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Brookes

Giga Poster
I had a search for this one but couldn't find anything... please correct me if I'm wrong.

Many theme park attractions are defined by their storyline and it can make or break some. I'm not talking about just bits of theming around a coaster, I mean a story that starts as soon as you enter and can be followed throughout the ride.

Personally, I think Tower of Terror at the Disney Parks is a good candidate. The story of the hotel is fulfilled through the pre-show, theming and even the costumes of the staff, and is maintained in the ride itself. Another is Hex at Alton, which uses the story of the Chained Oak to create a fantastic attraction.

So... what's your favourite?
 
J

Josh73

Giga Poster
^ Hex. Forbidden journey's is nicely done as well. The flats take the crown in categories like these.
 
Venom2053

Venom2053

Hyper Poster
Anything Disney or Universal. A good one that comes to mind is the story of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It connects different attractions around Frontierland to the ride story.
 
B

Ben

CF Legend
Nemesis fails because you can't tell what the storyline IS during the course of the ride experience.

Tower of Terror, most other Disney rides, Universal rides, Hex... <3
 
Treeis

Treeis

Mega Poster
To be honest, I forgot about Hex. But Nemesis is awesome because of the 10 minute audio thing with Tom baker as the narrator
 
B

Ben

CF Legend
And, um, when was the last time that was used?

Tell me, HOW can you tell the story from the ride? Those rocks and waterfalls aren't exactly a GREAT narrative.
 
gavin

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
^This.

Us geeks know the Nemesis story, and maybe a few people who rode in the opening years have a vague recollection, but that's it. The majority of visitors these days would have little to no clue at all.

But yeah, this sort of thing has to go to Disney/Universal in general. So many of their rides really do get you (or at least try to) into the story and atmosphere of the attraction as soon as you get in the queue line:

Tower of Terror
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
E.T
Jaws
Back to the Future
Jurassic Park

For non Disney/Universal:

Hex, obviously
Galaxy Express 999

and can't think of many others to be honest.

Oh, Raptor Attack? Ok, so it's clearly on a different level of budget, but as soon as you get into that little hole in the queue, it keeps you "in the moment" until you're all the way out again. For what they had to work with it's pretty well done.
 
spicy

spicy

Giga Poster
Hopefully Nemesis: Sub Terra will clearly tell the Nemesis story, because it is quite a good story that's currently completely missing.

Personally the best told story for me is the ToT story though, it's so well told, every little bit of themeing has a story to it, I would love it if they made it more of a walk through and you could actually see more of the hotel in any future ToT's. It really is an example of the imagineers at their best.

Hex is great aswel, with a great use of the Towers. Alton really should try to incorporate the towers into more dark ride stories like this as its so unique.
 
Lofty

Lofty

CF Legend
Haunted Mansion - Disneyland.
The Phantom Manor <3
Tower of Terror.
Dinosaur.
Mystic Manor - Although not completed, if you research the Imagineering behind it. It's so in-depth and magical.
Hex.

They're just a few. With a common trend of the first 5. Disney <3
 
Martyn B

Martyn B

CF Legend
Us geeks know the Nemesis story, and maybe a few people who rode in the opening years have a vague recollection, but that's it. The majority of visitors these days would have little to no clue at all.
Click to expand...

I dont even know it, and I've been visiting the Towers since 1994!
 
nadroJ

nadroJ

CF Legend
I'm going to try and think of non Disney/Universal ones too, just because it makes things a bit different.

I quite like Tidal Wave's story, makes sense and was really good when all the effects were working/I could be bothered to actually ride the thing.

Hex, obviously.

Astro Storm at Brean had a surprisingly acceptable storyline, with theming in the station which is then continued up the lift hill and throughout the ride itself.

Villa Volta was pretty epic, as was the weird haunted cemetary thing. Oh, and The Flying Dutchman. And Fata Morgana. And Vogel Rok. Pretty much everything at Efteling.

Mystery Castle was cool, I like the whole gothic, Frankenstein 'we're going to experiment on you, mwahahaha' thing they had going on with that.

Harry Potter's Forbidden Journey, because it incorporated everything you would expect and still managed to catch me by surprise.
 
Kebab

Kebab

Giga Poster
Furius Baco, it's such a bizarre but effective background to the rollercoaster, but really adds to the whole experience queuing and essentially the pre-launch sequence.
 
reddude333

reddude333

Giga Poster
Not saying these are the best, but I'd like to throw Indiana Jones and the Mummy rides into the mix...although they do kinda cheat by having a pre-defined story to springboard off of...just like Jurassic Park
 
B

Brookes

Giga Poster
gavin said:
Oh, Raptor Attack? Ok, so it's clearly on a different level of budget, but as soon as you get into that little hole in the queue, it keeps you "in the moment" until you're all the way out again. For what they had to work with it's pretty well done.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree, they've gone to a lot of effort with Raptor Attack, especially with all the newspaper cuttings (if I remember correctly) in the queue line.

nadroJ said:
Astro Storm at Brean had a surprisingly acceptable storyline, with theming in the station which is then continued up the lift hill and throughout the ride itself.
Click to expand...

I was surprised at how much theming this actually had! I thought it'd be a half-arsed attempt but it's pretty substantial. Whether there's a story there though, I'm unsure.
 
Colossus

Colossus

Giga Poster
^ Raptor Attack, YES! The theming and story line is very good, for what the ride is. The atmosphere in the tunnels is awesome and yes the paper clippings are in the queueline, although some of it has been damaged by yobs, its still a good read.

Also I guess (although I hate this rides) Hex and the Hex knock-off at DMP are half decent as actually telling a story as you move through the attraction.
 
Youngster Joey

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
I think besides the obivous whatever Disney/Universal does, I'd like to add Escape from Pompeii at BGW. It also is kinda cheating because it has a pre-defined story but I still think it should be put out there.
 
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