Even as guests first enter this new park, they will see a large castle looming in the distance. As curious guests go back to investigate, they will find a land which seems to have been taken right from one of the many classic horror movies we have seen throughout the years. Welcome to Horrorland. Where nothing is truly alive and everything that is tries to kill you. Dark alleyways, shifty citizens and of course, dark and creepy-looking houses can be seen from the land's main drag. Here, guests can visit one of the park's many gift shops or get a bite to eat at a restaurant owned by one of the greatest monster hunters known to man. Of course, this area seems SOOO much smaller compared to the magnificent yet strangely eerie castle that stands as the land's centerpiece. So as usual, here's a rundown of the land's attractions and other points of interest:
Young Frankenstein: The Experience
Two things are noticeable. The first is a stone tunnel that disappears behind the trees. Guests go in and out of it. A banner rests near the top saying “Castle Frankenstein this way”. The other is a grand theater. We decide to go into the theater, passing below a gothic-style gate bearing the words:
THE EXPERIENCE
After proceeding through a series of switchbacks, we finally enter the theater below a marquee reading: Bucharest Academy of Science. Tonight Only. DR. F. FRANKENSTEIN presents THE CREATURE in “A Startling New Experiment In Reanimation”. Presented in cooperation with TNS (Transylvania Neurological Society).
We find ourselves inside a grand lobby. The theater doors remain closed. Various members of the village mingle amongst us, including Constable Henry, Herr Falkstein, and Ziggy the village idiot. After some time, a man dressed in dark green/blue with a eye-patch over his eye and a monocle over his eye-patch, a stiff right arm, and a thick accent stands up on a platform near the theater doors. This man is the formidable and irritable Inspector Kemp.
Kemp: Guten abend, everyone. For those of us visiting our village tonight, I am Inspector Kemp-Head of the Transylvanian Law Enforcement. Ve have all come here tonight to vitness a scientific demonstration by Dr. Frederick Frankenstein.
Frau Schmutz: I thought it vas pronounced Fronkensteen.
Kemp: Be quiet, Frau Schmutz! No matter vat vay you pronounce it, I do not trust anyone from that family. This one’s grandfather created a terrifying monster that ripped off my right arm. And if I’m right, it appears that this young Frankenstein is indeed fahlahinkinhisgranfadursvooshtaps!
Villagers: What?
Kemp: Following in his grandfather’s vooshtaps. (stomps his foot)
Villagers: Oh, footsteps!
Kemp: Quite. Anywhom, in a moment, the theater doors vill open. Please enter in an orderly fashion, choose a row, and take a seat as far over as possible. Make sure your group is together; ve cannot be held responsible if a vampire bursts in and steals you avay. The doctor has asked me to inform you that for safety’s sake, there is to be no eating, drinking, or smoking. Und especially no flash photography.
Ziggy: Like this?
Ziggy takes a picture with his camera, causing a blinding flash in the lobby.
Kemp: Ve need to get a new village idiot. Now, let’s all go into the theater, and see just vat’s in store.
The theater doors open and we go inside.
The theater is a bit of a mix between modest and grand. A wooden stage with a plum-colored curtain rests at the front of the house. We take our seats amongst the villagers. Soon the lights dim, a piece of music plays, and Frau Blucher, a somewhat terrifying woman, steps out from behind the curtain.
Blucher: Good evening. I am Frau Blucher. (a horse’s terrified whinny is heard outside the theater) Ladies and gentlemen, tonight it is my great privilege of introducing to you a man whose family name vas once both fa-mous und infa-mous. And now vithout further a doodoo…(re-reads speech notes) vithout further ado, do allow me to present, Dr. Baron Frederick von Frankenstein.
Frederick: (from behind curtain) Fronkensteen!
Blucher: Vatever.
She exits and Frederick von Frankenstein, a charming man who seems to display a slight insanity, comes on stage.
Frederick: My fellow scientists and neurosurgeons. Ladies and gentlemen. A few short weeks ago, coming from a background, believe me, as conservative and traditionally grounded in scientific fact as any of you, I began an experiment in, incredulous as it may sound, the re-animation of dead tissue. What I have to offer you may possibly be the gateway to immortality. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present for your intellectual and philosophical pleasure, the Creature.
A seven-foot tall, blue-skinned, hulking Monster in a large white coat comes out from behind the curtain. Many of the villagers scream. Women try to get up from their seats only for their husbands to calm them down.
Frederick: Please remain in your seats, I beg you! We are not children here, we are scientists! I assure you there is nothing to fear. First, may I offer for your consideration a neurological demonstration of the primary cerebellar functions: balance and coordination. (turns to Monster) Walk heel to toe. (The Monster does so. We applaud.) Backwards! (The Monster does so. We applaud. Frederick gives the Monster a treat.) Ladies and gentlemen, up until now you’ve seen the Creature perform the simple mechanics of motor activity. But for what you are about to see next, we must enter-quietly-into the realm of genius. Ladies and gentlemen. Mesdames et monsieurs. Damen und Herren. From what was once an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissues may I now present a cultured, sophisticated, man about town.
The lights go out, leaving the theater in blackness. Suddenly Frederick is heard shouting “Hit it!” and the lights come back up. Frederick and the Monster are now dressed in tuxedos and top hats, carrying walking sticks. Music starts and they begin to sing and dance.
Frederick: If you’re blue/And you don’t know where to go to/Why don’t you go where fashion sits?
Monster: PUHDIN ON DA REEZ!
Frederick: Different types/Who wear a day coat, pants with stripes/And cutaway coat perfect fits
Monster: PUHDIN ON DA REEZ!
Frederick: Dressed up like a million-dollar trooper/Trying mighty hard to look like Gary Cooper
Monster: SUPAH DUPAH!
Frederick: Come let’s mix/Where Rockefellers walk with sticks/Or umb-e-rellas in their mitts
Monster: PUHDIN ON DA REEZ!
The two do a spectacular dance to a somewhat quick instrumental. As they make their bows, Ziggy makes his way up to the edge of the stage and starts taking flash pictures. The Monster becomes enraged due to the flashing light.
Frederick: Nothing! Nothing, I tell you! 5, 6, 7, 8! (he tries to start up another dance but to no avail) For God’s sake, c’mon! Are you trying to make me look like a fool?!
The Monster roars angrily and jumps off the stage, running out the theater exits. Frederick runs offstage. Kemp stands up, furious.
Kemp: That’s it! A riot is an ugly thing, but I think it’s just about time that ve had one! Vith Heaven as my vitness, hee veell coorz zee dai zaat ee vas buhrn a Frunkenshtiiine!
Villagers: What?
Kemp: I said he vill curse the day that he vas born a Frankenstein.
The villagers yell in agreement. They get up and run out the theater exits.
Kemp: Everyone go outside! Ve’ll capture that Monster, if it’s the last thing ve do!
He goes out last taking Ziggy with him.
Kemp: You’re coming vith me.
Ziggy: I didn’t mean it! I swear I had no idea it was on!
Announcer: We hope you enjoyed this performance. Now please exit out the doors to your right and join the angry mob going after the Monster. Aufweidersehen!
The theater exits open and we go outside.
We find ourselves in the village square. Two, large yellow tram-type vehicles connected by a cable await. They can accommodate all the non-villagers that were in the theater. The front vehicle has a spot for a driver and a passenger to sit. Kemp and Ziggy take up this spot.
Kemp: Is everyone seated? Good. Ven monster is loose, certain precautions must be taken. So it is imperative that you remain seated in the hay vagon vith your hands, arms, feet und legs inside. And keep vatch of your children. Now, let’s-
Ziggy: (pulling out camera) Hold on! I want to remember this moment!
Kemp: Like hell you vill! (takes camera and throws it into a nearby well) Now, let’s go get the monster!
Kemp starts up the wagon. We leave the village square and proceed through the rest of the village. The village streets are deserted. Windows and doors are boarded up. Wanted posters for Frederick and the Monster hang on walls.
Ziggy: How can we even find a big, blue monster when no one’s here?
Kemp: Quiet! Actually…you may have a point there. If someone vas here, ve could ask them if they knew anything. Hold on, there’s an open vindow. Let me see if the people there know anything.
Kemp stops the wagon in front of a house with an open window. A man pokes his head out.
Kemp: Excuse me, sir. Have you seen any monsters running loose?
Man: There’s a monster running loose?! Dear God, I better check on Helga!
He leaves, calling out “Helga?”. Kemp re-starts the wagon.
Kemp: No luck. Everyone, I must ask you to keep a lookout. You never know vere the monster could b- (notices a carriage parked on the sidewalk) Hey, you vith the carriage! That carriage is illegally parked! You’ll be hearing from me about this!
As Kemp shouts at the illegally parked carriage, we can see the man’s backyard. His daughter sits on a seesaw with the Monster. Kemp has no idea that they’re there. Ziggy sees them, but merely waves enthusiastically. The Monster waves back.
Kemp: I’ll get to back to him later. Let’s keep searching.
We begin to head out of town towards the forest. To our right, Castle Frankenstein can be seen far off in the distance. On the near/far boundary, we can make out Frau Blucher, playing a strange, somewhat beautiful tune on a violin.
Blucher: Here, Creature! I von’t hurt you!
The wagon now goes through a dark forest. Fog hangs.
Kemp: Ziggy, take over for a moment. I’ll keep lookout.
Kemp moves over towards the edge of his little area as Ziggy takes control of the wagon. A distant howling is heard.
Kemp: Verevolf.
Ziggy: (points) There.
Kemp: Vat?
Ziggy: (points) There wolf. (points at tree) There tree.
Kemp: Vy are you talking like that?
Ziggy: I thought you wanted to. (points at ground) There squirrel.
Kemp: I don’t.
Ziggy: (points at sky) There moon.
Kemp: Stop it.
During this banter, the wagon has been coming closer and closer to a remote cabin.
Ziggy: (points at cabin) There cabin.
Kemp: I’m varning you!
At that moment, the wagon crashes into the wall of the cabin, knocking it down. A hermit sits at a table. He looks up at the sudden noise.
Hermit: A visitor! How wonderful!
Kemp: Who are you?
Hermit: I’m Harold, your typical blind hermit. Do you want some soup? I just made some. (he grabs a ladle, dips it in a cauldron, pulls out some soup, and misses his mouth, dropping it in front of him) It’s very light, I’m afraid.
Ziggy: I want soup.
Kemp: Quiet! Do you know anything about the vereabouts of a certain monster?
Hermit: Not really. I’m afraid I don’t know these kinds of things. You should have come earlier. My last visitor might have known something. If only he wasn’t a mute. A tall mute.
Kemp: A tall mute? Do you know vere he vent?
Hermit: No. But I think he mumbled something about a castle.
Kemp: THAT’S IT! Thank you for your services, Harold. And now, ve must leave.
We depart from the cabin.
Hermit: Wait! Where are you going? I was gonna make espresso.
We proceed through the woods.
Kemp: I don’t know vy I didn’t think of this before.
Ziggy: What?
Kemp: It’s Frankenstein’s monster. So, naturally, vere vould it go?
Ziggy: Universal Studios?
Kemp: (pause) Maybe during summer vacation, but no. It vould go back home. Back to Castle Frankenstein.
By now we have reached the gates of Castle Frankenstein. Tall, dark, and handsome, it looms over us.
Kemp: Now let’s go get ourselves a monster!
Suddenly, Igor, a strange, crazy-eyed man with a hump on his left shoulder, bursts out of the castle.
Igor: Hold up! Hold up!
Kemp: Vat do you vant?
Igor: You don’t want to go in there.
Kemp: And vy not?
Igor: Because, er…you should take the shortcut.
Kemp: Shortcut?
Igor: Yes, sir.
Kemp: I’m not sure about this…
Ziggy: Please can we take the shortcut?! Please, please, please!
Kemp: If ve take the shortcut, vill you shut your trap? (Ziggy nods) Alright. Ve’ll take the shortcut. (turns to Igor) Vere is it?
Igor: It’s in that tunnel over there.
Kemp: I see. Danke.
Kemp drives the wagon over to an ominous tunnel. It is completely dark inside.
Kemp: I can’t see a thing.
Ziggy: I’ve got a match we could use, Inspector.
Kemp: Light it.
A match is heard striking. Light starts to fill the room, revealing tons of explosives. Kemp glares at Ziggy, who laughs nervously, then throws the match aside, accidentally lighting the fuse on one of the explosives. If Kemp was mad before, now he’s furious.
Kemp: You little son of a hag!
The explosive goes off, setting off the other explosives, causing an insane stream of strobes. A crash is heard as the wagon is apparently blasted upward into part of the Castle. And not just any room. The secret laboratory.
Various devices line the walls. A staircase in the back leads to a wooden door with a standard green EXIT sign above it. In the middle is a table. Frederick, massaging his head, Igor, and Inga, the doctor’s dashing young assistant, stand around the table, looking at a large, unconscious mass on it: the Monster. The three look up after hearing the crash.
Inga: It’s zem!
Igor: What now?!
Frederick: Don’t panic!
Kemp: Seize them!
Kemp and Ziggy get out of the vehicle. Kemp restrains Frederick while Ziggy restrains Inga and Igor.
Kemp: Ve’ve got you now! Anything you’d like to say before ve take you to the gallows, Dr. Fronkensteen?
Frederick: That’s Frankenstein.
Kemp: Vat?
Frederick: MY NAME…IS…FRANKENSTEIN!!!
Kemp: (brief, humorless chuckle) Noble last vords. (he begins to walk off with Frederick)
Ziggy: Inspector, what do we do about the monster?
Kemp stops in his tracks. He slowly turns his head to a torch hanging on the wall.
Kemp: Vat vill ve do vith the monster? Ve’ll be doing some hot stuff.
Throwing Frederick to the ground, he grabs the torch and advances toward the Monster. Inga and Igor scream in terror and surprise. But then, seconds before Kemp reaches the table, the Monster suddenly jumps up off the table.
Monster: Put that torch down!
Everybody is dumbstruck.
Kemp: Vat did you say?
Monster: I said put that torch down!
Kemp: You can’t make me.
The Monster rips the torch out of Kemp’s grip.
Ziggy: He made you.
Kemp: Und just who do you think you are that you order us about? That’s my job.
Monster: (lunges toward Kemp) I am the Monster!
Kemp: (frightened) Ja, I see that you are the Monster.
Monster: As long as I can remember, people have hated me. They looked at my face and my body and they ran away in horror. In my loneliness, I decided that if I could not inspire love, which was my deepest hope, I would instead cause fear! I live because this poor, half-crazed genius (motions towards Frederick) has given me life. He alone held an image of me as something beautiful. And then, when it was easy enough to stay out of danger, he used his own body as a guinea pig to give me a calmer brain and a, er, somewhat more sophisticated way of expressing myself.
Kemp: (on the verge of tears) Vell, this is, of course, an entirely different situation. As the leader of this community, may I be the first to offer my hand in friendship?
The Monster shakes Kemp’s fake hand. Ziggy, Inga, and Igor clap. A crying noise is heard. The six look up at the door and see Frau Blucher peeking through a window in the door.
Blucher: I saw nothing! (closes window)
Igor: Well, I personally think this calls for a celebration.
Frederick: Indeed, I think it does. (he pats the hump on Igor’s right shoulder)
Ziggy: Wasn’t your hump on the other side?
Igor: What hump?
Frederick: Inga.
Inga: Yes, doctor?
Frederick: Would you go upstairs and set up the celebration with Frau Blucher? (a horse’s terrified whinny is heard outside the castle)
Inga: Yes, doctor. (She exits)
Kemp: Yes, let’s all go upstairs for some sponge cake und a little vine und-
Kemp’s fake arm, which the Monster still has a grasp on the hand of, pops off as Kemp pulls away. He swears in German.
Kemp: Ziggy, vould you drop these guests off somevere? I need to get to the lumber mill.
Ziggy: Certainly, Inspector.
Ziggy gets in the driver’s spot and takes the wagon out of the lab and into another chamber with a staircase. He crashes the wagon into a wall.
Ziggy: Okay, folks. Please get out here by exiting to your left. Then go up those stairs and find your way down to the Grand Hall. Thanks for helping us out, and come back to Transylvania soon!
We exit the wagon and go up the staircase through a stone tunnel. Eventually, we re-emerge from behind a bookcase in a bedroom. A candle rests on a chair with the notice “Do NOT Put The Candle Back”. As we exit the room, we pass by a portrait of a man who slightly resembles Frederick. A plaque below the portrait identifies the man as Victor von Frankenstein. The portrait appears normal, but those keeping a close watch will notice that Victor seems to smile every so often. Leaving the bedroom, we find ourselves in the large Grand Hall of Castle Frankenstein. A banner announcing a celebration hangs on the wall. Tables are strewn about where guests can sit and eat. Taking a grand staircase down to the ground, we decide to get a little something while we’re here. We go to a monitored food line where we can pick up sponge cake or some other Transylvanian deserts for a modest price. After having our sponge cake, we go into a tunnel marked “This Way Out”. After going through a stone tunnel and passing some other guests headed into the Grand Hall, we find ourselves back outside, knowing where to go if you’re blue and you don’t know where to go to.
Some Technical Stuff
-All characters in the lobby and theater are played by live actors, some of which mingle with us. During the ride portion, the man in the window, the Monster (this one time; in the lab, he’s live) and little girl on the seesaw, and Frau Blucher (in both ride portion appearances) are portrayed by the most advanced animatronics. Everyone else is live. The live characters are played by more than one actor in total, but each group only sees one certain actor portray them (i.e., the Frederick we see in the lab is the same one we see in the theater).
-After leaving the Hermit scene, the wall we knocked down resets itself for the next group.
-The wagons are the same ride system as the Great Movie Ride and feature a small spot at the front where Kemp and Ziggy sit and drive via a stick. For the ride portion, the two are equipped with special microphones that connect with speakers in the vehicles.
-The well leads to a prop area where camera props are stored and sent out.
-For the explosives scene, the amount of time we see the explosives is fairly brief. When Ziggy tosses the match, it becomes pitch black: both in lighting and the vehicles slowly move into a pitch black tunnel. A moving fiber optic prop is used to simulate the fuse. Strobe lighting and wind effects are used in the black tunnel for the explosion until it seamlessly transitions into the lab.
-After guests exit, the wall the wagon “crashed into” is raised and the wagon enters a passage that leads it back to the loading area.
Pan's Labyrinth
Giving a bit of an earthly quality to this new land, Pan's Labyrinth provides us with a walkthrough attraction. Not just any walkthrough, however. Pan's is a unique experience. It basically captures the moody dread of the film, and provides us with run ins with all of the main creatures. More importantly than that, however, this maze-like attraction has a sort of lyrical, dream like quality to it. While the Scott Pilgrim ride is a sequel to the film, Pan's Labyrinth will be a prequel of sorts, showing the relationship the Labyrinth has had with its inhabitants throughout the years and how the fantastical creatures of the Labyrinth and the cold ruthlessness of the real world collide. Another small but significant note to make is that I believe this is the first Universal attraction to be based off a foreign language film. With that in mind, it's important to consider that the attraction will be very critically lyrical and visual as opposed to telling the story.
The exterior of the attraction of course is the real Labyrinth itself, or at least the surrounding walls of it. While no actual maze will be constructed, the outside queue will have you winding through various corridors. The real attraction starts once you reach the stone spiral staircase that leads down into the underground fantasy world. Once you are in the underground, you are on your own to explore this mysterious new realm. The first thing you'll come across is Pan himself, aka the Faun. He is delighted that you have arrived, and ushers you forward to explore your new surroundings. The faun throughout the attraction will not speak English, but instead give out simple Spanish phrases every so often. Spanish is not needed to convey what he is trying to say, however. Most of the story can be told simply through the Faun's face and gestures. I just figured there should be a little Spanish in there just so the Faun can say something but not have him speak English, which would be...kind of an insult...
Anyway, moving on, we reach the hot, sticky caves of the giant toad. As we pass a hole directly above us, the Toad appears and starts trying to hit us with its tongue. We run into the next room, and are startled to see that we are suddenly back in the real world. We see Captain Vidal (the main antagonist of the film) as a younger gentleman in his study, shaving (...foreshadowing...haha) while meanwhile, the two Pixies from the film look upon him. Suddenly, we find ourselves back in the catacombs of the fantasy world as we come upon a long chamber. At the end of it is a door, which we then proceed to go through. We then find ourselves in the lair of the Pale Man. This will be a very intense scene. We HAVE to move around the Pale Man's giant table to get to the next room, but we just KNOW that creep is going to pop out and scare us at any moment. I guess that's the brilliant thing about mazes is the suspense element they create. Well, we do walk through and of course the Pale Man does plop his hands down, pick up the eyeballs sitting on the table, and proceeds to, well....
We quickly run out of the room to avoid becoming one of the many victims of the Pale Man that we see on the walls in portraits. As we exit, we are again in the real world. This time, we are peaking in on Captain Vidal prepping for his promotion ceremony. Bombs are going off outside in the distance, which tells us the setting CAN'T be good. Vidal is getting dressed in front of a mirror. As he admires his reflection, he is startled when suddenly his mirror image's cheek gets cut upon...ala the movie. Vidal takes a jump back and looks backwards to notice us...and the Pixies, watching him. He pulls out his gun as we exit quickly out the room. The next room is back in the Labyrinth. We see that amongst a sea of twisting tree roots, like literally surrounding us on both sides, we see that these roots play host to hundreds of baby mandrakes...aka "tree people" basically. (You guys have all read Harry Potter, you should know what a "mandrake" is.) As we turn a corner, we see that Vidal has also stumbled upon this Mandrake forest. He takes one of the mandrakes and spots us as we again flee from his wrath.
In the final scene, we see Vidal and his men covering up various entrances in the Labyrinth into the fantasy world, while missing the hole that eventually finds Ofelia in the film. Basically, the last scene is us on ground level and Vidal's workers on the second story working away on obscuring the secrets of the Labyrinth. Pan himself greets us as we ascend down into the fantasy world one last time. Then, we see the two giant thrones from in the movie, and a video screen of Ofelia riding to the property at the beginning of the first film. The message should have been laid out very clear within the context of the attraction. Vidal has known about the Labyrinth for some time and is desperately trying to keep its mysteries a secret. This walk-through sheds a bit of light on this backstory as well as providing us with a nice take on the common "maze" attraction.
Castle Dracula
When creating a new area in a Universal park based around horror movies, Dracula is an extremely obvious choice. This 1931 classic starring Bela Lugosi became an instant classic and essentially started the golden age of horror. This ride is really an homage to many famous vampire movies from Nosferatu to Bram Stoker’s Dracula while following an original story featuring a slew of other horror movie monsters(though mostly vampires.) So without further adieu, please, sit back and relax as we journey into the mysterious Castle Dracula.
Façade
As guests to Universal Studios England first enter this area where monsters run free and everyone is guaranteed a good scare, they will see the largest structure looming down from the very back of the area: Castle Dracula. The castle is absolutely HUGE with a queue winding around the outside before actually entering the castle. The castle looks really dark and foreboding with four spires on each corner of the castle with one absolutely huge spire placed in the middle of the castle. The castle is a pretty dark gray and is mad out of large stones(obviously). Taking a cue from the Haunted Mansion, the castle has a few windows that light up at night(with an effect that makes it look like a candle is lighting the room.) If guests look up at these windows at night, they may possibly see shadows of bats or even Count Dracula himself slowly making his way down the long hallways, passing by window to window. The outside of the castle also has a bit of detail which includes a pretty elaborate graveyard(which the ride goes through) and a large courtyard that the queue runs through before entering the castle.
Queue
As guests approach the front of this mysterious castle, they will be stopped by a large stone wall that completely goes around the outside of the castle. The main entranceway is marked by a wrought iron gate that reads “Castle Dracula” on the top part above the entrance. With the sounds of Swan Lake fill guests ears, they reluctantly enter the grounds of the eerie castle. The first part of the queue will be the gardens of the castle. As soon as guests enter the garden, they will notice that the garden hasn’t been cared for in years. Gray-colored hedges line the sides of the garden while dying trees are scattered around the area. Other hedges are scattered around the area, bordering the winding pathways of the garden. As guests make their way past the garden, they enter the courtyard. There isn’t much to see here other than the large fountain which stands in the middle of the area. Now, guests can finally enter this mysterious castle. Once inside, guests will notice that the castle seems to be taken care of pretty nicely(with the exception of the mass of cobwebs that adorn the walls and furniture.) The inside doesn’t really look like a typical castle. Instead of stone walls, the walls are tan. The floors are also wooden. The first room the queue is a somewhat long hallway that is lit by candles that hang from the walls. There isn’t much to see in this hallway other than a chandelier that hangs from the ceiling in the very center of the hallway. Guests then take a left into a somewhat large room full of switchbacks. This could probably be considered the ballroom. The walls are a very ornate gold while the floor is also gold and is extremely shiny. This is probably the only room in the castle that’s cleaned well. When guests look up, they will see an absolutely HUGE chandelier which can only be compared to the one featured in Phantom of the Opera(the newer one. Not the original.) This literally lights the whole room. Above the chandelier is a huge curved glass roof that is about the size of the room. On the side walls are large windows which shows that a thunderstorm is raging outside. At the end of the room is a large staircase that leads up to an overhang on the second floor of the ballroom. At the end of these switchbacks are three large, wooden doors each leading to their own preshow room. Here, guests will be brought into one of these three rooms in groups of fifteen.
Preshow
As guests enter the room, they will notice that they’re in a somewhat small dining room. The room isn’t that wide and just about fits the fifteen people entering the room. The room has basically the same design as the ballroom with the gold and the really ornate décor. If guests look to their left, they will see an extremely large video screen which most of the preshow will take place. On the video screen is a large dining room table with the rest of the pretty large room shown behind it. In the center of the table is a candelabrum. As the lights dim down a bit, a crash of thunder is heard as Count Dracula(Bela Lugosi’s Dracula to be exact) appears at the end of the large table in a puff of smoke as he begins to speak to the curious guests. He thanks everyone for coming so far to tour his castle. He then gives a brief history of his family and his castle(which contains a few references to other Vampire Movies.) Before going, he asks guests to enjoy their tour and then explains that they will be staying there for a while. As soon as that happens, he gives out a laugh as a large gust of wind blows through the room. The candelabrum’s flame suddenly goes out as the room behind him quickly ages and crumbles into its dilapidated state. The gold slowly fades to gray as cobwebs start to form on the candelabrum and even the corners of the screen. The once beautiful red curtains that adorn the window fall apart as their color quickly fades. Before Dracula disappears, all of the windows of the room smash into many different pieces. With the feeling of despair in the hearts of the somewhat nervous guests, the doors open as they exit into the loading area.
Loading Area/Ride System
The loading area is themed to be dungeon-like. Maybe more of a simple basement. The walls, floors and ceilings are made of stone and just go through some switchbacks before getting to the load area. The actual ride system is a Eurofighter. There’s not much theming with the car other than the frame being made to look like their wood. There we go, extremely simple. The track is just a normal coaster track which is able to do inversions among other things.
Ride Through
Once guests are in their cars, guests enter into a small passageway where they will see Dracula who tells guests to get used to their new surroundings. As they get past Dracula, they will see Van Helsing who is hiding in the shadows as he tells guests that he’ll help them escape. He also warns guests to stay away from the castle’s crypt. After passing Van Helsing, the cars quickly speed down a small hill in a pitch black room as guests here Dracula scream “No. You must not leave.” Once at the bottom of the hill(still pitch black) the cars tilt completely on its right side as it takes a sharp left turn into the next room. This room is a large parlor. It looks to be in pretty bad shape with furniture being completely faded and covered with dust and all the candles are burnt to the bottom. The curtains look to be deteriorating while they dangle from a bar over the window which shows the eternal thunderstorm going on outside. One of Dracula’s minions pops out from behind some furniture, scaring guests right before taking a sharp turn into the next room. A cool effect that is quick though not impossible to see occurs when the vampire pops up. If guests are looking in the right place(namely the mirror which hangs on the wall) they will see that the vampire has no reflection. Just a cool little effect.
As the cars leave the parlor, they are immediately greeted by the crumbling interior of the caslte’s massive center tower. The cars immediately take a left and begin to speed down the staircase which wraps around the inside of the tower. As the cars quickly descend the staircase, they will eventually come to a large break in the staircase. With nowhere else to go, the cars will go right off the staircase and fall straight down to the ground. The cars then crash through the flooring and enter a small cave(which is mainly just a transition. There isn’t all that much in the cave as it is completely filled with mist. As soon as the cars enter, they do a omewhat small barrel roll until shooting up and outside for a small portion in the graveyard mentioned earlier. Going through the graveyard, guests will notice the large amounts of dead trees and other foliage that are scattered across the area. The actual cemetery is fairly simple: many tombstones(many of them elaborate with large crosses and such) with a HUGE mausoleum placed in the very center. You can just guess where we’re heading now, can’t you. Anyway, the cars twist and turn around tombstones, occasionally leaving the ground for a small helix to keep the thrill factor up there just a bit, until they eventually go right through the door of the mausoleum(which reads MCMXXXI above the door as a sort of nod to the release year of the original film.)In the mausoleum, the cars speed down a large spiral staircase until entering the large room which holds the tombs. If guests look at the coffins in the walls, they will see that some of them are moving as the vampires try to push their way out. In the center of the room are five marble coffins which are propped up on pillars(there are also a few marble coffins on pedestals that do the same thing as the ones standing up.) As the cars slowly get close to them, the doors swing open as some women vampires dart out of them as they try to go after guests. The women vampires are very pale and thin and let out a loud shriek when they shoot out of the coffins. The cars do seem to outrun them luckily and continue to twist through the room, until entering a cave on the other end of the room. This cave is pitched black. Nothing can be seen and the only thing that can be heard is the shriek of the women vampires. When the cars open out into a larger room which has a bit more light, guests are greeted with a gigantic spider who tries to crush them. As the cars go past the spider, he will spit “poison” at guests, cooling them off just a tiny bit. As the cars go under and around the menacing spider, Van Helsing swoops down from a rope and shoots the spider with a crossbow. Right after the spider is shot, the cars move into a lift hill.
Here, the cars move extremely slowly up the hill as Dracula come over a video screen at the top of the hill. With laser and other lighting effects, Dracula tries to hypnotize guests to put them under his control. About half way up the hill, Dracula will bid farewell with a menacing “See you soon” as the cars launch the rest of the way uphill and into a huge pitched black room. Here, the cars twist and turn, doing multiple inversions until they enter into a small room with a large video screen. Dracula Greets guests by attempting a send his minions out towards them. As he tries to do this, Van Helsing rushes in and fights with Dracula. During the struggle, Van Helsing eventually pierces Dracula through the heart with a wooden stake, where he immediately turns to dust after a short scream. After this is over, Van Helsing tells guests that they are now free to leave the castle. The cars then get to unload as the guests leave to enjoy the rest of their day.
Professor Spook's Haunted Open House
Exterior:
Your classic haunted house. Tall, eerie, falling apart. Guests enter through the front doors, into the queue.
Queue:
(Since this is an omnimover system, the queue is relativity small.)
Guests enter into the foyer, with walls lined with pictures of monsters and ghosts what seem to move and disappear, respectively. Upbeat eerie organ music plays.
Pre-show
Spook:Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and ghouls! Mwa-ha ha ha! And welcome to my Haunted Open House! Please, enter my lab, where I create the most amazing inventions. My newest, the Ghostinator 3000! It creates ghosts just by pulling a switch!
Guests enter his lab (well lit, this isn't meant to be super scary) with a few Tesla coils shooting sparks, and other laboratory-type props. The central point is Spook pulling the switch to the machine, laughing hysterically.
Spook: No! The machine won't switch off! Please, help me! Uh, over there, please. Transports, with my other invention, the ghost grabber! Zap the ghosts, and they will disappear! Think you can handle that? Good! Lets do it! We'll rendezvous back here!
Ride:
Guests board black vehicles, seating two. Each seat is equipped with the 'ghost grabbers'. Basically laser cannons found in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
Guests enter another room, this one full of tables and chairs. The chairs are moving around, dancing almost. The cups and silverware are floating off the table.
Moving on, we enter a living room. The TV is changing channels, playing different classic Universal Horror films. The pillow on the sofa is constantly changing sides. It flies from one arm to the other. The cars begin to spin left and right. At first a little, then more dramatically. The ghosts are here.
We venture on, and the first of the ghosts appear! They light up when active, and turn off when hit.
Guests enter another room, with everything upside down! Eerie footsteps walk above guests.
They then enter a room with mirrors. Mirrors on the corners, fun house mirrors, and mirrors with projections of eyes watching the cars move past. Patterns on the walls without mirrors make the room look as if it goes on forever.
They then enter an in an Escher-esque room (not staircase). Ramps and walkways overhead that don't quite line up are above the guests heads.
Another few rooms in the house, all with similar gags as the first ghost room.
Then, we finally meet back up with Spook in his lab. The back wall has projections of other ghosts flying around, breaking stuff. Spook is trying the shut off the machine. A super-ghost is preventing him from doing so!
Spook:Everyone fire away at this guy! Forget the others, get him!
We turn the corner, we find that the machine is off, and Spook is okay. In a tongue in cheek fashion, we see a ghost has survived, and is dancing around, or picking up random stuff and breaking it, or taunting Spook.
Spook: Great work everyone! Thank you so much, and I'm sorry things went off track. Please remain seated until the doors slide open. Thank you, and come again soon! Mwa-ha ha ha!
Above the door to the exit room, a spider weaves a web with a message saying "goodbye!"
The cars come around a corner, and enter a creepy room with stone walls, chandeliers, and a red-carpet speedramp exit ramp. This is the exit.
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ride
Introduction:
Scott Pilgrim might seem an odd choice to place in a horror themed land, but by my logic, the film contains many supernatural elements that, given the right kind of treatment, could fit right at home with Count Dracula and Frankenstein. Granted, of course this ride is going to lean WAY more on the comedy side then the "horror" side, the ride we've put together for you does contain its fair share of supernatural elements. Keep an eye out for demon hipster chicks, vegan police forces, super-powered A-listers, and of course those ever pesky mind-controlled TOURIST ZOMBIES, as we here at Team Jack take you through the REAL spiritual successor to Back to the Future. Using the similar technology, but taking it to the next level, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ride promises to be the next big headline-making attraction for the Universal theme park franchise.
Backstory:
The ride will be a full blown sequel to the film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Unfortunately, if you haven't seen the film, it's kind of hard to recap, so just go onto wikipedia or something for a plot summary...In the actual ride I've done the best I can to make it accessible to people who haven't seen the movie, and I know for a fact that at least one of the two judges is a fan, so we'll just see how it goes. Anyway, the basic set-up leading into the ride is this. One year after Scott Pilgrim defeated Gideon Graves at the opening of his Chaos Theater at the end of the first film, Gideon has found the secret to the legendary "Contra 50 Lives Code", which grants him...50 lives. So, using the lives he has collected (...just go with it...this is Scott Pilgrim video game logic were talking about...) Gideon proceeds to plot his revenge against his mortal enemy Scott Pilgrim. After resurrecting the remaining six Evil Exes and reforming The League, Gideon realizes that the best place to hit Scott Pilgrim is where it hurts most...his hometown. (This is after Todd Ingram points out how pissed Scott got when he slammed Toronto in the first film) So Gideon, using his charm and brain controlling ways, begins a hostile take over of Scott Pilgrim's beloved home-town of Toronto, Canada. It starts with getting into the head...literally, of Scott's girlfriend Ramona Flowers, the object of the entire Leagues' affection (believe me, if you still have no idea what I'm talking about...now would be a REALLY good time to read that wikipedia summary...) After Gideon steals the girl, he also signs away the band Sex Bob-Omb of which Scott is an on again, off again member. Gideon then strikes hard by building a MASSIVE theme park right in the middle of downtown Toronto. This is when things start to get personal. The theme park winds and twists its way all through downtown as if it's literally EATING the town. Scott Pilgrim puts together a renegade crew, including the Sex Bob-Ombs, and sets out to stop Gideon Graves once and for all...
Exterior/Pre Show
Much like the exterior of The Simpsons ride, the Scott Pilgrim exterior will be a twisted, cartoon version of Toronto, Canada with a giant roller coaster (simply titled "The Ride") running its way through it, as well as other twisted carnival rides. The large exterior building will feature a variety of fake building fronts for real Toronto locations where the film was shot. These will also be the primary locations for the ride. They are...
-Casa Loma (Lucas Lee film set)
-Goodwill
-Second Cup Coffee
-Pizza Pizza
-Sonic Boom (record store)
-Lee's Palace (Katayanagi Twins battle)
-Rock It (Matthew Patel battle)
-The Chaos Theater (This, being Gideon's Club, will kind of be situated dominantly in the middle of everything and will be the place where the ride will be primarily focused on.)
Also similar to giant Krusty-head "Krustyland" sign that adorns the entrance to the Simpsons Ride, this ride will host a Jason Schwartzman's giant noggin under a "Planet Gideon" sign on the outskirts of this twisted Toronto. With that in mind, we enter into the bowels of Gideon's master-plan. The preshow for this ride will also be very similar to The Simpsons Ride in that it sets everything up through a variety of different videos of various characters as guests wind their way through the outside queue. The first video played is a who's who guide by everyone's favorite party host, Comeau (He knows everyone...even YOU) which basically is a quick guide to the characters and their role in the story. Here we learn about.
Scott Pilgrim-Well, he's the main hero. 22 Years old. Kind of an idiot... (Siblings: Stacey Pilgrim, rated "T" for Teen.)
Ramona Flowers-Scott's beloved, and the object of affection for the League of Evil Exes
The League-The League of Evil Exes headed by slimy corporate go-getter Gideon Graves. The League also features Japanese Techno sensation The Katayanagi Twins, super-powered A-Lister Lucas Lee (pretty good skater turned pretty good actor), Todd Ingram, bass player for Clash at Demonhead and current boyfriend of Scott's very own "evil ex", Envy Adams. Is trained in a wide variety of Vegan super-powers. Matthew Patel, demon-hipster-chick summoning, Pirate style-rocking, fire-ball throwing Indian sensation, and of course Roxie Ritcher, Ramona's "other phase". (You got all that?)
Finally, we have Scott's loyal buddies the Sex Bob-Ombs. This little garage band outfit consists of Stephen Stills (the talent) on guitar and lead vocals, (Young) Neil on bass, and Kim Pine on drums. "Oh yeah, also in the mix" Comeau adds "is Scott's three gay roommates Jimmy, Other Scott, and Head Landlord Wallace Wells. There's also Scott's ex fake-high school girlfriend Knives Chau, who will PROBABLY show up for this thing just because she's crazy." As Comeau begins to wrap it up, the always temperamental Julie Powers (...has issues) enters the mix. "Comeau what the (black box) about me?" (Julie's "power" is the ability to summon black boxes to bleep out her swear words...and never mind how she (black box) does it.) "Oh yeah..." Comeau reluctantly adds..."And Julie. Well, that's all you need to know about our little cast of characters, take it away, Scott."
We then join Scott Pilgrim and the Sex Bob-Ombs in the living room of Stephen Stills. Stills gives us a little rundown of the vendetta that is currently in place. Since all of Toronto have been turned into Gideon's tourist zombies to inhabit the twisted theme park that's literally eating the city alive, the law is not going to be a factor. With that in mind...the gang has managed to hijack an entire fleet of Toronto City Buses for the guests to travel on to join the brigade against Gideon. Scott also adds that he has obtained a CTV News Chopper. He doesn't know how to fly it, but "I play enough video games, it shouldn't be too hard" he chimes in, in his classic Scott Pilgrim positive passiveness. So the plan is basically...take out Gideon, by any means necessary. Gideon has reconstructed his Chaos Theatre in the heart of downtown, this is the primary target. The gang is about to sign off when Julie again interrupts the scene. "Scott (black box) Pilgrim" she calls angrily "don't (black box) forget about the safety instructions, we don't want these (black box) tourists suing our (black box) (black box)". "...Thank you Julie." Scott says, "although really, these aren't the tourists you need to be worried about. So yeah people, you know...seatbelts, carry on items, sharp, unexpected turns, you know...the whole deal." "Say it like you (black box) mean it" Julie says. Scott takes a deep breath. "...fine." He says, and then goes into a typical safety spiel. "DON'T (black box) FORGET ABOUT THE FLASH PICTURES" Julie adds furiously. The camera pans to Kim, who adds dryly "No...flash...pictures." "Alright" Scott continues, "That's about all there is to say, so..."
Suddenly, the feed is cut off and we see Gideon Graves high atop his throne in the Chaos Theatre, with a brainwashed Ramona at his side. "Scott...BUDDY!" he chimes in smarmily. "I must admit, this is a pretty impressive set up you've got going on here. You even have a chopper and everything. Not bad, my friend, not bad. But um...I have fifty lives, Scotty. Well...forty-three after resurrecting the evil exes, but STILL, I have FORTY-THREE lives. Also, that coaster you see going through your precious little Toronto? I call that The Ride, Scott. It's epic, it's the biggest coaster ever created, Scott. It has seventeen inversions. SEVENTEEN...INVERSIONS. You might have defeated me the first time, Scott Pilgrim, but you'll never defeat...(intentional LONG pause of dramatic effect) The Ride." Gideon leaves the feed with an appropriate bout of maniacal laughter. As the Sex Bob Ombs enter the picture again, Young Neil asks how Gideon got the fifty lives in the first place. "It was the Contra code", Scott informs him. "Oh NO!" Young Neil screams in an over-dramatic fashion..."Not the CONTRA CODE" (This is supposed to mirror the "He knocked the HIGHLIGHTS out of her HAIR!" scene). "Yeah Neil...the Contra Code." Scott says, "but don't listen to him. If we hit the Chaos Theatre, we hit the heart of his entire operation. So...who's with me?" As the camera pans back to the Sex Bob Ombs, Kim throws in one of her classic "shoots self" gestures for good measure. "Alright guys, just meet us at the Transit Mall where we'll have the buses waiting for you. Don't worry, we'll get that pretentious show off if it kills me. Now, I've got a helicopter to catch..." And with that, we are entered into the loading area where similar to The Simpsons Ride again, we get looping videos of some of the characters. This time, the three Sex Bob Ombs. In each of the loops, we have the characters doing their trademark routines while prepping for the mission at hand. Kim is her usual pessimistically sarcastic self, Stephen is in a pre-stage panic, and Neil is just...well, he's Neil. Finally, the doors open and we are admitted into on of the fleet of transit buses. Each of the buses features a side-poster for a different Lucas Lee movie. You know...the little details and whatnot, haha. Anyways, after checking the seatbelts and everything, the lights go off and we are raised into the main part of the theater to tackle The Ride.
Theater Lay-out
So here's the basic gist of the ride. There's a fleet of about 12 buses per theater, about two or three theaters in the ride. The buses all can fit 24 people each. As they raise up, you see that inside the main ride it's not JUST a simulator this time around. First of all, we can see a balcony on the upper-left side of the theater. There, we see Wallace Wells, Scott's "cool gay roommate", along with Other Scott, Wallace's BF, and Jimmy, who is just...there (Jimmy in the film was Stacey Pilgrim's boyfriend turned Wallace Wells' affair. I just thought it'd be funny if he were up there because he's such a random, soft spoken character.) On either side of the fleet of buses on the same level, are two huge stages like the Amp vs. Amp battle in the film. On the right side stand AAs of the Sex Bob-Ombs, and on the left side are the Katayanagi Twins, ready for battle. There are going to be A LOT of in-theater effects throughout the ride, but that's the basic set-up. The screen of course is in the dead center. As we rise into position on the outskirts of Toronto with the "Planet Gideon" sign grinning at us, Kim Pine sets us up with a traditional "WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB, ONE...TWO...THREE...FOUR!!" and we set off to defeat The Ride.
Level One: Mathew Patel
Before I get going I just have to point out that THROUGHOUT the ride the Katayanagi Twins and the Sex Bob Ombs will be in the middle of an amp vs. amp face off with us in the middle. This provides the ride with its soundtrack, and will also lead into a VERY explosive finale, but more on that later. Also, Wallace provides us with his typical brand of dry, witty commentary throughout the ride. In fact, the Wallace AA will be programed with five different responses to EACH scene. Every ride, riders will have slightly different commentary coming from Wallace. So as we go through the ride, just keep in mind that throughout the two bands are locked in a battle and Wallace is spouting commentary. So with that in mind, we enter the twisted mess that has become Downtown Toronto amidst the twisted theme park Gideon has created. Tourist zombies start coming at us from every direction. In this section we also pass familiar Scott Pilgrim locations like the Goodwill and Pizza Pizza. Suddenly, Bollywood music starts pumping through the speakers, drowning out the two bands on stage. It is Mathew Patel, Ramona's first Evil Ex. He flies around the downtown area signing one of his Bollywood songs and shooting fireballs at us (which actually physically materialize in the theater) Patel's trademark "Demon Hipster Chicks" also start flying around the theater, this time as actual AAs that have been bolted to the wall and run on a sort of track through the actual walls of the theater. There's about twelve Hipster chicks in all, six on each side of the room. Patel gets interrupted by the roaring of helicopter blades, as the news chopper Scott hijacked suddenly comes FLYING above our heads and fixes itself on the upper left hand corner or the room near the screen. We see that Comeau is flying the bird. "Lucky for you, Scott", Comeau adds, "I took a year of flying lessons, so we don't have to read about some horrible helicopter accident tomorrow. Scott sits in the passenger seat of the Chopper and yells to Patel. "No, Pirates AREN'T in this year" Scott shouts as the chopper blades start to tangle with Patel's "cape", sending him flying head first into the blades. A little in theater explosion is set off to simulate Patel perishing into the blades, and a little "1,000,000" icon rises from the screen. "One down, six to go", Scott says as we start to climb on to the actual "Ride". "Lets see where this thing leads us" he says, "if it's Gideon's secret weapon, it's got to have a weakness." So with that, we start ascending "The Ride" as more tourist zombies try to devour us. Almost from the get-go as we start going through the twists and turns of "The Ride", we can tell that Gideon certaintly wasn't kidding. This is a SERIOUSLY intense ride that twists all over Toronto. At some point, a flying blot of black comes wizzing past us. It is Roxy, trying to attack. Don't worry, we'll meet up with her later. In the meantime, we see that there's a Lucas Lee film shoot going on down at Casa Loma, so we get ourselves away from "The Ride", and face off with the second ex.
Level Two: Lucas Lee
As we approach Casa Loma, we hear EPIC Universal music. Kim makes a comment about how the bands keep getting interrupted. "Can somebody fix the soundtrack here?" she scowls. Anyways, in the midst of the EPIC Universal music, Lucas Lee appears, doing his neck-crack at the "DUN DUN" in the middle of the Universal music just like in the film. "YOU, Scott Pilgrim", Lee shouts to the helicopter. Fooled me once...shame on you. Fool me twice..." "Can it, Lee" Scott yells, "we all know you can't come up with a good line to save your life...literally." At that, Lee starts to get mad and conjures up his six stunt-men, who appear three on the Wallace balcony, three on the Sex Bob Ombs stage (Cue Kim Pine :shoots self: gesture.) "So how bout it Pilgrim" Lee comments to Scott. "What do you got? Do you really think you can take on an A-Lister...Again??"
Scott comments about The Ride. "You think you could do a...grindy thingy..." he starts. "Don't even start with me!" Lucas laughs, "you fooled me once with that. I'm not falling for it again." "But...there ARE girls watching." Scott comments as the camera pans to a flock of teenage girl zombie tourists who are admiring Lucas, while still being...Zombies. Lucas, not being able to control himself, grabs his board and starts grinding The Ride. There's a SUPER TIGHT loop, however, and as soon as he hits it, he implodes upon himself. "Wow, he totally bailed...AGAIN." Wallace comments from the balcony as the stunt doubles leave the theater. A "2,000,000" points icon rises on the screen. "Alright" Scott says from the helicopter. "Two down, five to go. Let's hit The Ride again and see who else we can find. We just have to find the Chaos Theatre. That's where Gideon will be. Where the hell is it, anyway?" With that, we start twisting around the crazy "Ride" again, and again almost get hit by a flying Roxy. We are interrupted by the sound of a strumming bass from the building below. The "D" symbols from the film that represent bass notes start flying at us. We are in for a battle. Perhaps...a...bass battle...if you will...
Level Three: Todd Ingram
As we get off of The Ride and down to ground level again, we see that we are in the Rock It, and Todd Ingram is the one furiously playing the bass, beckoning Scott into a bass battle. Scott grabs his bass guitar from the back of the helicopter and gets to it. The two duke it out just like the film until, like the film, Todd gets the upper-hand again. "Well done, muchacho" Scott says as he pulls out a target riffle. "But I bet you weren't expecting THIS". He fires three rounds in Ingram, and we see that they are darts loaded with some kind of substance . "What'd you just hit me with" Todd asks frantically as the sound of sirens can be heard in the background. "Well, Todd." Scott explains pompously, "I knew there was no way this time I could trick you into giving up your Vegan powers...so, I figured...I just had to get a little assertive." "Meaning?" Todd asks...."You just got hit with 10 cc's of cow blood, baby!" Scott proudly exclaims as five Vegan Police Force members CRASH through the ceiling of the theater. "Todd Ingram, been having some steak, today?" One of them asks. "NO!" Todd says frantically, "I was tricked. It was Pilgrim...PILGRIM." "Save it for the judge..." the head Vegan Police member says as he zaps Todd's powers with an appropriate "NOOOOOO" from Ingram. As the Police Force members ascend back up, high-fiving and "YEAH!!!"ing each other as they go, the helicopter full on plummets right into Todd as he explodes, leaving a "3,000,000" points indicator in his place. "Three down, four to go..." Scott says as the two bands on stage start playing again.
Level Four: Roxy Ritcher
"We have to find Roxy", Scott comments. "Don't worry, I know her weak point. Let's just get back on The Ride". And so, as Pilgrim explained, we get back on the twisted Ride and start darting through Toronto again. (It's worth noting that if you do count it out, throughout The Ride you are actually hit with a grand total of seventeen inversions. Again...little details...) Like Scott predicted, Roxy flies at us. "What's a matter, little chickens?" she asks as she vanishes again..."SCARED". As she says this, she shakes up all the buses with a surprise attack. She then snickers, and raises her leg as she is about to stomp us with her gigantic spiked boot, she says in near-slow motion..."You're all about to get...effed in the beee" just then, the chopper flies closer to her and Scott reaches out and pokes Roxy's "weak point", the back of her knees. She starts moaning and spasming as Scott warns us to get back. Suddenly, Roxy explodes with one final moan, leaving her "4,000,000" points indicator in her place. "Works every time", Scott says. Suddenly, the part of the room opposite the balcony gets lit up and we see, physically there in the theater, Gideon Graves, watching us with Ramona at his side from his two person "VIP Section" high rise from the Chaos Theatre set. Gideon applauds enthusiastically. "Well done, Scotty, well done!" he says. "I'm honestly impressed, you took out The League way faster than I thought. Only one problem, though." A HUGE Chaos Theatre starts to rise from the bowls of Gideon's theme park Toronto. "I'M hip, Scott. I'm what's in right now. You can defeat The League, but you'll never defeat me. Oh, and did you forget you still have that little Amp vs. Amp with the Katayanagis that keeps getting put off. Scott, buddy. Can't you see...I'm just, better than you." "SAVE IT" Scott yells. "You're pretentious, I've got beef, let's do this!", and with that, and another thundering "WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB" from Kim, the final battle commences.
Final Level: Amp vs. Amp
This is where the line between the screen and the in theater effects starts to get CRAZY. The headline scene of this ride is where you are trapped in the Amp vs. Amp battle when the two bands REALLY kick it off, unleashing their "amp creatures" like in the film. There's the Katayanagi's double headed dragon vs. the Sex Bob Omb's yeti, and WE are trapped in the middle. (The two amp creatures will be HUGE effects achieved through advanced projection technology." In this finale, both bands are playing like crazy, the soundtrack is exploding out of the theater, and Gideon is just sitting from his VIP section, laughing heartily. Suddenly, with an appropriate "hiiiiyaaa", Knives Chau in full ninja gear appears in Gideon's VIP section. Gideon chuckles, "well, does little china doll want to play?" He asks. Knives looks at Ramona who actually gives her a nod of acknowledgment in return. "Let's both be girls" Ramona says, and gets to her feet. Her and Knives start furiously kicking Gideon square in the family jewels as the Sex Bob Ombs get the upper hand in the Amp vs. Amp. The Yeti rips the two dragon heads off, and the Katayanagis finally perish, leaving "5,000,000" and 6,000,000" point indicators in their wake. A very weakened Gideon laughs as he falls to his knees. Ramona calls to Scott, as both she and Knives get down from the VIP section, leaving Scott and Gideon staring each other down. "You really think you can defeat ME, Scott?" Gideon yells. Even if I go, I've still got Planet Gideon tearing up your precious little Toronto. You know...I told Ramona Toronto was one of the great cities. I lied. There's nothing but frost and mediocrity. Your home is PATHETIC, Pilgrim". "THAT'S IT" Scott yells, "You'll pay for your crimes against humanity. Comeau, hit it." And with that, the helicopter travels across the room and plunges STRAIGHT into Gideon as he and his VIP section are teared to bits. The ruined helicopter with Scott and Comeau inside lands safely on top of a pile of freshly burning debris of the previous VIP section and a final "7,000,000" points indicator is seen rising on the screen. "Well...that's a wrap", Scott says. "Except...what ARE we going to do about all this...crap" he asks as the camera pans to a huge wide shot of Gideon's park still over-throwing the city. Just then, Scott's dark side, Nega Scott, appears, and beckons Scott onto a coaster car to go for a ride on The Ride with him. "...I see", Scott says. "Hold on guys, I'll be right back. I need to face this alone." He and Nega Scott get into a coaster car and the screen fades to black. It cuts away to a short time later where the coaster car returns to the station. Scott and Nega Scott are chumming it up with each other. (At this point, obviously Scott is on screen as opposed to the ruined helicopter, which is dimming with the lighting as Nega Scott first appears) Scott and Nega Scott jump off the ride, Scott gives NS a wave, and NS is on his way. Julie Powers is waiting for Scott, furious. "So, did you (black box) find out how to (black box) destroy all this (black box) or NOT" she drills him. Scott laughs, "no, it's cool." He says..."See, on the coaster car, there's an on/off switch. I just have to switch it to off." Scott does this and suddenly Gideon's ENTIRE theme park is compacted into the coaster car, leaving the real Toronto standing in its wake. All the tourist zombies also start to regain consciousness. "Leave it to Nega Scott", Scott says, "That guy always has the simplest solutions." Ramona rejoins Scott. "Look", she says..."there's our door." Indeed, there's a door right in the middle of the street. Scott and Ramona smile at eachother, lock hands, and walk through. A voice over narration says "CONTINUE?" and then starts counting down as Scott and Ramona enter the door like at the end of the film. Our buses start lowering back into the loading back as the voice over counts down "five...four...three". As we hit the loading dock again, with one last "GAME OVER" the lights turn on and we exit the ride.
Conclusion:
And with that, we conclude your tour of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ride. With this ride, I really wanted to try something different. I feel like this is REALLY taking the simulator technology to its logical next step. I feel like the HUGE amount of various in-theater effects, mixed with the actual film itself which will of course be directed by Edgar Wright and star all the film's cast members reprising their roles. Yes, I did design the film and ride itself to KIND OF be like a really quick run through of the first movie, but I feel like the theme park element really does kind of give "The Ride" a twisted, epic sort of theme park quality to it that you can only get with theme park attractions and not necessarily movies. I feel like that while the movie might not have performed well at the box office, it's already been proven to be a BIG cult hit that has spawned midnight screenings and HUGE DVD sales. At this rate, the film is bound to go down as a classic regardless of the fact that THE EXPENDABLES of all movies managed to tank it at the box office. With that logic, I feel that it is a very appropriate sort of "Spiritual Successor", if you will, to Back to the Future. To be honest with you...I just don't like The Simpsons Ride. I mean...the technology is there, and it IS a lot of fun...I just don't like the theme. I don't like that THIS is what they replaced the CLASSIC, freaking TIMELESS Doc Brown Labs with. I'm sorry, I think the exterior is kind of an eye-sore, it's NOT that I don't like The Simpsons, It's just that the ride itself is kind of...underwhelming. I like the animation, I just find the ride forgettable. Alright, enough Simpsons bashing...My point is, I don't think The Simpsons are a worthy replacement for Doc Brown...and honestly, I think Scott Pilgrim IS. Like Back to the Future, the Scott Pilgrim movie kind of works with its own kind of logic and takes you into a very specific time and place. I feel like Scott Pilgrim is almost like a 90s Nintendo marinated over-exaggerated sort of thing whereas Back to the Future of course is a call back to both classic time travel stories and an exaggerated view of the 50s. I think the two really do kind of go hand in hand. (crosses fingers for a Scott Pilgrim sequel...)
Another point I want to make is the fact that the ride, like the film, contains a variety of in-jokes, references, and breaking of the fourth wall. Kim Pine constantly calling out the soundtrack for interrupting the Amp vs. Amp battle throughout the ride is a great example of this. The actual title of the ride itself of course, and all the ensuing mentions of Gideon's dread "The Ride", are pokes and jabs at naming theme park rides "...The Ride". At some point, Wallace should spout out from the balcony..."What is this, Jurassic Park??" You know...JUST for good measure. In the context of the actual film, "The Ride" is actually both a conveniently placed system of transportation to get to point A to point B for us, but also serves as a good place to have the typical "motion simulator" elements that one comes to expect from this type of ride.
The meat of the attraction, of course, is the in-theater effects themselves. I think they kind of speak for themselves, but I mean...Just imagine...being IN BETWEEN that epic Amp vs. Amp battle, and this is AS an army of tourist zombies are swarming you on the screen (forgot to mention this...in the actual finale SOMETHING has to be going on in the screen...and I figured hey...more Zombie Tourists! Also, another obvious point that I've forgot to mention all this time with the whole zombie tourist thing is...this IS the "Shaun of the Dead" guy were talking about. I think as long as Edgar Wright himself directs the ACTUAL on-ride footage, we should be in VERY good hands...) Not only that, but we also have the Scott vs. Gideon thing and the HUGE climatic helicopter crashing into the VIP section, ALL in the same scene. I mean seriously, from the Demon Hipster Chicks to the Vegan Police Force all the way up until the INSANE finale battle, this ride will SERIOUSLY be a feast for the eyes, BOTH in the actual film and the full on ASSAULT of in-theater effects. This really IS the next level "Gate-Buster" Universal attraction were talking about, here. And another small little point I have to mention is the fact that the ride itself contains SO many little jokes, gestures from the in-theater AAs (and there are A LOT of them, each with their own personalities that you could just seriously study every time you rode and see something different...) lines, details, and such, this ride is just a treasure trove if you're into that kind of thing...Just saying, haha.
And one LAST little detail I forgot to mention is that on board the bus, Scott left is Cell Phone, which is displayed as little LED screens on the vehicles. Who calls Scott during all this chaos multiple times? Well it's none other than his "big little sister" Stacey Pilgrim, who is manning the fort back at the Second Cup. She of course just calls him about three times per ride. The thing is...there's a cycle of about 20 different "Stacey calls", so EACH RIDE, again, will be different. Every single AA will have various different lines and things they do, and this ride will really take to the next level the idea of "it's a different ride every time." Just...wanted to point that out.
And, hey...to hell with it...let's just throw in the fact that Bryan Lee O'Malley (author of the graphic novels) will of course be a key creative collaborator as well as write the freaking script.
Introduction:
Scott Pilgrim might seem an odd choice to place in a horror themed land, but by my logic, the film contains many supernatural elements that, given the right kind of treatment, could fit right at home with Count Dracula and Frankenstein. Granted, of course this ride is going to lean WAY more on the comedy side then the "horror" side, the ride we've put together for you does contain its fair share of supernatural elements. Keep an eye out for demon hipster chicks, vegan police forces, super-powered A-listers, and of course those ever pesky mind-controlled TOURIST ZOMBIES, as we here at Team Jack take you through the REAL spiritual successor to Back to the Future. Using the similar technology, but taking it to the next level, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ride promises to be the next big headline-making attraction for the Universal theme park franchise.
Backstory:
The ride will be a full blown sequel to the film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Unfortunately, if you haven't seen the film, it's kind of hard to recap, so just go onto wikipedia or something for a plot summary...In the actual ride I've done the best I can to make it accessible to people who haven't seen the movie, and I know for a fact that at least one of the two judges is a fan, so we'll just see how it goes. Anyway, the basic set-up leading into the ride is this. One year after Scott Pilgrim defeated Gideon Graves at the opening of his Chaos Theater at the end of the first film, Gideon has found the secret to the legendary "Contra 50 Lives Code", which grants him...50 lives. So, using the lives he has collected (...just go with it...this is Scott Pilgrim video game logic were talking about...) Gideon proceeds to plot his revenge against his mortal enemy Scott Pilgrim. After resurrecting the remaining six Evil Exes and reforming The League, Gideon realizes that the best place to hit Scott Pilgrim is where it hurts most...his hometown. (This is after Todd Ingram points out how pissed Scott got when he slammed Toronto in the first film) So Gideon, using his charm and brain controlling ways, begins a hostile take over of Scott Pilgrim's beloved home-town of Toronto, Canada. It starts with getting into the head...literally, of Scott's girlfriend Ramona Flowers, the object of the entire Leagues' affection (believe me, if you still have no idea what I'm talking about...now would be a REALLY good time to read that wikipedia summary...) After Gideon steals the girl, he also signs away the band Sex Bob-Omb of which Scott is an on again, off again member. Gideon then strikes hard by building a MASSIVE theme park right in the middle of downtown Toronto. This is when things start to get personal. The theme park winds and twists its way all through downtown as if it's literally EATING the town. Scott Pilgrim puts together a renegade crew, including the Sex Bob-Ombs, and sets out to stop Gideon Graves once and for all...
Exterior/Pre Show
Much like the exterior of The Simpsons ride, the Scott Pilgrim exterior will be a twisted, cartoon version of Toronto, Canada with a giant roller coaster (simply titled "The Ride") running its way through it, as well as other twisted carnival rides. The large exterior building will feature a variety of fake building fronts for real Toronto locations where the film was shot. These will also be the primary locations for the ride. They are...
-Casa Loma (Lucas Lee film set)
-Goodwill
-Second Cup Coffee
-Pizza Pizza
-Sonic Boom (record store)
-Lee's Palace (Katayanagi Twins battle)
-Rock It (Matthew Patel battle)
-The Chaos Theater (This, being Gideon's Club, will kind of be situated dominantly in the middle of everything and will be the place where the ride will be primarily focused on.)
Also similar to giant Krusty-head "Krustyland" sign that adorns the entrance to the Simpsons Ride, this ride will host a Jason Schwartzman's giant noggin under a "Planet Gideon" sign on the outskirts of this twisted Toronto. With that in mind, we enter into the bowels of Gideon's master-plan. The preshow for this ride will also be very similar to The Simpsons Ride in that it sets everything up through a variety of different videos of various characters as guests wind their way through the outside queue. The first video played is a who's who guide by everyone's favorite party host, Comeau (He knows everyone...even YOU) which basically is a quick guide to the characters and their role in the story. Here we learn about.
Scott Pilgrim-Well, he's the main hero. 22 Years old. Kind of an idiot... (Siblings: Stacey Pilgrim, rated "T" for Teen.)
Ramona Flowers-Scott's beloved, and the object of affection for the League of Evil Exes
The League-The League of Evil Exes headed by slimy corporate go-getter Gideon Graves. The League also features Japanese Techno sensation The Katayanagi Twins, super-powered A-Lister Lucas Lee (pretty good skater turned pretty good actor), Todd Ingram, bass player for Clash at Demonhead and current boyfriend of Scott's very own "evil ex", Envy Adams. Is trained in a wide variety of Vegan super-powers. Matthew Patel, demon-hipster-chick summoning, Pirate style-rocking, fire-ball throwing Indian sensation, and of course Roxie Ritcher, Ramona's "other phase". (You got all that?)
Finally, we have Scott's loyal buddies the Sex Bob-Ombs. This little garage band outfit consists of Stephen Stills (the talent) on guitar and lead vocals, (Young) Neil on bass, and Kim Pine on drums. "Oh yeah, also in the mix" Comeau adds "is Scott's three gay roommates Jimmy, Other Scott, and Head Landlord Wallace Wells. There's also Scott's ex fake-high school girlfriend Knives Chau, who will PROBABLY show up for this thing just because she's crazy." As Comeau begins to wrap it up, the always temperamental Julie Powers (...has issues) enters the mix. "Comeau what the (black box) about me?" (Julie's "power" is the ability to summon black boxes to bleep out her swear words...and never mind how she (black box) does it.) "Oh yeah..." Comeau reluctantly adds..."And Julie. Well, that's all you need to know about our little cast of characters, take it away, Scott."
We then join Scott Pilgrim and the Sex Bob-Ombs in the living room of Stephen Stills. Stills gives us a little rundown of the vendetta that is currently in place. Since all of Toronto have been turned into Gideon's tourist zombies to inhabit the twisted theme park that's literally eating the city alive, the law is not going to be a factor. With that in mind...the gang has managed to hijack an entire fleet of Toronto City Buses for the guests to travel on to join the brigade against Gideon. Scott also adds that he has obtained a CTV News Chopper. He doesn't know how to fly it, but "I play enough video games, it shouldn't be too hard" he chimes in, in his classic Scott Pilgrim positive passiveness. So the plan is basically...take out Gideon, by any means necessary. Gideon has reconstructed his Chaos Theatre in the heart of downtown, this is the primary target. The gang is about to sign off when Julie again interrupts the scene. "Scott (black box) Pilgrim" she calls angrily "don't (black box) forget about the safety instructions, we don't want these (black box) tourists suing our (black box) (black box)". "...Thank you Julie." Scott says, "although really, these aren't the tourists you need to be worried about. So yeah people, you know...seatbelts, carry on items, sharp, unexpected turns, you know...the whole deal." "Say it like you (black box) mean it" Julie says. Scott takes a deep breath. "...fine." He says, and then goes into a typical safety spiel. "DON'T (black box) FORGET ABOUT THE FLASH PICTURES" Julie adds furiously. The camera pans to Kim, who adds dryly "No...flash...pictures." "Alright" Scott continues, "That's about all there is to say, so..."
Suddenly, the feed is cut off and we see Gideon Graves high atop his throne in the Chaos Theatre, with a brainwashed Ramona at his side. "Scott...BUDDY!" he chimes in smarmily. "I must admit, this is a pretty impressive set up you've got going on here. You even have a chopper and everything. Not bad, my friend, not bad. But um...I have fifty lives, Scotty. Well...forty-three after resurrecting the evil exes, but STILL, I have FORTY-THREE lives. Also, that coaster you see going through your precious little Toronto? I call that The Ride, Scott. It's epic, it's the biggest coaster ever created, Scott. It has seventeen inversions. SEVENTEEN...INVERSIONS. You might have defeated me the first time, Scott Pilgrim, but you'll never defeat...(intentional LONG pause of dramatic effect) The Ride." Gideon leaves the feed with an appropriate bout of maniacal laughter. As the Sex Bob Ombs enter the picture again, Young Neil asks how Gideon got the fifty lives in the first place. "It was the Contra code", Scott informs him. "Oh NO!" Young Neil screams in an over-dramatic fashion..."Not the CONTRA CODE" (This is supposed to mirror the "He knocked the HIGHLIGHTS out of her HAIR!" scene). "Yeah Neil...the Contra Code." Scott says, "but don't listen to him. If we hit the Chaos Theatre, we hit the heart of his entire operation. So...who's with me?" As the camera pans back to the Sex Bob Ombs, Kim throws in one of her classic "shoots self" gestures for good measure. "Alright guys, just meet us at the Transit Mall where we'll have the buses waiting for you. Don't worry, we'll get that pretentious show off if it kills me. Now, I've got a helicopter to catch..." And with that, we are entered into the loading area where similar to The Simpsons Ride again, we get looping videos of some of the characters. This time, the three Sex Bob Ombs. In each of the loops, we have the characters doing their trademark routines while prepping for the mission at hand. Kim is her usual pessimistically sarcastic self, Stephen is in a pre-stage panic, and Neil is just...well, he's Neil. Finally, the doors open and we are admitted into on of the fleet of transit buses. Each of the buses features a side-poster for a different Lucas Lee movie. You know...the little details and whatnot, haha. Anyways, after checking the seatbelts and everything, the lights go off and we are raised into the main part of the theater to tackle The Ride.
Theater Lay-out
So here's the basic gist of the ride. There's a fleet of about 12 buses per theater, about two or three theaters in the ride. The buses all can fit 24 people each. As they raise up, you see that inside the main ride it's not JUST a simulator this time around. First of all, we can see a balcony on the upper-left side of the theater. There, we see Wallace Wells, Scott's "cool gay roommate", along with Other Scott, Wallace's BF, and Jimmy, who is just...there (Jimmy in the film was Stacey Pilgrim's boyfriend turned Wallace Wells' affair. I just thought it'd be funny if he were up there because he's such a random, soft spoken character.) On either side of the fleet of buses on the same level, are two huge stages like the Amp vs. Amp battle in the film. On the right side stand AAs of the Sex Bob-Ombs, and on the left side are the Katayanagi Twins, ready for battle. There are going to be A LOT of in-theater effects throughout the ride, but that's the basic set-up. The screen of course is in the dead center. As we rise into position on the outskirts of Toronto with the "Planet Gideon" sign grinning at us, Kim Pine sets us up with a traditional "WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB, ONE...TWO...THREE...FOUR!!" and we set off to defeat The Ride.
Level One: Mathew Patel
Before I get going I just have to point out that THROUGHOUT the ride the Katayanagi Twins and the Sex Bob Ombs will be in the middle of an amp vs. amp face off with us in the middle. This provides the ride with its soundtrack, and will also lead into a VERY explosive finale, but more on that later. Also, Wallace provides us with his typical brand of dry, witty commentary throughout the ride. In fact, the Wallace AA will be programed with five different responses to EACH scene. Every ride, riders will have slightly different commentary coming from Wallace. So as we go through the ride, just keep in mind that throughout the two bands are locked in a battle and Wallace is spouting commentary. So with that in mind, we enter the twisted mess that has become Downtown Toronto amidst the twisted theme park Gideon has created. Tourist zombies start coming at us from every direction. In this section we also pass familiar Scott Pilgrim locations like the Goodwill and Pizza Pizza. Suddenly, Bollywood music starts pumping through the speakers, drowning out the two bands on stage. It is Mathew Patel, Ramona's first Evil Ex. He flies around the downtown area signing one of his Bollywood songs and shooting fireballs at us (which actually physically materialize in the theater) Patel's trademark "Demon Hipster Chicks" also start flying around the theater, this time as actual AAs that have been bolted to the wall and run on a sort of track through the actual walls of the theater. There's about twelve Hipster chicks in all, six on each side of the room. Patel gets interrupted by the roaring of helicopter blades, as the news chopper Scott hijacked suddenly comes FLYING above our heads and fixes itself on the upper left hand corner or the room near the screen. We see that Comeau is flying the bird. "Lucky for you, Scott", Comeau adds, "I took a year of flying lessons, so we don't have to read about some horrible helicopter accident tomorrow. Scott sits in the passenger seat of the Chopper and yells to Patel. "No, Pirates AREN'T in this year" Scott shouts as the chopper blades start to tangle with Patel's "cape", sending him flying head first into the blades. A little in theater explosion is set off to simulate Patel perishing into the blades, and a little "1,000,000" icon rises from the screen. "One down, six to go", Scott says as we start to climb on to the actual "Ride". "Lets see where this thing leads us" he says, "if it's Gideon's secret weapon, it's got to have a weakness." So with that, we start ascending "The Ride" as more tourist zombies try to devour us. Almost from the get-go as we start going through the twists and turns of "The Ride", we can tell that Gideon certaintly wasn't kidding. This is a SERIOUSLY intense ride that twists all over Toronto. At some point, a flying blot of black comes wizzing past us. It is Roxy, trying to attack. Don't worry, we'll meet up with her later. In the meantime, we see that there's a Lucas Lee film shoot going on down at Casa Loma, so we get ourselves away from "The Ride", and face off with the second ex.
Level Two: Lucas Lee
As we approach Casa Loma, we hear EPIC Universal music. Kim makes a comment about how the bands keep getting interrupted. "Can somebody fix the soundtrack here?" she scowls. Anyways, in the midst of the EPIC Universal music, Lucas Lee appears, doing his neck-crack at the "DUN DUN" in the middle of the Universal music just like in the film. "YOU, Scott Pilgrim", Lee shouts to the helicopter. Fooled me once...shame on you. Fool me twice..." "Can it, Lee" Scott yells, "we all know you can't come up with a good line to save your life...literally." At that, Lee starts to get mad and conjures up his six stunt-men, who appear three on the Wallace balcony, three on the Sex Bob Ombs stage (Cue Kim Pine :shoots self: gesture.) "So how bout it Pilgrim" Lee comments to Scott. "What do you got? Do you really think you can take on an A-Lister...Again??"
Scott comments about The Ride. "You think you could do a...grindy thingy..." he starts. "Don't even start with me!" Lucas laughs, "you fooled me once with that. I'm not falling for it again." "But...there ARE girls watching." Scott comments as the camera pans to a flock of teenage girl zombie tourists who are admiring Lucas, while still being...Zombies. Lucas, not being able to control himself, grabs his board and starts grinding The Ride. There's a SUPER TIGHT loop, however, and as soon as he hits it, he implodes upon himself. "Wow, he totally bailed...AGAIN." Wallace comments from the balcony as the stunt doubles leave the theater. A "2,000,000" points icon rises on the screen. "Alright" Scott says from the helicopter. "Two down, five to go. Let's hit The Ride again and see who else we can find. We just have to find the Chaos Theatre. That's where Gideon will be. Where the hell is it, anyway?" With that, we start twisting around the crazy "Ride" again, and again almost get hit by a flying Roxy. We are interrupted by the sound of a strumming bass from the building below. The "D" symbols from the film that represent bass notes start flying at us. We are in for a battle. Perhaps...a...bass battle...if you will...
Level Three: Todd Ingram
As we get off of The Ride and down to ground level again, we see that we are in the Rock It, and Todd Ingram is the one furiously playing the bass, beckoning Scott into a bass battle. Scott grabs his bass guitar from the back of the helicopter and gets to it. The two duke it out just like the film until, like the film, Todd gets the upper-hand again. "Well done, muchacho" Scott says as he pulls out a target riffle. "But I bet you weren't expecting THIS". He fires three rounds in Ingram, and we see that they are darts loaded with some kind of substance . "What'd you just hit me with" Todd asks frantically as the sound of sirens can be heard in the background. "Well, Todd." Scott explains pompously, "I knew there was no way this time I could trick you into giving up your Vegan powers...so, I figured...I just had to get a little assertive." "Meaning?" Todd asks...."You just got hit with 10 cc's of cow blood, baby!" Scott proudly exclaims as five Vegan Police Force members CRASH through the ceiling of the theater. "Todd Ingram, been having some steak, today?" One of them asks. "NO!" Todd says frantically, "I was tricked. It was Pilgrim...PILGRIM." "Save it for the judge..." the head Vegan Police member says as he zaps Todd's powers with an appropriate "NOOOOOO" from Ingram. As the Police Force members ascend back up, high-fiving and "YEAH!!!"ing each other as they go, the helicopter full on plummets right into Todd as he explodes, leaving a "3,000,000" points indicator in his place. "Three down, four to go..." Scott says as the two bands on stage start playing again.
Level Four: Roxy Ritcher
"We have to find Roxy", Scott comments. "Don't worry, I know her weak point. Let's just get back on The Ride". And so, as Pilgrim explained, we get back on the twisted Ride and start darting through Toronto again. (It's worth noting that if you do count it out, throughout The Ride you are actually hit with a grand total of seventeen inversions. Again...little details...) Like Scott predicted, Roxy flies at us. "What's a matter, little chickens?" she asks as she vanishes again..."SCARED". As she says this, she shakes up all the buses with a surprise attack. She then snickers, and raises her leg as she is about to stomp us with her gigantic spiked boot, she says in near-slow motion..."You're all about to get...effed in the beee" just then, the chopper flies closer to her and Scott reaches out and pokes Roxy's "weak point", the back of her knees. She starts moaning and spasming as Scott warns us to get back. Suddenly, Roxy explodes with one final moan, leaving her "4,000,000" points indicator in her place. "Works every time", Scott says. Suddenly, the part of the room opposite the balcony gets lit up and we see, physically there in the theater, Gideon Graves, watching us with Ramona at his side from his two person "VIP Section" high rise from the Chaos Theatre set. Gideon applauds enthusiastically. "Well done, Scotty, well done!" he says. "I'm honestly impressed, you took out The League way faster than I thought. Only one problem, though." A HUGE Chaos Theatre starts to rise from the bowls of Gideon's theme park Toronto. "I'M hip, Scott. I'm what's in right now. You can defeat The League, but you'll never defeat me. Oh, and did you forget you still have that little Amp vs. Amp with the Katayanagis that keeps getting put off. Scott, buddy. Can't you see...I'm just, better than you." "SAVE IT" Scott yells. "You're pretentious, I've got beef, let's do this!", and with that, and another thundering "WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB" from Kim, the final battle commences.
Final Level: Amp vs. Amp
This is where the line between the screen and the in theater effects starts to get CRAZY. The headline scene of this ride is where you are trapped in the Amp vs. Amp battle when the two bands REALLY kick it off, unleashing their "amp creatures" like in the film. There's the Katayanagi's double headed dragon vs. the Sex Bob Omb's yeti, and WE are trapped in the middle. (The two amp creatures will be HUGE effects achieved through advanced projection technology." In this finale, both bands are playing like crazy, the soundtrack is exploding out of the theater, and Gideon is just sitting from his VIP section, laughing heartily. Suddenly, with an appropriate "hiiiiyaaa", Knives Chau in full ninja gear appears in Gideon's VIP section. Gideon chuckles, "well, does little china doll want to play?" He asks. Knives looks at Ramona who actually gives her a nod of acknowledgment in return. "Let's both be girls" Ramona says, and gets to her feet. Her and Knives start furiously kicking Gideon square in the family jewels as the Sex Bob Ombs get the upper hand in the Amp vs. Amp. The Yeti rips the two dragon heads off, and the Katayanagis finally perish, leaving "5,000,000" and 6,000,000" point indicators in their wake. A very weakened Gideon laughs as he falls to his knees. Ramona calls to Scott, as both she and Knives get down from the VIP section, leaving Scott and Gideon staring each other down. "You really think you can defeat ME, Scott?" Gideon yells. Even if I go, I've still got Planet Gideon tearing up your precious little Toronto. You know...I told Ramona Toronto was one of the great cities. I lied. There's nothing but frost and mediocrity. Your home is PATHETIC, Pilgrim". "THAT'S IT" Scott yells, "You'll pay for your crimes against humanity. Comeau, hit it." And with that, the helicopter travels across the room and plunges STRAIGHT into Gideon as he and his VIP section are teared to bits. The ruined helicopter with Scott and Comeau inside lands safely on top of a pile of freshly burning debris of the previous VIP section and a final "7,000,000" points indicator is seen rising on the screen. "Well...that's a wrap", Scott says. "Except...what ARE we going to do about all this...crap" he asks as the camera pans to a huge wide shot of Gideon's park still over-throwing the city. Just then, Scott's dark side, Nega Scott, appears, and beckons Scott onto a coaster car to go for a ride on The Ride with him. "...I see", Scott says. "Hold on guys, I'll be right back. I need to face this alone." He and Nega Scott get into a coaster car and the screen fades to black. It cuts away to a short time later where the coaster car returns to the station. Scott and Nega Scott are chumming it up with each other. (At this point, obviously Scott is on screen as opposed to the ruined helicopter, which is dimming with the lighting as Nega Scott first appears) Scott and Nega Scott jump off the ride, Scott gives NS a wave, and NS is on his way. Julie Powers is waiting for Scott, furious. "So, did you (black box) find out how to (black box) destroy all this (black box) or NOT" she drills him. Scott laughs, "no, it's cool." He says..."See, on the coaster car, there's an on/off switch. I just have to switch it to off." Scott does this and suddenly Gideon's ENTIRE theme park is compacted into the coaster car, leaving the real Toronto standing in its wake. All the tourist zombies also start to regain consciousness. "Leave it to Nega Scott", Scott says, "That guy always has the simplest solutions." Ramona rejoins Scott. "Look", she says..."there's our door." Indeed, there's a door right in the middle of the street. Scott and Ramona smile at eachother, lock hands, and walk through. A voice over narration says "CONTINUE?" and then starts counting down as Scott and Ramona enter the door like at the end of the film. Our buses start lowering back into the loading back as the voice over counts down "five...four...three". As we hit the loading dock again, with one last "GAME OVER" the lights turn on and we exit the ride.
Conclusion:
And with that, we conclude your tour of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Ride. With this ride, I really wanted to try something different. I feel like this is REALLY taking the simulator technology to its logical next step. I feel like the HUGE amount of various in-theater effects, mixed with the actual film itself which will of course be directed by Edgar Wright and star all the film's cast members reprising their roles. Yes, I did design the film and ride itself to KIND OF be like a really quick run through of the first movie, but I feel like the theme park element really does kind of give "The Ride" a twisted, epic sort of theme park quality to it that you can only get with theme park attractions and not necessarily movies. I feel like that while the movie might not have performed well at the box office, it's already been proven to be a BIG cult hit that has spawned midnight screenings and HUGE DVD sales. At this rate, the film is bound to go down as a classic regardless of the fact that THE EXPENDABLES of all movies managed to tank it at the box office. With that logic, I feel that it is a very appropriate sort of "Spiritual Successor", if you will, to Back to the Future. To be honest with you...I just don't like The Simpsons Ride. I mean...the technology is there, and it IS a lot of fun...I just don't like the theme. I don't like that THIS is what they replaced the CLASSIC, freaking TIMELESS Doc Brown Labs with. I'm sorry, I think the exterior is kind of an eye-sore, it's NOT that I don't like The Simpsons, It's just that the ride itself is kind of...underwhelming. I like the animation, I just find the ride forgettable. Alright, enough Simpsons bashing...My point is, I don't think The Simpsons are a worthy replacement for Doc Brown...and honestly, I think Scott Pilgrim IS. Like Back to the Future, the Scott Pilgrim movie kind of works with its own kind of logic and takes you into a very specific time and place. I feel like Scott Pilgrim is almost like a 90s Nintendo marinated over-exaggerated sort of thing whereas Back to the Future of course is a call back to both classic time travel stories and an exaggerated view of the 50s. I think the two really do kind of go hand in hand. (crosses fingers for a Scott Pilgrim sequel...)
Another point I want to make is the fact that the ride, like the film, contains a variety of in-jokes, references, and breaking of the fourth wall. Kim Pine constantly calling out the soundtrack for interrupting the Amp vs. Amp battle throughout the ride is a great example of this. The actual title of the ride itself of course, and all the ensuing mentions of Gideon's dread "The Ride", are pokes and jabs at naming theme park rides "...The Ride". At some point, Wallace should spout out from the balcony..."What is this, Jurassic Park??" You know...JUST for good measure. In the context of the actual film, "The Ride" is actually both a conveniently placed system of transportation to get to point A to point B for us, but also serves as a good place to have the typical "motion simulator" elements that one comes to expect from this type of ride.
The meat of the attraction, of course, is the in-theater effects themselves. I think they kind of speak for themselves, but I mean...Just imagine...being IN BETWEEN that epic Amp vs. Amp battle, and this is AS an army of tourist zombies are swarming you on the screen (forgot to mention this...in the actual finale SOMETHING has to be going on in the screen...and I figured hey...more Zombie Tourists! Also, another obvious point that I've forgot to mention all this time with the whole zombie tourist thing is...this IS the "Shaun of the Dead" guy were talking about. I think as long as Edgar Wright himself directs the ACTUAL on-ride footage, we should be in VERY good hands...) Not only that, but we also have the Scott vs. Gideon thing and the HUGE climatic helicopter crashing into the VIP section, ALL in the same scene. I mean seriously, from the Demon Hipster Chicks to the Vegan Police Force all the way up until the INSANE finale battle, this ride will SERIOUSLY be a feast for the eyes, BOTH in the actual film and the full on ASSAULT of in-theater effects. This really IS the next level "Gate-Buster" Universal attraction were talking about, here. And another small little point I have to mention is the fact that the ride itself contains SO many little jokes, gestures from the in-theater AAs (and there are A LOT of them, each with their own personalities that you could just seriously study every time you rode and see something different...) lines, details, and such, this ride is just a treasure trove if you're into that kind of thing...Just saying, haha.
And one LAST little detail I forgot to mention is that on board the bus, Scott left is Cell Phone, which is displayed as little LED screens on the vehicles. Who calls Scott during all this chaos multiple times? Well it's none other than his "big little sister" Stacey Pilgrim, who is manning the fort back at the Second Cup. She of course just calls him about three times per ride. The thing is...there's a cycle of about 20 different "Stacey calls", so EACH RIDE, again, will be different. Every single AA will have various different lines and things they do, and this ride will really take to the next level the idea of "it's a different ride every time." Just...wanted to point that out.
And, hey...to hell with it...let's just throw in the fact that Bryan Lee O'Malley (author of the graphic novels) will of course be a key creative collaborator as well as write the freaking script.
And there you have it. A whole new, never before seen land for Universal.
Team Jack:
Alright guys I apologize for a rather lack luster project as we started out the week there as all of this momentum, I was excited, as I'm sure the rest of my team was that we were to have this fantastic project that would essentially be to USO what team Jack's was to USH. But seemingly with in just 48 hours the momentum came to a screeching halt and save for a few posts here and there our project came to a screeching halt. Preoccupied with a previous week long engagement I was unable to rally the troops as much as was apparently needed seeing as nobody seemed to post. As it came time to review what we had I came to realize the answer was not much: we had an amazing concept to do some much reworking on the park as well as a handful of attraction ideas but only 1 write up. So here our project stands but a skeleton of what could have been a phenomenal project and could prove to be an exciting project later in the game should we ever be allowed to go in and flesh out an attraction or possibly the entire park. I hope you enjoy and let your imagination run wild in Team Oogie's "The New Universal Studios Orlando: Corporate Debriefing"
Welcome everybody just take a seat anywhere you would like. Today we would like to show you the new plans for Universal Studios Orlando Park as it undergoes a massive remodel so that we can keep it on caliber with Islands of Adventure. Let us begin with the new theme of the park.
Our new idea for USO is to make the park seem more like an actual working studio as compared to a theme park, which in fact makes it even more of a theme park to us and more of an exciting experience for our guests! Each area of the park will be themed to being “second generation” sets. These are sets more as most people imagine them where a living room is actually a full on living room not half of one with a group of film crew on the other half in what is actually just a sound stage. These sets are full on operational, and behind each set are all of the sets for the movie it is being used for! The guests in the new USO will feel like they are actually walking around a working studio with each attraction putting them as a character in the film be that they take on a lead role, the innocent victim who gets saved, or a supporting role should they choose to accept.
But where might you ask are the cameras? Well they are actually everywhere hidden in the attraction and all over the ride guests just don’t see them! In fact all of the rides either have a Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters style “Email your picture” aspect with the picture featuring our guests as stars on the film poster. On some of our more thrilling attractions this factor a purchase your very own copy of the film aspect where the guests can get a video of them on the ride which is made up of different film clips of them on the attraction combined using a pre set formula to give guests only the best shots of them on the ride! Guests who purchase their DVD will even get the option to upload a formulated “Preview” of their film to their YouTube account!
Now let us go over the layout of this new park, shall we? The new park layout will consist of 6 main lands, as well as 1 mini land. This first land will overtake the entrance area, production central, as well as our Hollywood set area to become well, “Hometown Hollywood!” This section of the park will keep the traditional Universal Studios archway but it will also get a beautiful new Universal Studio’s “headquarters” building which is actually a very similar to the TeamDisney Building in Burbank California:
However, in our version expect to see more blues, silvers, greens, and gold as the color palate will be matched to look more like our Globe Logo, also expect to see each of the lower six Dwarves replaced with one of our signature monster characters: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Werewolf, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the invisible man (he will be an outline not just a seemingly missing pillar :) ) At the top Dopey will be replaced by the outline of the Cotton Palace from the 1936 film Showboat which infamously saved the Studios back in 1936. Also resting on the top of the building will be a revolving Universal Studios Globe. The building will serve as the park’s operating lead serving as Lost and Found, Information, Tour Starting, as well as host the rest of the parks operating staff. Guests will walk past it into the 1920-40’s Glamourous Hollywood streets where the attractions will be:
- The Movie Palace: A Cost free theater that plays old fashioned Universal Studios films non stop
- Hollywood Tram Drop off: The main street station equivalent of the Studio Trams’ new function as both a tour through the sets and as a transportation unit:
- The History of Universal: Essentially a Universal Studios Museum that guests can tour to enjoy various artifacts from the Universal Studios Archive.
- Soundstage1: will house the show scenes themed to golden era Hollywood movies for the studios tram.
- Soundstage2: open for rent will house Ellen during her Universal Studios visits using a specially made set that focuses on the areas golden age of Hollywood theming
Moving Clockwise around the park our next stop would be Big Cities and Bright Lights a combination of the San Francisco and New York areas of the park. These new areas feature a miniature operating trolley system and a small taxi company that randomly goes about the streets but each staying in their respective areas. This area featured attractions are:
- Revenge of the Mummy: Being moved over to the San Francisco Area of the park the attraction will receive a new façade as a San Francisco Museum based around Mummies.
- King Kong: An exciting new hanging coaster mixed with show scenes that put guests as a fighter pilot in the final scenes of a new King Kong film, families will enjoy the low height requirement and thrilling attraction.
- Fast and Furious Forever: Guests race through the streets of New York in their own cars in this latest installment in the Fast and Furious Franchise. Guests will be able to control the vehicles to some degree with a system override keeping them from hitting other cars and allowing them to roll perfectly in to the station.
- The Record Store: A reworked version of the Rip Ride: the queue sets up the story that follows the history of a young man who went from rags to riches after he successfully grew his own recording company. Guests get to star as some of the man’s various stars in the finale of the movie when they board the rollercoaster that puts the studio’s flagship store stories and thrills above the rest. At the end of the rollercoaster guests pass by an AA of the man giving an interview in the finale of the movie.
- Tram Drop off: Another station for the Trams new function.
Next we come across the soundstage plaza an area currently off limits to guests tours and the tram will open it up so that guests may pass through working sets. This will be in occurrence seeing how actually filming will begin to return to the USO Park using not only the sound stages but parts of the actual park, as need be, as well. This area will also house additional scenes for those on the tram. Other than this there are no real attractions for this area. Moving on we find ourselves in the tropics where known as Water font Way, a seaside community set here the attractions are:
- Jaws: A modernized high speed water rollercoaster/ rafting adventure in which guests star as a party under attack by a shark.
- Flash Flood: A water stunt show sure to please all audiences
Next we arrive at Animation Central this area takes over the old world expo and MIB area as well as some space behind it. Just like as seen in Roger Rabbit the toons are actual live actors who need actual live sets which is what is seen here. Here guests get to enjoy such attractions as
- Spongebob’s Undersea Soirée: A fun simulator attraction in which guests follow Spongebob through one of his famous adventures
- The Simpsons attraction: As is.
- Hannah Barbara: see below…
- Shrek 3-D: Relocated
Our one attraction that was already heavily in development prior to the reconstruction concept was the Hannah Barbara attraction here is how it will more or less play out for our guests:
The Hanna-Barbera Fender Bender 500
Located at Animation Central, this ride is a flight simulator ride that would basically be what you'd get when you crossed "Wacky Races" (and its remake "Fender Bender 500") with the Mario Kart games.
It's a simulator ride where you race other people against each other in cars around various tracks. There are four simulators in all, each with two seats at a time. You will also each be accompanied a different HB character of your choice (i.e., Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, George Jetson, etc.), and you will see them on the screen. The front seat has the drivers wheel while the back seat has a little cannon that riders can fire at other racers' cars and at said racers' HB characters that accompanying them. The simulators involve air cannons, huge screen projected walls, ride car exterior screens, and a combine simulator EMV type ride car that can move slightly forward and backwards as well as spin out and so forth. The race tracks are all representative of various locales in the HB universe, such as Jellystone Park or Bedrock.
Well, in the Bedrock track, you race past various scenes of the city from "The Flintstones". For one thing, you might run a red light at a busy intersection and have to swerve past dinosaurs in the way. Or you could use dinosaurs as a jump. You drive up its tail, up its body and fly from its head, kinda like what Fred does in the show's title sequence, but in reverse. You could also drive through Slate Rock and Gravel and also through the drive-in theater, where various HB cartoons play on the screens. And you'd also race past the Flintstones' and Rubbles' respective homes, with Wilma and Betty standing outside them. For your optional racers from "The Flintstones", you'd have two: Fred and Barney. Other racers are also done in increments of two options from the different shows, such as Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo or Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers
Located behind Animation Central and its neighboring land Expo 3000 is Suburbia a small suburban street that is used to house the Universal NBC preview center and various smaller event rooms and even full on recreated houses from famous Universal and NBC films/shows.
The final land is Expo 3000, a huge city for Sci-Fi shoots the attractions in this area are:
- Transformers: A copy of the attraction currently being built at USH
- Avatar: Guests enjoy a trackless attraction through the infamously successful film. Visit the planet experience the thrill!
- ET: getting a new façade to appear as the woods that the queue follows.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our presentation, if you have any comments or concerns please voice them now, if not we are going to head into further development on this attractions so as to have a more in depth proposal for you at a later date. Thank you.
KingMickey's Feedback:
I’ll start with Team Jack. Ok, initially I was worried about your ideas to do a Monster Movie land, especially after I had done my forty something page project in the Season VII Semi-Finals, which I saw appeared in the discussion of your team’s thread. It was good to know that the topic was at least on the table and that you would strive for originality.
I thought the Young Frankenstein and Pan’s Labyrinth attractions were both very good and did good for this new area of the park. You Frankenstein was very detailed (thanks for the script, btw) and Pan’s Labyrinth just seemed bizarre. I thought that the Haunted Open House attraction was also a good addition, the description could have been a little more detailed, but I understood the concept of the attraction.
With the Count Dracula ride, there were moments where I was wondering what was happening or how a lot of the effects were achieved. Usually, I wouldn’t question how effects work, but this project seemed obviously effect heavy and I would have liked to see some sort of explanation, simply because some things seemed impossible to achieve. There was a lot of details and plots, but I was left wondering how it would all be done.
I think the bread-winner for this project was the Scott Pilgrim attraction. I could go on and on about the project, but you know what you guys created. I thought it was one of the best attractions we have seen.
One of the major cons that I saw about this project was I the thematic connections between the attractions. As a Horrorland, there’s a lot of details and styles that you could work with. Now as for the theme, I didn’t even think Scott Pilgrim being in the same land as Frankenstein and Dracula was that much of a problem. I thought that you guys just put a lot of ideas into one land, I didn’t really know if it was gonna be classic movie monsters or modern day classics and it ended up being Young Frankenstein and Dracula being inspired by the classics, a new Scott Pilgrim ride, a haunted house in the style of Buzz Lightyear and a Pan’s Labyrinth attraction. I would have just liked to see some connection between them. Also, in addition to this, what of restaurants and stores? Every land needs em!
So, all in all, I thought it was a very good project. I’m going yo give Team Jack an A for the project.
Now, onto Team Oogie. First of all, the lateness happens to all of us, but Team Jack did manage to turn in a project on time, with just as many details. I think one of the major problems this project was how you guys worked together. Team Jack managed to get all their ideas out early on and then went on to creating their project. I don’t know everything that happens in the thread, but I know that you guys were still talking about attraction ideas last night and it essentially came down to, if you want to create it, do it. I just thought it could have been a lot more organized, which is why the project could have been late.
Ultimately, I thought this could have been more detailed. As a remodel, I expected to see mass changed, I saw a lot of things getting relocated or modernized, but I saw no detail as to what exactly would happen, just a few simple sentences. It felt more like I was reading a park map, rather than getting to read about the actual experience of the attraction. I know that this may have been a “debriefing”, but I don’t really find that to be a plausible excuse to skip some details.
For the new attractions, you had only one attraction description, while short, it was very appreciated, while the others were left purely up to imagination. I just thought a lot more detail could have been put into this project. I would have liked to have wandered through the park as if the remodel had been complete, but I was left feeling like I was reading a theme park rumor site of things that may or may not happen.
For this project, I’m going to give Team Oogie a C+.
That’s a wrap for this project! It seemed to take so incredibly long this time around.
MEW's Feedback:
echnically both projects were turned in late and because of that a nule rule will be incorporated: A "due time." If the project is turned in past that limit then the late team's grade may be affected. I hate doing that guys, but we can't keep losing time to stuff like this.
I have no idea why this project took so long to go by. It wasn't you guys it was just the whole of last week. It just took forever for some reason. It felt like it was TWO weeks rather than just one. Enough of this chattering though, it's time to post the results.
Team Jack: Great work! I really enjoyed this project and because of how much work and detail you put into it, it has become my second favorite project of the season. To begin with the Young Frankenstein project was...monkey this is some of your BEST work if not your BEST work. You practically captured the humor of the movie and put it into a theme park ride with both classic and original material. GREAT JOB. There were even some "lol" moments thrown in there with lots of creativity and detail. I especially loved the fact how you threw elements of the musical version in there. It all seemed to flow so smoothly. It was all great fun and captured the feel of the musical and the movie perfectly. HILARIOUS stuff right there. Tell you what I'm bumping the Haunted Mansion Holiday projects up to second on my list of favorite projects in SYWTBAI history. This attraction is now number one. GREAT WORK. I applaud this attraction greatly. It's like you took the riders to Transylvania which is definitely a hard feat to accomplish.
I've never seen Pan's Labyrinth but I've heard many great things about it. Your attraction incarnation kind of gave me a good idea of the look and feel of the film. Once again you guys managed to create another great attraction: "Castle Dracula." It is interesting to note that Dracula (The 1931) was the first horror film to use all sound and the first real major role for Bela Lugosi in a horror film. "Castle Dracula" is really the ultimate tribute to Bela Lugosi and that famous film if you ask me. Dracula is a classic story of horror, romance, and the supernatural, which will be preserved for years to come, and your attraction helps the preservation of this classic film work better than ever. "Professor Spook's Open Haunted House" was a nice little addition that was short and sweet. "Scott Pilgrim vs. the Ride" was a real disappointment, sorry tiki. Haha, jk. It was definitely another high point of Horrorland and some or your BEST WORK tiki. Monkey has his Frankenstein attraction and you have Scott Pilgrim. If you two partnered up to create an attraction, you would blow away the competition instantly (Hint at possible game twist, *cough* *cough*). That'd be an interesting concept to see in the future. I guess I'll review Scott Pilgrim in a paragraph of its own.
Now personally I think the attraction would have fit better in a video game or superhero-themed land, but it was awesome nonetheless. This would definitely be the TRUE sequel to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Unfortunately the film was a bomb at the box office, so unless it suddenly becomes extremely popular within the next couple of years, we won't be seeing a continuation of Scott's adventures anytime soon. Tiki I congratulate you for bringing us the sequel that may never be made. Congratulations, this attraction was epic and well worth the wait. A twisted theme park in Toronto seems like a funny concept to me. It kind of has that Scott Pilgrim-kind-of-humor to it. AWESOME job.
I can honestly say that if you guys had more time to do this project I would have liked to have seen ALL of Universal Studios England. Horrorland alone was EPIC and worth the A+ grade. The only things really missing from your project was detailed descriptions of the land itself, along with more restaurants and shops. Castle Dracula also needed a bit more to it, kind of like what KingMickey said in his review. Great work nonetheless and thanks for a wild ride. Now it's onto Team Oogie.
Uh...I'm sorry but you guys could have done SO MUCH BETTER with this. I'm not going to lie, I was really bummed reading your project. Everyone on your team has A LOT of potential and it wasn't really used as much as it could have been. I understand that you all are busy though which is understandable. The whole project had too many (Well not necessarily "too many") clones in it and the details for the attractions were barren and unenthusiastic. Next round Team Jack and Oogie will no longer exist, so hopefully all you remaining contestants can make something better than this project. With regrets, I give you a C-.
Obivously Team Jack is the winner of this project. That means that Team Oogie will be losing a contestant, and that contestant is Big Disney Fan. Big Disney Fan you are a brilliant mind, and a great Imagineer but it seems as if this season wasn't really your shining moment. I'm REALLY glad that you played though. You were still an interesting personality nonetheless and made your own special contributions to the game nonetheless. I hope to see you play again in the future, and thanks for making your own memorable mark on this season and all other past seasons that you have played in.
BTW, you and Disneyson have joined the jury which will play a big part in the semi-finals and finals round later on, so please stick around.
With round six out of the way we will FINALLY be moving around to round seven where things will start to pick up. I admit that this round was kind of boring, so KingMickey and I have searched and created new ways to make the game interesting once again. Hang onto them hats and glasses, cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness! Sorry...I should have said "hang onto them hats and glasses, cause this here's the wildest ride on the internet!"
- Garrett
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