After our last post about the coasters coming to parks in 2021 that we’re most excited about, we’ve decided to delve into the world of dark rides and themed attractions to see what else will be entering the scene in the New Year. I love dark rides, I’m an absolute sucker for that kind of thing so for me, there is some really big anticipation for what’s in store around the world next year for these kinds of rides and attractions. So here’s a selection of my most anticipated new dark rides and themed attractions for 2021!
UK
Gangsta Granny: The Ride – Alton Towers
Gangsta Granny: The Ride was meant to open, along with the rest of the David Walliams at the start of the 2020 season but with the theme park season being delayed until summer, the decision was made to keep this area of the park closed until 2021. Gangsta Granny: The Ride will take riders on a Crown Jewel tour in their very own royal carriage while Granny and Ben attempt to pull off the biggest jewel heist in history by breaking into the crown jewel vault. It seems like a lot of fun with 360 degrees scenes, projection mapping and special effects for all the senses. I’m not really familiar with David Walliams’ books but if the ride can be an immersive and exciting experience, I don’t think that really matters. I am looking forward to riding this as soon as I can and getting stuck into the story of Granny, Ben and their big heist. I just hope that they don’t rely too heavily on screens for this!
Black Mirror Labyrinth – Thorpe Park
This is another postponed attraction from 2020 that will now be opening up for 2021. Though not a dark ride, Black Mirror Labyrinth seems to be an interactive walkthrough based on the extremely popular Black Mirror series. I adore Black Mirror so have high hopes for this attraction as something that will twist and test our senses as we face the digital world. Thorpe Park have kept the details quite tightly under wraps but it definitely sounds like it will fit in perfectly with the vibe of the park.
Flying Theatre – Legoland
Legoland is set to receive a whole new land in 2021 which will include the UK’s first flying theatre attraction. I’m so pumped for this. I’ve done one flying theatre before in Ferrari Land at PortAventura and absolutely adored it. These kind of attractions are simulator rides where seats are suspended with a large screen and special effects to give the illusion of flight. The new area will be called Mythica based on mythical creatures with the Lego creations of children coming to life, so perhaps this could play into what we will be seeing as we experience this flying theatre ride. Legoland seems to be investing quite heavily in these kinds of all-weather attractions with the introduction of Haunted House Monster Party and other indoor rides over the last few years. This fits that brief as well so could be the direction that Legoland is looking towards in the future.
Europe
Web Slingers: A Spiderman Adventure – Disneyland Paris
With the introduction of Avengers Campus, Disneyland Paris will be opening a new dark ride based on the Spiderman franchise. It is thought that this ride will use the same technology as the likes of the Ninjago ride at Legoland Windsor where guests will only need to extend their arm in order to shoot web just like Spiderman does. Guests will have to aid Spiderman with 3D glasses in this interactive dark ride experience, much like that in Disneyland California. I have high hopes for this ride as I always do with Disney attractions. With such a massive overhaul of Walt Disney Studios coming in the next few years, this is the start of things to come with Avengers Campus being the first area in the plan to open to the public. As a Marvel fan, this is really exciting and I hope that Web Slingers can create an immersive superhero experience.
USA
Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash – Universal Studios Hollywood
This incredibly themed dark ride will be opening at Universal Studios in Hollywood, following the Secret Life of Pets characters through their journey on the streets of New York city. Full of animatronics and physical sets as well as modern special effects, Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash seems like a massively ambitious dark ride by Universal, notorious for their use of screen-based dark rides. From what I’ve seen of this ride, it looks stunning, mixing modern technology and techniques with practical, traditional dark ride sets. The Secret Life of Pets films are a lot of fun with some really memorable characters that will translate perfectly into animatronic versions of themselves.
Lego Factory Adventure – Legoland New York
This one is SO exciting to me. Legoland New York will be introducing a dark ride into their line-up that takes guests right into the action of the Lego factory as mini-figures. It is absolutely stunning to see the way they’ve given the illusion of being miniature, using technology to transform riders into mini-figures themselves. It seems magical, whimsical and absolutely beautiful. Using trackless dark ride technology means that the ride is not constrained by a track and can move freely around the physical sets. It looks so amazing especially as someone who loves Lego.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure – Epcot
Similar to the ride at Disneyland Paris, Epcot will be seeing a Ratatouille themed trackless dark ride coming to the France pavilion next year. Due to open in summer this year, the ride has been delayed as it was not deemed a priority project and instead was put on the back burner, hopefully to see the light of day next year instead. Based, of course, on the Pixar film Ratatouille, the attraction shrinks riders to the size of Remy the rat and has you racing around Gusteau’s kitchen. The Paris version of this ride, Ratatouille : L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, has been a huge success since it opened in 2014 so there’s no doubt that when Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is able to open that it will be a wonderful addition to Epcot.
Hearing about these new dark ride projects makes me so excited. I love when parks invest in coasters, of course, but I feel like sometimes things like this get pushed aside so I am very happy with the fact that we could see a whole bunch of dark rides opening up for the 2021 season!
Mission Theme Park 
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