At the end of the day, theme parks are in the business of deception. Of course, we don’t mean shoddy business practices and questionable pricing schemes. We mean that, from the earliest days, rides have sought to bamboozle and impress riders with simple tricks. Just using light, sound, and special effects, stories can come to life in awe-inspiring moments that cause guests to say, “How’d they do that?!”
Here, we’ve collected 10 of the most confounding special effects we could think of from today’s big rides. We’re sure there are others, but we’re just too speechless right now to think of them. For a few of these special effects, we’re able to give you a little insight into how they work. For others, we’re just not sure.
Either way, we’ve linked each entry to a YouTube video fast-forwarded to the special effect’s starring moment, as well as any behind-the-scenes videos we could uncover that explain the effect. It should go without saying that major spoilers lay beyond, in the videos and in the entries. If you’d rather not know, don’t read a word farther. Still with us? Okay. Read on and tell us which of these secrets left you speechless and which were easy enough to know in your first ride-through.
1. The Disappearing Cursed Idol
Attraction: Tower of Terror (Tokyo DisneySea)
What Guests See: Video
How It Works: Video
The Story: New Years Eve, 1899. The boisterous Harrison Hightower is throwing his annual New Years Eve gala to celebrate the scores of ancient artifacts he’s “collected” (read: stolen) over the course of the year. His newest find is the supposedly-cursed African idol, Shiriki Utundu. Mr. Hightower, though, is not afraid of the idol’s legend. To prove it, he puts his cigar out on Shiriki’s head before retiring to his penthouse. Suffice it to say, the elevator never made it to the thirteenth story…
Now, it’s the 1920s. New York is roaring, but the Hightower Hotel still sits, abandoned, with sparking elevator cables near the city’s port. To save the historic hotel from the wrecking ball, the New York preservation society is running tours of the so-called “Tower of Terror,” including a look into Hightower’s Hotel, where Shiriki still stands on an elegant marble column over his desk.
This, of course, is the pre-show for Tokyo DisneySea’s one-of-a-kind Modern Marvel: Tower of Terror, replacing the Twilight Zone-tinged “library” scene in the other two Towers worldwide… but something here is different. After a stained glass window comes to life and tells the tale, Shiriki awakens. As horrifying music-box music plays, his eyes scan the crowd. Shiriki cackles and the lights dim, leaving only its Cheshire Cat-like smile as the rest of its body turns to stars. In a micro-second, the lights come up and Shiriki is gone, ready to meet you farther into the hotel.
How It Works: The surprising effect is surprisingly simple. As you might imagine, the Shiriki Utundu statue disappears by sinking down into the pedestal at what must exceed free-fall speed. The literal fraction of a second between the idol being overcome with sparkles and its disappearance are a shock. In person, it’s sincerely a stunning event that feels inexplicable.
2. The 40-Story Freefall
Attraction: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (Universal’s Islands of Adventure)
What Guests See: Video
How It Works: Video
The Story: That dastardly Doc Ock and his Sinister Syndicate are at it again. This time, they’ve stolen the Statue of Liberty thanks to a glowing green Antigravity Cannon. When you stumble (loudly) into their secret warehouse, the villains race off to stop you from escaping with their secrets. As Doc Ock fires, he levitates Lady Liberty’s giant glowing head directly over you as you narrowly escape. But not for long. The ride’s exciting conclusion sees the good Doctor hit his target, as your helpless SCOOP begins to rise up through the skyscrapers with Spider-Man climbing behind, “Wait up! You’re not insured for this!”
Ultimately, what goes up must come down, and after a ringside floating seat to Spidey’s showdown, the Antigravity Cannon reverses. The SCOOP slams against a rooftops and ricochets, falling precariously to the earth below as riders scream and grab for the safety restraint. Of course, a last-minute web catches you as you hurtle down and plops you back onto the road for a congratulatory finale.
How It Works: Despite appearances, the big, 400 foot finale fall in Universal’s starring anchor attraction and Modern Marvel: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man only moves guests a few inches. The convincing trick of the “simulated freefall” might be common now thanks to its re-use on Transformers, Reign of Kong, Escape from Gringotts, the Lost Legend: Curse of DarKastle, and Ratatouille: The Adventure, but Spider-Man was the first and genuinely wowed audiences even unto today with the precise digital and practical effect.
The sophisticated process begins with the levitation, wherein air, dropping physical set pieces paired with precise and subtle “weightless” motion simultation combine with screens to produce a surprisingly effective feeling of rising. Likewise, the “fall” takes place on a wrap-around two-story screen that envelopes the SCOOP, leaving riders completely captive to the illusion as perfectly programs motion, wind, and and leaning, swinging, slamming vehicle base give the sincere impression of a weightless fall. All it takes are a few physical effects and your mind fills in the rest!
3. The Portal to Atlantis
Attraction: Poseidon’s Fury (Universal’s Islands of Adventure)
What Guests See: The Vortex Opens
How It Works: Creating The Tunnel
The Story: When an evil high priest locks you and your tour group into the ancient stone vault of Poseidon’s Fury, there appears to be no way out. “Unless,” the priest’s disembodied voice hisses, “you find Poseidon’s trident.” Little does he know that finding the ancient pitchfork among the temple’s ruins only serves to awaken a protective Guardian of the Temple. “We want to go home,” our tour guide begs.
“Alas, the dark one has sealed with chamber with a locking spell impervious to my magic. The way home is now impossible. But all is not lost. I can provide you with safe passage deeper into this temple, into the Chamber of Poseidon. Are you brave enough to make the passage under?” Let’s hope, because the goddess begins spinning a massive rolling cartuche with Poseidon’s likeness carved into it. Once the mesmerizing circles align, a tumbler drops into place and a rolling door reveals a 40 foot long, 18 foot diameter tunnel with water swirling around it. Your destination is on the other side of the incredible water vortex… you walk through its center.
How It Works: The Poseidon’s Fury vortex was one piece of the pie that gave Islands of Adventure its “most technologically advanced theme park on Earth” moniker when the park opened in 1999. The effect is achieved by blasting water at 100 miles per hour (the speed needed for it to adhere to the tunnel’s wide diameter) as guests step along a bridge through the tunnel’s center. You can touch the water, but it’ll blast your hand right back out. The effect is totally stunning and the attraction’s absolute highlight.
4. Mystical Music Dust
Attraction: Mystic Manor (Hong Kong Disneyland)
What Guests See: Mystic’s Music Box
How It Works: Video
The Story: When Mystic Manor opened in 2013, fans around the globe instantly called it one of Disney’s best rides ever. The ride takes guests on a tour of the tropical estate of Lord Henry Mystic. Mystic is quite proud of his collection of antiquities, but none have caught his eye quite like his newly-arrived Music Box. Legend has it that the music that emenates from the jewel encrusted box has the power to grant life to the lifeless. Of course, that’s all silly superstition… We love the ride so much, it earned its own full, in-depth history and ridethrough in our newest series, Modern Marvels: Mystic Manor.
As much as the music box has caught Lord Mystic’s eye, it’s also caught the eye of his sidekick, Albert the monkey (who makes our countdown of the most amazing animatronics on Earth). When Albert touches the box, it creaks open as music escapes, in the form of a floating, effervescent, otherworldly glowing dust.
The dust spreads throughout the mansion, floating over riders’ heads and touching artifacts throughout his collection. The dust’s starring role, though, is in the big finale, where it pulses through the home and absolutely fills the cataloguing room as it’s sucked back into the music box to set everything right. The dust is pulled overhead and spirals into the box. How does the magical dust float in mid-air, appearing in front of animatronics and scenery and even moving over riders’ heads?
How It Works: This is an amazing one… When the lights fall in the Cataloguing room, a transparent mesh curtain falls from the ceiling and dips down into the open Music Box. Lasers are projected onto the mesh, which is invisible to our eyes. The lasers projected onto the transparent material make it appear that the magical glow of the Music Box is hovering in mid-air. Even knowing that the transparent sheet is there, it’s simply beyond our perception to see it! The “music” races off further into the mansion where simple laser projections continue the illusion that the magical dust is following us. During the finale, the music collects once again as it’s sucked back down into the Music Box. When a few glitters of the dust try to escape, a last bolt of electricity is projected on the sheet, roping in the final particles as the box seals. Then, the sheet quickly rises out of view and the lights return to normal.
5. Haunted Mansion Ballroom
Attraction: The Haunted Mansion (Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland) and Phantom Manor (Disneyland Paris)
What Riders See: An Otherwordly Dance
How It Works: Spoilers!
The first half of the Haunted Mansion is an eerie trip through a mansion of spooky settings. After Madame Leota’s seance, however, the spirits begin to materialize. Their big debut is in the magnificent ballroom scene, where guests in their Doom Buggies glide along a balcony overlooking a regal ball below. The dancers and diners seem to glow with a ghastly, otherworldly, translucent style. They disappear and re-appear effortlessly as they dance across the ballroom floor.
How It Works: If you’re a hardcore Disney fan today, you probably remember being absolutely bamboozled by the Haunted Mansion ballroom as a kid. The trick seems impossible, or at least impossibly high-tech. In reality, it’s perhaps the oldest trick in the book, and one of the most well-known secrets of Disney Parks. The effect, known as Pepper’s Ghost, dates back to the 1500s. In the 500 years since its invention, the effect hasn’t changed much, and Disney didn’t do any major overhauls to the simple trick.
What you’re seeing are actually reflections of a ghostly dance (with animatronics on turntables located below the ride track), reflecting off a massive sheet of glass that separates the Doom Buggies (and the animatronics below them) from the dance floor scenery. By turning lights on and off, the “ghosts” seem to disappear. It sounds a lot more confusing than it is, and once you get a grasp on how it happens, you can actually make some physical sense of the effect while riding.
You can see the same effect all over the dark ride world, just usually on a much smaller scale. Even at the Disneyland Resort, Pepper’s Ghost effects are used in Monsters Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Pinocchio’s Daring Journey.
6. A New Spin On An Old Tale
Attraction: HEX: The Legend of the Towers (Alton Towers)
What Riders See: Going For A Spin
How It Works: The Drum
HEX is an ingenious dark ride that re-tells a real local legend centered around Alton Tower’s historic eponymous estate. That local legend tells of a centuries-old Earl’s curse that whenever a branch from the old oak tree would fall, a member of his family would die. It took only one instance of the curse being true for the Earl to chain up the tree’s branches in iron chains (all true – the tree can still be seen a few miles from the park). The ride picks up where the story left off, revealing a secret vault hidden in the Towers where the Earl experimented on the single fallen branch.
Stapped in to a massive theatre, a haunting orchestral score begins to reverberate as the theatre slowly swings forward, then back. The pace increases as the swing lurches in larger arcs, revealing more and more of the ancient estate chamber. Finally, the swing slowly turns all the way upside down revealing gnarled roots eating through the chamber’s floors, where the knotted tree begins to resemble a face.
How It Works: Alright. Hex never actually turns riders upside down. While the theatre does rock forward or back by up to 15 degrees, it’s the room itself that does most of the turning. Hex is a Vekoma Madhouse, a special kind of dark ride wherein a cylindrical room rotates around a theatre, giving the illusion that riders are flipping upside down. Lots of small family parks have small Madhouse attractions, but Alton Tower’s is easily the most well-done and impressive with its massive chamber, moving musical score, and incredible special effects.
7. Enchanted Tales Mirror
Image: Disney
Attraction: Enchanted Tales With Belle (Magic Kingdom)
Video: Another Portal
The Enchanted Tales With Belle attaction that opened as part of New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom in 2012 is really one of the most unique attractions Disney’s ever created. At its core, it’s just an elaborate character spot. One of the most elaborate meet-and-greets in the world! However, it’s as much a walkthrough and a show. The adventure begins in the quaint cottage of Maurice, Belle’s father. The cottage is littered with his many inventions and gadgets.
The queue becomes a guided tour when guests are invited into Maurice’s workshop to view the most incredible thing: a magic mirror given to him by Belle and the Prince so that he can always visit them in the castle so many miles away in the forest. By repeating some magic words, the mirror begins to stretch as its reflective surface becomes an image of the castle. As the image flies through the castle’s turrets, its lands on a doorway. Somehow, the mirror becomes the doorway, splitting down the middle and swinging open into the castle. Guests step into the mirror doorway as it still crackles with green electrical energy.
How It Works: We don’t have schematics or anything, but watching the video basically describes the effect. It’s just really ridiculously cool, and we can’t figure out the minute details of how the mirror is able to stretch and widen without affecting the wall it’s hung on. However the effect is achieved, it’s marvelous and impressive for kids, and probably even more astounding to their parents who can’t just chalk it up to “magic” and be satisfied.
8. The Chamber of Destiny
Attraction: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye (Disneyland)
What Riders See: “You seek the treasure of Mara… Glittering gold!“
The ancient god Mara grants all who visit his temple one of three gifts: either visions of the future, earthly riches, or the waters of timeless youth. As soon as guests board the ride, they face three locked doors, each corresponding to one of Mara’s gifts, and each supernaturally locked: the “gold” door is sealed behind a massive vault tumbler; the “water” door is rusted shut; the door to “visions of the future” is obscured by an otherworldly fog. As the god’s rumbling bass voice announces his choice, one of the doors begins to glow more brightly. Then, the door comes to life as Mara’s infinite powers unseal the passage on.
As the door swings open, it leads into a Chamber of Destiny beyond where riders are due to recieve Mara’s gift. As you might imagine, the chamber fits the gift selected, so riders on the “gold” path see a glittering vault of golden treasures; riders on the “water” path see an otherworldly chamber of timeless, ageless frescoes; the Observatory of the Future is filled with infinite stars. All three are presided over by a massive 15 foot tall carving of Mara. If riders glance into his eyes, they open and decay and Mara rescinds his gift… In the “gold” chamber, he rusts; in the “water” chamber, he ages; in the “future” chamber, his third eye turns to a chaotic storm. Cursed to the Gates of Doom, riders are tossed into the collapsing chamber’s 6-story tall atrium where the 60-foot crumbling visage of Mara awaits.
How It Works: The truth is, there’s only one real pathway on the Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure. Every Jeep takes the same exact course through the temple every time. The illusion of the three chambers is a brilliant and grand one, providing for a unique ride each time, but it’s just an illusion. When a vehicle is dispatched from the load area, projectors kick on and scramble the carvings, decorations, and images on three blank doors. On your ride, the door may be the golden vault. But as soon as your car passes through, the projections scramble and the door instead becomes the rusted entrance to the waters of eternal life.
Once on the other side, lighting, projections, and sounds reset to create the illusion of a different chamber. For example, statues of women pouring vases of water are lit in the water chamber, but left dark in the future room. Frescoes of ancient people reverting to beautiful youth are back-lit scrims in the gold room, making them see-through to reveal golden statues on the other side. The simple effect is a 21st century replacement for the astounding original, where the entire three-door chamber would pivot left or right to select different doors each time. The effect was grand, but apparently damanged and discontinued. The astounding projection work is impressive in its own right, and we’re hopeful that one day it will combine with the return of the sliding room, too.
9. The Fantasmic Disappearing Mouse
Attraction: Fantasmic! at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Video: View from the front and a side view
While almost all of Fantasmic! is tear-inducing, fantastical wonder after wonder for Disney fans, there are a few really impressive moments. From towering, fire-spewing dragon animatronics that appear on stage in less than a minute to two massive full-sized sailing ships and dancing fountains, there’s a lot of magic behind Disney’s ultra-successful and beloved nighttime show.
But one thing we’ve got to point out is that appearing and disappearing mouse. To start the show, revolving lights disorient and distract the audience. That’s on purpose, because Mickey appears instantaneously under a spotlight in a fraction of a second. The show ends similarly, with Mickey conducting fireworks and fountains from a high perch against the night sky before “magically” being enveloped by sparks and re-appearing the very next second on the ground. The mouse, reveling in the audience’s “oohs” and “aahs” at the moment, squeaks, “Some imagination, huh?” Before disappearing in another fraction of a second burst of light.
How It Works: How does the main Mouse appear and disappear so quickly? Mickey is attached to a high speed lift (no different than many music artist’s stage shows) that allows him to “pop up” and “disappear” beneath the stage literally in a second or less. The ultra-quick moment is also disguised by pyrotechnics and a punch in the musical score that only further enchant audiences to leave them in disbelief. Whatever the case, it really does feel magical in the moment, and if that lift really is fast enough to drop Mickey into the stage in the flash of a firework, I hope he’s holding onto his ears.
10. Brain Fire
Image: Universal
Attraction: Revenge of the Mummy (Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Singapore)
The Modern Marvel: Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Florida was billed as the world’s first psychological thrill ride. It’s not a stretch since the attraction is part coaster, part dark ride and features flames, bugs, darkness, bright lights, and one of the most incredible animatronic figures in the world. The big moment, though is the ride’s “fake unload station.” Just when it seems you’ve returned to the station to disembark and view your ride photo, Imhotep appears one last time and sucks the soul out of your ride operator.
“Death is only the beginning!” he shrieks, looking up. Guests eyes follow as a burst of flame catches the ceiling on fire, churning out across the ceiling in waves. The heat is intense but only momentary as the train is launched a second, surprise time and dives down into a misty inferno pit for a second half of the coaster.
How It Works: The unique trick is known as “brain fire” for its billowing, undulating appearance that sort of seems like bubbling lava, but upside down and on the ceiling. Unlike any other kind of flame, brain fire spreads horizontally across a surface, billowing as it tries to fight upward. Whatever the case, it’s a brilliant effect powered by natural gas. The temperature at the ceiling is a balmy 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature that guests feel below is 107 (three degrees cooler than the legal limit). It only lasts a second, as the ride then accelerates and drops into an churning misty inferno, but the brief encounter with brain fire ignites a sincere and innate panic response in the human brain.
Conclusion
Theme parks are in the business of illusion. From the earliest days of dark rides and beyond, the idea has been to confuse, confuddle, and bedazzle guests with tricks of the light and other special effects that make simple feats seem impossible. It takes a lot of precision to keep these special effect working, and even more work to keep them looking easy to do and astounding.
What do you think of these effects? Any big special effects we’ve forgotten that need researched and explained? Or can you see right through these “magical” moments for the moving parts and tricks that make them happen?
