Team Younger: SYWTBAI Season 14, Project Seven Open Brainstorming

TheOriginalTiki

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Project Seven: Lord of the Rings'd
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Based on the Season Five "Middle Earth River Adventure" semi-finals project

Out of all the prompts this season, this one might be the one I'm the most excited about. A truly legendary moment in the game and one that coined a catchphrase happened in the semifinals of season five. It was this event alone that has made me defend the merits of the fairly maligned season. MEW was a powerhouse through most of season five and was on track to take home the most obvious victory the game had seen up to that point in a season that was rocky from the start and got worse thanks to the radical idea of adding Universal projects into the mix (oh how far we've come ;) )

Enter "Lord of the Rings". While eventual winner Romanarms and runner-up CoastaFreak delivered solid projects that stuck fairly close to Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy, MEW went a more unconventional route and did a boat ride based on the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit film. This caused his elimination mostly because the prompt specifically called for something based around the Peter Jackson movies. And thus the frontrunner of the season was cut down in his tracks. Not the first time this had happened...I'm sure @Basketbuddy101 can speak to getting eliminated in 4th Place over CostaFreak in season one...but this was certainly the most dramatic fall from grace.

In this project the teams must recreate both elements of the original project. Team Younger will be creating an E-Ticket Lord of the Rings ride for any Universal park that can take inspiration from anything in Peter Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit trilogies. Team Mist on the other hand will take a cue from ManEatingWreath thanks to the twisty powers of the Vault and Pi opening it..and go in a different direction.Team Mist must design an E Ticket attraction for any DISNEY park that must take its cues specifically from Rankin/Bass's "The Hobbit" and "The Return of the King" as well as Ralph Bashki's classic 70's animated opus "The Lord of the Rings" (which confusingly featured two thirds of book trilogy's plot...filled in by the VERY tonally different Rankin/Bass Return of the King. This is a much more challenging prompt, but with the minor security blanket of being able to work it into a Disney park thanks to a hypothetical legal loophole.

I absolutely cannot wait to see the results of this one. After such a dramatic double elimination, the rest of the season is bound to be amazing! Good luck teams. This project is due Saturday, March 25th at 11:59 PM Eastern/8:59 PM Pacific.
 

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
Ok, guys. Great job last project. We really knocked it out of the park. Though now, unfortunately, we are without Pi.

Thank god we're not doing the Bakshi films. I haven't seen them since elementary school. Jackson I haven't seen in about 4 years, but at least their far enough in the public consciousness that I should be able to get by with what is needed for this project.

In terms of what exactly to do, I don't really have any idea. If we wanted to get really ambitious, I'd suggest a LotR land over what is now The Lost Continent at Islands of Adventure. I went there pretty recently, so I have a pretty good idea of the layout of the area. If we did that, I'd say maybe an E-Ticket and a C-Ticket. And I'd absolutely stay away from a water ride. IoA has enough already. I would definitely suggest giving our ride a similar scale to Forbidden Journey, or Escape from Gringotts.
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
Ok, guys. Great job last project. We really knocked it out of the park. Though now, unfortunately, we are without Pi.

Thank god we're not doing the Bakshi films. I haven't seen them since elementary school. Jackson I haven't seen in about 4 years, but at least their far enough in the public consciousness that I should be able to get by with what is needed for this project.

In terms of what exactly to do, I don't really have any idea. If we wanted to get really ambitious, I'd suggest a LotR land over what is now The Lost Continent at Islands of Adventure. I went there pretty recently, so I have a pretty good idea of the layout of the area. If we did that, I'd say maybe an E-Ticket and a C-Ticket. And I'd absolutely stay away from a water ride. IoA has enough already. I would definitely suggest giving our ride a similar scale to Forbidden Journey, or Escape from Gringotts.

I'm going to strongly suggest we don't exceed the prompt and add a land or C ticket. This E ticket could potentially be the start of a land, but the E ticket should be our primary focus. You're right on the money about straying from a boat ride. Which reminds me, I have a crazy idea for a ride vehicle. Picture this: We board a wagon attached to a horse like Gandalf rides. Suddenly, we look overhead to see a Nazgul literally 'grab' the vehicle, detaching it from the horse, and sending us on a hair-raising trip to Mordor. The story could be worked out, but this system would be very similar to Forbidden Journey's KUKA, complete with the ability to be detached and reattached to the floor.

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Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
In addition, I say we theme the exterior of the ride after Rivendell. It's easily one of the more memorable and iconic environments in the entire trilogy. Seems like a no brainer if you ask me.
 

DisneyManOne

Well-Known Member
I'm going to strongly suggest we don't exceed the prompt and add a land or C ticket. This E ticket could potentially be the start of a land, but the E ticket should be our primary focus. You're right on the money about straying from a boat ride. Which reminds me, I have a crazy idea for a ride vehicle. Picture this: We board a wagon attached to a horse like Gandalf rides. Suddenly, we look overhead to see a Nazgul literally 'grab' the vehicle, detaching it from the horse, and sending us on a hair-raising trip to Mordor. The story could be worked out, but this system would be very similar to Forbidden Journey's KUKA, complete with the ability to be detached and reattached to the floor.

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I love the way you think! I could easily see an Orc/tree-people attack, in the same fashion as the Dragon or the Dementors in Forbidden Journey.
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
I love the way you think! I could easily see an Orc/tree-people attack, in the same fashion as the Dragon or the Dementors in Forbidden Journey.
Absolutely. We're thrust into a battle between both the forces of Mordor and the free people of Middle Earth. The only thing is we have to make sure we keep this as unique as possible. It can't be too much like Forbidden Journey, and for that reason, I say we include ZERO screens. I know it'll be tempting because we're "flying" with a Nazgul but we should focus on large scale, practical environments and effects. We could have just one screen for the sake of realism (Thanks a lot, Universal), but other than that, this should be Universal's return to large scale, 'real' attractions a la Kongfrontation.
 

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
I think this could work incredibly well. And, with this system, I think we could very easily mix ride types, if we really wanted to. By which I mean, this ride could theoretically shift from a dark ride (like Peter Pan's Flight) to a family coaster to a water ride, if that at all makes sense, and if I'm properly understanding your ride system. Either way, I think it's genius.

In terms of screens, I wouldn't be opposed to not using screens, but I think that we might have to use them in some respects. Certainly not on the scale of Forbidden Journey, or Gringotts, but some of the scenes would be absolutely massive, presumably, which my make screens necessarily for certain things.
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
I think this could work incredibly well. And, with this system, I think we could very easily mix ride types, if we really wanted to. By which I mean, this ride could theoretically shift from a dark ride (like Peter Pan's Flight) to a family coaster to a water ride, if that at all makes sense, and if I'm properly understanding your ride system. Either way, I think it's genius.

In terms of screens, I wouldn't be opposed to not using screens, but I think that we might have to use them in some respects. Certainly not on the scale of Forbidden Journey, or Gringotts, but some of the scenes would be absolutely massive, presumably, which my make screens necessarily for certain things.
Thanks! And yeah, after some thought, not including screens would actually hurt our realism points. I can imagine the screen sequence(s) as us flying over a large battle in Isengard, swooping in and then being "knocked out" by maybe an Ent, sending us tumbling into the depths of an orc pit. This ride practically writes itself. Add in some solid visuals and we'll be golden. What do you think of the Rivendell exterior idea?
 

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
Thanks! And yeah, after some thought, not including screens would actually hurt our realism points. I can imagine the screen sequence(s) as us flying over a large battle in Isengard, swooping in and then being "knocked out" by maybe an Ent, sending us tumbling into the depths of an orc pit. This ride practically writes itself. Add in some solid visuals and we'll be golden. What do you think of the Rivendell exterior idea?
That could work incredibly well. Admittedly, I don't know a ton about Lord of the Rings, so I may not be able to be too too much of a help, but I'll definitely do my best to research.

I'd also like to generally put it out there that I probably won't be around as much as I usually am next week due to Spring Break. I'll be around, definitely. Just not quite as consistently.
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
That could work incredibly well. Admittedly, I don't know a ton about Lord of the Rings, so I may not be able to be too too much of a help, but I'll definitely do my best to research.

I'd also like to generally put it out there that I probably won't be around as much as I usually am next week due to Spring Break. I'll be around, definitely. Just not quite as consistently.
While I don't adore Lord of the Rings in the realm of Star Wars or Harry Potter, it's easily one of my favorite set of films, so I'll be happy to pull double duty in terms of staying faithful to the lore. I'll get started on an exterior. The basic premise that we're rolling with is that we start off in Rivendell and get sent off on a journey (likely by Elrond) about a wagon. At some point, we get intercepted by a Nazgul, and it takes us away from Rivendell and toward Moria (I think this makes sense geographically, with respect to Tolkien's map of Middle Earth).
 

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
While I don't adore Lord of the Rings in the realm of Star Wars or Harry Potter, it's easily one of my favorite set of films, so I'll be happy to pull double duty in terms of staying faithful to the lore. I'll get started on an exterior. The basic premise that we're rolling with is that we start off in Rivendell and get sent off on a journey (likely by Elrond) about a wagon. At some point, we get intercepted by a Nazgul, and it takes us away from Rivendell and toward Moria (I think this makes sense geographically, with respect to Tolkien's map of Middle Earth).
That sounds totally fine to me. Like I said, I'll do some research, and then I'll be good to go. If we could solidify a general plot synopsis today/ tomorrow, I'd be more than happy to start working out the smaller details.

Also, would you want to be team leader this round? You seem the most enthusiastic/ knowledgeable.
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
That sounds totally fine to me. Like I said, I'll do some research, and then I'll be good to go. If we could solidify a general plot synopsis today/ tomorrow, I'd be more than happy to start working out the smaller details.

Also, would you want to be team leader this round? You seem the most enthusiastic/ knowledgeable.
I believe I was already team leader for the EPCOT project, so I don't believe I can be. Unless it reset? @TheOriginalTiki ?
 

Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
Working Title:

The Lord of the Rings: Flight of the Free Peoples


As locations go, I don't think there's enough space in Islands of Adventure to justify this attraction. We might be better off putting the attraction to the right of Diagon Alley where Fear Factor: Live sits. We could imply future expansion to the east where Men in Black sits, but that won't be the focus. This expansion begins with the new anchor E Ticket. Seeing as how both Tolkien and Rowling defined a generation with their books, I don't see why the two can't coexist in this park.
 
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Basketbuddy101

Well-Known Member
Alright, in that case, I'll be happy to take the role. We'll see what everyone else has to say before we move forward 100%. I'm going to go ahead and do the Rivendell exterior though. The queue should be a lot of fun.
 

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