Interactive is a real industry buzz word. Everyone wants a ride that absorbs guests and makes them part of a story. Back in the early days, “interactive” rides were ones where guests were plunged into a favorite story and sent through a ride as an active participant, causing things to fall, break, or move. Think of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride!
But times changed. More likely than not, when you hear “interactive,” you probably envision just what we do: laser-gun-touting dark rides where guests simply blast their way through scenes with a minimal sense of story and very few details. And yes, that IS interactivity! And some of those rides are done brilliantly (see Men in Black: Alien Attack). But more often that not, “interactive” dark rides feel undercooked and half-baked. Can you think of a truly classic interactive ride like Pirates or Haunted Mansion? Likely not. Laser-gun rides typically lack in-depth stories or characters or settings since riders’ attention will be elsewhere…. like, on the flashing targets strewn across the scene.
But here, we’ve collected eight truly interactive dark rides that involve guests as never before and make them key in the way a ride is experienced. Think of it as the next evolution of “interactivity,” where you’re the star in more ways than one, and your actions can result in real changes to the attraction! Which of the eight attractions below would you most like to experience?
1. Test Track – Presented by Chevrolet
Location: Epcot (Orlando, Florida)
Perhaps one of the most innovatively interactive rides on Earth, Test Track – Presented by Chevrolet sends guests into the creative design and testing process for prototype vehicles. In line, guests enter into the Chevrolet design studio and begin crafting a vehicle, choosing elements and variants as they try to optimize (or not) the four qualities car-makers and buyers look for: Capability, Efficiency, Responsiveness, and Power.
With their personally-designed car in hand (or rather, saved on a MagicBand or park ticket), guests advance to the SimTrack, where they board the ride itself as it’s put through the paces on four tests corresponding to the four qualities above. After each tests, guests are given a live read-out of how their particular vehicle scored in each quality.
If you designed a veritable tank, you’re bound to score low on the green-tracked Efficiency test, but hit a home run in the blue-colored Capability as you power over rough roads with ease. The ride’s post-show allows you to see how your car stacked up and put it through additional paces. Talk about interactive!
2. If I Ran the Zoo
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure (Orlando, Florida)
There is no place quite like Seuss Landing, the whimsical island at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. The entire area is the stuff of Dr. Seuss’ otherworldly dreams with zany architecture and unimaginable creatures, but If I Ran the Zoo is in a league of its own. The attraction is off the beaten path and easy to miss, but it’s a fun walkthrough filled with the good doctor’s uniquely stylized animals in their own Seussian zoo. Each is accompanied by a (rhyming, of course) sign that explains the peculiar creature and a way to wake it up. Be warned: most of the friendly creatures are very playful!
3. Adventure in the Valley of the Unknown
Location: COSI (Columbus, Ohio)
While not at a theme park, Adventure stands with the best. It’s located inside the outstanding COSI science center in Columbus, Ohio, which we featured in its own in-depth article here thanks to COSI’s evolution into a 21st century EPCOT. Like Epcot, COSI is divided into themed atria (think of them like pavilions) each focused on a single overarching topic: Ocean, Energy, Gadgets, Space, Progress, Life… But the most incredible, by far, is Adventure. (did you ever think of “Adventure” as a component of science? Hm…) Adventure sends guests on an Indiana Jones style expedition into the lost Valley of the Unknown to unlock an ancient towering Observatory sealed for centuries.
Armed with a map, flashlight, pencil, and 1930s film recording offering instructions, guests diverge into the island’s Maze, Temple, Cavern, and Well to awaken ancient stone statues who each hold a piece of the Observatory’s code.
Adventure is probably the most interactive attraction on the list since it sends guests into the (literal) unknown on a dark tropical island with only their critical thinking skills to help them. Only the bravest members of the Explorer’s Society dare attempt Adventure – Level 2, wherein guests must translate three ancient languages across the island and re-awaken the statues with new codes and puzzles, leading to a surprising, real reward… But to solve Level 2, guests work from 15 – 20 hours as they decode, dig, observe, and unlock new spaces on the island. We’re so captivated by this living adventure puzzle game that we wrote an entire in-depth feature on Adventure’s mythology and challenges. We sincerely can’t think of another thing like it on Earth, and that makes it a must-visit for any theme park fan.
4. Toy Story Midway Mania
Location: Disney California Adventure, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea
Tons and tons of dark rides have billed themselves as “interactive” thanks to laser guns and flashing red targets. That’s all well and good, but not the kind of interactive we’re talking about. Getting close is Toy Story Midway Mania, in which guests actually see the effects of their actions in real time. The ride sends guests into a giant board game of midway attractions where they play carnival classics like smash-the-plate or ring-the-bottle using a classic “pop-gun” that digitally creates the projectile-du-jour (rings, darts, suction cups, confetti) at each individual game. Better than shooting laser targets, Midway Mania feels visceral and competitive in just the right way, with an intimate setting, great effects, and stunning technology that’s well above our understanding!
5. Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
Location: Disney California Adventure
Off the beaten path at Disney California Adventure, the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail doesn’t look like much on the surface. But this interactive playground has a lot going for it. With ziplines, scalable fire towers, babbling brooks, caves, and bridges, the Trail is actually probably superior to Tom Sawyer Island in many ways. And right now, it’s home to the Wilderness Explorers (from Disney / Pixar’s Up) who are offering Scout Badges for completed tasks!
Upon entering, guests can pick up a map of the Trail with foil badges marking the location of Scout Challenges. Complete them and scratch off the foil on your map to reveal a badge underneath! Sure, it’s the honor system, but it’s actually a nice diversion from the hustle and bustle of the park to retreat to the Trail and follow the map around, spotting Kevin’s footprints and discovering your spirit animal in the mystical caves outside camp. The Challenge Trail is often overlooked, but it’s a really fun diversion and a simple kind of interactive attraction. Guests who complete all the challenges (again, honor system) can be part of the WIlderness Explorer Camp Ceremony daily. A similar Wilderness Explorer themed scavenger hunt migrated to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida in 2014.
6. Magic Spells
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood
When the snow-covered town of Hogsmeade and the towering Hogwarts castle beyond opened at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, fans queued for hours to buy wands, robes, and exclusive food. It was a theme park operator’s wildest dream, and allegedly even Disney was shocked at the complete coup Universal had landed as $40 plastic wands flew off the shelves. (By the way, if you ask insiders, they’ll tell you that, for the first time a long time, this made Disney nervous… nervous enough to turn around and purchase the theme park rights to something – anything – that could rival Harry Potter. So, they gobbled up the rights to the highest-grossing film ever, which had just been released…)
But Universal wasn’t done. They’d open three more Wizarding World before Disney managed to open Pandora – The World of Avatar, and it was at the awe-inspiring Diagon Alley that they debuted interactive wands for just a few dollars more. Throughout the Wizarding Worlds, bronze medallions embedded in the pavement instruct guests how to wave their wands and which magical incantation to read. Perform the correct spell and something around you will happen. That may sound vague, but that’s because of the tremendous variety here. “Incendio!” and flames spew from a chimney; “Lumos!” and hundreds of chandeliers in the overhead shop come to life; “Aguamenti!” and water leaps from a fountain.
The amazing technology is as much fun to watch as it is to perform, as guests try again and again to move their wands just right (like something straight out of Charms class! “Those Muggles are hopeless,” you can imagine Draco Malfoy spewing as he watches from the window of Bourgin and Bourkes). More than anything, the wands turn the Wizarding Worlds into interactive attractions that must be explored. Look no further than the lines, still forming years later, of guests willing to hand of $45 for a wand. As of press time, we don’t yet know if Avatar tails will earn as much fervor. (That’s a joke.)
7. Spaceship Earth
Location: Epcot
Sort of the thesis statement for Epcot’s pavilions, Spaceship Earth was designed to focus on communication as an element of technology and progress. The magnificent dark ride – easily one of Disney’s best ever – travels from the Stone Age to the modern era of wireless global communication. The ride’s finale occurs in the very top dome of Spaceship Earth’s geodesic sphere, showing the endless wonders of the galaxy.
During the reverse return trip to Earth, guests are given the opportunity to personalize their own futures via on-board touch screens. Following in the vein of Horizons, one of the greatest interactive dark rides ever, guests are tasked to choose where they’d like to live in the future, what they’ll do, where they’ll vacation, etc. Spaceship Earth then constructs a delightfully retro-futuristic interpretation of the future using guests’ photographs to show just how they’ll live, work, and play in the world of tomorrow. Then, in the Project Tomorrow post-show, guests futures are shown on a giant interactive globe. In terms of Epcot’s overall concept, the interactivity is spot-on perfect and enlivening.
8. Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure
Location: Epcot
Even from its earliest days, Epcot has struggled with its image, casting it more as a science center than a theme park. Parents, it seems, just knew that their kids would rather be immersed in the fantasy of Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom than in the sterile, concrete world of Epcot, which felt almost… *gulp*… educational. Worst of all was the massive World Showcase, with pavilions representing a dozen countries around the world. With stunning architecture, ample food and beverage, and an educational film here and there, World Showcase is a delight for adults… but for kids? Pre-teens?
Disney tried valiantly to breathe youth into World Showcase with Kidcot stations featuring coloring pages and other cultural crafts, but the real breakthrough was Kim Possible’s World Showcase Adventure, sending guests on an espionage-themed race around the countries of the park with a very special cell phone in hand. The game has since been updated and converted to Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure themed after Disney Channel’s more modern Phineas & Ferb and the secret agent teal platypus Perry. Whatever the case, the attraction is fun and surprisingly in-depth as guests find hidden clues, read smoke signals, and more as they bounce around the World Showcase Lagoon with a cell-phone communicator in hand, delivering messages and leading guests around until the bad guy is caught.
Think About It
The idea here is that, as times change, so do standards. Maybe modern audiences wouldn’t be wowed by Adventure Thru Inner Space or World of Motion. Maybe they need to feel that they’re part of the story as never before. Parks’ overreliance on laser-guns, though, is tiring, and the point-and-shoot rides covered in glowing targets distract from any semblence of story or setting.
Luckily, designers are thinking one step ahead as they design the next generation of interactive attractions. Laser guns are disappearing and in their place, guests are making real choices that determine attraction outcomes and experiences, using new technologies to create one-on-one interactions, and (perhaps most importantly) making valuable memories. Seeing your spell come to life in the Wizarding World, unlocking the Observatory of Knowledge, saving the day with Agent P… These experiences are full, rich, wonderful attractions that add to a park visit and create lasting impressions. That’s exactly what all attractions should work toward!
