GRAB BAG: Weird Defunct Dark Rides 

Of all the ones you talked about, I'm most sad that I'll never get to experience donkey's sherry, that looked wild, even for dark rides!

An eagle with a strobe light on it to simulate movement? I dub this bird, Disco Eagle.

I have a theory on what inspired The Donkey's Sherry ride, but that doesn't make it any less weird: (TLDR: It may be based on the work of Spanish artist Francisco de Goya's work) Franscico de Goya was a Spanish(!) artist from the 18th century who is best known nowadays for a series of caricatures called Los Caprichos (Whims). A common motive in the collection is anthropomorphic donkeys performing human tasks. Another famous one of his paintings is The Witch's Sabbath in which an anthropomorphic goat is depicted in a similar pose to the donkey witch in Donkey's Sherry. Late in life de Goya experienced hearing loss which took a toll on his mental health. He expressed his mental anguish in a series known as "The Black Paintings" which he painted directly onto the walls of his home. These disturbing artworks are what Goya is most famous for except for Los Caprichos. So the ride progressing from the whimsical to the disturbing mirrors de Goya's artistic development. However in the end the experience is revealed to be a dream, which also is in line with de Goya's work. He was strongly opposed to the superstition in his country especially among the peasant population (like the vintners in the beginning of the ride) which was propagated by the clergy - who are often the ones unflatteringly depicted as donkeys in Los Caprichos. And notably the later part of the ride is a frightening the depiction of hell - exactly the kind of fearmongering Goya was opposed to - which is then revealed to be not true in the "all just a dream" ending, dreams also being a common theme in de Goya's work. In fact one of Los Caprichos is called "The Sleep of Reason Gives Birth to Monsters". I may be overinterpreting this silly amusement park attraction, but maybe one of the creatives of Parque Espana got way deep into their research of Spanish culture and decided to pay tribute to de Goya in their own way.

Loved your presentation here! It's clear that you're passionate about dark rides. Thank you for introducing me to some fascinating rides I've never heard of!

A Pinnochio ride based on the book sounds scary, considering the book had all the scary stuff in Disney's Pinnochio and more, like imagine if it had the scene where Pinnochio gets hanged by the Fox and The Cat?

Dark rides are my favorite thing about theme parks.

My dad swears I went on the Lewis & Clark ride in the late 2000s when I was 4-5. I have absolutely no memory of it, and maybe that’s for the best.

5:13 it's basically the one story from the comic series that was later adapted into CG animated film directed by Steven Spielberg.

That trippy ride looks so mystical and fun, I’d kill for an experience like that again

Awesome video! Fun fact: one of the Gonzo animatronics survived to this day, albeit without skin. You can find a video of him here on YT! His owner is looking to restore him.

Wow. Glad I checked this video out. I never knew there was a shopping mall traveling Muppet ride before their presence in Disney Parks. It's amazing! And I wonder why Jim Henson company and Disney didn't just think about making a new attraction for shopping malls after this one was finished.

That Lewis and Clark bear looks scarier than Freddy Fazbear

This video reminds me that if I had access to time travel, I'd try to get cucumbery bussing going. People always talk about seeing the dinosaurs still on the to-do list, parting in Rome, preventing the Hindenburg, or whacking the future, but I would want to film the past.

As a Belgian person, why am I only know learning that Tintin had several theme park rides?

Tivoli World's Pinocchio reminds me of Alice in Wonderland dark ride in Blackpool's Pleasure Beach. Unlike Tivoli's Pinocchio where it just a Shameless Knockoff of Disney's mixed in with the original tale, Blackpool's Wonderland is based entirely on the original Lewis Carrol's Books, complete with models that accurately depicts Lewis Carrol's illustrations and the inclusions of characters not seen in the Disney version like the Giant Puppy, Humpty Dumpty, and the Red Queen. The ride also goes into insane speeds like Tivoli's Pinocchio but not to the extent and is more understandable because, Hey, it's Wonderland.

Another defunct dark ride from spain that could be made into the list was El Rescate de Ulises (The Rescue of Ulysses) in Terra Mitica, Benidorm. The ride is based on the Odyssey but takes certain liberties (the biggest one is putting elves in it, when they don't even belong to Greek mythology) also since the audio quality of the narration (supposed to be by Athena) is so bad, if you are not very familiar with the story you are not going to understand what's going on. Originally the ride consisted on boats with an actor, a la Jungle Cruise but with a more serious role, that interacted with the animatronics and told about what was happening but to cut costs they changed the boats to the river rapids ones and put some speakers. According to some sources, in the early days of the ride at one point, the boat could take two routes, depending if the riders chose to follow the Sirens' song, if you did you will experience the ride's only fall and you'll drop at the Tartarus scene, if you didn't you'll pass by the Elysium instead before going into the Tartarus. It was an interesting ride, that the park sadly didn't know how to keep. At least they still have the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, probably Spain's best dark ride

I always like when Colin looks back, upload the video, especially on a day where I’m not feeling too hot

Utterly brilliant music choice for zombie paradise. Id recgonize that music anywhere. I loved theme park as a kid!

Wow I’d never heard of any of those! Thanks for the info! While potentially not as obscure as some of those, the UK was once home to some pretty great now defunct dark rides! We use to have Professor Burps Bubble Works, which was a tour around a fantastical soda pop factory. We also had Toyland Tours that was similar but focused on a toy factory and more famously cameod Sonic the Hedgehog. Shame that so much great artistry is lost to time, but like you said it’s almost as fun to learn about them after the fact from grainy footage!

I’m so glad you talked about Mill Chute at Hersheypark. Hersheypark’s classic rides are rarely mentioned because the park has changed so much.

I knew that guy on the thumbnail was captain François de Hadoque! I could hardly believe my eyes, but I was right!! I had no idea that Tintin had theme park rides, but that is so cool!

Woo-Hoo! TWO episodes of Defuntland AND Nintendo Direct in one week! HOORAY!

This is my favorite Grab Bag ever! I ADORE theme parks and dark rides, even though my closest one is only seasonal. I'd love to one day see Colin talk about theme parks that never got built, like Disney's America, WESTCOT, and ESPECIALLY Claymation Station. I really wish Claymation Station became real, because I am a HUGE fan of Will Vinton's many work [especially the California Raisins and The Noid]. And there are also a lot of Kitchen Kabaret/Food Rocks-like animatronic shows outside of Disney, such as the Stew Leonard's characters, that could definitely be an interesting topic. Colin, when you get to Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, you need to talk about the controversy rightfully surronding Sweet Pete, the villain of the movie. Choosing Peter Pan as the villian of the movie, and giving him a similar backstory to what happened to Bobby Driscoll is VERY tone-deaf and I'm honestly surprised the movie didn't get more controversy. I also don't care for ideas others' had, due to being similarly tone deaf. Taran from The Black Cauldron: We don't even know what happened to Grant Bardsley past the 80s, there's little information about him. Jim Hawkins from Treasure Planet: He was still loosely based on a earlier incarnation of Jim Hawkins, that was also played by Bobby Driscoll. The only character I can see working as a villian is Julius The Cat from the Alice Comedies. Not only would it not be offensive [I still won't watch the movie because of Sweet Pete and the awful treatment], but it would make more sense, as Julius was actually really sadistic in the Alice Comedies.

those muppet animatronics are so cute i can't believe i've never seen or heard of them before!! those retrofitted rockafire animatronics are really weird though, i wish there were clearer pictures... i'm not one to call animatronics creepy but those certainly are a bit creepy [especially mitzi with that gaping mouth. also i'm glad to hear the mine of lost souls ride mentioned, i just rode that ride for the first time this past october and thought it was sooo weird. and speaking of new england dark rides, sally corp also made a fairly new shooting ride for a park called santa's village and i think it's really cool, it's themed to the christmas carol which i know you like considering you've made a lot of videos on different adaptations, so i think you should check it out.

YOOOO. When this video began I felt in my gut that Colin HAD to talk about "Tornado." (time stamp 7:25). Always appreciate The Great Escape getting a shoutout. I remember going on Tornado ONCE and only ONCE in like 2002 (probably its final season) because it was always always closed. I think post like 2004-2005 they replaced it with the lame "Canyon Blaster" roller coaster. My two cents are that the images of the ride in the video do not do it justice on just how dark, eerie and creepy it is on the inside. The figures and sets had a glow to them that made them stand out from the dark interior. It was a fairly decent dark-ride all things considered.

The shout outs to Laff and Dafe sent me down memory lane! I used to scroll thoses sites when I was a kid. Glad to see they're still around.

I’ve heard of some of these, most recently Donkey’s Sherry and the muppet traffic safety mall pop up ride. I sometimes go on to the Sally Dark ride site and go down rabbit holes of rides that they have done, Zombie Paradise was one that I encountered many years ago, it really intrigued me. There were some rides in this video that I’ve never heard about before and I’m glad that I could learn about their existence because dark rides really do interest me a lot! Your video was really cool!

I'm a dark ride enthusiast that watches a lot of theme park channels, and even I've never heard of most of these!

So, it looks like we finally know where the writers of Baby Geniuses got their inspiration for all those indoor amusement park scenes. These are terrifying!

That Pinocchio ride reminds me of the clearly not Disney-licensed attractions based on Disney movies they have in that Star City amusement park.

I am very happy to see Laffinthedark Being Credited, it doesn't get enough attention online.

I have been to Laugh in the Dark before. It's cool seeing pictures of attractions that burned down long ago. Hopefully, someone will take inspiration from them for a future dark ride.

I'm surprised you didn't cover that german Antarctic dark ride with penguins...doing the act and man in a bear costume sometimes scaring the guests. But still, an amazing video.

Thanks for the shout out!

I've been a huge Tintin fan since I was a kid, yet I had no idea such dark rides even existed! It's a shame there isn't any around now, though that Herge Museum me and my family visited was fun to explore.

Hello. Excellent video. I love theme parks, dark rides and nostalgia, all of which are presented here. One semi-minor correction, if you don't mind, Walt Disney nurtured the idea of Disneyland for years. Throughout the mid 1940s and early 1950s he visited other amusement parks and carnivals with an eye towards creating his own. He began to envision a cleaner theme-based park where families could become a part of the magical world that his films depicted on the big screen. So while your comment about when Walt seriously started thinking of a theme park isn't exactly wrong, it is a little factually... umm... shaky I guess? In any case, this was a well thought out and delivered video. Count me in as a new subscriber.

As much as I like Tintin, I'm a bigger fan of Lucky Luke. So seeing that one of Tintin's attractions being rethemed to the man who can shoot faster than his shadow would have me conflicted. Too bad the entire park wasn't rethemed to "Poor Lonesome Cowboy Land," but I guess retooling pirate ships to Southern Riverboats would have been too pricy. Also 2:36. That bear, though.

Oh boy Tivoli World, never been there but I heard some opinions about it and it seems that the park was pretty cheap, but still enjoyable, let's see if it opens again. Also as a Spaniard I just love the concept of Shima Spain village, that park felt weird before but after finding about Donkey's Sherry the weirdness just got better. Amazing list, I knew some of those rides but many of them were totally new to me I loved the Tintin and Muppets ones in special

Hey Colin! Remember when you talked about the lost Mouse Factory TV show? Well, i found the ENTIRE SERIES on internet archive! I hope this helped

I just saw the Muppets one on TPM a couple of days ago. Four year old me would have loved that! (Who am I kidding, I'd have loved that at any age!) Weird that we didn't get loads of Muppets stuff here in the UK given most of the show and films were recorded here. I feel like we should have had Muppets stuff everywhere! Ah, missed opportunities, how you taunt.

I remember you could hear that wizard animatronic across the Midway section of the fair. Ride itself was so-so, very short and cost a lot of tickets

I miss the Lewis and Clark ride they turned it into seating area but it was the best

The Muppet dark ride seems great!

Colin ily but it's Oree-GUN not Oree-GONE I went on the Lewis and Clark ride a few times as a kid, yeah it wasn't very interesting just pretty unsettling. After it burned down I remember hanging out and chatting with the operator of the play area that replaced it and learning about the fire.

I remember being on the Lewis and Clark dark ride! XD I miss it because of the history and heritage of our state.

The donkey's sherry was the most trip.

I loved Tintin as a kid! I would have loved those rides 😊

Kennywood would also use several of the seven dwarfs in their advertising in the in the early 40s for their for their kids section of the park and fun fact had a tornado ride purchase from freedom land also but the cars actually got mixed up for the Cedar point version and the Kennywood version so Kenny would receive the Cedar point staff Cedar point received the stuff for kennywood

Those Donkey ones would have given me nightmares.

I've gone to the State Fair of Texas every year since I was born, and while I have seen the wizard outside of Lumalusion, I've never seen any of those other animatronics you've mentioned (nor that castle structure).

the tintin stuff needs to come back somewhere

Ive been on that Tivoli World's Pinocchio ride at least twice the inside of the ride has a really low ceiling so if yoiur a taller teen/adult you will have no lower your head a bit thats rather bad with the speed it moves at. It's the only ride in the Park with Original made for the park Anmatronics outside the dinosaur themed dark ride and those look alot roughter.

Me: Happy that you brought up Oaks Park! Also me: Irrationally angry at how you pronounce Oregon.

Hey I made it on to a list! I was surprised to see that!

Omg you mentioned me in your video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much, I remember this ride. Rode on this a LOT. The haunted mine was so much better

You know whats funny, your actually the second video ive seen this week to talk about muppet traffic safety show the first being tpmvids

The Tintin rides look awesome!

THERE WAS A TINTIN RIDE ..never saw that before

OMG, I always wondered if there had ever been a 'Tintin'-themed ride!!! (I always thought Disney's Everest would be the closest we'd get.) We need an updated one PRONTO!!! And how weird IS it that you happened to put out a video about the Muppet Traffic School the SAME week Defunctland did one too?! =D

This is an incredible list!

I am SPEECHLESS that the Lewis and Clark ride existed. Also, I am so sad that these rides (other than L & C) no longer exist.

All this weird obscure ride stuff is fascinating!

17:25 The head is ON a platter. The thing that it's under is called a cloche.

The Tornado ride I think I've heard of, since I live nearby Lake George, I think maybe we might have ridden this on my first visit, but I remember being scared of that ride myself. 7:16-8:30

honestly I'm pretty sad I'm never going to get to experience donkey's sherry, that ride looked fun lol

It’s a good day when Colin uploads.

As a fellow Tintin fan, I'm surprised that there were so many rides and attractions based on the series.

these are brilliant

I’m hoping for going to Universal in august! 😊

In my personal opinion, My favorite defunct dark ride is Myrtle Beach's Haunted Hotel.

At least the ‘so bad, it’s fun’ rides have entertainment value

can you do america sings someday?

Dark Rides, huh? It's weird, I didn't even know that's what they were called. Then again, I don't really go to theme parks too often, especially after I became an adult. I love seeing enthusiastic adults talk about them, though.

heck yeah walibi mentioned

I think Earthquake The Ride in Gatlinburg is a weird ride.

I'm a simple man. I see Sally Dark Ride Zombie Paradise, I click

I wanna see more villain retrospects

A sister park to Kennywood code Idlewild has a storybook forest area walk-through attraction. Will you walk-through several outdoor sets of classic fairy tail stories some have been of course adopted to multiple films course. The Disney ones they actually have a few tributes if you would say to the Disney most of these were built around 30s 40s and 50s

Also i'm upset the Tintin ride was closed

Colin, PLEASE tell me you’ll be covering the Rescue Rangers Villains after your review of Oliver and Company; I want to hear more about that Sweet Pete guy from the 2022 movie.

me, at 18:32: that looks like Kermit. me at 18:37: that _is_ Kermit. and [hearing the narrator, and seeing the on-screen images] that's Henson. i have to stop looking at this. someone still saddened after all these years by the deaths of Henson, Hunt, Nelson, and Spinney

Do an part 2

You should look at Disney Sing-Along Songs episode with Flik from A Bugs' Life featuring in it.

2:04 Hur hur hur hurr hurr

Hi Colin just had a question for you. If great mouse Detective ever cane back as a remake or show or something. Who would you pick to play Ratigan Robin Lord Taylor,William Defoe or Jacquie Pheniox?

Just out of curiosity since you mentioned the adventure of Tintin are familiar with anymore Franco Belgium comics other than The Smurfs?

Wish I could ride zombie paradise

You imply that everyone believes in tornadoes, but I've met actual flat earthers, so I'm concerned that there might be people who don't believe in tornadoes 😂

Can you do ursala next?

That music at 7:20 sounds INCREDIBLY familiar, but I cannot remember where I've heard it before... Does anyone know or remember what game it's from? Agh, it's on the tip of my tongue!

Hi colin

Speaking of the Pinocchio dark ride, I just found a video of the ride's current state if you are curious:ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zf1g23yHYGI.html

I know no one, I don’t know why I bother bringing this up, but I have some ideas for rides, attractions, restaurants etc for a video game theme park I call “Gamer’s Island”

Here Is Things You Need To Add For Your Disney Villains Retrospective Catch Up Video 2 1)Pete=Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers 2022, Disney Magic Kingdoms, Disney Speedstorm, Heroes Battle Mode, Sorcerers Arena And Mickey Mouse Funhouse 2)Big Bad Wolf=Sorcerers Arena And Goldie And Bear 3)Mortimer Mouse=Mickey Mouse Funhouse 4)Lonesome Ghosts 5)Martian Robot 6)Phantom Blot=Epic Mickey Rebrushed 7)Mad Doctor=Epic Mickey Rebrushed 8)Evil Queen=Snow White Live Action Remake 9)Magic Mirror=Snow White Live Action Remake 10)Percival McLeach=Heroes Battle Mode 11)Don Karnage=Ducktales 2017 Season 3 12)Constace Hatchaway=Random Rings 13)Beagle Boys=Epic Donald 14)Flintheart Glomgold=Broken Karaoke And Theme Song Takeover 15)Magica De Spell=Heroes Battle Mode 16)Cruella De Vill=Epic Mickey Racers 17)Mr. Smee=Epic Mickey Rebrushed 18)Captain Hook=Epic Mickey Rebrushed 19)Shere Khan=Disney Speedstorm, Heroes Battle Mode And Sorcerers Arena 20)King Louie=Heroes Battle Mode

I do not like Tornadoes

Only 22 views in 10 seconds?

For your villain retrospective series when you get to Gravity , Star and Owl House would you do a collab with Kittymonk ?

For a future video you can talk about the villains on Aladdin. Series included.