Terroride: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:18, 13 July 2017


Location: Main Midway
Manufactured by: Outdoor Dimensional Display
Built In: 1967
Car Capacity: 3
Number of Cars: 7
Height Requirements: Riders under 36" must be accompanied by a responsible person.
Mild Thrill

Terroride (also known as Terroride: A Classic Reimagined as of 2017) is Lagoon's oldest haunted attraction still in operation. It is one of two dark rides at the park.

Ride Details

Riders sit in small vehicles and travel around a track viewing different frightening and interesting scenes with a few surprises that may startle some riders. The ride was originally designed and built by legendary dark ride creator Bill Tracy. It is one of only seven known Bill Tracy dark rides still in operation (Dracula's Castle is also one of the seven). The ride was heavily remodeled for the 2017 season and the ride was given the additional title Terroride: A classic reimagined.

Vehicles

The ride's single-row vehicles are a customized version of Tracy's hushpuppy vehicles. They have rounded noses and concave backs that allow them to fit together tightly, creating more room in the station. They feature on-board speakers that originally played a scary soundtrack for the ride but no longer do. The cars are painted different colors, but the colors are very dark and mostly appear black. A white skull is painted on the side of each car, next to the car's number in blue.

Elements of Terroride's facade

Facade

The ride has a castle-like facade with a large skeleton and a witch that pop out from shutters in the castle's two turrets. There are colorful, blood spattered letters spelling out "Terroride" on the front of the ride with the letter O represented by a stylized skull. The letters rock back and forth and are lit from inside at night. A signature Bill Tracy vulture prop is perched in a nest atop the southern turret. The vulture's head moves up and down in sync with the facade's other animations. Large open archways in the castle facade allow the station and its mural to be seen from outside the ride. A prop dead tree sits on the ride's roof.

Layout

In addition to taking up the space in the building behind the ride's facade, the track also travels into the space behind the game to the south. The layout of the ride was not changed during the ride's 2017 re-imagining.

The full ride is around 1 minute and 16 seconds long.

Terroride: A Classic Reimagined

For 2017, in addition to opening Flying Tigers and Ruka Safari, Lagoon is doing the biggest overhaul of Terroride in the ride's history. The 2017 park map refers to it as 'Terroride: A Classic Reimagined'. A large portion of the ride's interior was demolished and is being completely replaced.

The ride is intended to be more story oriented than before and features a recurring character named Louis Von Black as part of the storyline. The story and direction is being handled by film director Joseph Wartnerchaney, the Utah Opera scenic department is building the ride's sets, and makeup artist Todd Debreceni is restoring Bill Tracy's original wax figures.

A new soundtrack has been recorded for the entire ride. New lanterns have been installed over the queue area inside the ride's building. The ride is believed to feature a castle interior, a wall of swords, an 'eye room' and a large water feature. An edited copy of the original mural has been placed in the station. Theater style lighting highlights aspects of the mural. A large skull is projected onto the vehicle exit doors inside the station. Many details of the ride's re-imagining are still not known.

As of June 4, 2017 the ride has not opened yet, and the park has given no official timeframe for it's opening. The ride may be opening within the next few weeks.

Removed scenery

The following items are known to have been removed from the ride:

A scene described as 'quicksand corner' showing a person or people sinking in quicksand was in the ride until the 1980's.
A large standing three dimensional rabid looking rat, possibly removed around 1989 and replaced with a gorilla.
A gorilla with a city skyline painted behind him that was located around one of the ride's first turns from around 1989 to 2008
The ride's original mural was removed in 2010
The replacement mural of dead trees and actual dead trees that were located in the station from 2010 to 2016

Mural

The ride originally opened with a mural in the station depicting a large dragon, a club-wielding caveman, flying ghouls, a mummified skeleton, an octopus, a snake in a tree, a dancing man, a lizard, a monkey and two spiders in front of an ancient-looking ruined city under a starry night sky. It is believed that the mural was painted by Bill Tracy himself. It is an unusual mural and no one is sure of the intent of the painting. There are several hidden circular or oval shapes in the mural. The dancing man's outline is formed by the intersection of two of these shapes.

Removal

In 2010 The mural was moved to Lagoon's annex building in an area not open to the public. It was replaced by another mural showing a forest of dead trees. Actual dead trees were placed directly in front of the mural to form a 3D-like effect. An animatronic talking vulture was placed inside a square opening in the center of the mural. The original mural was missed by many people who had grown up with it and its absence had been covered in local news stories.

Return - censored version

As part of the 2017 ride update, a copy of the original mural with the dancing man painted out has been returned to the station. It is not yet known if other changes have been made to the mural. The vulture will likely be placed somewhere else in the station.

2013 upgrade

In the off-season of 2012-2013, Lagoon removed the back wall of the building, which faces the parking lot near Roller Coaster, to make repairs to the structure and foundation. Around 5-10 feet of the ride was removed temporarily while crews worked to build the new exterior. After the new wall was completed, this area was rebuilt including new flooring and a re-welded section of track.

Once the construction was completed, Lagoon's electrical department rebuilt the ride's safety and control system. This brought the ride into compliance with the most recent fire safety standards. All work was completed in time for the ride to open with the park for the 2013 season.

Controversy

In 2014 therapist Jeff Tesch campaigned for Lagoon to make changes to the torture room scene of the ride, saying that the scene had triggered unpleasant feelings in one of his clients. Lagoon agreed to talk with him but seemed resistant to changing the ride. It is unknown if this contributed to the park's decision to reimagine the ride in 2017.

Although there were no reports of complaints about the mural's dancing man in local media, he was removed from the mural that was placed in the station for the 2017 re-imagining. This may have been due to concerns about depicting an African man together with several things that might seem scary.

Gallery

Former mural in the station.

Video

Terror Ride Nightvision On-ride (CompleteHD Experience) by deathbyillusion

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 | '''Location:''' Main Midway
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 | '''Built In:''' 1967