Book Review: Disney’s Dark Rides
Cold weather encourages me to stay inside and read. So, let’s just say I read a lot of books this past winter. One of them, by Shawn Patrick Farrell, offers an interesting history of Disney’s dark rides. If you’re not familiar with the term dark rides, it refers to theme park attractions that carry guests on boats, cars or trains at slow speeds through enclosed spaces to tell a story. Disney parks are famous for them. The book by Farrell, which is officially entitled Heart and Darkness: Scary Adventures and the Evolution of Disney’s Dark Rides covers pretty much all of them. Today’s post shares a brief review of Farrell’s book.
Summary
The book opens with an overview of the history of dark rides both within and outside of Disney parks. It’s fairly extensive, beginning in the 1800s and concluding in modern day. Although there are anecdotes and historical summaries peppered throughout, the rest of the book is really a summary of every Disney dark ride around the world. The extensive list begins with the first examples of the genre at Disneyland in California and continues mostly chronologically to the latest openings in Disney Shanghai. Farrell also includes a fair number of references to past rides or early ideas abandoned before completion.
Review
Overall, I enjoyed Farrell’s book. His pages offer a chance to revisit traditional dark ride favorites like Peter Pan’s Flight or “it’s a small world” and learn how these attractions vary in each of Disney’s parks. I also liked discovering new dark ride attractions at the parks I have yet to visit (#goals!). The book’s content is thorough and well organized, making it easy to jump to particularly areas of interest as needed. It’s also the author’s very first book, which tends to sway me toward a positive review even when I try to resist it. (Hazard of a blogger and inspiring writer!)
Still, if I’m completely fair, the book does possess a few weaknesses. For one, it reads a little more like a research paper at times than a typical Disney-related book. I’ll consider using Heart and Darkness as a reference for future blog posts if that’s any indication.
Second, the descriptions of the rides themselves are numerous, yet somewhat inconsistent in depth. For example, there is a ton of interesting information on the various versions of the Haunted Mansion around the world. However, there is significantly less so for other attractions with a similar number of park locations (like Buzz Lightyear).
And finally, although the descriptions are fairly extensive, it’s still not exactly like experiencing the rides yourself. Last week’s review on the Jungle Cruise picture book is a better example of that goal. Farrell’s book does not include pictures, which is common for Theme Park Press publications, but feels like a missed opportunity here.
Of course I remedied this potential short coming by watching ride-through videos on youtube after finishing some of the chapters. (Mystic Manor in Hong Kong! Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea!). You may feel compelled to do the same.
These fun media detours added to my “reading” time, but they also made winter pass more quickly so I’m certainly not complaining.
Closing
Overall, if you have an interest in Disney’s dark rides and want to learn more about them both here and abroad, Heart and Darkness offers a wealth of information in a compact size (188 pages). I’m biased of course, but I think most Disney parks fans will find something to like here too.
If you’d like to check out Farrell’s book you can find it on Amazon. I’ve included a link for convenience, but please note I don’t have a financial stake (not even an affiliate link!) in your decision. You may find a copy at your local library too.
Thanks so much for stopping by today.
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