JOIN ME ON A RIDE ON THE DARK RIDE SIDE

Fantasyland sign for the Alice in Wonderland Ride. Interesting fact - this ride is only at Disneyland.

 

It was rather recently that I heard the term "dark ride." My mind at first connected dark as, well, dark, as in dark comedy, dark music, etc. No, it didn't take me long to realize they meant rides that went into dark indoor adventures. 

I spent the first 9 1/3 years of my life in Fullerton, California. This meant every other holiday I went to Disneyland and the other found us (Mom and Dad and I) at Knott's Berry Farm. The high-light for me was the Calico Mine Train Ride at Knott's and a quartet of Fantasyland dark rides at Disneyland. This repritoire expanded in Disneyland with the "20,000 Leagues  Under the Sea" walk-through, "Adventure Through Inner Space" (which replaced the previously mentioned Walk Through, "It's A Small World," "Pirates of the Carribean," and parts of the Submarine Ride, 'Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland" (replaced by Thunder Mountain Railroad) and the train that circles Disneyland which ends with "The Grand Canyon and Primeval World." Yes, all of those were Dark Rides I grew up with. (Yes, "Space Mountain" and "The Haunted Mansion" came shortly afterward, but that was after I moved from California and didn't attend there as often.) 

While I enjoyed all the rides mentioned above - plus some outdoor rides like the Antique Cars (aka Tijuana Taxi) at Knott's or Disneyland's Jungle Cruise) - my favorite part was getting to Peter Pan, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and this is where I'll focus. 

Knott's Berry Farm's Calico Mine Train Ride.

Before I do that, however, I need to give a shoutout to Calico Mine Train. As far as I know, there is no movie that this is based on, but just a creative ride that tells its own story. And while it has a last minute thrill when there's a danger of an explosion, the train gets out of the mine and out to the bright sunny (or starry at night) sky. One other note - both this and the above mentioned "Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland" have caverns, but while Knott's looks artificial, it is more realistic than the Disney version.

Back to the Disney rides. In the original version, the only time you see any of the titular characters is the large cast painting on Peter Pan, Snow White, and Mr. Toad. The philosophy of these rides is that the rider is seeing through the charcater's eyes. Of course, in the first decade of my life, I was acquainted with the concepts of philosophy and understood exactly what they were doing. You believe that? Me neither. By the way, another fact is the rides weren't retellings of the movie but were in essense their own story. 

Jeremy Thompson - https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollercoasterphilosophy/51240734807/

Of course, every story has a happy ever ending, right? Well, not these rides. Snow White' conclusion was the witch trying to roll a boulder on you. Peter Pan had the crocodile snapping at you. Alice in Wonderland had you exiting the Mad Hatter's Tea Party to a flash and going through four consecutive doors before you went down a long vine - a little better than the previous two. But the kicker is Mr. Toad, where you end up in hell with a batch of noisy demons.

Each of the rides have creative vehicles. Snow White has mine cars with the Dwarves' names on them. Peter Pan has a track above the car, to give the illusion of flying over London and Neverland. Mr. Toad has antique coupes, while you get to visit Wonderland inside Caterpilar cars. 

Peter Pan's Flight. To the left is Mr. Toad.

While each had its scary moments (driving with a terrible driver like Mr. Toad or having Mr. Smee shoot at you before the Crocodile pops up), "Snow White and Her Adventures" had the reputation of being the scariest. They put a note in the ride descriptions warning parents, and by the '80's it was called "Snow White's Scary Adventures." I don't know why a pair of vultures and the witch offering you an apple would be called scary. However, I've learned from a Yesterworld You Tube video that mentioned the Disneyland version was nothing compared to its equivalent in Disneyworld's Magic Kingdom. 

Is it saying something that the rides featuring a female lead were the scarier ones? "Alice in Wonderland"s original design gave it a run for its money, with a creepy Chesire cat and a giant Mad Hatter calling you rude. By the time I got to remember the ride, it was toned down some. It did become my favorite, even though I didn't see the movie until the late '80's (and that was the hour long edited version). Come to think of it, after rewatching the original version, that might be why I liked it. While you saw the White Rabbit (blowing a horn at you), the Chesire Cat, the flowers (including an angry Dandy Lion), the birds, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse, there was no Caterpillar (you were riding him), Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or Queen (and King) of Hearts. And this ride, part of the same building as Mr. Toad and Peter Pan, didn't have the portrait with all the characters like the other rides. By the way, Disneyland is the only Disney park with this ride.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, By SolarSurfer - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5635296

So you can say that these dark rides lived up to the dark. None had a real resolution. You were off kilter with loud noises that may or may not have belonged (such as Goofy's voice as you're going through a collection of doors shrinking in size on Alice). I've grown up, but I do remember feeling "is this all there is?" Now, not all dark rides have that darkness (nothing dark about "It's A Small World").

In the early to mid '80's, Fantasyland had a major makeover. It ended with a fifth ride added to the Dark Ride collection ("Pinocchio's Daring Journey"), and a complete renovation of the original four rides. With the exception of Mr. Toad, the title characters showed up on the ride. (Pinocchio and Alice with the White Rabbit also are singing along on Disneyland's "It's A Small World.") Alice's ride now has the missing characters. Likewise, the rides are a little closer to the original stories (except Mr. Toad).

The beginning and ending of the Alice In Wonderland ride, with the now defunct sky buckets. If you look carefully, the track goes into neither of the openings in the back. They've taken out part of it's next door neighbor Mr. Toad to end the ride with a Tea Party and a band from the White Rabbit.

How about the endings? Pinocchio has a happy ending. Snow White now ends with her revived with her prince. Peter Pan has Peter piloting the pirate ship back home, while Captain Hook is trying to avoid being swallowed by the Crocodile, and Smee is rowing to the rescue. Alice's ride took some of Mr. Toad's real estate to have an extra couple of scenes which include her at a tea party with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, as well as the White Rabbit lighting what's either an unbirthday candle or a bomb. 

And Mr. Toad? Uh, some things stay the same, and some get worse. In other word, you still have the fire and brimstone ending, except it's a little longer. 

READING MILESTONE - I HAVE BROKEN THE CENTURY MARK READING LOVE INSPIRED SUSPENSE NOVELS!

Regular blog readers know I regularly post reviews of Love Inspired Suspense books. Many of those know that it is an imprint of Harlequin Romance, yet nobody has asked me to turn in my man's card. Yet.

How did I get started? Well, I had gotten into reading Christian fiction, and during that time between 2010 and 2018 there were authors I wanted to read: Virginia Smith, Camy Tang, and Rachel Dylan. In each case, the book I located was a Love Inspired Suspense title ("Scent of Murder," "Gone Missing," and "Picture Perfect Murder" respectively. I enjoyed all the stories, but these happened to be more of a focus on particular authors.

Let me back up a little and go to the time I was a member of the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) and took a class on point of view taught by Virgina Smith. In it, she mentioned "Scent of Murder" had four point of view characters, and she told how she justified having that many. That was the first Love Inspired Suspense book I read, and also the last one that had more than two point of view characters (the main protagonists).

Then, in 2019, Becky picked up "Undercover Protector" by Elizabeth 
Goddard. The story took place at a Tiger sanctuary. For a person who as a kid rooted for the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, and Arizona Wildcats, I read it and loved it. A month or so later, Becky  brought home "Dead Run" by Jodie Bailey. By the end of that year, I had read nine Love Inspired Suspense stories (including three by Jodie Bailey) and was ready for more. Allow me to add that Bailey would have a novella and two novels set at the Grand Canyon, enough to make me homesick. One more thing - one of those first Love Inspired novels I read was written by Meghan Carver, who was a fellow member of the Indiana chapter of ACFW when I belonged to the group.

Besides Bailey, I also discovered Jessica Patch. All the authors were great at giving you characters you cared about as well as exciting, twist filled stories, but there are several characters (main and secondary) that stood out and catch my interest. For example, Wilder Flynn from "Dangerous Obsession" (the first Patch story I read) made an impression by liking to tell stories and being obseessed with his hair. He made it to my 20 favorite fictional characters back in 2020. At this point, I've read 19 books by Bailey and 15 by Patch.

Right before COVID hit in 2020, I caught on that they had an annual 9 part multi-author K-9 Unit series each year. The story lasted from April to November, with a new book coming out each month, and in December they had a two novella release. From January to March, they would release new entries to their Search and Rescue series, though unlike the K-9 series during the year, this was basically a collection of stand-alone novels taking place in the wilderness. I've now read 60 of these K-9 books. Yes, I'm a dog lover, though I know that the dog is basically a supporting character (I've seen Amazon reviews where the reader wanted more of the dogs). One other note - I discovered another of my favorite authors - Terri Reed - from these K-9 series. Jodie Bailey joined the rotation in '21, and Jessica Patch followed suit two years later.

I'll admit that this series is very formulaic. I mentioned that aside from Virginia Smith's "Scent of Murder," all of the stories are told from the point of view only of the male lead and the female lead. The action usually starts by the end of the first chapter. In the midst of running for their lives and solving crimes, somewhere in the middle the main characters kiss and immediately determine that should never happen again (of course, by the end of the story they changed their minds and fell in love). 

These definitely consider these Christian novels. The characters pray. Sometimes, one of the leads has no interest in God; other times, they're convinced God has no interest in them. It's never preachy - it focuses more on those who are having their faith tested than those who are unbelievers.

In case you haven't noticed from the top, there are six new Love Inspired Suspense books each month. I used to suggest most of them for purchase from the library the first couple of years. I'll confess that they are a bit repitive, so I'll typically suggest one or two books a month (including the multi-author K-9 series), and rarely getting up to three. 

Will I ever burn out on these? Who knows. But it is nice light, positive suspense.

 

REVISED BOOK REVIEW - "LIFE OF JESUS IN 30 DAYS" BY TREVIN WAX

Yes, I have already reviewed this book. So why am I reviewing it again?

Earlier this year, I got this book from the library. However, I had to return it before I finished it, so I went ahead and wrote a review. I thought by that point I had enough of the flavor of this book to review it. After all, it was a collection of readings

Here is what I had previously written from my review, posted April 1, 2025 (no April Fool's Day jokes here). 

"Definitely the best liturgical book written by a Southern Baptist I've read.

"'Life of Jesus in 30 Days' is a devotional book compiled by Trevin Wax, Vice President of Research and Resource Development of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. He also has followed a similar format with book on Psalms and the Letters of Paul.

"Each day is divided into three readings: morning, midday, and evening. The middle section is shorter, and Wax says it could be combined with the evening reading if your schedule does not allow the middle reading, though the midday is the shortest of the three. Each reading is highlighted by a passage from the Gospels (not in order nor exhaustive), but also has other thoughts from Scripture, creeds (the Apostle's Creed is there at least three times), and readings from the Common Prayer Book. Each of the 90 readings also includes the Gloria Patra and the Lord's Prayer.

"This is a little more liturgical/high church than I'm used to. But this book and the other two I mentioned are good at helping you have a developed devotional time. I do recommend this collection."

So again, why am I revising the review? I noticed something that won't (for most people) affect your views on the book. However, since most of the book is reading through Scripture, I noticed an inconsistency that I wanted to point out. Not enough to invalidate the book, but something I caught.

This concerns questionable sections. I'll give you credit for knowing that there are 5,000+ Greek manuscripts, with a whole lot of variations between those texts, with some putting the weight on the most common reading and most favoring those in the earliest texts. There are three examples in the Gospels: those early texts do not contain the benediction of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 ("For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever), the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11, and the long ending of Mark 16.

I have noticed inconsistencies in the readings. Wax includes John 8:3-11, but does not include Mark. Why include one and not the other? Also, 29 of the 30 readings include the Lord's Prayer, complete with the benediction. The 30th reading is where it covers Matthew 6:1-18, which includes the Lord's Prayer, but here it leaves the benediction off. This is author's prerogitive, and it's not a legitimate reason to not use this book or the others in the series. I just found it interesting.

BOOK REVIEW - "STANDING WATCH" (DAKOTA K-9 UNIT BOOK 3) BY TERRI REED

 Why is this long-haired guy attacking K-9 Unit Task Force Agent Zach Kelsey's Park Ranger wife Eden at the Mount Rushmore observation deck? And why did he strangle one of Eden's co-workers? Can Zach - with help of his K-9 partner Amber - protect his wife and their unborn child from the killer and salvage their crumbling marriage?

"Standing Watch," written by Terri Reed, is part 3 of 9 books in the Dakota K-9 series. The collection is looking at the formation of a task force to stop guns from being smuggled into the Dakotas from a crime ring that murdered one of their fellow officers and the young girl Joy who was dropped off at her unknowing relative, ATF Special Agent and Dakota Gun Task Force director Daniel Slater with a note. This book looks at the story of Zach and Eden Kelsey and, of course, Amber the Labrador K-9. 

As already mentioned, this is the third story in this series. Can you start with this book if you missed the first two books and not feel lost or ruin any surprises? Technically yes: The authors do a great job trying to keep the reader caught up with the story. However, considering I'm writing this review after reading the first six novels of this collection, I would strongly advise to read all the books in order. I can't say more without spoiling some of the coming surprises.

Now to this story. I really enjoyed the development of Zach and Kelsey (and no, I can't leave out Amber). Additionally, there are some twists and turns in this story.

I highly recommend this book and the full series (saying this without reading the final three books of the Dakota K-9 Unit.

BOOK REVIEW - "RADICAL LIKE JESUS: 21 CHALLENGES TO LIVE A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE" BY GREG STIER

If you want a challenge to live a Christian life that accomplishes something, this book fills that category. This book is designed to be a 3 week motivator to stretch out of the norm and take steps to walking in Christ-likeness.

This book has 21 chapters, between 8 and 12 pages each. They start with a story - most of them autobiographical. It then deals with the subject, giving Biblical illustrations (mostly from the life of Jesus, as you'd guess from the title of the book). It concludes with an assignment, with the difficulty level of each of these.

I've read several challenges on living a more revolutionary, life-changing life. One distinction of this one is having a short 21 day format (a similar book, "Pray & Go" by Thom Rainer, is a 30 day exercise). This book is also full of humor and humility on the author's part (including when he had an argument with his wife prior to a Bible study and was rebuked for his part). While similar, this book has no connection to David Platt's classic "Radical" and it's follow-up "Radical Together."

If this book looks like something you want to tackle, go for it.

 

BOOK REVIEW - "DEADLY BADLANDS PURSUIT" (DAKOTA K-9 UNIT BOOK 2) BY SHAREE STOVER

 Why has Protected Witness Cameron Holmes been incommunicado? How does the person who attacked U.S. Marshal Gracie Fitzpatrick outside Holmes' ranch know Cameron's real name? Could it be a powerful politician, or could it be a rogue U.S. Marshal?

"Deadly Badlands Pursuit," written by Sharee Stover, is the second installment of Love Inspired Suspense (a Harlequin imprint)'s annual multi-author K-9 series. Stover does an excellent job both with the continuing stories of finding the leaders of a gun-running operation who murdered one of their fellow officers and the mystery of an abandoned girl left with Daniel Slater, the director of the Dakota Gun Task Force.

Allow me to answer a couple of questions you have. First, is this a book you'll enjoy? If you want a suspenseful story full of mystery and plot twists and characters that are engaging? Absolutely. The action starts early and does not let up, and there are plenty of surprises, including... no, I'm not going to give a spoiler here.

Second, do I need to read the kick-off novel of this series, "Chasing A Kidnapper" by Laura Scott, before I start this one? I won't say "need to," but I would advise it. I'm currently reading book 6 of 9 in this series, and there are some major twists at this point, so to enjoy it better, I'd recommend not only reading Scott's book before this one, but to commit yourself for the full set.

I highly recommend this story and the series.