2023 has been the age of dark rides as three brand new indoor immersive attractions have opened to the public but which ones are worth visiting? We bring you our 2023 Merlin UK dark rides ranked best to worst list!
This year has brought us not one, not two but three new dark ride attractions across Merlin parks here in the UK.
The Curse at Alton Manor at Alton Towers, Ghost Train at Thorpe Park and the ReOpening of Nemesis Sub Terra after 8 years at Alton Towers have all been hot topics of conversation for theme park fans and the general public alike.
We dive right into this article with naming our personal best out of these three attractions and discuss why we feel they deserve to be where they are in the rankings.
Without further ado, let’s dive into these 2023 Merlin UK dark rides! Here goes.
The Curse at Alton Manor
Haunted House designer John Wardley has well and truly passed to the torch to his first namesake in the shape of John Burton. Working closely together on this project The Curse at Alton Manor took the old Duel interactive shooting attraction at the resort and transformed it into an old school dark ride with a very dark storyline indeed.
The story of The Curse at Alton Manor revolves around a girl who’s aristocratic parents confine her to the attic and treat her appallingly until one day a dark spirit empowers her and she exacts her revenge on New Years Eve.
It’s the perfect bedtime story of a child being possessed and murdering not only her parents but every single person downstairs at the New Years Eve party below.
Alton Towers released a synopsis for the ride which read as follows:
Left alone in the attic, with nothing but her doll’s house to keep this quiet but curious girl amused. Emily becomes lonely and forgotten, with nothing but the sound of music and laughter of the parties, hosted by her parents to the high of society, echoing through the floors from the grand hall below. Her hatred grew, fuelled by frustration and bitterness. Dark forces began to surround Emily, becoming a vessel for the evil that has seeped into every corner of the Manor.
The Curse at Alton Manor delivers an immersive experience that is head and shoulders above the previous Duel instalment. The rolling preshow introduces us to our first ‘wow’ moment of the ride and the ride experience is immersive and drags you into the story.
Phantom Manor vibes at Disneyland ooze through this attraction with the usual Merlin cost cutting procedures still in place that spoil some aspects of the ride. It feels as though all of the budget went on the garden scene at the end and they worked backwards to the beginning with quite a few black spots where you’re just going around in complete darkness but the sets when revealed are wonderful.
It certainly lacks in quite a few departments with the black spots being the worst part but over time the opening day effects that were firing on all cylinders are slowly fading out one by one. During our most recent run throughs there have been a minimum of 5 effects not working during every single ride. It’s a shame they’re not looking after it and already a couple of months later it’s a much lesser experience to what it was when it opened.
Is it a world-beating ride? No. Is it the best dark ride in Europe? No. But with the poor state of dark rides in this country, this was a ride the UK sorely needed I just wish more effort had gone into the ride to fill in those dark spaces considering everything else they have done with the attraction was spot on.
The marketing was wonderful, the detailing within the scenes is wonderful, the return of the trommel is great and the UK has a ride that looks insane from its exterior and interior in both day time and night.
A little cheap in places a little amazing in others The Curse at Alton Manor is certainly the best of this years 2023 dark ride line-up.
Nemesis Sub Terra
Nemesis Sub Terra returned in 2023 being another ride added to the Alton Towers line-up. This indoor drop tower dark ride has some nice little immersive moments and despite people expecting major changes it just reopened, exactly how it was 8 years ago when it closed.
Subtle little changes have been added to ride queue line screens and the pre show video but it remains mostly the same.
The ride is a nicely themed little space with the underground cave and egg rooms being very impressive set pieces that immerse you into the story with the addition of water effects, back prodders and leg ticklers.
Combining a drop tower with a 4DX style experience Nemesis Sub Terra is a welcome addition to the Alton Towers roster and sets up the story for what is to come from the reopening of the Nemesis rollercoaster in 2024.
Stepping inside the building and walking through the attraction you’d never think that the ride had been closed for 8 years. It feels fresh and has a really nice atmosphere to it I just wish there was a little more expansion when it comes to the finale of the ride.
For me the ending of the experience is the weakest part of the ride as it just abruptly ends and you’re outside without really feeling like the story has concluded. It leaves you on a cliffhanger and in that regard feels unfinished but there’s no denying that Nemesis Sub Terra is a great little filler attraction that will soak up some of the crowds on a popular day.
Who can argue about a new ride being added to the park?
With the addition of this and The Curse at Alton Manor both being horror-themed rides I feel as though Scarefest this year could be quite special especially with both rides being a stone throws apart.
Ghost Train
Considering Ghost Train at Thorpe Park is the one of the most expensive attractions at Thorpe Park Resort you’d think it would be good. You would be mistaken.
Derren Brown’s Ghost Train was a VR experience nightmare that garnered awful reviews and was reimagined this year with the expiry of the Derren Brown IP.
Ghost Train somehow has made the experience even worse than what it was before with an attraction that is no longer a ride but a moving piece of theatre as guests are trapped on a sub way train heading to Chapel Station.
Chapel Station is a ‘no go’ zone after a ritual took place at the local church that killed all of those who took part in it and guests venture into the crypt to discover the mysteries of what happened that fateful night.
Ghost Train is an attraction that relies on actor performance and commitment but it’s not a ride, it’s theatre. It’s a show inside an absolutely huge building that now feels even more underutilised than it did before. Don’t get me wrong the VR headsets were awful but at least it felt like a ride experience rather than sitting on a tube train watching some theatre.
The use of microphones and audio effects are a positive within Ghost Train in addition to the crypt scene looking great (only one side of a 4 walled room is themed) and the Last Call Cafe’ is a great space to hang out and grab a coffee but it’s bad.
Since opening the reviews have been nothing short of abysmal and it’s a real shame. An actor-led experience reminiscent of a Dungeon attraction just doesn’t hit home here, that building deserves something better and no amount of improvements can justify having a show like that in a building of that size.
All in all, it feels like a waste and money could have been focused on bigger and better projects.
Ghost Train is easily the biggest dark ride failure of 2023 completely removing its own ‘dark ride’ status in my opinion as you’d be clutching at straws to describe this experience as a ride anymore
Out of the three 2023 Merlin UK dark rides. Which one is your favourite?
