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Santa Cruz’s Very Haunted Castle

 

Location

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – Santa Cruz, California
Opened June, 2010

The Story

As Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk officially opened the new $9 million Haunted 
Castle on June 4, 2010, over forty frightful animatronic critters and characters 
(human and non-human) from Sally Corporation, and a variety of scary special
 effects, sprang to other-worldly life, eliciting screams and giggles from visitors.

Ups & Downs

Culminating over four years of planning and building, the new Haunted Castle erected on the site of the old Haunted Castle—which started out as the home
 of Dante’s Inferno in 1931, utilizes 
nearly 10,000 square feet of space beneath the Boardwalk for the ride.

In an unusual twist, the new ride loads and unloads at the Boardwalk level,
descending to enter and ascending to exit the spooky attraction.  At the start 
of the ride, the old-fashioned hearse-style ride vehicles (from I. E. Park) travel
backwards down a spiral ramp haunted by floating ghosts. Passing through
the entrance hall, where the ghostly (projected) king extends a royal welcome,
visitors travel through various areas of the castle…dungeons, the kitchen, a wine 
cellar, and the dining room before, surprisingly, passing through a fireplace into a 
swamp and over a bridge, then finding themselves in an eerie graveyard before
 braving rabid dogs in the royal kennels and barely escaping a falling guillotine as
they exit the castle.

Spooky, Scary Fun

R & R Creative Amusement Designs. Inc., in concert with Boardwalk technical 
and facilities staff, was responsible for the overall concept and design.  The aim was to create a family ride that was 
spooky and a little scary, yet fun.  There are some good scares, but no blood and 
some really funny scenes.

Old and new came together seamlessly to create a winning attraction for Santa 
Cruz Beach Boardwalk visitors: the ride consistently runs at capacity, according to
 Boardwalk management, and guest reviews are extremely positive.