by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
This is one little adventure that seems seriously mislabeled. It’s hard to imagine tagging something a “dark ride” when it brings so much light and laughter to millions of visitors.
But the description merely means visitors to amusement parks move along inside a building, either on water or a hard surface. It doesn’t reflect the joy that riders get out of the experience.
Two of the more familiar “dark rides” are “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “It’s a Small World.” But some of the more popular rides may well be the versions being developed at Sally Corp. — The Great American Dark Ride Company in Jacksonville.
Founded in 1977, the company sets itself apart from passive amusements by creating animatronic figures and interactive rides, arming riders with laser guns to ward off evil and score points. They may pursue banditos, chase pirates, scare up ghosts, destroy the Minotaur or conquer Seth, the Lord of Chaos and Disaster.
The silicone figures become animated when air is forced through a series of air lines, cylinders and valves. The characters range from cartoonish to malevolent.
“We’ve done very well with our interactive dark rides,” said Jan Sherman, Sally’s assistant vice president and creative director. “We are kind of known as having invented the genre here, at least on an affordable basis so that mid-sized parks can afford to have a really nice, high-quality, interactive dark ride.”
The company was founded in a garage by three men named John: John Fox, John Wood and John Rob Holland, a local dentist with a bachelor’s degree in engineering who had created a talking head for a dental school presentation.
Nothing stays the same for long in the world of amusements. Success comes from an eagerness to embrace innovation and change. It’s a concept that comes with the territory at Sally Corp., and it’s not much of a stretch to suggest the rest of the world is taking note.
“Ghost Blasters,” a black-light adventure, is at four locations in Connecticut, Minnesota and California.
“The Great Pistolero Roundup” is in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Docco Land [Folk Village], South Korea.
“The Den of Thieves” has found a home in Myrtle Beach, Indiana, New Jersey, the Philippines and Seoul Land, South Korea.
“Labyrinth of the Minotaur” brings in the crowds at Terra Mitica Spain’s newest theme park.
“Terrasauro,” billed as “the last place on Earth where dinosaurs still live,” opened July 30 at a secluded ecological park west of Bilbao, Spain. Attendance soared.
“The park saw 18,144 people pass through the gates in August,” said Sally President Howard Kelley. “That compares with 3,404 in August 2002 and 4,446 in 2001. For an ecological park in such a remote location, over 18,000 visitors is outstanding.”
Depending on the complexity and number of characters, the company may need as long as two years to produce a ride at its plant, on the corner of Forsyth and Jefferson streets in LaVilla.
Though this is reportedly the slow season, workers are still busy, crafting silicon faces and bodies, laboriously painting the skin and applying hair, designing just the right clothing for just the right character.
Sections of a “Scooby Doo” ride, completed under the exacting gaze of Hanna-Barbera, are near the loading dock, awaiting shipment to Paramount’s Kings Dominion near Richmond, Va.
A tyrannosaurus rex is still being completed. Tools, wires, hoses and valves have been laid temporarily inside its gaping mouth.
An odd pair in one body is ready to go to a park in Goteborg, Sweden. The seated figure will be Santa Claus in the winter, telling stories throughout the Christmas season. With the quick change of his head and costume, he becomes Zeth the barker, a hideous sort of creature who will be placed in front of a haunted house in the summer.
“I don’t even like to touch him,” said Sherman. “He’s so horrible.”
Sally has enjoyed continued success with two of its most recent creations, “Scooby Doo” and “Challenge of Tutankhamon.”
“Scooby Doo rides are all black light rides,” said Sherman. “They really pop in a very cartoony way.”
The company has produced four “Scooby Doo” rides for Paramount Parks and two for Six Flags parks, in St. Louis and Fiesta, Texas.
In May, the “Challenge of Tutankhamon” opened at Six Flags Belgium.
The 17,000 square-foot ride has 13 six-passenger cars that are electronically controlled to go down the trackless path in pursuit of treasure. Riders use their laser guns to shoot at 130 targets with multiple values. In the console of the car is a preset number that riders have to reach if they are to complete their journey and collect the treasure.
“There is a curse of Tutankhamon, and Seth, the Lord of Disaster and Chaos is going to do all he can to stop you from reaching the treasure room,” said Sherman. “There are two exits prior to your getting to the treasure room. If you don’t have a high enough score, you get thrown out.
“At the end is Nazeer, the ancient Egyptian seer, holding a lantern. He tells you that, because you haven’t defeated Seth’s warriors, you are doomed to carry the curse with you forever. You have to come back and defeat Seth.”
A small version of the “Scooby Doo” ride and a tape of “Tutankhamon” will be taken to this year’s International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions trade show in Orlando next month.
“The show is so large there are very few locations that can handle it,” said Sherman. “People bring entire Ferris wheels and carousels. We’re also going to bring Nazeer, holding up his lamp.”
Sally Corp. went to its first trade show since 1978, “filled with great expectations and no knowledge,” said John Wood, chairman and CEO. “But we’ve attended every show since, and we’ve introduced all our new products through that vehicle.”
The company has grown “quite a bit over the past 25 years,” he said, “but we’re still a small company. We need to remain flexible because we build custom products.”
More than 2,000 different companies will be represented at this year’s event, the first major show in the new Orange County Convention Center.
Up to now, “Scooby Doo” has been the company’s most successful product, said Wood, who is also certain that the “Challenge of Tutankhamon” is “the best new product out there. We’re hopeful that this product will be recognized in the industry.”
“We’re always real excited about the future of the company.”