Last week, we put the spotlight on Disney's roller coasters. This week, let's keep with the unconventional combinations by flipping that and looking at non-Disney dark rides. And to make things even more interesting, let's exclude Universal's dark rides as well.
Here are 10 notable dark rides from theme parks around the world not owned by Disney or Universal Studios.
Let's start with another IP-driven park, however, by heading to Yas Island and Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi. This is where you can find Batman: Knight Flight, a robot-arm dark ride through Gotham City.
It's also home to The Flintstones Bedrock Adventure, an indoor flume ride through Bedrock.
But perhaps the best dark ride at Warner Bros World is Ani-Mayhem, a 3D interactive ride, as well as the charming Scooby Doo: The Museum of Mysteries trackless ride, and Justice League: Warworld Attacks, a motion-based adventure. The park also has announced that it will build a new land themed to Harry Potter, though we do not yet have specific attractions confirmed for that.
Moving to the United States, Knott's Berry Farm gives us the classic Calico Mine Ride.
Just across the way from the Mine Ride stands Knott's Timber Mountain Log Ride, and if you head the opposite way around the bend, you will find the interactive Knott's Berry Tales: Return to the Fair ride, as well.
Knott's is close to me in California, but one of my favorite dark ride parks anywhere is The Netherland's Efteling, where you can find Symbolica in the castle at the heart of the park.
This is also home to the wonderful Fata Morgana, a retelling of "One Thousand and One Nights."
If you can make the trip to Kaatsheuvel, don't miss Dreamflight as well as the upcoming Danse Macrabre, which opens on Halloween.
Around the world, you will find plenty of great family dark rides at the Legoland theme parks. One of the more unique is its submarine ride with real sea animals, Lego City Deep Sea Adventure.
You also can find the interactive rides Ninjago - The Ride and Lost Kingdom Adventure at many Legoland parks, as well as the motion base Lego Factory Adventure at Legoland New York.
On of my favorite new attractions of 2024 has been Silver Dollar City's reimagining of its classic Fire In The Hole. The first indoor coaster from Rocky Mountain Construction includes many scenes from the original installation of the attraction, refreshed for a new generation of fans.
But when it comes to dark rides, one of the best creators of these attractions is Sally Dark Rides. My favorite installation from that crew is Treasure Hunt: The Ride on Cannery Row in Monterey, California.
While that ride draws from local pirate history for its inspiration, Sally also has done some IP work, most notably Justice League: Battle for Metropolis at the legacy Six Flags parks.
And let's not forget the charming Sesame Street: Street Mission at Spain's PortAventura.
For more adventurous thrill seekers, you also can find Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence a dark/ride coaster hybrid from Sally at the same park.
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Nice list, do love a good talk ride.
Every theme park should have a signature dark ride, and unfortunately parks have abandoned this convention. I've always liked the Sally shooting gallery dark rides, and they give guests an excellent change of pace in parks that generally focus on big thrills and coasters. The problem is that parks and designers are ambitious in installing these attractions, and then let maintenance slip to the point where guns, targets, effects, and scoring systems stop working and they turn into frustrating, boring experiences. I can appreciate that maintaining a world-class dark ride is a completely different animal from a roller coaster, but to see parks (even ones with resources and generally strong maintenance departments) allowing 5+ year old dark rides to slowly fall into disrepair is disappointing. Parks need to do better, and understand guests don't visit only to ride coasters.
I know it's a completely different situation where the park owner/operator also manufactures rides, but Europa Park had one of the most impressive collection of dark rides I've ever seen in a park outside of Disneyland.
On our recent visit to Alton Towers in August, we did the Curse at Alton Manor three times. I know it's a glow-up of the old Duel attraction, but they did a fantastic job. And while I'd love to go to Silver Dollar City, Dollywood has Blazing Fury, which is similar to Fire in the Hole.
The Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride are two of my favorite attractions. I’ve been riding them since I was a child in the 1960s. So grateful that Knott’s Berry Farm has continued to maintain and even upgrade them. They make the park special.
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I’ve always been a major sucker for a slow-moving, well-themed dark ride (pours one out for World of Motion). I’ve really only had the chance to experience the US Disney Parks and Universal Orlando parks, as well as a couple of Six Flags parks, so I appreciate this list and I look forward to visiting as many of these that I can, with my #1 and #2 choices being Efteling and Knots Berry Farm. I was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, the home of Sally Dark Rides, so maybe my love of this attraction type comes from our “fresh” local water?