One of the World’s Rarest Rides Just Reopened in Wildwood
For some of the 2026 summer season, one of the most recognizable rides on the Wildwood Boardwalk sat silent.
Dante’s Dungeon, located on Morey’s Surfside Pier at 25th Avenue, had been closed for a few weeks.
As the closure continued, we started getting the same question over and over again: What is going on with Dante’s?
Some people even started speculating that its days on the Wildwood Boardwalk could be numbered.
One of the World’s Rarest Rides Just Reopened in Wildwood
Luckily, that isn’t the case.
Dante’s Dungeon has finally reopened this past week, although the timing is a little bittersweet.
With the summer season quickly coming to an end and Surfside Pier preparing to close for the season, there are only a few opportunities left to ride it this year.
Some people don’t realize that this isn’t a ride where Morey’s can simply call the manufacturer, order a replacement part and have it shipped overnight.
Dante’s is more than four decades old, its original manufacturer is long gone, and there were very few rides like it ever operating in the United States.
And when you start digging into why that is, you uncover an incredible piece of Wildwood history.
Before Dante’s Dungeon, There Was Dante’s Inferno
Long before it became Dante’s Dungeon, the attraction was known as Dante’s Inferno.
The ride was installed on Morey’s Pier around 1980 and was very different from many of the traditional American haunted rides that once lined the Wildwood Boardwalk.
Dante’s was an Italian-built, two-story dark ride manufactured by Ernesto Soli.
Soli was an Italian amusement ride manufacturer known particularly for bumper cars, and you can actually see some of that heritage in the way Dante’s operates.
Instead of a conventional amusement ride where the vehicles receive power through the track, Dante’s cars travel along floor runners.
The cars receive 24-volt DC electrical power through their wheels while the track itself primarily guides the vehicles through the building.
Even today, underneath all of the monsters, screaming, sound effects and darkness, that old Italian ride system is still there.
And there weren’t many of them.
Another Dante’s Inferno Was At Coney Island
One of the best documented examples of another Soli-built Dante’s Inferno operated at Astroland in Coney Island.
That ride arrived at Astroland in 1971.
Like Wildwood’s version, it was a large, two-story portable dark ride manufactured by Ernesto Soli.
The similarities between the two rides were unmistakable.
Both had elaborate European-style façades, two-story ride systems and small electrically powered cars carrying riders through a maze of dark corridors and scares.
In 2004, while Morey’s was working on the Wildwood Dante’s, Morey’s resident engineer Steve Valenti told dark ride historians at Laff in the Dark that, to his knowledge, there were only three operating Dante’s rides remaining.
One was at Morey’s in Wildwood.
One was at Astroland in Coney Island.
And one was somewhere in Italy.
That was more than 20 years ago.
Today, the Coney Island ride is gone.
Astroland permanently closed following the 2008 season and Dante’s Inferno was dismantled. The Coney Island History Project later reported that the ride had been placed into storage.
That leaves Wildwood.
The fate of the Italian example referenced in 2004 is much harder to determine. We have not been able to locate documentation showing that it remains in operation today.
That means Dante’s Dungeon in Wildwood appears to be the last operating example of this Soli Dante’s ride system in the United States, and there is a possibility that it could be the last operating example anywhere in the world.
Until the fate of that Italian ride can be definitively established, we can’t say that for certain.
But even being the last known operating example in America makes this ride incredibly special.
Keeping A 1980 Italian Ride Alive
It also explains what happened this summer.
Think about maintaining a modern amusement ride.
If a component fails, the park can generally contact the manufacturer, find the replacement specifications and either purchase the component or work with companies familiar with the ride.
Now imagine doing that with an obscure Italian dark ride built roughly 46 years ago by a company that is no longer supplying parts for it.
There isn’t a warehouse somewhere with a shelf labeled “Dante’s Inferno.”
When certain components wear out or fail, they may have to be repaired, reverse-engineered or manufactured specifically for this particular ride.
That is essentially what Morey’s was dealing with this summer.
Rather than giving up on the attraction, the work was done to get the necessary component made and keep Dante’s running.
And that’s something worth pointing out.
It would be much easier to remove an old attraction like this and replace it with something modern.
Instead, Morey’s has repeatedly invested in keeping Dante’s alive and in tip-top shape.
Dante’s Has Already Been Rebuilt Once
In fact, what you see today isn’t exactly the same Dante’s Inferno that riders experienced in 1980.
By the 1990s, the original Ernesto Soli ride cars had been replaced with vehicles manufactured by another Italian company, Bertazzon.
Then came an even larger project.
Before the 2004 season, the entire Dante’s structure was reportedly disassembled, refurbished and reassembled on Morey’s Pier.
At that point, much of the original interior had already changed over the years.
Changes Coming To Dante’s Dungeon
According to historical documentation from Laff in the Dark, virtually all of the original Soli “stunts,” or animated scares, had been removed.
But there were still some very recognizable pieces of the original Dante.
The enormous smoke-breathing demon and the three-headed dragons above the façade were original pieces from the old attraction.
The lower portion of the façade was also repainted with elaborate scenes depicting hell.
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Then, in 2005, Morey’s took things even further when Dante’s Inferno officially became Dante’s Dungeon.
The original ride system was retained, but the experience surrounding it was transformed.
The attraction received a gothic haunted castle theme with new monsters, animated figures, props, sound effects and other scares.
That is essentially the version of Dante’s that generations of younger Wildwood visitors know today.
You climb into the little car, the doors swing open and you’re sent into complete darkness.
And, depending on the night, you might also find a live actor waiting for you somewhere inside.
A Piece Of Wildwood History Hiding In Plain Sight
There are plenty of rides on the Wildwood Boardwalk that people recognize as historic.
Everyone knows the Giant Wheel.
People remember the Golden Nugget.
Longtime visitors still talk about the Flitzer, Hunt’s Pier and countless other attractions that have disappeared over the decades.
Dante’s is a little different.
It is still here.
Because it continues operating every summer, it is easy to look at it as simply another ride on Surfside Pier.
But underneath the modern paint, props and effects is a remarkably rare amusement ride that has been operating in Wildwood since around 1980.
The original manufacturer is gone.
Its sister ride at Coney Island is gone.
The third operating example known to exist two decades ago was somewhere in Italy, and its current status remains unclear.
The unfortunate part is that we won’t get very long to enjoy its return this year.
With Surfside Pier nearing the end of its 2026 operating season, Dante’s Dungeon will soon go dark again, this time for the normal off-season.
So if you happen to be in Wildwood while Surfside Pier is still operating, take another look at that giant demon overlooking the Boardwalk.
And maybe take one more ride through Dante’s Dungeon.
Because you’re not simply riding another haunted attraction.
You’re riding what appears to be the last operating Soli Dante’s Inferno in the United States, and possibly one of the last surviving operating examples of its kind anywhere in the world.
After more than four decades on the Wildwood Boardwalk, Dante’s is still scaring people.
And after this summer, we’re just happy to see those cars, and those three-headed dragon/snake things moving again.
The Wildwood Video Archive filmed it’s latest refurbishment back in 2022. You can check that down below (and please subscribe)