New dark rides and show rides for 2022

New Dark Ride
Promotional image for Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol (© Lost Island Theme Park & Sally Dark Rides)

A new year means a new list of new dark rides and show rides! Even though 2021 has been a weird year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, quite a few rides opened last year, as you can see on our list of new rides 2021. Let’s now see what 2022 has in store in terms of new dark rides and show rides! Curious what rides are scheduled for 2023? Check out the new 2023-list here. For 2022, check out the list below:

America

Canada

Clifton Hill (Niagara Falls, Ontario): Carnival Chaos Hyper Ride. Brand new dark ride and the first installation of the Hyper Ride, a ride concept by Triotech & Gosetto. The ride type includes motion seats, to give a similar experience to motion-based dark ride vehicles. The ride was announced at the IAAPA Expo in 2021.

Galaxyland (Edmonton, Alberta): Monopoly Railroad. Retheme of the previous Galaxyland Express. A major part of the park is rethemed after the Hasbro toys and games, including this semi-dark ride. Opened 17 December.

United States of America

Cannery Row (Monterey, California): Treasure Hunt: The Ride. Brand new interactive dark ride, developed by Daniels Wood Land in collaboration with Sally Dark Rides. The ride combines physical decors with interactive screens, where visitors are to defend themselves from sea monsters. The ride, with an interactive system by Alterface, was announced at the IAAPA Expo 2021 and is expected to open by the end of the year.

Lost Island Theme Park (Waterloo, Iowa): Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol. Lost Island Theme Park is a brand new theme park by the owners of Lost Island Waterpark. The park, with a masterplan designed by BDR Design Group, includes a new interactive dark ride housed inside a volcano. The ride is developed by Sally Dark Rides, with the ride system by ETF Ride Systems and an interactive system by Alterface. Volkanu opened on 18 June, and team DRdb visited the opening.

Six Flags over Texas (Arlington, Texas): Pirates of Speelunker Cave. Retheme of the 1964 classic Arrow dark boat ride. The ride was originally called Spee-Lunker’s Cave (1964-1991) and rethemed to Yosemite Sam and the Gold River Adventure in 1992. Flooding caused the ride to close in 2018. For the park’s 60th anniversary in 2022, the ride will be re-imagined to honor the original theme. Opened on 14 May.

Walt Disney World – EPCOT (Lake Buena Vista, Florida): Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Major new ride for the Walt Disney World Resort, combining a roller coaster and a dark ride. Details on the ride largely remain a mystery, though a little information was announced at Destination D23. The ride, with a ride system by Vekoma, opened on 27 May.

Disney D23
Promotional poster for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (© Walt Disney Imagineering)

Asia

China

Fantasy Valley (Xiangyang): New Park – A new park by the OCT Group. The park includes three show rides: 非常任务 (Extraordinary Mission) – a space battle themed Flying Theatre, 星际历险 (Galaxy Adventure) – a Dynamic Theatre also themed to space travel and 超时空营救 (Time Travel Rescue) – a 4D motion-based car ride. The park opened on 29 April.

Fantawild Dinosaur Kingdom Zigong (Zigong): New Park – A new park by the Fantawild Group, and the first Dinosaur Kingdom type of park that opens. The park includes four dark rides and two show rides. The park opened on 18 June.

Fantawild Glorious Orient Huai’an (Huai’an): New Park – A new park by the Fantawild Group expected to open in the first half of 2022. The park contains five new dark rides and show rides. The park opened on 1 July.

FT Wild Land (Tainzhou): New Park – A new type of park by the Fantawild Group, expected to open in the summer of 2022. The park was announced last spring.

Happy Valley Chongqing (Chongqing): Unknown – The park is due to open a new children’s area at at budget of € 75 million, including a 4D Dark Ride by Simtec. Details on the ride are as yet unknown.

Oriental Heritage Anyang (Anyang): New Park – New park by the Fantawild Group. Likely to contain the same dark rides as other more recent Oriental Heritage parks such as Taiyuan.

Oriental Heritage Zhengzhou (Zhengzhou): New Park – New park by the Fantawild Group and a third gate to the Fantawild Zhengzhou Resort. Likely to contain the same dark rides as other more recent Oriental Heritage parks such as Taiyuan.

Kazakhstan

Tetsyblu Theme Park (Aqtau): SnorriSecond installation of the Snorri Touren-ride in Europad-Park. The installation in Kazakhstan is an exact copy of the original ride, including the Snorri mascot. Designed and built by a combination of Jora Vision, Mack Rides and Mack NeXT, the ride has opened in spring.

Korea

Legoland Korea (Chuncheon): New Park – New Legoland theme park containing three (semi-)dark rides: Ninjago: The Ride, Lego Factory Adventure Ride and Dragon. The park opened 5 May.

Malaysia

Genting Skyworlds (Genting Highlands): Renewed Park – The original Genting Theme Park closed in 2013 for major refurbishment. The new park, Genting Skyworlds, is mainly based on IP by 20th Century Fox. The park announced some rides in August and was set to open in late 2021. The park officially soft-opened on 8 February, though the park has welcomed some guests already before that date.

U.A.E.

Ferrari World (Abu Dhabi): Mission Ferrari – SFX-coaster, combining a dark ride and a rollercoaster, built by Dynamic Attractions. The ride was announced for 2019, but has not opened to public up to now. Official opening is announced for January 2023.

Vietnam

Sunworld Ba Na Hills (Da Nang): Mắt BaySimulator ride delivered by Simworx. Opened 30 April.

VinWonders Nha Trang (Nha Trang): Tata World River Adventure – New major dark boat ride, designed by Jora Vision in co-operation with Interlink, IMAscore, Red Raion and United Art. Riders join Princess Tata on her quest to retrieve the Pearl of Happiness, which was stolen by the Dark Princess. The ride contains 11 scenes and two drops.

Jumanji Gardaland
Artwork for Jumanji – The Adventure (© Merlin Entertainment)

Europe

Belgium

Lego Discovery Centre Brussels (Brussels): Imagination Express. This brand new Lego Discovery Centre in the Belgian capital will contain the interactive dark ride ‘Imagination Express’, that can be found in multiple Legoland Discovery Centres. The centre opened on 24 June.

Denmark

Djurs Sommerland (Nimtofte): Dino Xpedition. Semi-dark ride in dinosaur theme, opened along with the new Dinosaurland. The land is designed by Leisure Expert Group, with theming produced by MK Themed Attractions and Petro Art Projects. The ride system for Dino Xpedition was supplied by Metallbau Emmeln. The area opened 30 April.

France

Futuroscope (Chasseneuil-du-Poitou): Chasseurs de Tornades. Brand new show ride where riders plunge into the heart of tornados (Chasseurs de Tornades means Tornado Chasers in French). The ride consists of a Dynamic Motion Theater by Dynamic Attractions. It is located inside the Images Studio pavilion, and set to open on the 2 July.

La Tête Dans les Nuages (Roissy): Hyper Ride. Prototype of the Hyper Ride by Triotech and Gosetto, located in an arcade near Airport Charles-de-Gaulle, north of Paris. Has been open since spring, more information in our report.

Walt Disney Studios (Marne-la-Vallée): Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure. This ride is a copy of the ride by the same name that opened in Disney California Adventure in 2021. The new dark ride is part of the development of Avengers Campus, located on the site of the former Backlot area. Opening of the area including the dark ride took place on 20 July.

Germany

Europa-Park (Rust): Eatrenalin. Eatrenalin in a hybrid between a dark ride and a dining experience. Visitors board a trackless vehicle, consisting of a chair and a table. While enjoying their dinner, they are taken through a variety of scenes. Opened on 4 November.

RitterRost – Magic Park Verden (Verden): Drachen Magic. New dark ride, which re-uses the trackless ride system of Film-Musik-Fahrt from Bavaria Filmstadt. In Drachen Magic, riders are taken into a barn owned by park character Fabulus, which is home to several dragons. Opened on 3 December.

Italy

Cavallino Matto (Castagneto Carducci): Pirati. New semi-dark ride, combining a spinning rafts ride with a pirate-themed dark ride. The ride is presumably constructed by Zamperla. Opening was announced to be delayed by late summer, presumably the ride opens in 2023.

Gardaland (Castelnuovo del Garda): Jumanji – The Adventure. New dark ride based on the Jumanji franchise. In collaboration with Futura Form, Gardaland creates a dark ride in which riders are to return the Sacred Jewel to its shrine and save Jumanji. Replaces the previous dark ride Ramses: Il Risveglio which closed for the 2021 season. The new ride opened 9 April.

Netherlands

De Waarbeek (Hengelo): Huyze Pelle. New haunted house, re-using the ride system of funfair train ride Space Mouse, constructed by Sartori. Decorations of the haunted house are manufactured by the park itself, with the façade created in collaboration with Petro Art Production. Opened on May 28th.

Drouwenerzand (Drouwen): Landhuys den Linden. New ghost train including the refurbished ride system of the park’s previous ghost train called Spookhuis. The new ride opened to visitors 14 May, though finetuning was done in following weeks.

Naturalis (Leiden): Rexperience. Simulator ride in the dinosaur-section of the nature museum, featuring the museum’s T-Rex skeletton called ‘Trix’. Opened on 15 June.

Switzerland

Conny-Land (Lipperswil): Crazy Professor. This unique ‘vertical dark ride’ is a co-production of Conny-Land and Ride Engineers Switzerland (RES). The ride, announced in November 2021, consists of an indoor free fall tower that features storytelling on four multimedia screens on different levels of the ride.

United Kingdom

Fantasy Island (Ingoldmells): Harrington Flint’s Island Adventures. New dark ride which will utilize a trackless ride vehicle build by ETF and interactive system by Alterface, which were originally manufactured for Hub Zero (UAE). The ride opened on 22 July.


This article will be extended when new rides are announced. Do you know of a new ride that should be on this list? Please e-mail us at [email protected].