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Best darkride coasters

Ireeb

Ireeb

Mega Poster
Hey guys, I was just curious what you think are the best darkride coasters, and maybe learn what darkride coasters there are.
I don't really have an opinion, since I only rode one, Eurosat, and I liked it a lot. The combination of darkness, flashy colorful lights and cool music make a pretty boring, old coaster so much fun.
(Hyper) Space Mountain looks really cool too, and I'd ride love to ride that one as well (even though it is a clunky Vekoma coaster, with the new trains it will be rideable I guess?). But I am afraid the new Star Wars theme won't be as cool and colorful as the current one.

Other Darkride coasters I heard about are all the Space Mountains, Rock'n'Rollercoaster and Psyke Underground.
Are there other darkride coasters worth riding? I am curious about your opinions.
 
I would say the best I've ridden, by far, is Gringotts @ USF. However, that feels much more like a simulator than a coaster.

For a pure coaster, my favorite would be Space Mountain. I've only ridden Disney World's and Disneyland's; however, they are among my favorite coasters. I prefer Disney World's, but Disneyland's isn't far behind.
 
For what one would consider a 'Dark Ride Coaster', I've done Space Mountain WDW, Blazing Fury, The Underground, The Dark Knight SFGAm, Rockin' Roller Coaster WDW, and ROTM Orlando. I'd consider Space Mountain to be the best since it has the best 'experience' of the bunch. Yeah, the ride is mediocre at best, but the way the queue, stations, and even the lifts were designed make the ride one heck of an experience.

The worst for me is The Dark Knight. I understand what they were trying to do, but they completely failed at doing so. Half the effects don't work, and the ones that do work are the most annoying ones. The spacing between the props are really awkward(one switchback has one 'scene', the next one has a completely different one, and the next two are completely void of any props). And the train horn at the end. Uuuuughhhh whyyyyyyyyy. I legitimately think that unboxing/untheming this would make the ride better. Give it a generic New Orleans theme(the area it's in is Orleans Place), some new paint and cars, and you have a solid family coaster I'd actually ride.
 
Vliegende Hollander. End of.

Shout outs to Van Helsing's Factory, Baron 1898, Xpress: Platform 13 (when the fire is working), Vogel Roc and Space Mountain HK. If preshows count then Furious Baco and Mammut are pretty cool.



Let's be honest, it's all about Tripsdrill's naked dark ride log flume though.
 
Mysterious Sue said:
Baron 1898, Xpress: Platform 13
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Surely these don't count as "dark ride coasters"? :p
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It depends how you define dark ride. If you take it to mean 'a themed ride in the dark' then neither make the list. But if you are talking more about a coaster having the essence of a dark ride - i.e. where most of the journey forms part of the story - then Baron definitely fits that bill. The queue, preshow, pre'lifthill' show on the cred are obvious. The actual ride is very short and comprises mainly of the drop which is completely part of the theme - going down a mine, hearing the ghosts wailing - and the exit where you are thrown out by the ghosts.

Xpress is more of a stretch, granted. I'd argue that the coaster continues the theme of 'possessed train' built up in the fab queue/station loading area. It also has a definite dark ride element to end the ride.

Really need to get myself on Fluch this year. Looking forward to that.
 
A dark ride is a ride that takes place indoors with theming, atmospheric effects and lighting - Baron and Platform 13 most definitely do not count... ;)

Gringotts and Revenge of the Mummy are my absolute favourites. Hands down.
 
I always took 'dark ride' to mean a ride with a heavily story-based narrative. The fact that it may or may not be in a shed is a separate issue. In my mind anyway... Yes, the vast majority of dark rides are in the dark - but that is because it blocks out the surrounding area and heightens the impact of the story. Baron goes one further and gives you a literal bloody mineshaft to fall down. What is more immersive than that?

I'm playing devils advocate here obviously (before Ben tells me I have learning difficulties again) but it's an interesting debate.
 
If you go on the route of a narrative-based coaster being a dark ride, you could say that Indiana Jones in Paris, Expedition Everest, Gardaland's Raptor and to some extent Big Thunder Mountain are all dark ride coasters, to which they're not. They have elements of dark ride on them (some of the examples at least), but they're so far removed from the likes of Gringotts, RotM, RNR or SM.
 
ROTM is my fave, but I haven't done many. Black Diamond @ Knoebels was ok, as was Laff Track (but that's not really a dark ride, more a heavily themed mouse). I appreciate the Disney ones but the ride types are so bleh. Shout out to the Crazy Mouse at Gullivers MK, better than most tbh.

ROTM is the clear winner, I bet Gringotts rivals it though.
 
I clearly had a point, Sue. I guess once again now you've named me unnecessarily you'll now call me a horrible person for picking you up on it.

Thunder Mountain in Paris has elements in the dark, including narrative elements, it's not a Dark Ride Coaster.

Revenge of the Mummy is the best <3 I need Gringotts though.
 
Very interesting views.
As for the discussion of what counts as a dark ride coaster for me:
The emphasis is on "dark". I like it when you don't see the track in front of you and when there are special effects.
Preshows, indoor queues or partial indoor sections don't define a dark ride coaster for me if the most part of the coaster is outdoors. And even though the logflume at Tripsdrill is funny, it's neither a coaster nor is it mainly in the dark.
I wouldn't count Gringotts as a real coaster, but it still looks like a really good attraction in general.
I already heard about ROTM and Vogel Rok but completely forgot they exist. Now I also remember Temple of the Nighthawk, which seems to be pretty boring though due to the lack of special effects (it's literally just a coaster in the dark).
 
I wouldn't class a coaster that is mostly outside as a dark ride coaster. It may have an indoor section, but to be considered as a dark ride then I would say the entire thing needs to be inside in a dark ride setting (so like the indoor coaster at Toverland still wouldn't count for example).
Anyway my faves are ROTM, Darkmare at Cinecitta World and Space Mountain WDW.
 
Since so many like ROTM, what makes it special? What's the reason why it's your top darkride coaster? And maybe in general, what makes a good/perfect darkride coaster for you? (Question to everyone ;))
 
I'm on record as being a great fan of Space Mountain Mission 2. Fight me. Behind that, it would be Revenge of the Mummy.

Ireeb said:
Since so many like ROTM, what makes it special? What's the reason why it's your top darkride coaster? And maybe in general, what makes a good/perfect darkride coaster for you? (Question to everyone ;))
Click to expand...
For me, it's the pacing and the atmosphere. The coaster itself is nothing special, but if you can build up the tension with the soundtrack and effects, then when the coaster hits, it's all the more intense.
 
For me the definition is this:

Dark Ride Coaster
A coaster experience that primarily takes place indoors, utilising slow moving scenes and pre shows to backup the ride's narrative, atmospheric effects, lighting and audio to give a true dark ride experience. See Revenge of the Mummy and Escape From Gringotts.

Coasters With Dark Ride Elements
A coaster experience that primarily takes place outdoors, yet may have a singular pre show scene (or a couple of scenes) that set up the ride's narrative. Once the scene/s are complete the ride experience is just coaster-based. See Blue Fire and Saw The Ride.
 
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Rachel said:
Darkmare at Cinecitta World
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I always forget this exists, it's so great though.

Mummy, Gringotts and Efteling's Hollander are excellent from a theming stand-point but overall I wouldn't say they're great coasters. I really enjoy the Space Mountains, I prefer the Paris Vekoma the most (I also prefer the Paris version of Rock 'n' Rollercoaster because cardboard cutouts are the worst).

Van Helsing at Movie Park Germany is pretty fab, some excellent theming on that and a great layout - very similar to Darkmare.

Space Fantasy at Universal Japan is excellent, really enjoyable ride with some fab theming. Tron is also fab but couldn't quite meet my high expectations.
 
I'd say that in a true dark ride, the audiovisual experience would be the same regardless of weather conditions and time of day. You're not ever subject to outside conditions, giving the ride designer total control of the ride experience. The coaster is isolated from the outside world (possibly with the exception of temperature), ensuring that all riders experience the same ride.

That being said, my list of dark ride coasters isn't very impressiv: The main ones in Florida, and that's it. The Harry Potter coasters appear to be so far removed from traditional coasters, that I don't count them. That leaves us with Mummy, Rock'n'Rollercoaster, and Space Mountain. I'd say I probably enjoyed Rock'n'Rollercoaster the most, but Mummy might be a better ride - it's just that I don't like horror attractions. Space Mountain was good, of course, but not the smoothest one around, and I don't think the total darkness added that much to the ride.
 
Just took a look at darkmare, it looks better than the name sounds like :D a bit short though.
 
To me a 'dark ride coaster' in an attraction that can exists as both ride types - it would be in the overlapping part of a venn diagram. The same with how Poseidon at Europa park is both a water ride and a roller coaster. I wouldn't say a roller coaster in the dark met this requirement. Revenge Of the Mummy is the best one I've experienced.
 
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