Ghost Train Retheming – Edward Felix

PROJECT CASE STUDY

Ghost train

retheming.

Reimagining a ninety-year-old heritage dark ride through scenic design, technical engineering, fabrication, lighting, and immersive storytelling.

A new scene in the Ghost Train, a dinner party of the fanciest skeletons.

OVERVIEW

Designing for a living piece of history.

Project: Ghost Train Retheming
Role: Experience Design / Engineering
Client: Luna Park Melbourne
Visitors: Thousands per year
Skills: spatial design, artistic design, electronics, fabrication, VR previs, ride safety requirements

In 2023 I was invited to redesign and retheme the Ghost Train at Luna Park Melbourne, one of the oldest surviving dark rides in the world.

Built by the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company in the 1930s, the attraction is a heritage-listed ride and the last remaining Pretzel dark ride in the Southern Hemisphere. As the ride approached its 90th anniversary, Luna Park sought a refurbishment that would honour its history while revitalising the guest experience.

My role covered the full creative and technical process, including experience design, ride layout reconstruction, VR previsualisation, electronics design, lighting systems, scenic fabrication, and large-scale 3D printing.

The goal was to create a cohesive new version of the Ghost Train that respected the ride’s history while introducing modern design tools and fabrication methods.

A painting of myself made as a surprise by the incredible Ash Newman to memorialise when a seagull made itself at home on my head during a lunch break

A youtube video documenting the process of retheming the ride.

Designing the Ride

Before the redesign could begin, the first challenge was understanding the ride itself.

The Ghost Train is a compact indoor dark ride with approximately 130 metres of track, travelling at around 1.4 metres per second. Guests move quickly through tightly packed scenes, meaning each moment must be visually clear and readable almost instantly.

Complicating matters further, no existing plans or dimensions for the ride layout could be located. To solve this, the entire attraction was measured and a complete 3D scan of the interior was captured. This scan allowed the structure and track layout to be reconstructed digitally.

With the ride documented, the next step was establishing a clear experience design.

Over the years the attraction had accumulated props and scenes without a consistent theme, leaving the ride feeling fragmented. The redesign aimed to create a single cohesive environment where every scene felt connected.

Drawing from Luna Park’s folklore, the ride was reimagined as the haunted home of the park’s resident spirit, the White Lady. This concept allowed each scene to represent a different room in the house, creating a unified world while still allowing variety in the ride.

Because the ride vehicles move quickly through the space, the design focused on strong silhouettes, clear lighting, and compositions that could be read immediately by passing riders.

To develop and test the scenes, the entire attraction was recreated digitally. The scanned layout was rebuilt in Blender, then imported into Unity where a functional simulation of the ride vehicles was created.

Using a VR headset, the team could ride the attraction virtually, pause the experience, and review scenes from the exact viewpoint of guests. This allowed the design to be refined repeatedly before any physical construction began.

By the time work started on site, the entire attraction had already been experienced and approved in virtual reality.

a 3d scan of the luna park ghost train ride melbourne — The whole ride was 3D scanned, which was used as the base for new plans to be drawn up for the project.
This was used to build a VR version of the ride that could be ridden by all stakeholders for design feedback.

A photo of Luna Park melbourne' ghost train before retheming — Early tasks involved documenting as much as possible of the existing ride and structure, and preserve the history of what was there.

An old mural inside the ghost train from 1951 — When removing old murals (for safe storage), we discovered previous murals from a retheming done in 1951. This was preserved behind mirrors installed to “expand” the dining room scene.

Early mirrored scene that was removed in the melbuorne ghost train. — The job of documenting and preserving the ride was taken very seriously, and we definitely didn’t push ourselves around on the ride cars for fun. The mirror scene here was turned into a bedroom scene with plush velvet curtains.

Engineering and Fabrication

Alongside the creative redesign, the ride’s technical systems required a major overhaul.

The original ride show system relied on simple sensors triggering relays that directly powered speakers and effects. While robust, this approach made precise timing and sequencing impossible.

To address this, a modular ride show control system was developed. Small custom controllers were designed to manage individual scenes, allowing sound playback, lighting, and mechanical effects to be triggered with adjustable delays and durations.

Each controller was built around a standardised design with user-accessible controls, allowing scenes to be easily tuned and controllers to be swapped if needed. Audio playback was handled through micro-SD cards so sound files could be updated without modifying firmware or hardware.

Lighting was also redesigned from the ground up.

Two primary lighting styles were introduced: atmospheric scene lighting and powerful directional blacklights for ultraviolet scenic effects. Both systems used custom-built fixtures designed specifically for the ride’s constraints and safety requirements.

Most components were built as modular units using custom PCBs and 3D printed housings, allowing fixtures to be installed, maintained, or replaced easily.

3D printing became one of the most important fabrication tools in the project. Multiple printers ran continuously throughout production, manufacturing everything from lighting fixtures and prop components to jigs, mounts, and scenic elements.

One notable scene is the library, where shallow shelves were constructed along the ride path to create a 2.5D environment. Hundreds of custom book forms were modelled, printed, wrapped in fabric, and decorated to create the illusion of a fully stocked haunted library.

Other custom pieces included rococo-inspired candelabras, wall sconces, sculptural props, and numerous decorative elements designed specifically for the attraction.

New custom made lights installed in the luna park ghost train — The new lights created for the ghost train installed above the library to give a spooky and controlled feeling while being low-powered and low-temperatured.

a close up on the new black light system — The new blacklight system had to be more directed and able to stay amazingly cool and stable. They were built with custom cooling and temperature management systems.

Suedy smilng while painting on wallpaper — All the wallpaper in the parts of the ride set inside a house were painted on with a custom mixed paint that woudl hold colour but react under UV light.

The library in the ghost train nearing physical completion — To make the library feel more ornate, 3D printed finials were placed at the tops of the shelf uprights, and red curtaining was along the top. The books were 3D printed plugs mounted to shallow custom shelves.

Blending Old and New

Although modern technology played a major role in the redesign, the final experience was intentionally crafted to feel traditional and handmade.

Murals and scenic elements were painted by hand, portraits were created by artists, and decorative details throughout the attraction were carefully crafted rather than digitally projected.

Behind the scenes, however, the project relied heavily on contemporary tools including 3D scanning, VR previsualisation, laser cutting, custom electronics, and large-scale 3D printing.

The result is an attraction that respects the legacy of classic dark rides while embracing the capabilities of modern design and fabrication.

The Ghost Train has been part of Luna Park Melbourne for nearly a century. This refurbishment aimed to ensure that, for this moment in its history, the ride continues to feel magical, mysterious, and uniquely its own.

The final hallway with pushing hands — Certain sections of the ride were so lacking in space as to what could be safely installed, all theming had to be as flat as possible. This hallway had a UV reactive painting of Luna Park’s ghost and a painted door with sculpted hands pushing through.

Ash works on the portrait of the Moon — The entire opening forest mural was hand painted by Ash Newman and Suedy Daoud. We chose to preserve the artistic integrity of the ride rather than printing wall applications.

Hand painted portrait silhouettes with window projection lights in luna park melbourne's ghost train — To honour those who came to work the long days on retheming the Ghost Train, their silhouette’s were placed on various hallways of the ride. The lighting here mimics lightning coming through the windows.

A ghostly portrait in the Luna Park Ghost Train in Melbourne — All the portraits in the ghost train were hand painted (once again by the incredible Ash Newman), with a UV reactive hidden second painting that could be revealed.

Before and After Photos

Comparison between the original scene, a small science lab, and the final scene, a large ornate spooky dining room scene with skeletons — The old science lab and the dining room with the mirrors to expand the space.

Comparison between the original opening hallway and the installed black light forest — The old hallway with a smaller mural of fading stairs, and a close up of the new forest mural with UV painted tombstones.

A comparison between the original space in the ghost train and what was installed in its place — The space that became the portrait hallway was originally empty except for a few cheap halloween decorations. From the original site inspection, I was determined to have a grandfather clock in this scene.

comparison between the original library section and the final installation — The original library scene was a smaller painted mural, replaced with a large 2.5D construction, with extra lighting and a redecorated animatronic.

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