MASON — An interactive ride based on tales of the original doggie detective will debut at Paramount's Kings Island in 2003, park officials announced Wednesday.

        Visitors to Scooby-Doo and the Haunted Castle will collect points by shooting at ghosts as they ride a Mystery Machine through graveyards and dungeons, spokesman Jeffrey Siebert said. The attraction will join Kings Island's children's area — Hanna-Barbera Land — on the current site of the Phantom Theater, which closed earlier this month.

        “Scooby is huge right now,” Mr. Siebert said. The Scooby-Doo television series made its debut in 1969, and the Great Dane is now starring in a movie of the same name.

        Interactive rides are getting big, too, industry experts say.

        “People like to get involved in rides,” said Jim Seay, president of Premier Rides Inc., a Maryland-based company that designs and builds rides. “The whole concept of amusement parks is that you forget about everything outside of the park.”

        Walt Disney World has an attraction similar to Scooby-Doo called Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Universal Studios has another, Men in Black.

        The Mason park also announced Wednesday that it's adding five weekdays to this year's schedule: Aug. 26-30. The main park will be open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. those days, although Water Works will be closed. The park also will be open weekends from Sept. 28 to Nov. 3.

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