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What is the worst ghost train you’ve ever ridden?

davidm

Strata Poster
...there was a skeleton that fell onto clear glass that looked like it was going to hit you....
Yep definitely something like that, was the highlight!
(not sure it was a skeleton tho, maybe a spooky undertaker type dummy thing, I remember it wearing a fancy hat)
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Back off topic again :D

That's interesting, because I remember Around the World in 80 Days - and apparently at the age of 4 getting off and remarking... "I'm glad we didn't go to Yugoslavia, Mummy..."

This too is interesting - at first I thought of Around the World in 80 Days in that spot, but then I thought: 'No wait, Around the World in 80 Days is a Disney ride, it must have been Toyland Tours at Alton Towers.
Towers Times does indeed confirm that Around the World in 80 Days operated as such until 1993, replaced in 1994 by Toyland Tours.
Weird how I've forgotten so much, yet other details remain vividly clear - I remember the 4 Man Bob coaster (I actually really liked it 😁) I remember 'Coaster Corner' with the Mouse and the Beast (I was there the day it opened. Kylie was there too! 😁 ). I remember the Gravitron, and the Cine 360, and the Magic Carpet, and the Mississippi Showboat, and that concrete 'alpine' type bobsled thing that ran down what is now X Sector.... but Doom & Sons is just drawing a massive blank.
So I take back my original comment about 'not being old enough to remember', and replace it with 'being too stupid to remember'.
Actually a bit gutted to be honest, I really wish I'd experienced it now. 😥
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
^ Still OT : Dinosaur Land?
Where Smiler is now, before the Black Hole. That's going some.

Woah, that's proper early 80's that is! By the time I got there, those dinosaurs were adorning the route of the Log Flume, along with the cavemen in the tunnel.
Still off topic, but I swear I saw those dino's being stored once in a backstage area at Chessington about a decade ago and I did wonder if they'd be repurposed at some point... but I don't know what happened to them.
Although that stegosaurus in the Lost Kingdom at Paultons does look familiar... 🤔
 

Will

Strata Poster
So I take back my original comment about 'not being old enough to remember', and replace it with 'being too stupid to remember'.
Actually a bit gutted to be honest, I really wish I'd experienced it now. 😥
To use my usual line 'I've drunk a lot and slept a lot since then!'
 

witchfinder

Hyper Poster
^ Still OT : Dinosaur Land?
I remember it being on the site that's now The Smiler. I recall there was a vintage cars ride nearby too and a paddling pool roughly in the area near the lake that now has one of their crappy arcade sheds on it!

Back to Doom & Sons, I always used to go through it every visit in those days as it had no queue. The only thing I remember was a door that probably had the typical "Do not open" sign on it and when you did there was some kind of jump scare behind it.
 

rob666

Hyper Poster
Err...Crazy golf around the alpine slide where Oblivion is now anyone?
I got a hole in one and won an ice cream off my mum!
I know I am old.
 

Robbie

Hyper Poster
Back to ghost trains, I do remember Camelot having some sort of "Mad Monk" themed one and no matter how scary the decorations were (and they weren't), any horror was undermined by the ride constantly breaking down and you ending up being pushed along the track by an apologetic teenage ride op.
 
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gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
We used to get one in the traveling fair that popped up a couple of times a year.

It only lasted a couple of minutes. I think there were some crappy cardboard cutouts in the first bit, but it mostly consisted of a dark tunnel where someone would run their hand over your head.

Someone's job was to literally sit in the dark for hours and touch children.
 

Will

Strata Poster
Back to ghost trains, I do remember Camelot having some sort of "Mad Monk" themed one and no matter how scary the decorations were (and they weren't), and horror was undermined by the ride constantly breaking down and you ending up being pushed along the track by an apologetic teenage ride op.
I can't find a lot online about Mad Monastery (or Camelot in general) and have... minimal memories of either! I visited once in 2007 and wasn't a fan of ghost trains at the time.

But if the dark ride database is to be believed, Dungeons of Doom operated at Southport. Doesn't look great (except from the outside, if memory serves me!)

 

cp23

Mega Poster
I love ghost trains, even the crappy seaside/funfair ones still have entertainment value.

Is there still one on one of the piers in Blackpool? Can't remember whether it was Central or South. It was pretty terrible - looked very similar to the Knutsford one posted on the previous page. The Pleasure Beach and Coral Island ghost trains, on the other hand, are both really good. Shame Carnesky's is no longer there, recall quite enjoying it although remember the pre-show more than the ride itself. I remember it did a number of laps of the circuit with things changing each time.

One that impressed me recently was the Weston-super-Mare one. Thought the theming was really quite good for something on the end of a pier. Infinitely better than Brighton pier's rather awful one.

I actually thought DBGT wasn't bad. Maybe just because my expectations were low. Would have still preferred a 'proper' ghost train than a VR attraction, though.

I too have fond memories of the old Haunted House at AT. I remember buying the soundtrack on a cassette tape back in the day! It had Toyland Tours on one side, and the Haunted House on the other. Wonder what I did with that ... I recall at one of the Scarefests some time ago they ran Duel with all the shooting nonsense switched off (and a couple of live actors inside) and it was almost like being on the old Haunted House again. No idea whether they have done that again since, haven't been to Scarefest for years.

That Hotel Psycho looks awesome. Must make it to Vienna some day!
 
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