Now this is an interesting one. I was really struggling to answer the "favourite flat ride" question for the recent CoasterForce video, as there were loads of interesting and awesome rides, but I struggled to find one that really stood out from the others. Regardless, coming from someone who's never been to Florida or visited a Disney park, here's a bunch of stuff that I found to be notable.
Curse of Darkastle always stood out to me as a ride that made use of 3D, motion, physical scenery and projected screens to tell a story, gave a real sense of movement (despite the actual ride track being almost completely flat), and tried to get up into your personal space with some of the 3D effects. I liked what they were going for, and I enjoyed the fact that they went for a family friendly comedy horror sort of feel, rather than going for something excessively dark and bleak. As far as I'm concerned, it was one of my favourite dark rides, and it's a shame that it's gone.
Huntik at Rainbow Magicland was similarly awesome, this time incorporating a shooting element into the 3D concept. Huntik managed to get two things very right. Firstly, it once again tried to get into your personal space with the 3D effects, and secondly, it's one of the few dark rides that I know that have managed to make the shooting fun, by giving you interesting targets, and instead of having them be bullet sponges, giving you easily destroyable targets and throwing big hordes at you. I've yet to see any other park implement the dark ride shooter this well.
Phantasialand is the king of the non-coaster rides as far as I'm concerned. Between Chiapas, River Quest, Talocan and Mystery Castle, their non-coaster collection is easily the equal of their roller coasters, and sets a standard that very few other parks stand a chance of living up to.
I've been a big fan of frisbee and afterburner-style rides for years, but Spin Spider at Tussenfryd has beaten out most of the others due to the insane amount of airtime it delivered when I rode it. It's not as forceful as some of its competitors, but it managed to sustain an insane amount of floater airtime for an insanely long time at the top of each swing.
Liseberg has Jukebox, which looks like a fairly tame Octopus-style ride, but rides like it's been turned up to eleven. About the only time you'll ever find me excited about a Gerstlauer ride is if it's followed by either the word "Sky", or in this case "Polop".
Lately I've been discovering (or rediscovering) the joys of some more classic flat rides. I slightly regret skipping over a top scan a few weeks ago, although given that I was massively sleep deprived at the time, that may have been for the best. That said, Gravatrons, Rotors and Tagadas are a lot of fun, and I wish there were more of them around.
No list of non-coaster attraction would be complete without Hex, which is probably still one of the best examples of what can be done with a madhouse. I keep seeing other parks try more interesting madhouse concepts, only for the implementation of the actual spinning room to fall a long way short of what Hex pulls off perfectly. I certainly look forward to the day when a park actually manages to better it.
Kolumbusjolle, Europa Park's themed Seastorm, is a shining example of how to take a fairly simple but enjoyable flat ride, and then make it amazing through theming. They took something simple, and made it really memorable. Thumbs up.
There's Valhalla at Blackpool. Part dark ride, part awesome themed experience, part water survival training. Need I say more?
Finally, there's Symbolica at Efteling. I can't think of any other ride that made me buy into the whole "uplifting fantasy world" idea as well as this one. The attention to detail, all the way from the pre-show through to the end of the ride is amazing, and some of the moments, such as having spells cast at the ride car, encountering the whale, or dancing through the ballroom are amazingly well put together. It's not perfect - some of the interactive sequences during the ride feel a bit pointless - but when it's on form, it's on form.
