8. Universal Studios Florida

1. E.T. Adventure
2. Fast and Furious – Supercharged
3. Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
4. Hogwarts Express
5. MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack
6. Revenge of the Mummy
7. TRANSFORMERS: The Ride

Universal Studios Florida is often criticized for having too many screen-based rides, but omitting straight-up simulators from its dark ride lineup reveals a collection that’s actually pretty diverse and has some real standouts.

E.T. ADVENTURE – the only opening day ride left at the park – is a classic, retro heart-warmer. MEN IN BLACK: ALIEN ATTACK is certainly the best “blaster” ride in Central Florida. TRANSFORMERS: THE RIDE is an action-packed (if redundant) headliner. And of course, we consider REVENGE OF THE MUMMY one of our favorite rides, period – a great “pre-Screen Era” addition that makes you want to ride again and again.

Blacklight Award: HARRY POTTER AND THE ESCAPE FROM GRINGOTTS debuted in 2014 as the anchor attraction of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. At the time, fans criticized the temperamental ride for a seeming lack of innovation and thrills, especially compared to the groundbreaking Forbidden Journey that had launched with Hogsmeade four years earlier. It’s true that Gringotts is “simpler” (though it’s still impressive – rotating cabs affixed to a coaster chasis, with unprecedented trick track elements). But Gringotts is also a very agreeably fun ride, with excellent pacing, great physical sets, and a real sense of place.

7. Disneyland Paris

1. Blanche Neige et les Sept Nains
2. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
3. Disneyland Railroad (featuring Grand Canyon Diorama and Pirates Caverns)
4. “it’s a small world”
5. Les Voyages de Pinocchio
6. Peter Pan’s Flight
7. Phantom Manor
8. Pirates of the Caribbean

Disneyland Paris is often regarded as the most beautiful of all “Disneyland-style” parks – a poetic mix of the original Disneyland’s charm and coziness with the grandeur and efficiency of Magic Kingdom. That’s all true. But the thing most Disney Parks fans associate Disneyland Paris with is the notion that, when it opened in 1992, its financial freefall caused decades of cancellations and closures across the Parks division.

Given that Paris was just barely getting back on its financial feet when the disastrous Walt Disney Studios Park opened and siphoned away any capital investment, it’s no surprise that Paris’ dark ride lineup comes across as fairly simplistic – basically, the “starter pack” of “Castle Park” dark rides without any additions post 1992 except BUZZ LIGHTYEAR LASER BLAST.

Blacklight Award: Even if it looks a little bland on paper, Paris’ dark ride lineup has something going for it: several “tried-and-true” dark rides were reimagined for the park, leaning into the more romantic, fantasy, European context. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, for example, is basically a full rewrite of the version U.S. fans know. But the most notable of its dark rides is easy to decide…

One of Paris’ “bucket list” rides for Imagineering fans is a ride we celebrated in its own in-depth feature – PHANTOM MANOR. Though the ride follows the layout and key scenes of the Haunted Mansion, it’s a sort of hauntingly sad reinvention; a melodramatic Western opera set in the park’s Frontierland, recontextualizing the Mansion’s most well-known scenes to tell the story of a family cursed by the spirits of Big Thunder Mountain and a sinister Phantom who haunts a doomed bride for all eternity.

6. Universal’s Islands of Adventure

1. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
2. The Cat in the Hat
3. Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls
4. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
5. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
6. Hogwarts Express
7. Jurassic Park River Adventure
8. Skull Island: Reign of Kong

Islands of Adventure is just the kind of park industry observers never expected from Universal… one based not on movies, but on timeless characters and stories. It’s filled with incredible settings, secret spots, and hidden gems. And since its opening in 1999, what’s happened at Islands has directed the movement of the entire theme park industry.

2010’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter jump-started the era of “Living Lands” that are now industry standard. But it also introduced HARRY POTTER AND THE FORBIDDEN JOURNEY – a nearly inexplicable dark ride based off of a technology so astounding, most guests probably can’t explain what the ride is or how it works. In any other theme park, Forbidden Journey would win the Blacklight Award without blinking an eye… but Islands of Adventure also happens to have a ride that arguably altered the course of ride design as we know it…

BLACKLIGHT AWARD: There can be dark ride to better represent Islands of Adventure than the THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF SPIDER-MAN. Unthinkable in 1999 (and still amazing today), the ride is essentially a roving, motion-based dark ride that uses embedded screens to build out physical sets, bringing to life the comic book streets of New York. A technological marvel and an industry-changing innovation, Spider-Man remains one of the greatest modern dark rides on Earth – an icon from beginning to end.

5. EPCOT

1. Frozen Ever After
2. Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
3. Journey into Imagination with Figment
4. Living with the Land
5. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
6. The Seas with Nemo & Friends
7. Spaceship Earth
8. TEST TRACK

Not yet counted: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (2022)

Once upon a time, EPCOT was home to a collection of world class, interconnected dark rides that represent some of Imagineering’s best work ever. Each of its Future World pavilions was anchored by a lengthy, informative dark ride telling the story of its area of science and industry from the past into the future. Those Lost Legends: Universe of Energy, Body Wars, World of Motion, Journey into Imagination, The Living Seas, and Horizons are still remembered by many fans as embodiments of EPCOT’s truest self.

As EPCOT’s somewhat random assortment of dark rides today shows, each has been replaced one-by-one by piecemeal solutions as part of the park’s various waves of reimagining. From character overlays to outright replacements with more thrilling, semi-scientific attractions, EPCOT today is defined by an odd mix of experiences. While the foundational redesign under way now seems poised to at least aesthetically reunite the remains of Future World, it isn’t science and industry that dictate the park’s content, but Disney, Pixar, and Marvel.

BLACKLIGHT AWARD: At EPCOT, there can be no dark ride more worthy of being labeled the park’s best but Spaceship Earth. Theoretically, it’s the only remnant of the “original” EPCOT (albeit, updated several times; most recently in 2008, positioning Dame Judi Dench as its narrator). The ride inside EPCOT’s park icon is a thoughtful, reflective, 12-minute journey through the history of human communication from the Stone Age to the Internet Age. Like the best EPCOT classics, it’s educational and inspiring, maybe even making you feel small. After all, “Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time; and for a brief moment we have been among it’s passengers.”

Also, it’s worth saying: enjoy it while you can. Though perhaps delayed or outright cancelled by pandemic cost-cutting, Disney had officially announced their intentions to give Spaceship Earth another facelift in 2020: one that would shift the ride’s focus from “communication” to “storytelling,” adding homages to (you guessed it), Disney and Pixar films.

Interestingly – but maybe not surprisingly – that leaves just four parks to round out the top of our Dark Ride Counts… and all four are “Castle Parks.” Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo, and Shanghai… Which order do you think the “Castle Parks” come in when it comes to their dark ride collections? Read on…