- [Narrator] Epilepsy warning for
flashing lights and colors.
Please note this list will contain spoilers for each ride.
You can find a ride list in the description.
(upbeat music)
You've heard of jump scares and video games,
but believe it or not,
there can be jump scares on roller coasters too.
These moments are specifically designed to startle riders
with an unexpected twist at some point in the ride.
So with the Halloween season in full swing,
here are the top 10 roller coaster jump scares
as voted on by the fans.
Number 10, the Scarecrow and the Launch
at Flucht von Novgorod at Germany's Hansa-Park.
Built by German manufacturer, Gerstlauer,
this attraction is a pitch perfect hybrid of a dark ride
and a rollercoaster.
First opening in 2009, this ride has intricate storytelling
with a fantasy horror theme.
The coasters layout starts off with a dark ride section
featuring visual effects and animatronics.
All of a sudden and out of nowhere
the train takes a sudden dropdown in the dark,
heading straight into a launch section.
The sudden appearance of the launch
combined with the added momentum from the drop
is said to make this
one of the most intense launches on earth.
Taking guests to around 62 miles per hour
in just 1.4 seconds.
Guests are taken through an outdoor portion
with a heartline roll before heading back inside.
Soon enough, the train will reach the final break run,
but the thrills don't end there
because all of a sudden a scarecrow drops down
from the ceiling to startle the passengers.
It's a simple effect,
but the fact that it occurs on the final break run
undoubtedly makes it a heart pounding surprise.
To put it bluntly,
this coaster looks fantastic and spoiler alert,
it won't be the last Hansa-Park coaster on this list.
Number nine, the Nebula Ghost on Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy
at California's Disneyland.
A paranormal Sci-Fi overlay
on their classic space mountain coaster.
The ride has an unsettling start
with an ascent up the lift till with omnis music.
At the top of the lift, the portal to space take shape
but so does the main antagonist of the ride.
A hostile skeletal space creature,
known as Bob by Disney cast members,
begins to take shape, shooting bolts of plasma at guests.
Throughout the ride,
guests are stalked and chased by Bob,
dodging stars and asteroids in a desperate escape route.
Eventually, riders reach the portal back to the station
but they are far from out of the woods,
because Bob shows up one more time
with a rather infamous jump scare,
popping out just before the final turn
into the onboarding zone.
Number eight, the Launch Hill on the Incredible Hulk
at Florida's Islands of Adventure.
The Incredible Hulk needs no introduction,
especially if you're a Marvel fan,
but before the days of giving tacos to Paul Rudd,
the Universal Studio's Resort in Orlando
opened up a whole new rollercoaster theme to him in 1999.
Though it has since been updated with new track,
a new queue and new effects,
the overall ride remains the same,
including the next jump scare on this list.
Like most roller coasters,
this ride starts off with a lift hill,
but this isn't a chain lift.
Instead, a set of drive tires
slowly take the train up a tunnel.
This feels like a typical start to a rollercoaster,
but all of a sudden,
the ascension speeds up significantly
shooting guests out of the tunnel and into a zero G roll.
This launch comes out of nowhere with no warning.
You can't even tell it's coming from looking at the tires.
When I first rode this coaster in 2003,
I did not see this coming at all.
And it was perhaps the biggest shot of adrenaline
I'd ever received at the time.
The rest of the ride is packed
with thrilling upside down moments,
but that launch is certainly the most exciting of them.
Islands of Adventure is already one of the absolute goats
of theme parks and its attractions like the Hulk
that make it worthy of that reputation.
Number seven, the train on the Dark Knight coaster
at Six Flags Great Adventure, Great America and Mexico.
Ordinarily, wild mouse rides are considered
one of the most common roller coaster models out there.
Take a small train, put it on a layout with hairpin turns
and thrilling dips,
and you've got a low-cost coaster with a small footprint.
But for the Dark Night coaster,
it was decided to give the concept a lot more flavor.
Based on the classic 2008 movie, the Dark Knight,
this coaster is built entirely indoors.
After a well themed cue,
rider's board vehicles resembling subway cars.
On this ride, you'll enter the chaotic world of Gotham City
where the Joker is raising his
academy award-winning brand of anarchy.
You'll also encounter his mask henchman,
including one startling jump scare at the end of the ride.
Shortly before returning to the station,
a train driven by the joker's henchman will flash its lights
and honk its horn on your left.
This moment is widely regarded as an infamous jump scare
and it has startled countless people over the years.
There isn't a whole lot of footage of this effect
but luckily this effect is still in use today,
so don't tell your friends about it when you ride with them.
Number six, Herald on the Matterhorn at Disneyland.
First opening in 1959,
the Matterhorn was the first ever rollercoaster
to use tubular steeled track.
This ride is built into an enormous manmade mountain
based on the real life Matterhorn in Switzerland.
But this mountain is more than just an exterior facade,
because the inside is intricately themed, as well,
with excellent sculpting.
By 1978 though, the park decided
to add a little something extra to the ride.
That year, the park added Herald,
a life size figure of a Yeti that would suddenly appear
as riders maneuvered the twisting track at a fast pace.
The original figure was not an animatronic
since it did not move.
(quirky music)
However, in 2015, Harold would receive a modern makeover
as a true animatronic.
Appearing from behind a wall of ice,
Harold loudly roars at riders as they pass by
sporting glowing red eyes
and a royally pissed off expression.
What makes this moment so effective
is how suddenly he appears.
As it stands,
Harold is yet another iconic Disney theme park character
who's sure to startle even the toughest park goers.
Number five, Allura on Journey to Atlantis
at Florida's SeaWorld Orlando.
Back in 1998, SeaWorld Orlando
introduced its first ever rollercoaster to the public.
This heavily themed coaster dark ride hybrid
centered around guests being guided
to the Lost City of Atlantis
by a magical seahorse named Hermes.
Starting off as a slow moving dark ride,
passengers were surrounded
by colorful lighting and water effects,
but the titular journey to Atlantis
was not without conflict.
During the dark ride portion,
an evil mermaid named Allura confronts guests
showing her face through
early projection screen technology and late nineties CGI.
Just before the first lift hill,
a large upper body figure of Allura
would suddenly appear above guests.
This figure would emerge from a hole in the wall
with a flashing light illuminating it.
Unsurprisingly enough, this ride
initially received complaints from parents
that it was too scary for children.
However, the coaster remained the same
all the way until 2017,
when most of the effects in the story in general
were turned off.
Interestingly enough though, Allura still remains in place,
so the jump scare moment was removed as well,
so she's basically just a decorative statue at this point.
Number four, the surprise drops on Saw: The Ride
at England's Thorpe Park.
Based on the horror movie franchise
that made the Friday the 13th movies look like
the Hannah Montana movie.
Saw: The Ride sets guests in one of jigsaw's traps.
Passengers are challenged to escape the trap to survive
but doing so is far from a walk in the park.
The outdoor portion of the ride
features a Beyond Vertical drop, along with inversions,
and a nice near miss element with spinning prop saw blades.
But it's the dark ride portion at the beginning
that has the next scare on this list.
After approaching Billy,
passengers approach a pair of swinging pendulum blades
just before they're sliced up like sashimi though,
guests are suddenly sent down
towards a strobe blitz spike pit.
The lighting makes it hard to see this drop coming,
which is sure to surprise first time riders.
Passengers then dodge syringes shooting from the walls
before yet another surprise drop.
The whole ride experience is immensely thrilling
and horror movie buffs will get a kick out of it.
As it stands, Saw: The Ride
is an excellently themed rollercoaster experience,
even if you don't like the Saw movies.
Number three, the Dragon on Chaos
at Tennessee's Opryland USA.
Though no longer in operation,
Opryland USA was once a thriving theme park
in Nashville, Tennessee.
This park had a number of attractions
and roller coasters in its lineup.
One of which was an extremely bizarre rollercoaster
by Dutch manufacturer Vekoma.
This ride model was notable for its spiral layout
and extremely long train.
In fact, there were 40 cars on this train. Yes, 40.
This coaster actually had a capacity
of 1400 riders per hour with one train alone.
And with each car able to seat two people at the same time,
the coaster could sit 80 people per ride cycle.
Yes, eight zero.
But this coaster's train is not why it made the list.
After ascending the long spiral lift upwards
guests approached the first drop.
Around this point,
guests were originally greeted with an alien named Leslie,
who looks kind of like Pumpkin Head.
Later on, the alien was replaced with a large dragon head.
To this day, only two photos
and no video exists of this dragon.
Apparently, the dragon could breathe,
blowing air onto rider's passing by below to startle them.
What makes the design of this guy so terrifying
are the hyper-realistic eyes with a wide open stare.
Sadly, this coaster would close with the park in 1997.
To this day, photos and video
of the coaster are extremely rare,
and it's unknown if any more photos exist
of the dragon or Leslie.
If anyone can find more photos of this dragon,
you will have stumbled on a true holy grail
in the coaster history community.
Number two, the Fake Out Drop
on Schwur des Karnan at Hansa-Park.
Yep, another coaster at Hansa-Park.
This coaster named Schwur des Karnan,
is often considered to be a hidden gem
in the coaster community.
Many enthusiasts have referred to it
as one of the best roller coasters in Germany,
with its size, scale, and crazy elements.
By far, the most unique element on this ride
is the next jump scare on this list,
and it's a rather unexpected one.
Much like Flucht von Novgorod,
this coaster takes place partly indoors.
Towards the beginning,
your vehicle will ascend a vertical lift hill.
Just before reaching the top though,
you'll suddenly drop backwards down the lift.
Just a few years ago in 2017,
the park actually intensified this drop,
making it twice as fast.
Just imagine riding this for the first time with a friend
and not telling them about this drop.
Number one, Any Drop Track on any rollercoaster.
The viewers agree, this bright element
is the most shocking, scream inducing
and jump scariest moment you can find on a rollercoaster.
This element is basically a dead end straight section
of track that the train comes to a stop on.
After a while, the entire section of track drops downward
to a lower track section with guests on board.
This sudden drop gives a startling pop of airtime,
quite literally making it a jump scare.
In total, 11 roller coasters have this element.
I can certainly say from experience
that this element has elicited screams and laughter,
and I've seen people hyperventilating after experiencing it.
If you want a full list of the coasters
that have this element,
I've included a link in the description.
Now it's time for the comment shout out program.
This is where I take three random comments
from my past video and read them out.
These comments are from my video
on The Evolution of the Inversion Record.
Your average dude says,
"I used to get the world record of the Banshee
confused with the sSmiler.
The Smiler is the most inverted, sure,
but Banshee is the longest inverted and it's a must ride."
HFADWARRIOR says, "The centrifucal railway
looks kind of cute."
And Scoops says, "Idea: Top 10 Best Night Rides."
That's a good idea Scoops.
Feel free to suggest some good night rides in the comments.
If you wanna see your words in my next video,
leave a comment down below and it may be selected.
Please note though,
that inflammatory or spam comments will not be read.
Thank you all so much,
and if you wanna support me on Patreon
you can do so once again, at the link in the description.
Thanks for watching everyone.
Feel free to like, share and subscribe.
You can follow me on social media,
on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook,
or you can check out my website at themeparkcrazy.com.
This is Theme Park Crazy, and I'll see you all next time.
(upbeat quirky music)
(upbeat quirky music continues)