Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - Tomb Raider: The Ride

Tomb Raider: The Ride

In 2002, an attraction was opened at Paramount's Kings Island (then owned by Paramount Pictures) themed to the film "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." The most expensive ride ever opened at the park, Tomb Raider: The Ride was essentially nothing more than a Top Spin, an amusement park ride featured at many carnivals and theme parks. However, Tomb Raider: The Ride was the world's first (and to this day, only) Giant Top Spin, nearly doubling the capacity of these carnival rides and drastically increasing the height of the ride.

Tomb Raider: The Ride was billed as a "totally immersive dark ride adventure." Synchronized to a musical score composed specifically for the ride, the ride continued the adventurers of Lara Croft from the film, essentially asking riders to help her find and destroy the Triangle, which is fiercely guarded by the goddess of war, Durga. The queue line for the ride featured the warrior monkey statues as well as the six-armed Brahma shrine from the film (the actual film props), while the ride chamber itself featured a specially created 80-foot-tall (24 m) carving of the goddess Durga. Upon awakening the goddess by mistake, her "laser" eyes shattered the headlights of the car, leaving the first portion of the ride in pitch black darkness lit only by her fire and ice emblems which she held in her hands.

Playing off scenes from the film, the ride blasted riders skyward inches from razor-sharp stalactites, then held riders upside down to view an erupting volcano stretching up the back wall. Just before the ride's finale, riders were held face down to view a bubbling pit of "lava" beneath them which, synchronized to music, squirted up fountains of lava at riders, often spritzing them.

The ride ended with Angelina Jolie reprising her role as Lara Croft to narrate on the defeat of the goddess as the chamber filled with smoke and the Triangle and goddess were cracked down the center, ending the goddess' malevolent reign over the temple and assuring that no one would ever use the Triangle for evil.

In 2008, Paramount Pictures sold the park to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, owners of world famous Cedar Point. Forced to removed all references to Paramount films and licensing, the ride was renamed The Crypt. While all the film props, music, and lighting were removed, the 80-foot-tall (24 m) carving of the goddess Durga can still be seen on the walls, though the ride takes place in pitch black darkness, devoid of ice and lava effects.

On February 12, 2012, the park announced that, "The Crypt has reached the end of its service life," via its public relations Twitter account.