Pretty cool eh? Well, as you would likely suspect, the wonderfully ghoulish painted façade exterior and giant black vampire bats on the overhang far exceeded anything that actually happened once we doom buggied our way inside; where awaited a couple of very bored skeleton puppets that I’m pretty sure were originally installed to do something other than disappoint. Below is THE highlight from inside (Artist’s Reconstruction of “Highlight”):
Also some non-terrifying muggy, warm air sprayed us somewhere towards the middle of the ride… and that was about it for the cacophony of frights. The car made a quick, jerky figure M in pitch blackness and less than ten seconds later we were back outside. Correct me if I’m wrong but if you’re going to all the trouble to make the outside totally bitchin’, shouldn’t the inside be at least mildly bitchin’ too?
To view the full awesomeness of the REAL Haunted Mansion dark rides (located at one of the various excellent Disney theme parks) please visit www.doombuggies.com/. Or check out these cool, vintage dark ride photos from The Imaginary World by clicking HERE! And as Howard just reminded me, Laff in the Dark is also an essential darkride destination!
To view the full awesomeness of the REAL Haunted Mansion dark rides (located at one of the various excellent Disney theme parks) please visit www.doombuggies.com/. Or check out these cool, vintage dark ride photos from The Imaginary World by clicking HERE! And as Howard just reminded me, Laff in the Dark is also an essential darkride destination!
11 comments:
Glad your family liked it.me,as a kid i was always scared to go in those things till i was like,7 i think....i hadn't missed much.
If you're at all a fan of darkride images and history, you need to go visit Laff in the Dark.
I'm in no way affiliated with them, but I once lost a huge chunk of my time reading through their archive of reviews, historical articles, ridethroughs, and image galleries. It's one of those old-school, pre-blog obsessive fansites.
HAHHHH! YOUR ARTISTS RECONSTRUCTION MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD! THESE RIDES ARE ALWAYS SUCH A RIP OFF, THEY LOOK GREAT FROM THE OUTSIDE BUT INSIDE JUST A PITIFUL JOKE. HOW DO THEY KEEP THEM GOING WITHOUT ANYTHING INSIDE TO EXCITE PEOPLE?
NICE LOOKING FAMILY YOU HAVE TOO KARSWELL! THANKS FOR SHARING
>you need to go visit Laff in the Dark.
Already in my links below under "darkrides." Thanks Howard. I've actually been to a couple of these that were fun, but yeah for the most part they're so crummy and broken down inside you have to wonder why the canrival even bothers to rent the stupid thing. I mean, couldn't someone go to a Halloween store and spend $20 on a couple decent props or something? I think this one had a stuffed teddy bear inside with it's head missing. Obviously borrowed from the ring toss booth. Woooo the terror...
Thanks for sharing this, Karswell! I think the bitchin' outside is kind of the carnies' apology for the lacking interior. "Yeah, we know it sucks. Here, enjoy this awesome mural."
That said, I LOVE the buggies there--that face on the front is just high-class, is what it is. I'm totally going to talk the Duke into installing some such people-movers in his castle. It'll make the trip from the dungeons to the screening amphitheater much more enjoyable!
(Adorable family shot too, of course. :) )
Hey, www.laffinthedark.com has a pretty good "Laffing Sal" shirt for sale here (scroll to the second design). I guess Sally was pretty ubiquitous. This model is a little different from the nightmare version the Vicar posted in the comments of your creepy Mannequin story last month--she looks somewhat newer, for one thing, maybe a little less, um, "cut to fit"? ...but she's still a terror.
Thanks for all the Dark Ride links. These are really great. I frequently love these things in real life, by the way; only in a campy kind of B-moving kind of way.
carnival darkrides probably would not be so fondly remembered if they werent so broke ass corny anyway...... although since ive never been in one that was worth a shit either(except disneys) maybe my opinion would change upon exiting a good one.
the idea of it is more fun than it delivers
As a kid, I used to be so scared of getting on one of those rides. In a way, i'm kinda bummed that i eventually went on one, because the promise of terror was never delivered upon. There was one instance while riding, a guy jumped out to scare you dressed up as the Stay puft marshmallow man. HUH?!?
I miss the carnival coming through with those type of rides. They are my favorite.
What? no split faced albino wearing a Frankenstein's Monster mask?
I've seen this one in Calgary a few years ago. Nice Wrightson House of Mystery Vol. 1 rendition on the right hand side!
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