J Magazine Winter 2017

WILL DICKEY (JUSTICE LEAGUE), SALLY CORPORATION (TUTANKHAMUN, GHOST BLASTERS)
THE BEST OF SALLY
Chairman and CEO John Wood shares his all-time favorite Sally Corporation dark rides.
spoke and blinked. When he left school to
set up a dental practice in Jacksonville, the
head — named Sally — was relegated to a
box in his garage.
But he never forgot about Sally and
one day introduced her to his neighbor,
John Fox, then a homebuilder in Jacksonville.
The two were fascinated with the
possibilities of animatronics but they
lacked the business knowledge to make
it economically feasible.
Enter John Wood, who had graduated
from Wake Forest with a degree
in history and economics.
“John Fox said to me, ‘Me
and my next door neighbor are
going to launch a new company
selling robots!’
“I said, ‘You’re kidding.’
“But I went along, and that’s
how it started.”
Four robotic prototypes later, Sally
Corp. was born. It was around the same
time Chuck E. Cheese and its animatronic
band took the kid world by storm.
Other establishments, hoping to
capitalize on the pizza company’s success,
scrambled to get their own animatronic
musical groups.
And there was Sally.
So were born Bubba and the Badland
Band, a musical group consisting of bears;
Ursula and the Oom Pah Pahs, a German
group with a Bavarian waitress as its lead
singer; and Daniel and the Dixie Diggers, a
band of dogs, among others.
But within a few years, “the pixie dust
had fallen off the pixie,” Wood says.
Animatronic bands were passé and Sally
struggled to rebrand itself.
The trio began looking for other products.
One of the places that attracted their
attention was Disney and — bingo — an
idea began to ferment.
What if we used our knowledge of animatronics
to build amusement rides, they
reasoned.
“And that decision has stuck for 30
years,” Wood says.
Since then, the company has added interactive
elements into its rides and created
a special niche for itself in the themed
entertainment business.
On some rides, participants interact
by shooting guns and their accuracy dictates
the length of the ride. On other rides,
the louder people scream, the longer they
ride.
The process of creation for each ride
begins with a script detailing the story
that will unfold as customers travel
through the feature. Artists next create
storyboards that picture each aspect of
every room.
Other artists then begin creating the
animatronic figures, scenery, backdrops,
character voices, music, sounds, lighting,
electronics and even aspects of project
management to make it all come alive.
The turnkey process is nothing short of
a production.
Each year the company produces some
four dark rides that cost customers anywhere
from $1 million to $10 million. Although
some of its rides, such as the Justice
League rides, are duplicated, other rides
are one of a kind.
“We can give our clients anything they
want,” Wood Weaver says, “no matter what
their goals.”
While visitors are certainly welcome
to tour Sally’s studio, they can also see examples
of the company’s work in the Ritz
Theatre, for which it created talking animatronic
figures of Jacksonville’s Johnson
brothers who wrote “Lift Ev’ry Voice and
Sing,” or at the Old School House in St. Augustine.
“Justice League: Battle for Metropolis”
Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif. // Opened in 2017
The plot begins with Joker and Lex Luther taking over the city of
Metropolis and preparing to unleash laughing gas on its populace. The
riders’ mission is to do battle with the two villains and save the city.
Because this park had to compete with other parks in the Los Angeles
area, the Six Flags company asked Sally Corp. to make it extra special.
“Challenge of Tutankhamun”
Walibi Belgium, Wavry, Brussels // Opened in 2003
The ride begins by entering the annex to Tutankhamun’s tomb. Riders fight their way
through a gauntlet of creatures while the spirits in the tomb get more and more
angry. Entrance to additional rooms is gained depending upon the shooting accuracy
of the riders. Although this ride was installed nearly 15 years ago, it remains the No.
1 attraction at the park. The ride contains 60 animatronic figures.
“Scooby Doo’s Ghost Blasters”
Six Flags St. Louis // Existed from 2003 to 2015
The plot was simple but the ride was fun. Internally, members of the Sally
team called this one the “Scary Swamp Adventure.” In it, riders would be
taken through a swamp where they’d encounter numerous villains. The
riders’ mission was to eventually unmask the most evil character and aid
police in his capture.
Or, of course, they also can take themselves
to Atlanta or Seoul or Mexico City
and buy a ticket to one of Sally’s dark rides.
It would be there that the real magic of
Sally is revealed.
Drew Hunter says these rides never get
old.
“You can go on a roller coaster for a
thrill. You know you’re going to get scared,
but you also know you’re going to eventually
get off and laugh.
“But part of the allure of a dark ride is
you don’t see what you’re going to get so
there’s an air of anticipation, an air of mystery
and an air of discovery.
“There’s nothing that can equal being
immersed in a theatrically controlled environment,
getting yourself plunked down
in the vehicle, getting ready to go in and
think ‘Oh this is great,’ then having things
revealed to you slowly.
“It’s an absolute visual feast.
“It’s a really special ride, a dark ride is.”
Paula Horvath is an editorial writer and
editorial board member at The Florida Times-Union
and teaches multimedia journalism at the University
of North Florida.
WINTER 2017-18 | J MAGAZINE 39