Witch ride at Rocky Point?

You’d have to be of a certain age to recall Rocky Point’s short-lived Witch Mill dark ride. The three-story, portable attraction debuted in 1971 and was removed after the 1973 season.  But if you want to locate the site of the former Witch’s lair at Rocky Point State Park, read on!

Rocky Point’s Witch Mill, designed by the Pinfari company of Italy, consisted of three floors, occupied by about ten stunts, and lots of dark space. The stunts included, a Mummy, Sexi-Death and her wardrobe malfunction, and the Magician, who pulled out his head instead of a rabbit.  Although it was called a “Mill” and resembled one from the outside, the ride had no storyline.

The fiberglass-molded stunts were complimented by the sounds of buzzers, horns, sirens and whistles amplified by bullhorns as circled in white in the far left-hand photo below.

Billed as the “New Italian Dark Ride” in local newspaper ads promoting Rocky Point’s new arrival, the ride’s facade promised a frightening adventure with its animated dragon, gorilla head and witch flying on her broomstick.

The colorful ride cars were designed to make the grade of steep inclines without the use of lift chains.

So why did Witch Mill have a short lifespan at Rocky Point Park? There’s no official answer.  But this writer thinks a lot had to do with patron expectations.  The Castle of Terror/House of Horrors, with its slow ride past mostly large dioramas and realistic sound effects, truly raised the bar for area dark rides.  Witch Mill was a fast-paced journey through single, quick-hit figures with no background scenery.  Friends who I rode it with often complained of the long spans of seeing nothing but wall panels and structural supports as well as the light holes between the panels.  These uninvited rays of sunlight would harshly illuminate the oncoming  stunts, eliminating the element of surprise. There is one known operating Witch Mill dark ride and it resides at Playland Park in Rye, New York.  The ride, renamed the Flying Witch, is owned and operated by concessionaires who have maintained and enhanced it since 1971. Having spent hours documenting the Playland Witch ride, including taking many walks through the building with the house lights on, it’s clear that this attraction was designed to allow operators to add their own stunts/scenes.  And that’s exactly what the concessionaires at Playland have done over the decades. There are 25 scenes in the current ride complimenting the standard-issue 10 or so original stunts furnished by Pinfari in 1971.  Below is my collage of three of the stunts added to the  Playland Witch in recent years. For several decades, La Ronde amusement park in Montreal, Canada operated a Pinfari Witch Mill which they renamed “Le Moulin de la sorcière”.  Similar to Playland’s Witch, La Ronde added new scares over the years, including a complete overall of the facade to gain this menacing look below.  Notice the long line of patrons. Below is just one example of two small scenes (shot with the house lights on) retrofitted to “Le Moulin de la sorcière” after the original installation. The ride was removed about 10 years ago. Again, all Witch Mills were cookie cutter models, but also a perfect canvas for an owner’s imagination to go wild with enhancing the patron experience at every turn. So this begs the question: Would Rocky Point’s Witch Mill shelf life been expanded if the park   had added to it as did Playland and La Ronde? Ony the Witch knows for sure! And now for the question that’s on everyone’s minds:  Where do I find the former Flying Witch site at Rocky Point State Park? See the “now” and “then” photos below. The former Witch site is located to the left of the last Skyliner tower in the open midway.  It’s that easy.  But be cautioned… remember the fate of the explorers in the Blair Witch Project!!! For an onride video of Playland Park’s Flying Witch, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTDW0Tlhvjo For a behind the scenes look at Playland’s Witch go to: http://laffinthedark.com/articles/flyingwitch/fw1.htm To experience the former La Ronde Witch Mill ride, click on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hKhsZJLg5s (Photo credits: Robert Hamel, Anita Cerri Ferla, You Must Be This Tall movie collection, Paul Sitko, http://studiopluche.blogspot.com, George LaCross)

 

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