Wicked Witches Haunt Thorpe Park - 1998 POV
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Wicked Witches Haunt was a classic dark ride at Thorpe Park. It was opened in 1983 as Phantom Fantasia, a surreal gothic trip through dark animated horror scenes, until being retreated with UV fluorescent light in 1994. The ride was destroyed by fire in 2000.
Audio restored from surviving production tapes, courtesy of Rex Studios. Video footage courtesy of Ben TJ Gough, recorded 1998. Not being monetised.
Terrific job to the people who restored this footage, my favourite ride ever.
I miss this ride so much it’s not even funny 😭 THE BALLROOM DANCING SKELETONS THOUGH! No I can’t explain why I loved that bit so much.
That was one of my favourite parts as well
in germany europapark is the same ride just with other theming szenes
I wish Thorpe Park builds and opens a new dark ride like this one.
So do I they could replace ghost train or the walking dead with it
Amazing ride, those witch cackles truly haunted me as a child! But this ride was really brilliant and has to be one of it's best in the UK. So devastating that we lost it in the fire. Though I wonder what happened to the surviving witch at the entrance.
Rachael8989 haha yeah those witches scared me the voices lol ahhh memories
Mate, you LOVE this ride.
I was always too scared to enjoy it....mind you i was only 23.
That audio is superb, great recording, thank you for sharing this
I remember certain changes had been made when the ride changed from Phantom Fantasia to Wicked Witches Haunt. The spiders were not part of the original ride and a few other elements. It was my favourite ride there and I once rode it three times in one day. I even remember my very first time because I was afraid and I didn't want to go in. I was a nervous kid about rides but somehow got the courage to go in. When I came out I remember wanting to ride it again because it was so awesome. I also remember as a teenager many years later wanting to put in a bid to buy the entrance skeleton chandelier should the park ever get rid of it. Shame it all went up in flames.
This was one of my favourite rides ever! So many good memories of going on this, with my family. I remember all of it, watching this again.
So cool that there is footage of it. Thanks for uploading it!
I couldn't have been on this ride more than twice but sooo much of it is still so familiar to me. The saddest part isn't that this ride burned down, it's that the whole ethos of dark rides is dying off. You get an IP that will sell, slap something together and then hope it starts to fall to bits in a few years so you get to do it all over again. It's a tragedy.
Merry GoGirl yes totally agree. Brilliantly themed dark rides like this were a big thing in the 80s and 90s but now it is all just the latest movie/television program (or worse, in the case of imperial leather taking over Bubbleworks!) and the park just stick a few static pieces in a dark warehouse to disastrous effect. The very heart and soul of dark rides is dead and the imagination and magic that used to be put into these rides is no more. It is so sad.
Merry GoGirl Yeah it's all about how much money theme parks can extract these days. Thorpe Park and Alton Towers aren't giving two shits about their dark rides these days. At least Blackpool Pleasure Beach hasn't fucked up their ghost train or the River caves
@@masterknife8423Or Vallhalla
My all time favourite. Thorpe park used to be a fun place. These days it's just how high and how many upside downs can we fit in. Not been there in years. I miss all the mascots and innocent fun.
Big shame about the fire, I loved this ride!! That tolling bell brings back memories... Particularly liked the entrance where you had to rush to get on cause the carts are still moving!
Oh man mega nostalgia tingles for the music and scene at the ballroom dance towards the end!
I remember crying on this ride when I was 4 years old! Still looks really creepy even now but very well designed and lots of detail and spookiness.
robbo 1989 I remember running out to my nan by the front desk, i still remember that witches face and the girl with her name badge at the photo desk cuddling me. I must of been 25. lol just kidding i was about 3 or 4.
Fantastic footage. I've been looking for years for footage of this ride that wasn't all just black! I was 9 when I last rode it, but I still remember it to this day.
This ride is my all time favourite! I remember being really scared when my parents first took me on it, but afterwards it became my absolute favourite. So sad it no longer exists.
Dark spook house rides used to scare me. I hated going on them but for some reason I bloody loved this ride. I really lost count how many times I went on it. The only part that I didn't like was when the witch pops up. in the mausoleum. Next to the "bring out your dead" scene.
I felt so damned sad when I found out this ride burned down. : ( I had so many good memories with this spook ride that didn't scare me.
It's a shame Thorpe doesn't have a proper dark ride. I wonder if my mum ever rode it.
I went on this ride many times across the 80s and early 90s when it was called Phantom Phantasia and I loved it. Perhaps this is just nostalgia (I guess I'm just an 80s kid) but I think it was better in its original form. On the WWH ride they added a much busier soundtrack, which just overcooks the experience and makes it feel a lot less spooky. You can see the original ride in another video on TH-cam although you really had to be there just to see what a masterpiece it was. It wasn't frightening and some bits were a little childish but it was a genuinely eerie ride through English history.
I remember going on this ride when I was a kid. I also remember the ride being featured in this kid's educational show where this guy was so freaked out after going on it he accidentally knocks the head off the Witch statue at the entrance. So his friend helps him replace it by teaching him pape' mache. However the guy gets mixed up and replaces the missing head with a pape' mache version of his friend's head!
Haha what that sounds hilarious! I would love to see that! 😄
This thing used to horrify me. I hated it. To know what silly things scare kids. I think Thorpe Park are foolish to not using it's history in the end Ghost Train. Maybe they will...
Thank you for archiving it
I went on this before and after the UV upgrade/retheme. I was just too young at the time to appreciate how well themed it actually was.
I wonder what would have become of Wicked Witches Haunt had it not caught fire. I’m pretty sure it would’ve become an interactive Shooting Dark Ride,like Forbidden Tomb at Chessington and The Haunted House at Alton.If Forbidden Tomb and The Haunted House are anything to go by,the ride would’ve been made less scary and received a new narrative. Fortunately rumour has it that Duel has been “repossessed” and will once again be The Haunted House. I feel it’s only fair to congratulate Emily Alton for evicting the Zombies and reclaiming The Haunted House. I hope Emily Alton can redecorate after the Zombies decorated it to their liking. Not only this but I hope Emily swaps her Dollshouse for the entire ride. It would be unreal if Duel was rethemed into a journey through Emily Alton and Snowy’s Dollshouse where you meet ghosts and ghouls along the way.
Your predictions were all on point and Curse of Alton Manor is fantastic
Oh gosh... I remember this ride haha, I was 9 years old when I went on it! My mum forced me to go on it, even though I didn't want to, cause I was scared, but I'm kinda glad she did force me on it, otherwise I would have never have gotten the chance to experience it! Really sad it got destroyed though :(
I loved this ride as a child! Especially the witch outside!
This is a pretty good ride in the essence of Disney’s Haunted Mansions with all the ghost stories of the UK. I particularly enjoyed the Henry the VIII scene. And the spiders and the skeletons playing “ Danse Macabre “
Ah I remember this ride! I remember the skeletons and the dancing part with the guy on the chandelier!
It is such a shame that this ride is no longer around. It was an amazing. See this is why the theme park scene is dying out because rides like this are gone, they were safe. Not like these rollercoaster rides that dangerous and in the press all the time. That and building rides based on TV shows. Please Thorpe park, bring the wicked witches haunt back.
Keith Coy Phantom Fantasia was a fantastic attraction, although it’s worth saying coasters are very safe too, they rarely go wrong in daily operation (despite how press would like to make out) and are technically only as dangerous as any ride of any type, far less dangerous than driving a car. Coasters and dark rides are different kinds of rides, it’s a big shame there are very few great ‘theatrical’ dark rides left like this anymore than arent based on commercial brands
When I was young we got evacuated off this ride. It broke down right where the witch popped up. I was petrified.
IN 2018 you wouldent even think this was at Thorpe Park
Beautiful piece of music at 3:16
I remember riding this as a kid. Scared the Hell out of me. I had nightmares. I was like 4 years old.
I swear this ride used to be more terrifying like I remember these weird ventriloquist type dummies torturing people with medieval stuff and a giant devil sitting on a throne or something
Those scenes both in there but maybe hard to make out on the video
This was recorded a week before I was born 25 years ago (26 years ago this year)
Great video. How was the sound restored so well? It sounds like it's in stereo too. Was the audio/music different to Phantom Fantastia?
Yes it was different and I restored the soundtrack by mixing it as if you were travelling through the ride, from an original tape that I tracked down
Amazing ride I used to go on it over and over
One of my fav rides ever n so many early Thorpe Park memories, shame the ride did not have a fire safety system installed.. RIP WWH
Used to love this ride!!! Memories
Looks like it was a very similar experience to Geisterschloss at Europa Park, with the Omnimover style ride system and the Haunted Mansion "inspired" aesthetics.
Geisterschloss and Phantom Fantasia (before Wicked Witches) were designed by different people but the ride systems were both built by Mack and both based on concepts by Sparks (who created Phantom), so they ended up being similar. Geisterschloss has quite a few parts copied from Disney's Haunted Mansion but Sparks weren't responsible for that, they didn't like copying! Phantom did have a nod to the Haunted Mansion though with the hands trying to escape the coffin but the rest of it was much more horror
Yeah I can see that, from watching this POV it almost feels like Wicked Witches had a sort of classic horror/Hammer horror feel to the whole thing
They should of just wrecked the full thing down after the fire and restored it to it former glory fro scratch with the blue prints
Have you got any Phantom Fantasia, Pirate Adventure, Excalibur, Ghost Train or Ranger County footage. Thank you! Great channel and content! This looks terrifying! Also when are the documentaries returning?
Unfortunately the documentaries are delayed because of the virus meaning I can't interview or go out film the last parts! Then it will take time to edit etc. But some will hopefully return before end of the year, I just don't know at the moment. Some of those attractions are planned to be featured in future videos!
Thank you!
Shame it burned down. One of the best GT around. IF it had survived I'm sure Merlin would have found a way to stick juns on it and ruin the ride.
Let's be fair... if this ride still existed today... merlin would of turned it into a lazer shooting game
Lol
Does anyone know what the music is playing at the end with the ballroom dancing skeletons?
no but i have always liked it aswell pretty cool
Listen to ‘Danse Macabre’ by Camille Saint-Saëns. Some of that sounds very similar. Here’s a link: th-cam.com/video/z0glOYQBlSA/w-d-xo.html.
Guys... anyone got footage of "House of Grandish" at Sega World London? There is NOTHING on the internet about it.
I've never seen this before. I was always too chicken shit to go in.
Have you got any footage from Oakwood park 2000s?
Not at the moment sorry!
If I remember rightly was it clam shell type things you sat in?
Sarah Burton yes it was. They had a replica of one of the ‘clam shells’ on Chief Rangers carousel, way after this ride got burned down. I guess most people wouldn’t have even made the connection or known about it.
I wonder what the future of the park would’ve looked like if this ride had never been burned down. Would inferno ever have been built and would Thorpe thrillseaker agenda never have been fully realised. But tbh this ride itself would’ve probably been turned into a shooter dark ride like terror tomb and the haunted house
Filmed on halloween 🎃🎃
Yeah I noticed that as well!
i really want an mp3 of the music that begins at 3:18. that is mesmerizing
DO's this ride still exist? Its like the haunted mansion but even more demented love it! - DR V
Sadly, this ride doesn't exist anymore. It was burned beyond repair by a large fire in 2000.😟 It was soon demolished and replaced with a droptower called Detonator.
So sad that it was destroyed, I never got to ride it but it looked like a really fun dark ride!😀
I would take this over derren browns ghost train every day of the week.
shane21royal same, the ghost train is just the biggest flop. Nobody likes it, yet Thorpe Park keep convincing themselves everyone loves it 😂
Was that a fart @ 1:04 ?
didn't this burn down?
It says at the end in the description!
Pretty cool visually esp the skeletal banquet scenes and the skeleton heads that pop up and down! Anyone who keeps insisting that UK dark rides are a joke must be delusional!
what is the music at 3:22 called?
rayblack2004 I want to know that too. Tried using Shazam on it but no results came up, so maybe composed just for the ride?
If you listen to ‘Danse Macabre’ by Camille Saint-Saëns, you will find some similarities.
I noticed the Game of thrones theme "Reins of castermere" has a similar sound to it, not the same.
Even if it didn't burn down it would have closed in about 2005.
Theme Park Attractions UK We have absolutely no idea how it may have panned out, Thorpe kept all its other family rides from that time while the big coasters were being built. It probably would have been changed eventually but in reality it was all to come to an end with the fire.
Does anybody know what the name of the song at 3.15 is?
It’s not exactly the same, but this is similar - th-cam.com/video/z0glOYQBlSA/w-d-xo.html
And now we have Inferno in it's place.
At least the replacement was good.
Actaully Detonator/Detonator:Bombs Away is in it's place. Nemesis Inferno is where Mr Rabbit's Tropical Travels was, which also partially burned in the fire.
Shame they burnt it down for the insurance payout
Was this a walk through ride?
It was a moving dark ride up and down levels, same kind of ride system as Disney's Haunted Mansion :)
The way it was moving & did go up & down levels, It is obvious not a walkthrough LMFAO
Bet you Merlin would have turned this into angry birds the ride
Phantom phantasia was cool but this is better
I remember this I hated it
There’s so many sad people in the comment sections. Don’t worry at least we have Nemesis Inferno and detonator. This ride was gone 20 years ago.
Meh! This ride was a work of art! Much rather it over those you mention!
@@haribo6344 Detonator is crap but Nemmy Inferno is better than the Wicked Witches obviously
@@Yasin_2312 Well Thats subjective! Nemmy is good but not unique like this ride was.
That ride is absolutely amazing it's almost like a grittier version of Disney's Haunted Mansion I wish the footage had move slower so I could actually see everything one of the TH-cam videos that led me here mentioned a hunchback swinging on a chandelier and I could not find him the rest of this I thought was amazing especially the ballroom full of dancing skeletons that was cool hope they rebuild it someday I go see it