New Seuss Landing Open Brainstorming (Uniting Univeral Round One)

[TheOriginalTiki]

The majority of you voted to work on a new Seuss Landing for Universal Australia Islands of Adventure. The only requirement is that it cannot be a clone of the land in Florida and must feature an attraction besides Cat in the Hat to be the anchor.

As always, I'll post some ideas to get the ball rolling.

-While the Seuss Landing in Florida has a big emphasis on architecture as part of the design, I'm imagining this Seuss Landing as looking a lot more naturalistic. How cool would it be to walk through a forest of Trufula trees or overlook a valley of whimsical Seuss mountain tops a la Oh the Places You'll Go.

-With the naturalistic setting in mind, The Lorax would be perfect to anchor the land. Of course if we go this route I would strive to adapt it as close as possible to the book and include absolutely no references to the Danny DeVito movie.

-Might clash with the naturalistic tone, but I think a Grinch Vs. The Cat in the Hat E ticket would be amazing. We could even play it as a parody of the Cinematic Universe craze. Could you imagine a parody of the Batman v. Superman trailer with Jim Carey and Mike Meyers.

-I've always thought the star machine from The Sneeches would make for a fun dark ride.

-Oh the Places You'll Go could make for a PHENOMENAL Small World style boat ride.

And those are the jumping off points. Let the brainstorming begin!

 

[Suchomimus]

Could you imagine a parody of the Batman v. Superman trailer with Jim Carey and Mike Meyers.

 

[Jtuck]

I think a simulator attraction(ye I know) loosely based on Horton Hears a Who and How The Grinch Stole Christmas would be good fun, you could shrink down to the size of a Who and visit Whoville as you get a wild tour through the city.

 

[warfelg]

A junior coaster themed around "All the places you will go".

Interactive dark ride "cat in the hat" clone from IoA, this time themed around "which pet should I get".

 

[FigmentPigments]

I like the idea of a trufula tree forest that people can actually walk through. This could also serve as a segway into different part of the area like the jungles of Horton Hears a Who (or Horton Hatches the Egg, I love that book), Sneech Beach, Mr. Elligot's Pool, Thidwick the big hearted moose, and Yurtle the Turtle (maybe play area or a wet area? ). I don't think we can completely ignore Whoville though. Even if we don't have a How the Grinch Stole Christmas ride, it is one of the most recognizable of Seuss's locations. Besides, think of the things we could do for What I saw on Mulberry Street, Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now, and the Cat in the Hat.

I agree the Lorax would be an ideal anchor point. I see no reason why we can't have the oncler's house. If we didn't want to do a ride, maybe we could do an interactive walk through. People leave whoville following a sign to the Street of the Lifted Lorax and to the Oncler's House. There (every so often) someone is chosen to pay the Oncler (fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-greatgrandfather snail) to start the story. The oncler's arms appear and he tells a little bit of the story. After he is done, guests are instructed to collect items along the way or play a seek and find (maybe like the Wilderness Explorers game at AK) at each stop, a little more of the story is told, until guests reach the end where they see:

(this will be a photo opportunity).

If guests have completed their tasks then they are rewarded with:

or something similar....

A small cart can there as well to sell Trufula tree replicas, real plants, and trufula seed replicas.

A junior coaster themed around "All the places you will go".

I love this idea!

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

I like the idea of a trufula tree forest that people can actually walk through. This could also serve as a segway into different part of the area like the jungles of Horton Hears a Who (or Horton Hatches the Egg, I love that book), Sneech Beach, Mr. Elligot's Pool, Thidwick the big hearted moose, and Yurtle the Turtle (maybe play area or a wet area? ). I don't think we can completely ignore Whoville though. Even if we don't have a How the Grinch Stole Christmas ride, it is one of the most recognizable of Seuss's locations. Besides, think of the things we could do for What I saw on Mulberry Street, Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now, and the Cat in the Hat.

I agree the Lorax would be an ideal anchor point. I see no reason why we can't have the oncler's house. If we didn't want to do a ride, maybe we could do an interactive walk through. People leave whoville following a sign to the Street of the Lifted Lorax and to the Oncler's House. There (every so often) someone is chosen to pay the Oncler (fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a great-great-greatgrandfather snail) to start the story. The oncler's arms appear and he tells a little bit of the story. After he is done, guests are instructed to collect items along the way or play a seek and find (maybe like the Wilderness Explorers game at AK) at each stop, a little more of the story is told, until guests reach the end where they see:

(this will be a photo opportunity).

If guests have completed their tasks then they are rewarded with:

or something similar....

A small cart can there as well to sell Trufula tree replicas, real plants, and trufula seed replicas.

I love this idea!

You and I are definitely thinking along the same page with the naturalistic feel of the land and using the Truffula Forest as a jumping off point for the rest of the settings. I think we have a good mix of everything with the forest/river vibe of The Lorax, Horton's Jungle, the mountainous sightlines of "Oh The Places You'll Go", Sneech Beach, etc. I'm really starting to fall in love with the idea of this land! I truly want to make it the Seuss equivalent to Pandora where you feel like you've been transported directly into the world of the books. As of now here are the attractions...

-The Lorax E Ticket dark ride
-The Sneeches C Ticket dark ride
-Oh The Places You'll Go family coaster
-Horton Hears a Who Simulator

I'm trying to think of clever transitions into Whoville for Horton and Grinch rides. For Horton, I was thinking we could use the theme of the single Truffula tree at the end of the Lorax book. Basically have that single Truffula tree at the exit to the Lorax attraction, with a small but obvious speck of dust on it. Maybe we could have Horton's near Sneech Beach and Slyvester McMonkey McBean could be the guy who invents the shrinking machine that we use in the Horton simulator.

As for The Grinch...I'm thinking of having one side of a facade be an "Oh The Places You'll Go" mountain. In the middle of two mountains we'd have a giant snowflake. You'd walk through a tunnel in the middle of the snowflake complete with "snow" swirling all around you until you come out to the other side in a Whoville mini-area that's isolated from the rest of Seuss Landing. The "Oh the Places You'll Go" mountain facade on the Seuss Landing side would transition into a Mt. Crumpet facade on the Whoville side.

It is in Mount Crumpet that we could make a true Grinch attraction..."Expedition Crumpet". I'm picturing this as a straight up parody of Expedition Everest using the opening scene from the Jim Carey film where a group of teenaged Whos pursue the urban legend of the Grinch as they climb up the mountain. We could have the Grinch do all the things the Yeti does on Everest but with an added sense of humor. We could really give the attraction a feel that the Grinch is mocking us as we go through his lair. POSSIBLY have some sort of Cat in the Hat appearance. I'm a bit cooled down on the idea of a full scale Grinch vs. Cat attraction, but having the Cat play a role in here somewhere would be pretty cool.

One last very simple idea because we need some flat rides...What about a Green Eggs and Ham flat ride themed around the train sequence in that book?

 

[Jtuck]

I was also having some thoughts on this land and how Dr. Seuss has so many great works it'd be hard to represent them all so I was thinking maybe we could have a ride similar to Storybook Canals in Disneyland Cali and Crystal Grotto in Shanghai where its just a peaceful boat tour through a bunch of if not all of Dr. Seuss works with fountains, animatronics and cool effects. Maybe the ride vehicles could be themed to the fish from Once Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I think it'd be a nice relaxing experience to take guests away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the park, and the nighttime experience could be amazing with dazzling lights and color fountains.

 

[Coasterninja]

Maybe an Alice in Wonderland style dark ride that takes riders through the Story of Horton Hears a Who, ending in a celebration in Whoville (with a giant Horton head smiling in the background)? Of course, just an idea, but the outside portion could be after the dust gets blown away and you have to run after it, using blades of grass and other various natural (but cartoonish) objects to show where Whoville is actually flying. Also could use the motion base that Winnie the Pooh uses to give a more urgent feeling.

 

[spacemt354]

Only since it hasn't been mentioned - maybe we could include my favorite Dr. Suess book as a kid

In Disney there used to be a merchandise item called My Pal Mickey

If you pressed Mickey's hand, he would interact with things in WDW, tell you trivia about rides, etc.

Perhaps you can purchase a miniature 'wocket' and based on your location in Suess Landing, you could press the Wocket and it could say a rhyme fact about the location

For instance:
Here we are at the entrance to Green Eggs and Ham
This ride is great for kids I've been told by Sam I Am.

Or it could be a scavenger hunt type device in Suess Landing similar to the Kim Possible World Showcase adventure.

 

[Jtuck]

Or it could be a scavenger hunt type device in Suess Landing similar to the Kim Possible World Showcase adventure.

I like this! in addition to the Perry/Kim showcase adventure element I think we could up the value a bit and maybe your Wocket will also add extra magic to rides by activating special effects. I imagine the Wocket would be similar to the Banshee's you get in pandora or the wands in WWoHP where guests could choose the Wocket they want or maybe customize them.

 

[Disney Dad 3000]

Only since it hasn't been mentioned - maybe we could include my favorite Dr. Suess book as a kid

In Disney there used to be a merchandise item called My Pal Mickey

If you pressed Mickey's hand, he would interact with things in WDW, tell you trivia about rides, etc.

Perhaps you can purchase a miniature 'wocket' and based on your location in Suess Landing, you could press the Wocket and it could say a rhyme fact about the location

For instance:
Here we are at the entrance to Green Eggs and Ham
This ride is great for kids I've been told by Sam I Am.

Or it could be a scavenger hunt type device in Suess Landing similar to the Kim Possible World Showcase adventure.

That is by far one of our favorites. Great idea having the actual wocket in your pocket.
@Jtuck I think has a perfect reference to the banshee mania at AK. People would eat those up especially if you can include that kind of interactivity either in the land or in an attraction/queue.

 

[Jtuck]

Since you said we needed some flatrides may I suggest a simple chair swing themed to the Cat in the Hat. The story of this attraction is that Thing 1 and Thing 2 have made a mess and its up to you and the Cat in the Hat to clean it up for Sally and Conrad using his cleaning machine.

The upper portion of the ride and the rotating top would be themed to the Cat in the Hat's cleaning machine and all the seats would look like an extension of its arms. A big yet simple Cat in the Hat animatronic that only moves its head would be located at the on the rotating top of the chair swing and made to look like he was sitting in his cleaning machine while adding commentary throughout the ride.

The bottom half of the flatride would have pictures of Thing 1 and Thing 2 doing various messy activities that light up and disappear along with light up blotches, scratches and other messy stuff that would slowly be cleaned up as the ride goes on and by its conclusion would completely disappear. The ride would be narrated by The Fish from the Cat in the Hat as he warns you that you must hurry up and finish cleaning before the children's mother gets home. The Cat in the Hat will also chime in from his cleaning machine at the top of the ride and add funny(yet unhelpful) snippets to entertain guests.

This ride was super hard to describe as there are really no references or examples I could point to of a chair swing themed so heavily. I think it could be fun though and add the Cat in the Hat presence we were missing.

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

Since you said we needed some flatrides may I suggest a simple chair swing themed to the Cat in the Hat. The story of this attraction is that Thing 1 and Thing 2 have made a mess and its up to you and the Cat in the Hat to clean it up for Sally and Conrad using his cleaning machine.

View attachment 209122

The upper portion of the ride and the rotating top would be themed to the Cat in the Hat's cleaning machine and all the seats would look like an extension of its arms. A big yet simple Cat in the Hat animatronic that only moves its head would be located at the on the rotating top of the chair swing and made to look like he was sitting in his cleaning machine while adding commentary throughout the ride.
View attachment 209116

The bottom half of the flatride would have pictures of Thing 1 and Thing 2 doing various messy activities that light up and disappear along with light up blotches, scratches and other messy stuff that would slowly be cleaned up as the ride goes on and by its conclusion would completely disappear. The ride would be narrated by The Fish from the Cat in the Hat as he warns you that you must hurry up and finish cleaning before the children's mother gets home. The Cat in the Hat will also chime in from his cleaning machine at the top of the ride and add funny(yet unhelpful) snippets to entertain guests.

This ride was super hard to describe as there are really no references or examples I could point to of a chair swing themed so heavily. I think it could be fun though and add the Cat in the Hat presence we were missing.

Love it! Great way to include the cat in a way that doesn't make him the main star of the land. I think we should decide between a simulator or dark ride for Horton. I vote simulator since we already have a Sneeches dark ride. If you all don't mind, I'd like to take on The Lorax as my main contribution. How does everyone feel about my idea for Expedition Crumpet?

 

[Jtuck]

Love it! Great way to include the cat in a way that doesn't make him the main star of the land. I think we should decide between a simulator or dark ride for Horton. I vote simulator since we already have a Sneeches dark ride. If you all don't mind, I'd like to take on The Lorax as my main contribution. How does everyone feel about my idea for Expedition Crumpet?

Thank you! And I very much like the idea of a Mount Crumpet coaster but Im not completely sold on the prospect of it being an Everest parody. Personally to me How the Grinch Stole Christmas is such a great story with so many creative different possibilities for attractions I just feel making our representation of the Grinch in the park be a parody of another ride would be doing it a disservice of some kind. But again thats just my opinion as Im a sucker for original ideas, Im not saying that if we decided to go with the Everest parody that it wouldn't be a great ride once all thought out. BTW Im confused, would this attraction be based off of the Jim Carey movie?

 

[spacemt354]

Thank you! And I very much like the idea of a Mount Crumpet coaster but Im not completely sold on the prospect of it being an Everest parody. Personally to me How the Grinch Stole Christmas is such a great story with so many creative different possibilities for attractions I just feel making our representation of the Grinch in the park be a parody of another ride would be doing it a disservice of some kind. But again thats just my opinion as Im a sucker for original ideas, Im not saying that if we decided to go with the Everest parody that it wouldn't be a great ride once all thought out. BTW Im confused, would this attraction be based off of the Jim Carey movie?

I kind of agree. I'm also a bit hesitant with using a Christmas exclusive property as a year round attraction. Similar to the Nightmare Before Christmas, while both would make awesome attractions, I wouldn't want to really ride them in May or June. Grinchmas in the holiday season has been used in Universal for a while, and I know you were mentioning keeping things original. An attraction only open for the holiday season wouldn't make financial sense, but maybe there is something we can do so that it fits year-round.

As we're on that note...maybe this is nostalgia talking, but the 1966 Grinch is my favorite

*Also since we are in Australia...Christmas is in their summer (December) just to keep that in mind.

 

[Jtuck]

I kind of agree. I'm also a bit hesitant with using a Christmas exclusive property as a year round attraction. Similar to the Nightmare Before Christmas, while both would make awesome attractions, I wouldn't want to really ride them in May or June. Grinchmas in the holiday season has been used in Universal for a while, and I know you were mentioning keeping things original. An attraction only open for the holiday season wouldn't make financial sense, but maybe there is something we can do so that it fits year-round.

I think theres a lot we can do that works year round. The Grinch as a character is a strong enough icon that even if the attraction isn't based specifically on his book/movies it can still do well. I think having an original story featuring the Grinch taking place on Mount Crumpet could work. He could be planning a new scheme and have the guests help or something along those lines. And also when I think Grinch ride I honestly see less Everest and more Radiator Springs Racers theming wise where the world is very immersive and you can really experience the landscapes and characters.

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

What if we made the best of both worlds and had three versions of the attraction based on the seasons. We could do a regular Mount Crumpet coaster for February-July. A "Grinch Night" Halloween overlay from August to October, and a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" overlay from November to January.

Someone suggested a Storybookland style boat ride through a "Best of Seuss" setting. What if we combined that an idea with the "Oh the Places You'll Go" boat ride? The title is broad enough that we can make the transitions based on the actual book illustrations and the set pieces based on a wide pallet of different Seuss locations and stories.

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

Also, I'll just put this...here.

 

[Jtuck]

What if we made the best of both worlds and had three versions of the attraction based on the seasons. We could do a regular Mount Crumpet coaster for February-July. A "Grinch Night" Halloween overlay from August to October, and a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" overlay from November to January.

I could definitely get behind this idea!

Someone suggested a Storybookland style boat ride through a "Best of Seuss" setting. What if we combined that an idea with the "Oh the Places You'll Go" boat ride? The title is broad enough that we can make the transitions based on the actual book illustrations and the set pieces based on a wide pallet of different Seuss locations and stories.

I did indeed suggest a Seuss showcase boat ride and the Oh the Places You'll Go merger would actually work very well. 100% sold on it.

 

[TheOriginalTiki]

Awesome. So I think we have everything we need to start dividing up the workload for this. Remember, both the projects will be due on Wednesday so we can move forward with our two projects a week schedule. With that in mind...

The Lorax - @TheOriginalTiki
The Sneeches Dark Ride -
Horton Hears a Who Simulator -
Mt. Crumpet Roller Coaster -
Oh, The Places You'll Go Boat Ride - @Jtuck?
Green Eggs and Ham/Cat in the Hat Flat Rides -
Land Description/Layout -

Can anyone do concept art? I might be able to get a rough layout of what The Lorax would look like in RCT3 form.