ride, the ride vehicles were not great and some scenes felt old but the ending is what made it for us, the man saying 'Cheerio!' and the Turtle? saying 'BYE!' in the most high pitched voice has had us in stitches ever since.

Alice in Wonderland

Starting and finishing this dark ride walkthrough at Pleasure Beach with Alice in Wonderland, another classic and a Disney ride. This ride has a weird smell and I'm not sure if its just me who thinks that but nevertheless, the soundtrack and some of the scenes are remarkable. This does show its age the most of the 3 Blackpool rides covered but still so much fun. 



The Future

What might we see at parks in the future? Well I would like to see a few parks open dark rides as they do not have one yet such as Thorpe Park and Flamingo Land and realistically they will be tracked rides. However I would love to see, as previously mentioned, a trackless at Alton Towers as this would be amazing, personally something in Katanga Canyon would be a very fun ride and could be so immersive and really put that area on the map again for me. Furthermore, Blackpool would benefit from one despite having a plethora already (can't blame a guy wanting more 🤣) but in the old Space Invader building they could wack in something lovely, on several floors to save space for a wild mouse too!? I realise both are pipe dreams but oh well!



There we are! Lots of rides that are fun and just getting my thoughts on these rides out there is so nice. I love these rides so much and the dream is Symbolica at Efteling and Rise of Resistance at a couple of Disney parks so one day I will hopefully share thoughts on them but I can wait knowing we have some top tier dark rides here in this country with hopefully more to follow. The chance to let people come up with stories and tell them in such a unique way is remarkable and I'm excited to see what new innovations come to this field in the future. 


As always thanks for reading and let me know your favourite dark ride!

Stay safe and see you in the next post.

Tom ✌

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