Elemental Dash: Quest for the Blue Moon is a boundary-pushing immersive experience concept developed through about 3 months of collaboration between myself, Brooke Pandos, Mark Evan Lim, Susey Chang, and Triet Nguyen, along with the guidance and mentorship of Patrick Kling.

The project culminated in a presentation of our work on TETV’s “So… You’re About to Graduate College” livestream show.

Important Time Stamps:

3:49—Introduction // 23:10—Project Pitch // 44:31—Team Process // 50:41—Personal Process

Project Development

In developing this concept, we did extensive research surrounding current trends within and beyond the themed entertainment industry. We set out to create an experience that would be appealing to all ages, but especially the “Childless Millennial” demographic, which is an age group that has grown more and more as frequent visitors to theme parks and other location-based entertainment venues.

Our findings led us to set out to develop an experience that would answer some of the main issues theme parks and theme park guests face, and do so through integration of technologies and experiences that have mass appeal for today’s audiences.

We knew we wanted to create an experience that:

• Could start at home before guests visit a theme park

• Gives guests flexibility in choosing how to pass the time

• Rewards and incentivizes repeat visits

• Could work in a variety of settings, on a larger or smaller scale

Time to Enter the Tree!

After spending time enjoying the park, guests will receive a notification informing them that it is their time to travel to the tree, where the real adventure begins. Guests will first be pulsed through a pre-show, where a village elder will set the scene and educate the guests about the origins of the four animal spirits.

The elder will also give guests a clear call to action as they move forward: they must explore the caves of the mystical tree and team up with the elemental pets in order to train for the exciting race to the blue moon that will be taking place today. Guests will learn that no matter how they choose to spend their time in the pre-ride area, their actions will be rewarded on the ride.

The Queue Environment

Instead of switchbacks, or even highly themed immersive linear queue experiences, we have designed a queue environment that gives guests agency in choosing how they want to spend their time waiting to go on the ride. The idea here is to create a queue that is just as integral to the story and just as enjoyable a space to spend time in as the ride itself.

Once they pass the pre-show, guests find themselves entering a central space that offers a stunning view of the heart of the tree. In the center stands a majestic Olympic-style torch that integrates all four elements. Around the perimeter, villagers and merchants have set up carts and kiosks to sell their wares, most of which revolve around the elemental spirits and the exciting race that is taking place today.

Beyond this center space are meandering caverns concealing a bar, quick service restaurant, interactive zones, and 4 elemental lounges, one for each element. Some of these spaces are secretive, like a hidden speakeasy, and are just waiting to be discovered!

Elemental Lounges

The elemental lounges are the main spaces where guests are encouraged to train and level up their elemental pets.

Guests will be able to participate in minigames that blend scenic elements, smartphones, and projections.

The goal is to encourage guests to interact with the people and environments around them, so although these activities are activated through phones, guests won’t have an isolated, solo experience, but rather will be using their phone as a tool to engage with their surroundings.

So Much to Do

Those who aren’t interested in playing interactive games and prefer to relax, get a drink, grab a bite, and do some shopping are welcome to do so in this queue environment.

You may have heard of the phrase “exit through the gift shop”, which explains the common trend of theme parks funnelings guests into a retail space as soon as they exit a ride.

Unlike other attractions, here guests will enter through the gift shop. This queue environment creates a captive audience of guests who will be incentivized to spend money on dining or retail while they wait. While this definitely makes money for the park, it also creates a more pleasant experience from a guest’s point of view. While waiting for this exciting E-Ticket, instead of standing in a stressful line for 3+ hours, guests can take a load off and take care of certain things they were likely planning on doing anyway, such as shopping and eating.

Time to Ride!

Like any epic story, the story of our main ride unfolds in three acts. Before guests board their Moon Raft, which we envision as a trackless ride vehicle, they will scan their phone, linking their elemental pets to the ride vehicle.

The guests have trained hard, and the ride experience is their opportunity to watch their efforts play out and pay off, so with their phones tucked away, they set off on their race.

In this example, there are two story paths, but in reality we envision there being hundreds of unique story branches based on how the guest has chosen to experience the attraction up until this point: at home, throughout the park, and in the queue space.

In the first act, the quest begins as the guests set off with their animals into the woods using the blue moon to navigate through the terrains. Guests find themselves on a raging river. Here, the otters part water, the snakes light the way, and the foxes move rocks to tame the current, while the owls stir up a breeze to blow us back on track.

The ride experience is unique to each guest, as their specific customized pet is integrated into the environments through projection and holographic technology integrated into the showsets.

From this first scene, the story branches off into two different paths—a “winner” and a “loser” path, based on which vehicle has a higher cumulative score for each skill that guests can train before riding. At the end of this rushing river scene, one vehicle will get knocked off track and into a rough patch of rapids, while the other will enjoy a brief respite as the current eases and their elemental pets celebrate around them.

The racing vehicles meet back up as they float into a beautiful cave, glowing with bioluminescent vegetation. For a moment things are peaceful, but suddenly a large, black, bug-like creature with glowing red eyes appears—it’s a lava beast! The spirits must again spring into action in order to fend off the monster. This round’s “winning” vehicle stuns the monster and speeds to the next scene, while the “losing” vehicle is held back for a few moments, stuck in the beast’s grasp until finally able to break loose and move on.

Guests speed out of the cave and discover they’ve been inside the base of an erupting volcano! Lava pours out around them and debris falls from the sky. On the horizon, the finish is in sight—the blue moon!

With the volcanic eruption causing chaos all around them, the guests must dash towards the finish line as quickly as possible. The spirits use their powers to combat the dangers, shield the guests, and propel the vehicles forward. It’s neck and neck, but ultimately, one vehicle ekes out a victory.

The ride concludes in a celebration as the guest’s spirit friends dance with joy in beautiful lights. As guests disembark, they receive a notification on the app of a reward for their hard work, along with an invitation for them to keep training their pet before they return the next time.

The idea of creating multiple story paths on a single ride experience has been a tough thing for theme parks to execute in the past, but we believe that this model could deliver on it effectively. By pushing the interactive gameplay to the pre-ride experience, the story branching is pre-programmed into the vehicles before the ride begins, so there’s no need for a guest to take action during the ride itself, nor is there a need to use/develop technology that is able to create graphics in real time that react to guest actions.