A dark ride or "darkride" is an indoor amusement ride consisting of a vehicle traveling past animated scenes. Leon Cassidy of the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company invented and patented the single-rail dark ride in 1928. Notable dark rides include the Futurama (New York World's Fair) at the 1939 New York World's Fair and The Haunted Mansion at Disney theme parks. A dark ride does not have to be dark: Disney's it's a small world is a brightly lit dark ride. Types of amusement rides include: Bumper cars Carousels Dark rides Ferris wheels Freefall towers Hall of mirrors Log flumes Loop-O-Plane Motion platforms Observation towers Octopus (ride) Roller coasters Scenic railways switchbacks Horror train Shoot-the-Chutes The Zipper Tilt-A-Whirl See also Amusement park Closed rides and... Animation is the illusion of motion created by the consecutive display of images of static elements. ... The Pretzel Amusement Ride Company was a famous manufacturer of pretzel dark rides. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Futurama was an exhibit/ride at the 1939-40 New York Worlds Fair designed by Norman Bel Geddes that showed the world 20 years into the future, including automated highways and vast suburbs. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... There have been two Worlds fairs in New York City: 1939 New York Worlds Fair ( 1939- 1940) at Flushing Meadows in Queens gave us Futurama, the Trylon, and Perisphere. ... This article relates to the theme-park attraction. ... Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is the division of The Walt Disney Company which manages and builds the theme parks and vacation resorts for which Disney is famous. ... its a small world ( lowercase and quoted) is currently an attraction at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland Park, and Disneyland Paris. ...

The roots of the darkride go back to the late 1800's to "scenic Railways", "pleasure railways", and "mill rides". A boat dark ride is sometimes called an Old Mill or Tunnel Of Love. In the United Kingdom, dark rides with a scary or ghostly theme are called ghost trains. This article is about Tunnel of Love, the Bruce Springsteen album. ... A Ghost train is a funfair ride, primarily designed for children. ...

The Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts (DAFE) http://www.dafe.org describe a darkride as follows-

A darkride requires an enclosed structure. It may have open areas, but the majority of the ride remains in the building. In general, the interior is dark or dimly lit. The lighting that is used could be spotlights triggered by the passing ride vehicle, black light effects, or low-level general illumination. The ride system uses a passenger-carrying vehicle that is guided by a track, waterway, or other method that follows a seemingly random path. The darkride depends mainly on scenery to produce the ride experience. Scenery can include simple pop up or boxed ”gags” or “tricks”, stationary or animated figures, paintings, complex animatronic scenes, and special effects. Sound effects also play an important role in most darkrides. These may range from simple horns and buzzers triggered by the passing ride vehicle, to isolated sound bites for each gag, or to a complex musical score complete with narration.

Dark Ride is also a play by Len Jenkin.

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