The Weird Magic Haunted Castle 1991

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

The Weird Magic Haunted Castle 1991

datman · Serious Squawker

i worked at pleasurewood (also in the castle) back in the 80s for 3 seasons ,when the haunted castle was first built
you walking into the preshow and watched a film at the front (cant remember much about the film ) then 3 doors opened on the right and you was moved through into the main theatre no seats was there, just terraces ( metal lean bars )
most of the time we had one of the characters standing at the door nearest the stage, normally a vampire standing still like a statue untill someone walked right close to him then he lunged at them, cant remember to much about the actual show , can remember a graveyard with lots of dry ice and a grave digger character, main thing i rememer is that they added the laugh from the end of michael jackson thriller track to the end of the theatre track so as people started to exit the laugh was played extra loud, people used to jump out of their skins at this. There also used to be a haunted gift shop in there as well selling jelly spiders n the likes,
apparently sometime in the 90s they had some sort of warewolf that appeared in the audiance and was apparently terrifying as it was somehow lit up by uv light as it ran through the audiance , this was one of the reasons the haunted castle was changed as to many people was getting scared and upset by this. personally i think they should turn it back into some sort of interactive ghost train along the lines of alton towers duel :)

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

If you compare it to the Alton Towers ghost house, it really was quite recent and very scary, which is what they should be!

Do you remember what company built and designed it?

datman · Serious Squawker

livewireguy wrote:

If you compare it to the Alton Towers ghost house, it really was quite recent and very scary, which is what they should be!

Do you remember what company built and designed it?

unfortunatly not :) the old grey matter is not as sharp as it used to be lol :)

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

It is a real shame that it has gone because i think it was very unique!

I remember there was a vulture who spoke to the audience. He was a animatronic i think and also a phantom of the opera man who played the organ! It was fantastic.

Any other memories? was it a good attraction to work on?

datman · Serious Squawker

livewireguy wrote:

It is a real shame that it has gone because i think it was very unique!

I remember there was a vulture who spoke to the audience. He was a animatronic i think and also a phantom of the opera man who played the organ! It was fantastic.

Any other memories? was it a good attraction to work on?

Ahhh yes ,Phantom of the opera man, can recall that now and vaguely the vulture,

The human actors as far as i can remember was seperate from the ride staff
as for operating it was pretty easy especially as there was only 4-5 shows a day
(this was at the time when phw was packed everyday, cine 180,pirate ship ect all state of the art rides)
There was about 4 staff assigned to the castle
most positioned on different doors ect
people qued and was let in at certain time, operaters then had to move peole forward nearer the screen of the pre show (vaguley remember pre show area was on a two tear platform) one they was packed in like sardines doors was closed, and film was played. as film finished buttons was pressed to allow people to manuever through the doors on the right , again staff hearded the people through and then moved them in main area moving them over to the right more.
once everyone was out of preshow area, doors was electrically closed and main show began, after the main show, doors was open at the back and people exited via the shop.
Then all the operators had to do was pick up any rubbish left then chill out till the next show,a very easy ride to operate, also in them days there used to be 2 operators on the ladybird (snake in the grass) 3 operators on cine 180 , in fact quite a few rides in them days had a minimum of two operators on , but then again in them days ques was very long,for example the chairlift always had 4 operators on with it runnning at medium speed. the drive end of the chairlift on most days would have a que of 50+ people from 10.10am and stay with a long que until about 4.30pm even the paddle boats on the lake used to have a que for most of the day, then again they was popular too in them days :) also the storybooks and the fantasy boat ride used to have long ques with anything up to a 35 minute wait for the fantasy boats.

tnasha1982 · Woody Wannabe

I Remember this I was very young maybe 8 or 9 and it terrified me!!! I can only really remember the first part as I spent the rest of the show with my eyes closed!!!

As I remember there were pictures of "scary" characters on the walls as you qued and then everyone went into a room with a large screen that told you the history/ story behind each of the charaters, then the next thing you knew these characters were walking/ running around the crowd making them jump and scaring them ( this is what really terrified me as a kid) I particulary remember a woman with her mouth sewn up. Then i think you went into another room where there was the man who played the organ but other than that i can't remeber much as i refused to open my eyes!!!

a very good ghost house IMO and I would have loved it if i was abit older it is very hard to find a ghost house/castle/train that actually scares people other than the Horror film ones like the saw maze at thorpe Park and the pasaje de terrors that are dotted about the place, but i can see why they may have had complaints for it being a bit too scary for young children as I was petrified!

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

I've just had another look at the past maps and i can remember the different countrys so clearly - red, orange etc.

BRING BACK THE HAUNTED CASTLE - WHY NOT GET RID OF THE SEATS AND PUT IN A TRAIN SYSTEM AND HAVE A DECENT SIZED GHOST TRAIN or re-theme the Rattlesnake into a ghoster coaster!

GOD I AM SO SAD!

Martyn · Passionate about Pleasurewood

I too would like to see a Haunted attraction in the castle!

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

Does anyone remember who designed this Haunted Castle show?

Was it made bespoke for the park?

Matt · pleasurewoodplace.com

I was too scared as a kid to go into the Haunted Castle, but really wish I did now. The description sounds genuinely impressive and unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. Why someone decided to replace it a year later with a cheesy Woody Bear show is beyond me!

I just found a postcard on the internet showing some picures of the show...

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

That is awesome! you can see in the middle picture the Vulture called igor i mentioned earlier. When the closed the Haunted Castle for good - i saw him placed in the Cine 180. Very sad!

I genuinly think this was unique ride - its a shame that very little archiving exists about it!

Matt · pleasurewoodplace.com

Perhaps our friend PWHSocial can ask around the staff for their memories or track down any memorabilia that might be buried deep in a storage shed somewhere? Or anything of interest from "the good old days" for that matter!

Laurence...!?

Sonic Reducer · Woody Wannabe

I've just discovered this site, and thought I'd post a few memories. I worked at the park in '89 and i can honestly say it was probably the best job i've ever had from an 'enjoying your work' perspective (cant recall if the money was all that great :) )

There was a really great bunch of people working there that year and we all seemed to get on pretty well and made the days fun for each other.

My memories of the Haunted castle are mostly of the staff livening up the show for ourselves :) As you went through the main doors you led the visitors off to the left into the main show area. to the right there had been a haunted castle themed shop the previous year but they'd done away with it for '89 and instead it was just a little closed off area with mostly loads of ghostly themed tat in it.

Amongst this tat we found a monks robe type garment that was roomy,black and had a big hood. and also a very nice quailty big,red lined Dracula cape with a big pointy collar. two of us would take off our lovely green blazers, get into these garments , put on rubber masks and rubber skeleton hands from the shop and hide in the back corner of the main show room. Completely covered by our black clothing we couldn't be seen at all by the public and as people naturally moved down as far to the front as they could get, we were in no danger of being discovered by accident .

You would find as the show started that the people at towards the back of the crowd were spaced out quite well from each other, so when the show started, we would get out of our hiding place and move amongst the public. it was so dark in there at various points that they couldn't see you and you would touch their arms or their faces lightly and they would freak out!. This could be done throughout most of the show at strategic points that worked with the sound affects. Towards the end of the show we'd go get changed out of our disguises and wait in the exit corridor to show the vistors out of the Castle. They thought us scaring them was all part of the show and went away happy, and we as staff members had some extra fun during the show. (Believe me, those songs quickly got etched into your brain after doing four or five shows a day. I still occasionally find myself singing "It aint no sin, to take off your skin and dance around in your bones!" all these years later.)

Guilty confession here. I nicked the Dracula cape at the end of the season. I think everyone that worked there had something out of the shop. I was recently told by my sister, who was very young at the time I worked at the park, that she still had little pumpkin topped pencils I'd brought her home from there. (I was young at the time. Stealing's not cool kids!!!) Sadly, I don't have the cape anymore. sold it some years later but wish now i hadn't as it was a really quality item.

Sorry for the novella length post, but it was fun to write this. :)

-- Edited by Sonic Reducer on Sunday 25th of September 2011 09:38:21 AM

Martyn · Passionate about Pleasurewood

That sounds like a lot oof fun, and also reminds me of how the staff at Disneyland 'act' in their roles, even as just normal ride ops. Its great to see and really makes a day out so much better.

Shame the staff of today at PWH aren't like that :(

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

I think tales of the coast could be re-themed as a haunted attraction quite easily!

Sonic Reducer · Woody Wannabe

To be fair Martyn, They're probably not allowed to be. Things have changed so much in the workplace between then and now, that they probably have super strict guidelines about what they can and cant do. As a ride operator, doing the same task every three minutes or so you quickly found little ways to amuse yourself, make the day a little more fun - we all had little tricks we would pull on the customers and each ride had little things you could exploit to that end and in doing so, it very often made the ride a more memorable experience for others too.

You could do little things to scare the customers back then and they would love it. in todays world of super strict health and safety rules and regulations, you wouldnt be allowed to say, speed up the carousel or pretend a safetey bar on the troika might be less than secure (knowing it was fine of course) for fear of the customer reporting you. But back then the emphasis was on fun and making the day memorable for the customer and there was an unspoken but acknowledged rule that this was fine within reason.

I havent been to PWH since I worked there cos Im terrified of heights and hate fast rides so its not my kind of place to go, but i adored working there. I can honestly say it changed my life, cos i had a little accident involving the chairlift which changed my life forever, but I've never regretted it.

Sonic Reducer · Woody Wannabe

livewireguy wrote:
I think tales of the coast could be re-themed as a haunted attraction quite easily!

When i was there this had just become 'Alladins cave' We used to have a lot of trouble with unruly kids getting out of the boats and leaving via the fire exits. Seem to remember the storybook ride in main street having a similar problem.

There should always be a haunted attraction at PWH I reckon. Wish I could remember the name of the guys who opperated the haunted castle show behind the scenes, theyre were really good at it and always wanted to improve it as i recall.

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

It was a really unique show and quite high tech with lasers , animatronics etc.

Any idea who built it /designed it?

Sonic Reducer · Woody Wannabe

Sadly not. Alls I can remember is the people who actually ran the Haunted castle and Woody Bear shows were, if memory serves, employed by someone other than Pleasurewood Hills. But yeah, the laser show etc was pretty good. Really atmospheric. It obviously lost a lot of its appeal after a whole season, but it was really popular with the customers. The main guy, whose name escapes me as i say, would usually be the wolfman organ player who appeared during the show.

Bubbles · Passionate about Pleasurewood

I loved the Haunted Castle. Only just about remember bit.. it's one of those attraction id wish I could watch again.
It was certainly quite creepy.
I do recall having to watch a video regarding various characters and then been taking into the next section for the main show... all I can remember form that was a witch flying back and forth and a costume dude running down the aisles scaring all the kids. One time the costume dude picked up a young child and ran off with it.. lol

I believe somewhere in one of the maintenance sheds there is still a skull prop/decoration or something from this show.

(I hate the fact they've painting the castle, it's not just a plain blank exterior.. shame on you who decide to spoil it, doesn't look like a castle)

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

When i think back to the times that i went to haunted castle show - it think it was just scary enough for families. Ok maybe a little too scary but it was great hanging on to my mum and dad, half petrified one minute , laughing out loud the next. That to me is what the family part of the theme park is all about.

I hope Hobbs Pit strikes the same balance.

Maybe not as scary as the show because they closed it down cos it was too scary!

We wouldnt want that for Hobbs pit!

PWHSocial · Exceptionally Expressive

Hobs Pit is a dark ride. It's a scare ride. This isn't a 'Scooby Doo' experience.

livewireguy · Enigmatic Expert

Ha ha - Thanks for replying Ben.

Glad its not a Scooby Doo! ZOIKS!

Im sure it will be a massive success - nostalgia is a fine thing but this new ride looks brilliant!

Emmy12 · Woody Wannabe

Was reminiscing about my time at Pleasurewood Hills in 1988. We lived in Scotland and used to visit Norfolk to see our grandparents and I went to PH with my big sister (I was 12 I think and she would have been 20). I am 42 now but can still remember some of the great rides at PH and have lots of fond memories. Surprising as I only visited once but it has stayed with me.

Loved the Haunted Castle and sad to see it is no longer. I remember as others have said above being ushered into a large room and it being pitch black and watching the film show. I remember being v scared with the people that would jump out and run around scaring everyone. Yes, I don’t think you’d be allowed to do that nowadays! It was actually was probably quite simple to set up but it was v v effective!!

Loved the 180 degrees cinema which was pretty amazing for its time, the swing ride and of course the chair lifts were fab. Lots of happy memories!! Hope it’s still doing that :-)

Here’s a link for the soundtrack that was played in the big dark room. Takes me back!

m.soundcloud.com/themeparkarchive/haunted-castle-show-soundtrack-pleasurewood-hills

Ps thanks to the posters above (even though it goes back to 2010).

Bubbles · Passionate about Pleasurewood

i'm still hopeful there's some footage out there.

It's so cool that soundtrack had been discovered.. it's amazing. it's weird reading though this topic again and that soundtrack does confirm that the Vincent Price audio was not used, which i assumed anyway but it's nice to clear that rumour up.

As for footage... the 'films' they aired in the first half must be hidden somewhere, i hope someone finds them.