Fraggle Rock Dark Ride

[MuppetFozzieBe]

OK. I have seen people who have made dark rides for halloween in thier garage. I have always wanted to make a dark ride. For the theme I am going to choose Fraggle Rock ! Heres the idea. you enter thru the shop, then go thru the hole into fraggle rock. then a gorg almosts catches you. in it's the end. Tell me what ya think and any suggestions.

 

[superboober]

Exactly how big a garage are we discussing here? And what kind of budget are we looking at? If the latter's no concern, here's how I might do it:

Entering through the workshop is good. As the viewer turns to go into the hole, the theme kicks in, slowly but surely. Down the hole they go, having to duck to avoid that pipe Wembley always manages to smack into, which belches steam. They go a few yards, then veer to the right and find themselves in Gobo's room. He's reading his latest postcard while Wembley nervously glances over his shoulder. If you have any of the soundtrack albums, insert a song relevant to these characters here. Another sharp left, and they break through the wall. Now they're in Red and Mokey's cavern. The former is eagerly bouncing up and down on a trampoline, while the latter paints her doing so. Repeat music theme mentioned before. Outside they go, having to duck again to avoid a maze of Doozer constructions built over the track (perhaps have familiar Doozer characters call out not to ruin these?). A sharp left, and they're now about to run over Boober, laconically going about his daily laundry. If you can do a halfway decent impression of Dave Goelz's Boober voice, perhaps dub in some dialogue of him crying out at this intrusion and asking what the riders want with poor him. They go down another tunnel, the colors start to get a little darker. They pass by Cantus and the Ministrels coming along a side tunnel playing their music and veer sharply to the right. Now comes the "danger" section, with flashing strobes, more steam obscuring the viewers' vision of what's to come, and an uneven track that can unexpectedly drop or spin, depending on what the budget at hand is, perhaps even a trick where the track seems to be coming apart underneath them. You could also throw in a monster or two here (I'm thinking the Invisible Gargoyle might be the most economic) They start picking up speed and shoot for the hole into the Gorg's garden (alternately, you could also have it go out Gobo's tunnel into the castle and go around there a bit). "Take that!" yells Junior, swinging his club at the riders as they emerge. Ma screams and leaps aside as they go by, while Pa comes running out of the castle yelling that the Enemies of the Kingdom stand no chance against the fearsome might of the Gorg Empire, or something similar, whatever you can arrange. Veer to the right, passing the Trash Heap. "Better be careful," she advises, "Wander McMooch is afoot" (or something similar; Philo & Gunge bits?). Things get darker as they go deep into the woods beyond the Garden. "I've got you now!" McMooch is perched on a tree above you. He's about to drop a boulder on you, but just before it hits...the set bursts open, and we're back in the Great Hall, surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of Fraggles, with our heroes right at the center by the pond, all singing the main theme merrily as loud as they can, and rest assured no one will resist singing along. Finally, we see Traveling Matt by the wall, as he pushes aside a boulder--probably falling on his face in the process--letting you back to Outer Space.

So, do you think it would work?

 

[twasbrillig12]

You know, I was just thinking that Fraggle Rock would have made an awesome dark ride. Maybe someday we'll get to see that in a theme park. Awesome storyline superboober, mind if I borrow some of it for a future fraggle project of my own?

 

[Fragglemuppet]

Wow, Superboober, how many of this type of theme ride have you been on?
I could imagine it all so well; it was like I was on it!

 

[superboober]

Good, it worked then. Basically in coming up with it, I amalgomated the basic memories of the storylines of similar dark rides over the years: meeting everyone while going off on a rudimentary adventure, all the while distilling the themes of the property into 4 minutes or so. In this case, throw in a bit of humor and suspense, along with the show's music.

In response to the post before that (by all means use what you want), I can't help wondering, if the original proposed 1990 merger had gone through as planned, whether we may in fact have seen such a Fraggle ride at Disney parks somewhere in the 90s. No doubt it would have been an intriguing challenge for the Imagineers had they been presented with it; I can imagine maybe the facade could have been whatever the official exterior of Doc's workshop was like (wonder if they ever did draw that just to be sure?), but with subtle hints in the yard of what was underground.

 

[superboober]

Having slept on it, I've got more of a handle on what the "danger" portion might be like:

As we pass by the Minstrels, Cantus is waving a free hand at us, requesting we not go further down the tunnel. Of course we do, and it turns out to be the Terrible Tunnel (perhaps a flimsy KEEP OUT barricade of sorts is over the entrance that we break through?). Smoke obscures all but a few feet in front of riders, wild cries are heard everywhere, and bats and/or other flying creatures of the rock fly low overhead. The track becomes jerky, whipping riders hard from side to side along hairpin turns. Several of those evil clamshell creatures roar from the walls. A boulder or two appear to be ready to fall from the ceiling. We pass by the Invisible Gargoyle, in the process of breaking out of its prison with a hiss of smoke and a roar. The track goes over a flimsy Doozer-built bridge, which shakes and threatens to collapse underneath. One or more of the creatures from the trip to Wonder Mountain pop out to scare riders next. Another bridge looms--this one completely out, and with a pit of Poison Cacklers underneath. The ride vehicle hits the gap and just manages to fly out of their outstretched reach to the other side. The ride comes to complete and abrupt halt at the end of the Tunnel, which opens up and tries to suck riders inside. Just when all seems lost, Cantus appears again, utters something along the lines of, "It is in the darkest corner of the Rock that the brightest light can be found," and blows a tune on his magic pipe that opens the exit out to the Gorg's garden, where everything continues as described before.

 

[twasbrillig12]

I can't help wondering, if the original proposed 1990 merger had gone through as planned, whether we may in fact have seen such a Fraggle ride at Disney parks somewhere in the 90s.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Now with all the love that California Adventure is getting they're even going to put in the once dead little mermaid dark ride. Although I think that was concepted for Disneyland Paris originally, I'm sure that a Fraggle dark ride could definetly have worked here in the states if designed in the 90s. Wonder where they would have put it though.

 

[MuppetFozzieBe]

GREAT IDEAS SUPERBOOBER!

Here is an idea. One scene it shows a the fraggles dreamsharing and above them is a screen that shows what their dreaming about.

 

[superboober]

That would work. Maybe put that after we meet them all for the first time and use it to segue into another segment.

 

[Collgoff]

Sounds pretty creepie!