Dark rides: how digital technologies are transforming theme parks

Once defined by roller coasters, theme parks are now entering a new era, powered by digital innovation. From AI-driven character interactions to immersive augmented reality experiences and dark rides that blur the line between physical and virtual worlds, the industry is embracing cutting-edge technology. Virtual reality (VR), augmented or mixed reality (AR), AI, animatronics, and technically advanced ride systems are becoming more widespread in both the engineering and design of rides. And these technologies are not just being used for entertainment; they are also becoming a key component in other areas such as queuing logistics, throughput (moving people through an area), and safety.

All theme parks want to make the visitor experience immersive, exciting, and memorable, to generate return visits. And guests are demanding deeper engagement and storytelling. Creating illusions and managing thrills is the work of theme park engineers and designers, such as ‘the world’s first thrill engineer’ Brendan Walker, who describes his work as “the process of taking the science and the engineering of thrill and communicating it to an audience”. Walker, professor of creative industries at Middlesex University, has found that theme parks tend to invest in new forms of entertainment about every three years, “to satisfy that hunger for novelty, a necessary component of feeling thrilled”. We are “hardwired to have an emotional response” to movement, which is why ride designers and engineers have previously aimed for attractions and rides that break records in speed, height and inversions. In this camp is Hyperia – the UK’s newest, tallest and fastest roller coaster – which opened at Thorpe Park in 2024. As Professor Hannah Fry found when she went for a spin on it for her TV series The Secret Genius of Modern Life, it’s hard to beat the spine-tingling thrill of being hurtled on 10 tonnes of tubular steel tracks, at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 kilometres per hour), through two stomach-churning inversions, with the power of G-force (and state-of-the-art lap bar restraints) to keep you safely in your seat.  

Great – except, says Walker, we have reached the limits of what the body can safely be exposed to. “The scope for developing new forms of thrill and novelty from just moving the body has peaked,” he explains. Michelle Hicks, a fellow thrill engineer and Co-Owner and Executive Producer of theme park consultancy Firefly Creations, agrees. “In the past 10 years, we’ve seen a change from it being about the tallest, fastest ride, for example, to something where the audience can feel really immersed in the experience. It’s all about the thrill or the fear, or laughing together,” she says. 

Off the track

One area of theme parks that can deliver this ‘new thrill’ is dark rides, which have been increasing in popularity as immersive technologies have advanced. An early precursor is the old-fashioned ghost train that trundled around indoor tracks with primitive effects such as hanging slime, screeches and ghoulish apparitions. Today’s dark rides are high-tech displays of animation, audio-visuals, sensory elements, and special effects. Dark rides, which often feature AGVs (automated guided vehicles that follow a predetermined route without tracks), can be slower paced and riders are generally not required to meet the physical requirements typical of some attractions, such as minimum height. This means they are more accessible to a wider range of age groups, and to those with a lower tolerance of motion sickness. As they are indoors, in air-conditioned buildings, riders are also not affected by bad weather or excess heat. 

AGVs themselves have been a game changer, says Hicks, because they are not constrained by track, and can be programmed to go on multiple routes, making them more interesting. “AGVs also don’t require large facility spaces. They’re changing our industry hugely.”

As dark rides take passengers through themed environments, they have huge potential for interactivity and immersive storytelling, created by techniques such motion capture and robotics. The most expensive dark ride to date – Harry Potter: Battle at the Ministry – uses these to great effect. The new ride is the centrepiece of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Epic Universe in Orlando. The magic and illusion starts when riders step into a reconstruction of a Paris Metro station, where the simulated pyrotechnics and special effects begin: fireplaces puffing green flames; auditory effects such as animals screeching, ghostly chatter and eerie music; visual effects such as talking paintings that riders can interact with and uncannily realistic audio-animatronics.

While the ride’s technical details remain fiercely guarded, it’s likely that projection mapping – which uses high-resolution projectors to project three-dimensional images onto physical surfaces to create visual effects – was used to create aspects of the ride, such as a ceiling with rapidly changing weather and flocks of virtual birds whizzing through the atrium. High-resolution projectors are cinema-grade RGB laser projectors that produce ultra-bright, colour-rich images built to run continuously, ensuring worlds feel vivid and convincing. “Their advanced optics and warping allow seamless projection across complex surfaces, turning bare walls into landscapes that feed a rider’s sense of wonder and awe,” says Walker.

The dark ride itself – or ‘Ministry lift’ – combines advanced ride engineering with motion simulation. Rather than riders sitting in a small, slowly moving AGV, they enjoy a highly dynamic ride onboard a 14-person system that is mounted on a large motion system and can be lifted, moved and turned in every direction. As the story unfolds, it tilts forward and backward and creates sudden drops and high-speed motions that are synchronised with physical sets and audio-visual effects, lighting and darkness and virtual set extensions as well as moving characters on vast high-resolution LED screens in front of the lift, so no 3D glasses or VR headsets are required.

“The common technical basis for simulators with complex motions is usually the so-called hexapod principle: six hydraulic or electric support and drive elements allow a platform to move and rotate in all six degrees of freedom – in order to simulate movements realistically,” explains Alexander Bresinsky, Director of Business Development of Simtec Systems, a leading flying theatre and motion simulator ride supplier. Its new HEXaPOT® system combines a motion platform with a dynamic propulsion system for up to 30 passengers that can tilt and move in any direction and rotates 360° degrees.

Walker points out that the motion that riders experience needs to be precision engineered to match what’s happening around them, to maintain the illusion. “The core challenge is synchronising physical motion with visual cues, because even tiny mismatches can break immersion and cause discomfort,” he says. “Engineers design vehicles and motion bases to deliver movements that are not only precise and safe but also tuned to evoke moments of intense delight and surprise in riders.” This interaction of a highly complex system enables visitors to enjoy a unique experience. “Highly dynamic and safe movements of the systems, which could sometimes weigh up to 40 metric tonnes, in the case of large-scale 80-passenger flying theatres, must be precisely synchronised with the content of other elements of the attractions – in particular film/moving images – especially in order to avoid motion sickness,” Bresinsky adds. “The processes must be able to be flexibly adapted to the flow of visitors, and all show components and safety elements must be linked together to maintain the dramaturgy, show sequence and illusion at all times.”

Creating the fantastic

Ride designers and engineers are mindful of giving the visitor what they want, and Hicks says what’s driving the industry are “attractions that think”: rides that leverage AI to use input from guests’ visits to develop the ride itself. “So, if a ride features snakes, the computer can monitor the audience reaction and say: ‘That person in row four screamed when they saw snakes’. We can take that and make it more terrifying – if it’s that kind of experience. It’s personalised and it can be rewritable, every ride can be a bit different based on guest response, meaning they can go on it multiple times.” AI-powered animatronics and chatbots are also enhancing visitor interactions, making characters on the rides more lifelike and responsive. Outside of the rides themselves, AI is being used to analyse visitor behaviour and deliver personalised experiences, from tailored ride recommendations to dynamic pricing models.

Another way of transporting visitors to fantastical worlds without needing massive physical infrastructure is through VR and AR, which designers and engineers integrate into attractions and apps to create layered, interactive environments. However, the challenge with VR, says Hicks, is that headsets can limit sharing emotions with friends and family. “As soon as you put on a VR headset, you’re cut off from the real world.” It’s a view shared by Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, who has said AR not VR is the way of the future for Disney’s parks. Headsets can also slow up the ride process, as simply getting them on and off can take time. With AR, a headset and screens can be set up that still allow the rider to see worlds on the other side and also share reactions of friends and family, “because that’s where those memories are made,” says Hicks. Such a ride is Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Universal, a hugely successful and popular AR dark ride based on the Mario Kart 8 video game. “If you’re on a ride as the superhero chasing a villain, we can show the villain through AR, and you can see those around you reacting,” Hicks adds. “You’re interacting in the game too.” 

Making memories

Considering what happens next, Walker says: “Dark rides are evolving into hybrid physical–digital worlds where technology deepens emotional immersion as much as visceral thrills. The next decade will see AI and AR create attractions that respond to riders in real time, turning passive journeys into personal, story-driven adventures.”

Hicks agrees: “We are still in the early days of development of AI and its continued development will unlock further opportunities to enhance the experience.” With at-home technology, such as Yaw VR motion simulators and VR treadmills, now increasingly affordable, the onus will be on theme parks to “embrace technology to entice guests to experiences they cannot do at home”. 

While Walker and Hicks are deeply invested in how technologies such as AR and AI are shaping theme parks now, and in the future, it’s evident that their deepest interest and concern comes down to what people feel when experiencing them, to basic human emotions. “When we start an attraction design, the first thing we look at is: what do we want audiences to feel? Scared, or excited, or calm… it may be awe or wonder,” says Hicks. “Whether it’s thrill or fear or laughter, it comes down to the special moments you have and memories you make with others.”