Let's take a look at the attractions that you nominated for this year's Best Attraction Tournament, by your high average reader ratings. Except let's restrict this list to attractions that debuted in a year that started with the number "2."
We had nine 10 rides from the 2000s among the top 16 in the Best Roller Coaster bracket. That's about one new great coaster every year over the past decade:
1. Cedar Point's Millennium Force [Intamin Giga/Mega] *(whoops - forgot this one initially)
3. Six Flags Great Adventure's El Toro [Intamin Wooden]
4. Dollywood's Thunderhead [Great Coasters International]
5. Holiday World's The Voyage [The Gravity Group]
6. Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Griffon [Bolliger & Mabillard Dive]
9. Cedar Point's Maverick [Intamin AG Custom]
10. Six Flags Magic Mountain's X2 [Arrow 4D]
11. SeaWorld Orlando's Manta [Bolliger & Mabillard Flying]
12. Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster [Intamin AG Accelerator]
13. Dollywood's Mystery Mine [Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter]
But only six dark rides from the 2000s made that bracket. That averages about one ride every other year:
3. Universal Studios Florida's Revenge of the Mummy
4. Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom
10. Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney's California Adventure
11. Universal Studios Florida's Men in Black Alien Attack
13. Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Curse of DarKastle
15. Soarin' Over California at Disney's California Adventure
Take a closer look, and picture becomes even more lopsided. The top two of the recent rides in the Best Themed Ride bracket are based on roller coaster ride systems. They were included in the Themed Ride bracket due to their animation and story elements, but each has been criticized for non-functioning animation elements. And in the case of Everest, the non-functioning element is the Yeti that's supposed to be the heart of the ride. Not good times.
DarKastle's taken lumps for occasional break-downs, as well, even as uptime on roller coasters has been increasing over the decade, at least according to what I've heard from people in the industry. (The highly popular Bolliger & Mabillard models have outstanding uptime records.)
So what's left on the dark ride side?
Soarin' Over California - an IMAX-style movie with a mild ride element to move viewers into place in front of the screen.
Toy Story Midway Mania - a fun 3-D video game, but one that reduces to a spinning cart moving you from one giant TV set to the next.
Men in Black Alien Attack - a truly immersive, interactive dark ride, but that hits its 10th birthday this year.
Sure, we've got some fun rides here, but, frankly, I'm not surprised that they failed to generate the excitement that their roller coaster cousins delivered. Perhaps that's why the winner on the Best Themed Ride side was a 40-year-old Omnimover ride (Disney's Haunted Mansion). And that ride got slaughtered by Holiday World's The Voyage, which endured much tougher battles in the roller coaster bracket than it did with Mansion or the winner from the Show side of the tournament (Disney's Fantasmic!)
What's a dark ride fan to do? Well, like many of us, I'm looking longingly at the impending opening of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal's Islands of Adventure, hoping that its blend of an immersive walk-through, Kuka robot arm technology and high-definition film-making will reinvigorate the dark ride side of the industry, inspiring more companies to invest in this form of theme park storytelling.
Help might be on the way from Disney, too, as the company invests in major new dark rides at Disney's California Adventure, including The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Adventure and Radiator Springs Racers in the park's new Cars Land.
Let's face it - the 2000s were an underwhelming decade for themed dark ride fans. Here's hoping that the 2010s turn out much, much better.
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Then again, Dark rides rule at Disney with Haunted Mansion and Pirates!
Also not to nitpick, Robert, but you forgot the #1 ranked coaster on the list. Millenium Force opened in 2000.
Just makes the point stronger, though, doesn't it? :-)
In terms of a comeback for dark rides, let`s not forget The Little Mermaid, which is expected to be a full blown E ticket with lots of immersive scenes and state of the art AAs.
The issue with creating a good modern dark ride is money. If you cut corners and scrimp on the budget, the ride will suffer. Would Spiderman be Spiderman if they only spent half the money? How about Haunted Mansion or Pirates? If Disney only spent half the money on them, would they be as good? Most parks don't want to spend the money necessary to create it because they either don't have the money, or they aren't sold on the notion that the ride will draw as much as a new roller coaster. A lot of parks have this question. Why spend 50 million on a dark ride when you can spend 10 million on The Voyage?
That's not to say that dark rides shouldn't or won't be built. I would love to see some really good dark rides make their way into the seasonal parks.
Regardless, the '00s were the years of the roller coaster.
I think it would be a hit if they tapped into the spirit of the old Enchanted Voyage/Smurf ride that used to be there and do something like that with the Peanuts.
That brings up an interesting point. Because of new technologies, dark rides will never dominate the new attractions because technology allows for such a variety of new kinds of attractions, including hybrid rides, which are hard to categorize. I'm in favor of new dark rides with AAs,
but I think most new attractions will be more of a hybrid, sporting various combinations of dark ride elements, motion simulator, 3D/4D technology, indoor coaster, etc.
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Being that my first park was Disneyland, dark rides are in my blood. One of my favorites was the now Defunct BEARRY TALES at Knott Berry Farm (remember that one?).
I am hoping for a comeback.