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When the two
sons of Joyland's former owners inherited the park from their parents, they
decided too add some new rides to attract some new guests. Their first ride
of choice was this one. Upon it's purchase and installation they were very
excited as they decided to try it for the first time. Once inside all they
saw was a pitch black room, with no models, lights or sound effects. I've
been on a few ghost trains like that, to them though it was a bit of a
shock. The called the ride vendors, who said they were purely a ride
supplier, not a theming company, they just provided the rides shell for a
park to theme. Upon checking their contract they realised all they had paid
for was the unthemed shell.
Luckily the
ride is now themed. It doesn't use that many models, but instead has a lot
of good artwork, both to make the exterior look attractive, and to decorate
various points of the rides interior. It feels like a group of enthusiasts
got together, and decided to have a go at creating the best ghost train they
could with a limited budget, and consequently came up with a pretty good
ride.
Where this
ride really excels though is in it's presentation. Most of the ride is still
in pitch darkness, with lighting and sound effects activating as you travel
around the ride. This adds an element of unpredictability to proceedings, as
you can't predict your route or when the special effects will activate. The
way the ride is presented also does a great job of hiding some of the rides
potential weaknesses while making the ride a more amusing and visually
stimulating experience. I reckon if you applied these presentation values to
a ride with some advanced models you'd get one of the best ghost trains
anywhere. Even without the advanced models this is still one of the best
ghost trains I've ridden in the UK.
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