StevenVig Posted May 7, 2014 Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 But rather than being separate trains it was an omnimover continuous string of carriages type system that turned towards each scene. Thats right, exactly like what you'd find on the Spirit of London Ride at Madame Tussauds Phill Pritchard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC. Posted June 20, 2014 Report Share Posted June 20, 2014 Wicked Witches Haunt went up in flames. #sadtimes #RejectedThemeParkRides From Twitter (how do I embed Tweets by the way?) Nice to seem Thorpe reminiscing! Now quick, everyone favourite it so it shows that people want a dark ride at Thorpe! c1hrisin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 SAW would work as a dark ride tbh...an indoor coaster alternatively (if it hadn't been for X) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Tidal Wave Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 Does anyone have any blueprints or pictures of the track layout? Could imagine it living on for 2 more years as WWH before being rethemed as a laser attraction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 Dunno about pictures, but the blueprint's probably rotting away in a dark corner of a store room as we speak ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted January 8, 2017 Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 JoshuaA, Josh3103, Matt 236 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmonkey Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Someone got in before me! Brilliant to see a ride through video at last! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluk Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 That bell at the start still gives me shivers like I'm 6 again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt 236 Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 I only ever rode Wicked Witches Haunt once or twice, but my first ever ride on it amazed the six year old me. From it's beautiful gothic design, sets, humour and set pieces. It was the first large scale dark ride I'd ever ridden and blew anything else out of proportion, which were mostly fairground ghost trains. This was a lot more than a ghost train. I would still argue to this day the loss of this attraction is the greatest loss to the UK and it's tragic to think how all that detail was burn't to ash in it's final moments. Geisterschloss at Europa Park (though noticeably different) is probably the nearest replica to this ride which thankfully still operates to this day. SteveJ and ste193 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmonkey Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Scare attractions these days (if they aren't interactive) are either kiddieish and cartoony to appeal to kids OR Gorefests to appeal to adults - The WWH was neither - simply spooky/eerie/interesting SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 And totally surreal and bemusing, really imaginative and simply fun. So many animations and grand scenes too compared to what's typically produced today. Of course it was best as an all round family attraction, not sure if it would have survived Thorpe's 2000s adrenaline era had it not burnt down. And this video shows it only after its UV refurb to make it more colourful and ghost trainy. Before this it was even much more creepy and gothic by the looks of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmonkey Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Yeah the scenes blended yet didn't really fit together - Medieval to Victorian to Tudor to Georgian etc - I liked that aspect - It didn't need an explicit story, there was lots of stories going on! I rode it as phantom Fantasia and WWH - I used to think I preferred the PF version - but I think WWH had more depth and detail due to the talents of rex studio and their use of Tromp L'Oeil set painting, and the UV made the scenes 'pop'! SO I'm inclined to say I preferred WWH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThemeParkCrafter Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 It looks meh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatever Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 'Meh' is not a word I'd use to describe it. I wish rides like WWH/Phantom Fantasia and others similar to it still existed; they really seemed to have a great atmosphere. So much detail and hard work must have gone into making it. Such a shame it was destroyed. I've always wondered how popular the ride was, as no one knows it really today, even people who were kids at the time. It's not had much of a legacy; only one of its vehicles was on the Carousel, and that was about it. Was it big news when it was burnt down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Looks like it was a great dark ride, such a shame it burnt down although it would have probably been turned into a charmless IP-based ride by now had it remained at the park. Josh3103 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmonkey Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Yeah it had a good legacy - I often get comments from people who are in no way theme park fans who visited as kids and teens in the 80's and often ask 'is phantom fantasia still there'.... People seem to remember it - even by name! as in no one ever says 'oh that haunted house thing they used to have' - they actually remember it's name.... and that I would say is a good legacy! I think more with people over 30 these days - and with fanboys/girls tending to be a younger crowd - thats why it isn't well remembered. Also was the previous lack of photos and videos of it... 17 years since the fire - and things such as the above video are only just surfacing! I actually think it had more of a legacy with the casual patron than the 'fanboy'. It was at the park for 17 years - that's a long old time to ingrain memories into thousands if not millions of people! It NEVER had a que as far as I remember, due to it having MASSIVE capacity - but there always seemed to be people on it! so yeah It was quite popular, It had on-ride photography too - so it was popular enough to warrant installing that! And yes it was big news at the time! The thing is Merlin had only just taken reins of Thorpe and they just literally swept it under the carpet and carried on turning the park into a white-knuckle based park! To this day that don't claim to have much information on the ride which is odd as they claimed that since day one (after the fire) - and must have had archives of the track-layout, press photos etc - but there you go! Its only in recent years parks have taken a bit more interest in their past. SteveJ, Josh3103 and Whatever 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 If you were a child growing up with this at the time, I know from similar experiences this attraction would have been incredible. Whereas kids now have got a couple nice and cosy kiddie dark rides, all plastic and very commercialised, generic and twee. Back then this was a super horrifying, creepy, unexplained tour through the dark that surrounded you with weird cavernous scenes (the scenes went pretty far down below and above you). It certainly didn't hold back from giving you nightmares, fun nightmares though. It was a great big horror ride, full of weird animations, sinister sounds coming through the dark, always something a little different around the corner and so much detail. No video can do it justice really I'm sure. I wish there were more to see of Phantom Fantasia, the scarier, darker version. It's had a great legacy. The reason very few photos or videos have surfaced of Phantom Fantasia or Wicked Witches is because such things didn't exist publically then, and many archives have been lost over time. It was popular on a regional scale and Thorpe didn't get the huge numbers it squeezes in today. The theme park was pretty much brand new when the ride opened and it certainly left its impression. But most of the people who rode it will have grown up and too old for daft old things like theme park forums and the internet now, so of course you wouldn't read about it here a great deal. I know many people whov'e become theatre &, attraction designers because of this attraction and others just like it around the country. It's fab. And so it's pointless for someone to come along decades later and say its 'meh' based off a grainy video - unless you have something of a dull imagination! JoshuaA, mrmonkey and Matt 236 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshuaA Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 If its anything like Geisterschloss at Europa, it was probably a eerie and charming dark ride. I don't think judging a dark ride off a video really gives the ride justice though.. Dark rides have complete different atmospheres that can't be replicated in a POV.. mrmonkey, Cian and SteveJ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmonkey Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 You are so right - I'm 34 (but still don't find forums too daft lol )...and guess what I'm a theatre designer/maker, and this ride WAS a great influence to me! I grew up with phantom fantasia, 5th Dimension, prof burps bubble works, the original London Dungeons, the original haunted house (Alton) - all of which fired my imagination! all original ideas - no IP, no need to explicitly spell out the story line, no real need to make sense and definitely no need to be a 'shooting gallery-on-a-train'! I hope new-build traditional dark rides do make a come back! SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince800 Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Thanks for that remastered video. Probably would have been redone in Tomb Blaster style by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.