the machine guns are roaring, the puppets heave rocks (part three)

(Continued from part two.)



I can't remember whether the ride in the big blue neon and black box is called the Tilt 'n Hurl or the Whirl 'n Hurl, but it's one of those. You rez a car the same way as any chain ride: touch the prim, wait for the car to rez, get in.

The change: this is the car. This magnificent Calaveras construction is wrapped around the back of the tire-like floating vehicle, and holds a torch out in one skeletal hand to the side. Great effect.

This style of dark ride goes way back, to the late 1800s, I believe. There's still an old-style dark ride (more of a rollercoaster, but it qualifies) at Dollywood; in fact, according to that video and this blog, the Silver City Mine Ride actually existed before Parton bought the parcel, and the surrounding lands, to build Dollywood. While much of that original ride was demolished, some was rebuilt, and--again, as the video points out--some of the signage still exists within the ride.



The conceit of this one is very typical of an atomic-era dark ride--the pitch black interior conceals and reveals set pieces, initially just with sound effects that would go off, later with colored lights and animations, later still with black-light and glow-in-the-dark paint used to really amp up the surreal effect. With this one, the effect is even more pronounced, as not only does the car rotate, but spins in circles through each set piece.



It's fairly difficult to take pictures and ride in a spinning car while trying to see everything. I got the ones I could. Frankly, a lot of the ones I really wanted to show off, I was too busy admiring to remember to photograph them before I'd driven by!

I may, in all honesty, go back and see if I can just plain walk through the set pieces. But straight up, for any lover of chain ride reproductions, for any lover of vintage dark rides, this is an absolute must. If you run past the clowns and the sideshow and the haunted castle, run into this dark ride. It's amazingly well done. Full marks.

In the meantime...


Sometimes, the dead make some pretty good music.



And this is what happens when you port home and your eyes fall out.