Unlike our Amber, the rest of us love our ghost trains. We aren’t experts on the topic but we just genuinely adore the rides. So it got us thinking, what are our favourites of the ones we have experienced.
Terror Castle
(Image credit Brean Website)
If you haven’t experienced Terror Castle at Brean Leisure Park than where on Earth have you been. It’s without doubt one of the best ghost trains in the UK. I rode it a couple of years ago now and I was completely blown away at the level of detail inside the attraction. I still remember jumping six foot at my own reflections. I remember being nervous before riding it and then cane out and went back on a few more times as I loved it.
Ghost Train
The original ghost train in the UK, the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Ghost Train is iconic for many reasons. It’s probably the oldest operating ghost train in the uk which adds a bit of sentimentality to it. It’s scenes are both camp and scary. There is a certain scene that is just brilliant because it’s pure cheese. The skeletons on the bike. It made me smile. This ghost train is also apparently haunted by a ghost called Cloggy, so it adds a bit fright to an already great ghost train.
Duel: The Haunted House Strikes Back
This interactive ghost train/dark ride if we want to be technical, has kept a lot of what made the original Haunted House special. You may now have to shoot at targets, which a few people don’t like, but it doesn’t detract away from this classic John Wardley ride. It is scary, creepy and just brilliant. The sets in here have aged really quite well considering. Some bits are a bit lacking or in need of a bit of TLC but overall it still has its original charm about it.
Haunted Mansion
This one is in that grey area. Technically it’s not primarily in the UK, but it spends its Christmas at Winter Wonderland Hyde Park, so you could argue it is a UK one. Anyways, I adore this ghost train. Unlike traditional ghost trains, it’s inverted, so you ride around on cars hanging from the roof. From the outside it’s amazing and it keeps it up inside too. I won’t spoil it for those heading to Winter Wonderland this year, but the last bit is always great. I ride it every year just because I genuinely enjoy it so much.
Derren Brown’s Ghost Train
I hear many of you eye rolling at us for this choice but hear us out. We have always been advocates of this attraction, so this may be biased, but DBGT is probably the start of the reinvention of the Ghost Train. Ghost Trains will have to be updated for the 21st century at some point, and Merlin have tried to do something a bit modern with it. It doesn’t necessarily pull it off in a way that fully works, but you can certainly appreciate the mix of classic meets modern that this Ghost Train does have. Is it the future of the Ghost Train? It might be!
Those are our favourite ghost trains in the UK. We do feel we need to give a special mention to two others though. One has been closed for a few years now and we are gutted we missed the chance to ride it and the other is due to visit the UK for the first time ever for Winter Wonderland!
Carnesky’s Ghost Train
(Image credit Carnesky’s website)
This ghost train is iconic. It closed in 2014 after being on The Golden Mile at Blackpool for 5 years and before then it travelled around the UK for 5 years. It was a mix of a ghost train and theatre show and had a cast of 17 actors. It became a main stay at Blackpool and had welcomed many celebrities in. In April 2014 they had a two week goodbye celebration.
Daemonium
(Image Credit ride-index.de)
According to this years map for Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, Daemonium is coming to the UK. This is the worlds largest travelling Ghost Train and it looks stunning. We only know what it looks like on the outside and we won’t be looking up spoilers for the inside as we want to be surprised, but if it is actually coming than we are very excited!
So there you have it. Those are our favourite ghost trains currently in the UK. Those are just a small selection of all the ghost trains operating in the UK and we highly recommend you go and experience them. Some aren’t great but then you will find one you will fall in love with! Ghost Trains are a staple of fairs and theme parks and we don’t want to see them leave.
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