Just For Fun: “Day 1”-Style Dark Ride ideas

[Miru]

I think it's interesting that the early dark rides tried to scare you as much as possible. If Frozen Ever After was an opening day dark ride it would probably be about Elsa trying to kill you while cardboard cutout Olaf's taunted your mortality, before entering Arendelle where all of the citizens including Anna and Kristoff have been frozen to death before entering Marshmallow's mouth and then the ride would end.

This point was brought up during a discussion about the original Alice ride and it’s amount of jump scares. This example the user have also gave me a very chuckle worthy thought exercise; what would other movies spawn as Day 1 dark rides? I managed to give some examples as well afterwards.

That’s... that’s actually hillarious. Let’s come up with more “opening day” versions of familiar dark rides!
* Pooh: Tigger is constantly trying to “bounce” you as a cardboard cutout as winds are constantly blowing alongside rainstorms, bees, falling trees, and bolts of lightning.
* TLM: Sebastian tries to cut your heads off. Triton tries to blast you with his trident. Of course Ursula gets in on the action as well.
* BATB: Beast tries to rip you to pieces, the enchanted objects taunt you, Lumiere tries to burn you, the wolves chase you around, and in the end Gaston shoots you.
Who’s with me on this?

In the 1960s, they also added a bunch of skulls laying about in the end scene of the ride, possibly a reference to David Hall’s concept art.
Roger Rabbit: Judge Doom tries to pour dip on riders as the weasels keep shooting and stabbing them. Jessica kicks you and Roger throws dynamite.
Monsters Inc: Should be obvious, every monster in the movie shows off their signature scares... and some even try to kill you. Waternoose banishes you and uses the scream extractor. The ride ends with Randall eating you (and the heroes) and you going to hell.
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway: Mickey is trying to run you over with his train.

At least one other user is interested in this sort of thing as well

Okay, let me see what I can come up with...

- Pinocchio: Stromboli locks you in a cage, a cardboard cutout of Foulfellow taunts you, you get trapped on Pleasure Island and sold to a salt mine before getting eaten by Monstro and taking a magical tour of a giant whale's digestive system.
- Toy Story: Andy's toys are all ticked off because they think you knocked Buzz out the window and throw you out the window and into Sid's yard in retaliation. Mr. Potato Head taunts you. Sid's Mutant Toys menace you. Sid eventually straps each ride vehicle to a rocket and blows the riders up.
- Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent's goons chase you through her castle and then Maleficent becomes a dragon and roasts you alive (might actually make for a pretty cool dark ride, minus the whole "roasting you alive" part).
- A Bug's Life: Giant cans of pesticide and fly swatters all over the place. Hopper and the grasshoppers want to... eat you, I guess? And then you get devoured by a bird.
- Finding Nemo: Like in the movie, a lot of things want to eat you. Sharks, barracuda, anglerfish, seagulls, a pelican (not Nigel, the other one named Gerald). Then you get flushed down a toilet. But don't worry, all drains lead to the ocean... where a giant net is waiting for you, and you get hauled onto a fishing boat, fried up, and served with chips.
- Aladdin: Jafar throws you into the Cave of Wonders, then becomes a snake and devours the riders.
- The Jungle Book: Shere Khan pursues you through the jungle. And since tigers can run really fast, the chances of you getting away are very slim. And also the jungle is on fire, so even if you DO get away, there's a very good chance you can wind up barbequed.

And also Nemo would have a grinder before you’re caught in the net. Even crazier; what if the ship sank from a torpedo, but you were blown up with it? Then you’re served on a plate in hell.

Brother Bear: The bears would be chasing you, and at the end you fall off a waterfall.
Onward: You’re stalked by the gelatinous cube, then the junk dragon tries to step on you, the shopkeeper tries to eat you, and at the end, everything collapses on you.

So, in this topic, simply enough, come up with some spooky “Day 1” style dark rides! They can be based on any Disney property. (I would recommend against Fox and ABC properties, but they could still be fun to explore)

Chicken Little: Everyone in town taunts you as plywood cutouts, then pieces of the sky start falling down, alien ships chase you, and there’s an invasion where in the end you’re zapped... and end up being fried up for the aliens (3D figures) to eat!

 

[Brer Panther]

How about a Muppets dark ride?

You have ignited the wrath of Miss Piggy. Kermit tries to calm her down, but is unsuccessful. Big Mean Carl tries to eat you. Lew Zealand throws boomerang fish at you. Statler and Waldorf taunt you. Sam the Eagle forces you to sit through a lecture about America. Eventually, Gonzo drags you into getting involved with one of his stunts. It doesn't end well.

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

How about a Muppets dark ride?

You have ignited the wrath of Miss Piggy. Kermit tries to calm her down, but is unsuccessful. Big Mean Carl tries to eat you. Lew Zealand throws boomerang fish at you. Statler and Waldorf taunt you. Sam the Eagle forces you to sit through a lecture about America. Eventually, Gonzo drags you into getting involved with one of his stunts. It doesn't end well.

I didn’t the reference to Lee Zealand til I hit reply but agreed!
The pilot episode involved the Seven Deadly Sins. If any ride could present on those, it would be a Muppets one!

 

[Ludpat Mike]

Some time ago I tried to imagine how a scary version of a Sleeping Beauty attraction would have been and I thought it would be fun to share it here (sorry for the language, it was mainly translated via Google translate )

ONCE UPON A (BAD) DREAM​

EXTERIOR and QUEUE: the exterior and the queue are very similar to those of Snow White's Scary Adventures.
The exterior consists of a "tournament tent" mounted on a castle wall.
The queue is pretty straightforward.
At the entrance there are two armors. If you put your ear close to these, you may hear snoring.
Along the line there are some banners that recall the first scenes of the film. In the middle of the queue there are a spinning wheel and a book of “Sleeping Beauty” encrusted with gems. A crow is perched on the precious volume, as if to make us foresee that something bad is about to happen...
Here and there there are scrolls on which it is explained “Put yourself in the shoes of Princess Aurora and live a dream-like adventure! But remember: not all dreams are beautiful..."

LOADING STATION: In front of us there is a stylized forest with two-dimensional trees. A castle can be seen in the distance.
On the right the wood becomes a tangle of brambles and Maleficent hides among these.
On the left is a three-dimensional tree on which an owl and Aurora's friend birds are perched. At the foot of the plant there are two squirrels. Just beyond the tree you can see the roof of a small house hidden among the foliage.
Between us and the forest there is the track on which the ride vehicles travel. The vehicles are like three benches in a row, each with two seats (for a total of six passengers at a time). They look like they are made of carved wood. On the side the figures of a squirrel and a crown are carved. On the back are carved two large green and menacing eyes.
We decide to ignore the menacing eyes and embark on a new adventure!

SCENE 1: we leave and go by the tree on our left. An owl and birds perch on its branches. At the foot of the plant there are two squirrels. These animals are our friends and they seem to greet us calmly.
An almost disembodied version of “I ask” is playing. This should make us understand that we are now Princess Aurora.
We make a curve around the tree. We discover that Diablo, Maleficent’s raven, is hidden among the branches that we could not see before.
Is there any danger? In front of us is the little house where the fairies Flora, Fauna and Serenella hid and raised Aurora. It is a safe place to take refuge. We decide to enter.

S 2: the inside of the house there it’s mostly dark. In front of us is a table with a birthday cake. The only light is that of the candles on the cake, but it is enough for us to also glimpse a beautiful blue dress lying on a chair near the table. It's a surprise for our 16th birthday.
Something (a breath of wind, perhaps?) blows out the candles. It's really dark now.
Another light turns on farther away, another candle. Could it be the fairies that are surprising us?
We approach the light.
Suddenly the light gets stronger. With horror we see that whoever held that candle is none other than Maleficent. The witch tells us "Princess Aurora, we have been waiting for you", then laughs surrounded by her demonic henchmen.

S 3: We make a curve and enter a rotating tunnel. On the walls are depicted the witch's henchmen alternating with stripes of green fire while Maleficent's laughter resounds.
They kidnapped us.

S 4: at the end of the tunnel there is darkness in which only two green eyes can be distinguished. When we leave the tunnel, a flashing light turns on and it allows us to see that Maleficent is in front of us. We make a curve to avoid it.

S 5: we understand that we are in the witch's castle, in the dungeons.
On the left, in the distance beyond an archway, we see the victorious hitmen dancing around a green fire.
On the right are the prisons. In one of these there is a chained skeleton, in another the three good fairies are locked up. Flora and Fauna tell us worried “Run away! She wants you! " while Merryweather stretches an arm out of the cell trying to reach their magic wands guarded by a sleeping demon.
We follow the advice. Later we see a spinning wheel, but we don't care much about it.
We find an exit, but Maleficent's crow sees us and starts croaking to make everyone aware of our escape.
We still manage to get out of the castle.

S 6: after leaving Maleficent's castle we cross a bridge over a moat of green water and reach the wood.

S 7: it is night. In the woods we see a tree in front of us. We hear the cry of an owl, we see that it is our friend perched on the tree with other animal friends.
We approach the tree, but at the last moment two Maleficent hitmen armed with crossbows emerge from behind it.
Hoping to save ourselves we run away, feeling the arrows just miss us. As we flee a green light, a will-o'-the-wisp seems to follow us.
We find two signs pointing in opposite directions, one for Maleficent's castle (in the direction we came from) and one for King Stephen's castle. We follow the latter.

S 8: Lightning breaks the sky.
We see in front of us the castle of King Stephen, Aurora's father. We approach to find refuge or ask for help, but suddenly our way is blocked by two hedges of brambles! (panels representing brambles that "slide" to block the passage)
We hear a familiar laugh: Maleficent has appeared on the castle walls.
We escape by skirting one side of the castle when the witch casts a spell (which manifests itself with a lightning bolt) to make a tower collapse on us.
We save ourselves by a whisker.

S 9: while there are more lightning bolts in the sky we still try to escape. Maleficent has grown a dense forest of brambles, which has almost taken on the characteristics of a labyrinth.
We follow a first "corridor" in which the walls of thorns seem to shrink to crush us.
We arrive in a second corridor. When we have come almost to the end of it, a henchman of Maleficent appears out of nowhere.
We escape into a third corridor. This is more open. And in the distance is the little cottage in the woods! Unfortunately, after a lightning strike, the bramble forest grows and two walls of thorns block the passage to the cottage.

S 10: we enter a fourth corridor. There is a calm but disturbing music playing.
The green will-o'-the-wisp from before appears next to us. It proceeds faster than us, as if to show us a way.
The raven Diablo crosses the scene in flight, almost touching our heads.
The will-o'-the-wisp stops in front of us, at a distance, and turns into Maleficent.
The witch announces: “Now you will have to deal with me! And with all the forces of evil!”, then a thunder is heard. Maleficent disappears in a green flash. In the spot where she stood just before, a beam of green fire appears and it continues to the right.
Something draws us in that direction.

S 11: The green fire beam continues until it reveals a huge dragon whose head, wings and front legs are clearly visible.
Around us the forest is burning with a green fire.
The dragon looks at us for a moment with its green eyes, then opens its jaws wide and floods us with a jet of green fire (actually steam).

S 12: we enter a last green rotating tunnel. Images of spinning wheels and demons revolve around us while Maleficent's laughter rings out once again.
At the end of the tunnel a door opens and we are again in the loading station.

We are alive. So… was it just a bad dream?

 

[Miru]

Some time ago I tried to imagine how a scary version of a Sleeping Beauty attraction would have been and I thought it would be fun to share it here (sorry for the language, it was mainly translated via Google translate )

ONCE UPON A (BAD) DREAM​

EXTERIOR and QUEUE: the exterior and the queue are very similar to those of Snow White's Scary Adventures.
The exterior consists of a "tournament tent" mounted on a castle wall.
The queue is pretty straightforward.
At the entrance there are two armors. If you put your ear close to these, you may hear snoring.
Along the line there are some banners that recall the first scenes of the film. In the middle of the queue there are a spinning wheel and a book of “Sleeping Beauty” encrusted with gems. A crow is perched on the precious volume, as if to make us foresee that something bad is about to happen...
Here and there there are scrolls on which it is explained “Put yourself in the shoes of Princess Aurora and live a dream-like adventure! But remember: not all dreams are beautiful..."

LOADING STATION: In front of us there is a stylized forest with two-dimensional trees. A castle can be seen in the distance.
On the right the wood becomes a tangle of brambles and Maleficent hides among these.
On the left is a three-dimensional tree on which an owl and Aurora's friend birds are perched. At the foot of the plant there are two squirrels. Just beyond the tree you can see the roof of a small house hidden among the foliage.
Between us and the forest there is the track on which the ride vehicles travel. The vehicles are like three benches in a row, each with two seats (for a total of six passengers at a time). They look like they are made of carved wood. On the side the figures of a squirrel and a crown are carved. On the back are carved two large green and menacing eyes.
We decide to ignore the menacing eyes and embark on a new adventure!

SCENE 1: we leave and go by the tree on our left. An owl and birds perch on its branches. At the foot of the plant there are two squirrels. These animals are our friends and they seem to greet us calmly.
An almost disembodied version of “I ask” is playing. This should make us understand that we are now Princess Aurora.
We make a curve around the tree. We discover that Diablo, Maleficent’s raven, is hidden among the branches that we could not see before.
Is there any danger? In front of us is the little house where the fairies Flora, Fauna and Serenella hid and raised Aurora. It is a safe place to take refuge. We decide to enter.

S 2: the inside of the house there it’s mostly dark. In front of us is a table with a birthday cake. The only light is that of the candles on the cake, but it is enough for us to also glimpse a beautiful blue dress lying on a chair near the table. It's a surprise for our 16th birthday.
Something (a breath of wind, perhaps?) blows out the candles. It's really dark now.
Another light turns on farther away, another candle. Could it be the fairies that are surprising us?
We approach the light.
Suddenly the light gets stronger. With horror we see that whoever held that candle is none other than Maleficent. The witch tells us "Princess Aurora, we have been waiting for you", then laughs surrounded by her demonic henchmen.

S 3: We make a curve and enter a rotating tunnel. On the walls are depicted the witch's henchmen alternating with stripes of green fire while Maleficent's laughter resounds.
They kidnapped us.

S 4: at the end of the tunnel there is darkness in which only two green eyes can be distinguished. When we leave the tunnel, a flashing light turns on and it allows us to see that Maleficent is in front of us. We make a curve to avoid it.

S 5: we understand that we are in the witch's castle, in the dungeons.
On the left, in the distance beyond an archway, we see the victorious hitmen dancing around a green fire.
On the right are the prisons. In one of these there is a chained skeleton, in another the three good fairies are locked up. Flora and Fauna tell us worried “Run away! She wants you! " while Merryweather stretches an arm out of the cell trying to reach their magic wands guarded by a sleeping demon.
We follow the advice. Later we see a spinning wheel, but we don't care much about it.
We find an exit, but Maleficent's crow sees us and starts croaking to make everyone aware of our escape.
We still manage to get out of the castle.

S 6: after leaving Maleficent's castle we cross a bridge over a moat of green water and reach the wood.

S 7: it is night. In the woods we see a tree in front of us. We hear the cry of an owl, we see that it is our friend perched on the tree with other animal friends.
We approach the tree, but at the last moment two Maleficent hitmen armed with crossbows emerge from behind it.
Hoping to save ourselves we run away, feeling the arrows just miss us. As we flee a green light, a will-o'-the-wisp seems to follow us.
We find two signs pointing in opposite directions, one for Maleficent's castle (in the direction we came from) and one for King Stephen's castle. We follow the latter.

S 8: Lightning breaks the sky.
We see in front of us the castle of King Stephen, Aurora's father. We approach to find refuge or ask for help, but suddenly our way is blocked by two hedges of brambles! (panels representing brambles that "slide" to block the passage)
We hear a familiar laugh: Maleficent has appeared on the castle walls.
We escape by skirting one side of the castle when the witch casts a spell (which manifests itself with a lightning bolt) to make a tower collapse on us.
We save ourselves by a whisker.

S 9: while there are more lightning bolts in the sky we still try to escape. Maleficent has grown a dense forest of brambles, which has almost taken on the characteristics of a labyrinth.
We follow a first "corridor" in which the walls of thorns seem to shrink to crush us.
We arrive in a second corridor. When we have come almost to the end of it, a henchman of Maleficent appears out of nowhere.
We escape into a third corridor. This is more open. And in the distance is the little cottage in the woods! Unfortunately, after a lightning strike, the bramble forest grows and two walls of thorns block the passage to the cottage.

S 10: we enter a fourth corridor. There is a calm but disturbing music playing.
The green will-o'-the-wisp from before appears next to us. It proceeds faster than us, as if to show us a way.
The raven Diablo crosses the scene in flight, almost touching our heads.
The will-o'-the-wisp stops in front of us, at a distance, and turns into Maleficent.
The witch announces: “Now you will have to deal with me! And with all the forces of evil!”, then a thunder is heard. Maleficent disappears in a green flash. In the spot where she stood just before, a beam of green fire appears and it continues to the right.
Something draws us in that direction.

S 11: The green fire beam continues until it reveals a huge dragon whose head, wings and front legs are clearly visible.
Around us the forest is burning with a green fire.
The dragon looks at us for a moment with its green eyes, then opens its jaws wide and floods us with a jet of green fire (actually steam).

S 12: we enter a last green rotating tunnel. Images of spinning wheels and demons revolve around us while Maleficent's laughter rings out once again.
At the end of the tunnel a door opens and we are again in the loading station.

We are alive. So… was it just a bad dream?

Very elaborate treatment there! I like it!

Melody Time+Make Mine Music (Music Land): You start off in the desert from Pecos Bill, where the natives (cutouts) try to attack, and then Widowmaker shows up and kicks you off to the moon! The instrument monsters (mix of figures and cutouts) from Bumble Boogie then appear and attack, chasing you into an opera hall, where the Mephistopheles Willie (figure) appears before you with smoke and fire, and then he gets harpooned along with the riders... and the harpoon leads into the Appalachian mountains, where the Martins and the Coys fight and blast riders down, and the vehicle falls into a dark icy forest, where a wolf chases you down and eats you.

 

[Okee68]

Something to keep in mind: Plywood cutouts were only used to portray characters in Toad and Alice, where the characters were mostly either zany and ridiculous (as in Alice) or insignificant and not even named (as in Toad). The characters in those two rides were flat because they simply didn't need to be very convincing to serve their purpose as slapstick-type gags. In Snow White and Peter Pan, characters have always been rendered in three dimensions, because in those rides they're used as real characters to tell some semblance of a story with, rather than just wacky dark ride gags.

The point is, if this thread ends up taking off, think about whether or not the characters in your theoretical 1950s-era Fantasyland dark ride would be presented as wooden boards or fully-dimensional figures.

 

[Miru]

Not a Disney property, but I had an idea for a Touhou ride in Day 1 style;

The exterior depicts the Scarlet Devil Manor, with a Flandre cutout as the logo.

Yukari “gaps” the riders to be fed to Youkai, your first destination is the Scarlet Devil Manor, passing by portraits of the likes of Junko, Mima, and Seija, (who look at you similar to how the Sinister 11 did) where Sakuya Izayoi, a 3D figure, throws knives at you saying “scram, the larder’s full!”, as Hong Meiling shakes her head in disapproval. Next you see Flandre, again a 3D figure, saying “come over here and play with me… UN Owen is me…” as her shadow creeps up on riders and a cardboard cutout of Rumia emerges saying “Oh boy, here comes a snack!” Yukari then says “You’ve already been fed, control your urges.” Kisume, another cutout in a 3D bucket, pulls away and says “Darn it.” Yukari says “I’m sorry, but attacks by creatures of a darker variety need to be… prevented. I’m sorry for not letting you meet as many of my subjects as I hoped you would.” Your next destination is a dark forest full of abandoned ruins and lots of cutouts (maybe some figures too like on Mr. Toad with the devils) of terrifying, traditional nonsentient Youkai out to eat you alive in the most painful way imaginable, with skulls, bones, and blood of their past victims scattered about because they mean business. At the end, here comes Reimu… but she’s not here to save the day, because your impure and evil hearts have turned the riders into evil Youkai themselves, and Reimu’s come to execute you. Passing by a cutout of her, the last figure you see is Reimu about to split your head with her staff the same way she does other irredeemably evil Youkai, then you enter room full of flashing sparks, as Yukari, unseen, remarks “Perhaps you would be quite tasty to me even…” as it echoes throughout the final room.

 

[cdunlap]

Idea for if Frontierland got a dark ride on Day 1:
Spirits of the Pueblos is a dark ride that takes guests through the worlds of Hopi mythology, namely the Kachina spirits that are revered in their culture, and Anasazi artwork, namely Barrier Canyon in Utah. Guests enter through a Cliff Pueblo, which is a scaled down replica of Mesa Verde's Cliff Palace, far from the town of Rainbow Ridge. From there, guests descend a ramp and queue through the kiva, a large, circular room which was used by Pueblo indigenous peoples for tribal meetings, where they also load their vehicles. The vehicles are shaped identically to those found at Snow White And Her Adventures in Fantasyland, but with Pueblo pottery designs painted on them and a Zuni patterned cloth lining where guests sit. Vehicles go around the Kiva before entering a room representing the Southwestern Deserts. Vehicles approach a cliff Pueblo as the sun sets and Indigenous flute and drum music plays. A narrator says, “The Anasazi are truly an enigma in the great tapestry of our past. These cliff dwellers were a thriving society when they suddenly vanished. All that is left are their ruins, clay pots, and mysterious rock art found on old desert stone surfaces, such as Barrier Canyon in Utah.” Inside the Pueblo, come upon plywood cutouts of spirits depicted in Barrier Canyon Style Rock Art, which pop out and scare guests in the black-lit environment.

After that, vehicles exit the cliff Pueblo, wander through the desert on a starry, full moon bearing night, and enter a Pueblo based architecturally on Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. Inside of this Pueblo is a room filled with the Hopi kachina spirits in the form of Kachina dolls. A narration says the following: “In the teachings of the Hopi tribe, the world is ruled by Kachinas, or spirits, of many different types. Children of the tribe learn about these different spirits through the use of Kachina dolls made of painted wood and through many different dances done by performers in wooden masks and body paint.“ Guests then watch as the Sun Kachina rises and causes the room to glow yellow, the Hummingbird and Eagle Kachinas fly by, the Koshari, a type of clown kachina, acts foolishly, the Chief Kachina leads a procession of Warrior Kachinas, the Ogre Kachina growls and grabs, and the Wolf kachina howls.

Finally, guests return to the desert, see that it is morning, and see the flora and fauna of the Southwestern deserts, represented at the detail of Jungle Cruise, before unloading in the kiva, wondering what they have just witnessed. The ride is located within an accurate replica of a traditional Lakota village full of tipis where guests can view a Lakota calendar, Lakota constellations, parfleche bags, carved bison bones, beadwork, and a winter count. (In case you’re wondering about Cultural Sensitivity, it's the 50s, kids are playing Cowboys and Indians and learning how to make Native American things with authentic methods in the books of W. Ben Hunt while organisations such as Boy Scouts are making Indian Lore groups which can best be summarised as a group of Non Natives devoted to exactly mimicking the cultural clothing and traditions of several tribes. Overall, there was a worldwide fascination with the indigenous cultures of the Americas at the time, so why wouldn’t Disney cash in on this in a way greater than what they did for Davy Crockett?)