Parks with the most and least dark themes?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Often, theme parks theme their rides with a mix of darker themes and less dark themes, but some parks tend to gravitate more towards one end of the dark themes spectrum or the other. So my question to you today is; which parks have the darkest themes and which parks have the least dark themes, on average?


I’ll get the ball rolling with my personal choices for each. Both my choices are parks I’ve been to, so I’d say I have a fair idea of the type of themes on offer at each of these parks. I should point out that I love the themes at both of these parks to some degree, but they are definitely at very different ends of the darkness spectrum to one another!


For most dark themes, I’d have to go with Alton Towers. While Alton certainly has some very bright, happy sections, many of the rides and areas, and all of the coasters bar Galactica and the family coasters have quite… torturous themes to some degree. All of them seem to focus on the rider facing death or harm of some description, to an extent. Let’s break it down:

• Nemesis: Themed to battling a deadly alien monster.
• Oblivion: Themed to being experimented upon by a secret organisation, and disappearing into “the void”.
• Thirteen: Themed to exploring a living, breathing forest and getting attacked by its residents (the wraiths).
• Rita: Escaping the aforementioned forest in a beaten up old dragster.
• The Smiler: Although this isn’t too on the nose in terms of being a dark theme, it is still themed around being tortured and forced into smiling by the Ministry of Joy through various means.
• Wicker Man: Themed to being burned alive as a sacrifice to a wicker deity.

Many of Alton’s filler rides also have quite dark, creepy themes (The Alton Towers Dungeon for one, and I’d also class Hex as dark to a degree. I guess you could class Duel as dark, too, and Nemesis Sub Terra was certainly very dark when it operated). Many non-enthusiasts I know even think that Alton Towers is a horror/Halloween themed park because of the prevalence of horror themes. So with that in mind, I’d say that Alton Towers is my winner for most dark themes.


In terms of least dark themes, I’d personally go for Magic Kingdom. This could apply to all Disney castle parks, but Magic Kingdom is the one I’ve personally visited, so I can have a more in-depth take on it. Let me tell you; the land where dreams come true certainly has some of the brightest, happiest themes you’ll ever find in a theme park! From the “heigh ho” of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to the “zip-a-dee-doo-dah” of Splash Mountain, not to mention the infamous It’s a Small World, Magic Kingdom has loads of happy themes, and these often have an equally happy, catchy jingle to accompany them that you’ll have stuck in your head for days! While some of the themes are a bit darker (Haunted Mansion, for instance), these are in the minority, and the park as a whole is mostly a very bright, happy place theming wise; it’s known as “the place where dreams come true” for a reason!


But what parks do you feel have the most and least dark themes? Do you agree with my choices?

 

[Thameslink Rail]

There seems to be something quite British about dark themes as I can't really think of any parks outside the UK that do it on every ride. You've already mentioned Alton Towers, I would add Thorpe Park as they like horror movie tie-ins e.g. Saw, Blair Witch and The Walking Dead as well as doing apocalyptic themes of their own in the Swarm.
On the other side of the scale is Paultons who do a good job of theming but (largely due to their target audience) never go dark. Even their Halloween event wouldn't scare anyone unless they just don't like costumes.

 

[Danny]

Holiday World sprung to mind for not having any dark themes. The only dark thing about that place was the operations.

 

[jon81uk]

Universal in general probably has more "dark" themes than Disney.
To some extent Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, The Mummy and Kong all revolve around some kind of danger really.

 

[jon81uk]

Also I guess there are many theme parks (and rides within them) which don't really have all that much of a theme.

Batman at Six Flags is an inverted coaster but I don't recall any good/evil/light/dark theme at all to it.
To some extent even the Hulk at Universal doesn't have much of a theme either way, as expected a gamma radiation thing goes wrong and thats about it really.

 

[Matt N]

Universal in general probably has more "dark" themes than Disney.
To some extent Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, The Mummy and Kong all revolve around some kind of danger really.

I wouldn’t personally say that some of these are particularly “on-the-nose” dark themes, though. I’ll admit that Mummy and Kong could be considered dark, and Jurassic Park could be through a certain lens, but I wouldn’t personally call HP a “dark” theme as such.

I’ll certainly agree that Universal at times has a darker edge than Disney, though; I think that might be a biproduct of the Universal parks possibly having a greater aim towards older children and adults than Disney. Universal builds some far more extreme rides than Disney, on the whole, and the parks do seem a bit more suitable (for lack of a better word) for older members of the family than Disney, so that might be why they have more darker themes, as older children and adults respond better to darker themes than the younger children that Disney is aiming at, on the whole.

 

[D4n]

Disney isn't entirely without it's dark themes.

Snow White's Scary Adventures and Dinosaur in particular stand out as particularly threatening rides. Haunted Mansion / Phantom Manor obviously also have dark themes.

 

[Plastic Person]

In terms of least dark themes, I’d personally go for Magic Kingdom. This could apply to all Disney castle parks, but Magic Kingdom is the one I’ve personally visited, so I can have a more in-depth take on it. Let me tell you; the land where dreams come true certainly has some of the brightest, happiest themes you’ll ever find in a theme park!

This is why it was particularly amusing and to some, even outrageous, when the park debuted the ExtraTerrorestrial Alien Encounter in the mid-nineties. Incidentally, Michael Eisner, who was Disney CEO at the time, wanted more dark themes in Magic Kingdom and the parks in general, in order to compete with Universal and appeal to teens. Incredible of an experience as it was, Alien Encounter was definitely a step too far for most. Even it's Stitch-focused replacement was a bit much for a lot of visitors. Turns out that patrons to Magic Kingdom do not anticipate nor appreciate being locked into a chair and lightly assaulted by an alien, no matter how cuddly it is.

 

[Matt N]

To back up my previous answer of Alton Towers, as well as to possibly throw Thorpe Park into the ring as well; last Halloween, Airtime Thrills made a countdown of the top 13 creepiest roller coasters in the world, and 7 of the 13 coasters in it were at either Alton Towers or Thorpe Park, with Heide Park’s Colossos: Kampf der Giganten also making the list, making for 8 Merlin coasters in total:



The presenter even says at the end of the video:

So what can we learn from this list? Well for one, the UK is pretty sick and twisted, with its two major parks focusing on the horror theme.