Architectural lighting for amusement parks

I took my mother and grandmother to Disneyland yesterday as part of their mother's day gift and I was really amazed at how  architectural lighting can create a whole different environment for a ride. I'm pretty sure everybody at UCI has gone at least once to Disneyland so they would know what I am talking about. I got them on the twilight zone Tower of Terror ride and the lighting effects added to the creepy ambiance. I noticed that they did have some theatre lights that dimmed up and down and was synchronized to give the feel of a haunted hotel. I do understand that lighting for amusment parks is different from theatre lighting but I'm curious as to how that would work, and what kind of instruments a lighting designer would use to light up external architecture.