Tomorrow will be a dark day for a dark ride: Kennywood is closing The Gold Rusher. Presenting a fantasy trip into a haunted mine, The Gold Rusher, which opened in 1981, is considered a classic by dark ride enthusiasts. Hollywood special effects designer Maurice Ayers, who won an Oscar in 1949 for developing a lightweight plaster process for set construction, designed the interior scenes. His movie credits include "Paint Your Wagon" and "The Blue Max," according to the Internet movie site www.imdb.com.

"Sometimes even classics must come to an end," said Peter McAneny, president of Kennywood Entertainment. "Upgrading the ride to meet our own tough standards, as well as those of our guests, is not practical because of the ride's limited capacity -- something we cannot change. It's time."

"The park likes to have two dark rides because they are high-capacity, family-oriented rides," general manager Harry Henninger said when the ride opened 26 years ago.

But what was high-capacity then -- 300 riders per hour -- must be tripled or quadrupled to be considered efficient today, Kennywood spokeswoman Mary Lou Rosemeyer said.

Members of DAFE (Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts) and Kennywood's Gold Rusher operators and mechanics will attend a private wake for the ride on Sunday morning.