So You Want To Be An Imagineer Season 13: Get a Clue FINALS
RMichael21 Presents…
Twilight Boulevard
It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
Welcome to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a land of adventure, romance and excitement where guests can live their favorite moments from the stage and screen. Coming to Walt Disney World’s third theme park in 2021, guests can experience a completely re-imagined Sunset Boulevard, one themed after the hit long-running small screen show The Twilight Zone.
The current land will be completely re-imagined for this conversion and will remain open throughout the change-over, with each attraction closing one at a time with minimal closure overlap. So, welcome to Twilight Boulevard.
Purpose:
Walt Disney Imagineers decided to use the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy for this re-imagining. For this reason, instead of completely changing around Tower of Terror’s theme, the new Twilight Boulevard land will build off of Tower of Terror’s backstory.
Backstory:
The year is 1939. Sunset Boulevard is the hustle and bustle of Hollywood. The Hollywood Tower Hotel looms gracefully over the street and Hollywood Rocket Records churns out many stars each and every year.
However, a colossal lightning storm strikes Hollywood one night, completely destroying Sunset Boulevard. Legend has it that residents of the area, guests of the Hollywood Tower Hotel and recording artists and producers of Hollywood Rocket Records were sent, in the midst of the storm, to… The Twilight Zone.
This legend then caused thousands of people to flee Sunset Boulevard and never return, therefore abandoning the once thriving area of the city. The Twilight Zone legend gave Sunset Boulevard a new nickname and with it a new stigma… Twilight Boulevard. So, we invite you on the very first inspection expedition to Sunset Boulevard since that fateful night… But beware:
The Twilight Zone awaits...
Theming:
Overall, the “theme” of Twilight Boulevard will remain similar to what it is currently. However, the “abandoned” and “destroyed” aspect of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will be expanded to the whole land.
As seen on the front of the current Hollywood Tower Hotel, the grayed and lightning struck theming will now be on the front of the facades lining the streets of Twilight Boulevard.
Also, a new, abandoned gate will be added to the entrance of Twilight Boulevard, giving the land a more ominous tone just before turning the corner and getting the first view of the now abandoned Hollywood Tower Hotel.
The interiors of the shops and restaurants will be given the “abandoned” treatment as the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
Finally, the two attractions currently on Sunset Boulevard will receive either minor upgrades (Tower of Terror) or a complete re-imagining overhaul to match Twilight Boulevard’s theme (Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster).
Attractions:
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror:
View attachment 166586
The headlining attraction of Twilight Boulevard will only receive many new updates that breathe new life into the attractions. Additions to the Tower of Terror include an extended queue that takes guests through even more of the hotel (an extension on the back of the building) and not just the lobby. Guests will be able to walk through the ballroom, kitchen, pool area and more. In addition, updated effects throughout the attraction will bring dying effects back from the dead, giving them new life to breathe.
The Twilight Zone Rocket Records:
Welcome to the completely re-imagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: Starring Aerosmith. Now with a Twilight Zone theme with a similar premise to the Tower of Terror, guests can enter the now abandoned Hollywood Rocket Records for a tour.
QUEUE: With a complete re-imagining into a deserted 1930’s recording studio, the queue will be completely abandoned and evoke the same eerie feel as the Tower of Terror queue. Cast members with “Producer” costumes will also act in a similar way to the Tower of Terror cast members.
PRE-SHOW: Guests will enter a now abandoned recording booth. However, as the door closes, the ghouls that haunt the recording studio come to life! Your investigation leader who has accompanied you in your expedition to investigate the recording studio barges in and says, “We have to get you out of here, the spirits of the Twilight Zone have taken over! I have a car out in the back alley that will get us out of here!” Guests then enter the back alley and load their ride vehicles, which are 1940’s inspired auto-mobiles.
RIDE EXPERIENCE: When guests load their vehicles and round the corner, we hear our investigation guide yell “The spirits have taken over the car!” and then we hear Rod Serling's voice say, with a quote from The Twilight Zone:
“This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality: you're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable...Go as far as you like on this road. Its limits are only those of mind itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, you're entering the wondrous dimension of imagination… Next stop The Twilight Zone.” Then, lightning strikes, the car launches and you’re on your ride experience through the Twilight Zone. A new audio track, scenery and lighting will give guests an all new experience. On the brake run, we hear Rod Serling yet again:
“It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears.” With that, guests turn back into the alley and disembark back onto Twilight Boulevard.
The Twilight Zone Room of Revelations:
Rounding out the attraction lineup of Twilight Boulevard is The Twilight Zone Room of Revelations. This attraction, similar to Houdini’s Great Escape at various Six Flags parks around the country, is a walkthrough/ride experience that takes guests into the Twilight Zone. Guests will enter the Sunset Boulevard Courthouse behind the Hollywood Tower Hotel for a “tour”. However, when the Twilight Zone ghouls (the people who were sent to the Twilight Zone on that fateful night in 1939) take over the courthouse, sending guests on a wild adventure. For reference, here is a low-quality video of the attraction:
In addition, here is a video of the mechanics, showing the spinning motion of the room:
Note: this attraction will be located on the former flex-theater space located near The Twilight Zone Rocket Records.
Dining:
The Twilight Zone Grand Gala
Another spooky addition to the park with Twilight Boulevard will be an all new signature restaurant located in the former Beauty and the Beast theater. Signature restaurants, something the park lacks, offer more upscale dining at the parks with better quality food. The Twilight Zone Grand Gala is a specifically dinner oriented restaurant with a similar abandoned aspect (minus the cobwebs, no one wants dust in their food) to Tower of Terror, Rocket Records and Room of Revelations. The menu will feature a similar menu to Carthay Circle Restaurant at Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort. In fact, the interior theme of the restaurants will also be extremely similar, except the Twilight Zone Grand Gala will have the “abandoned” aspect added and countless Twilight Zone easter eggs.
For reference, here is the interior of the Carthay Circle Restaurant:
View attachment 166587
Special Events:
Every Halloween season, Twilight Boulevard will transform into a frightful scare zone. Twilight Zone “ghouls” will haunt the streets, frightening guests. However, don’t fret, this won’t be a “Halloween Horror Nights” caliber experience, but it will give guests looking for an added thrill something to do in addition to the family-friendly Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This event is free of charge and open to guests with a regular theme park admission.
In addition, guests looking to experience the attractions of Twilight Boulevard but not be scared can use a special bypass that puts guests at the end of the street, away from the actors who are contained to the street itself. Or, guests can purchase a five dollar “No-Scare Lanyard” that will grant its wearer a shield from the Twilight Zone ghouls. Finally, guests can experience the other free-of-charge Halloween event in Muppet Courtyard after dark, which is a family friendly experience.
Conclusion
Overall, Twilight Boulevard will be an exciting and frightful experience coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios… Good night! Muah ha ha ha…
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Thank you for reading my submission everyone! I really had a blast this summer with you all and being your final killer to survive was fantastic. So, here’s my “Jury Speech” with why I deserve the million dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor. WAIT! Shoot, wrong show.
Throughout this season of So You Want To Be An Imagineer?, I feel I have proven myself as a great Imagineer and great strategist, balancing both ends of the spectrum and giving me a well-balanced “resume”, so to speak. Let’s start with the Imagineering end of things, shall we?
Throughout the competition, I gave my greatest effort and tried my best to think outside of the box or just help out wherever I could. Now, sometimes I would get caught up in life (I was away from home most of July on vacation/at camp), but still contributed to the challenges as much as I could. Not only was I a team player and stepped up for the team and contributed big chunks of work at many points throughout the game, I also proved that I was a good individual imagineer and able to create concepts of my own for these past two challenges.
Now, no one is without it’s flaws and I’ll be the first to admit that. You know, considering that I’ll be trying to make myself seem amazing for the rest of this speech, I figured I needed to include a portion that shows that I’m really only human, haha. Anyway, there were multiple times where I was forced to surrender my portion of the project to someone else or barely contribute to brainstorming whatsoever, but I hope that it’s known that I tried to find time to put out something when the real culprit was lack of free time.
Speaking of which, these past two challenges also display my (sometimes horrible, but lately pretty good) time management skills. Balancing, school, after school activities, homework and this competition has been pretty time consuming, but I feel like I tried my best to put my priorities first and use every ounce of leftover time that I had to create a stellar concept. Now, with these reasons, I hope that you all realize that my Imagineering skills were stellar and I hope that on top of my strategy skills you vote for me as the winner of this competition.
With that, we move onto the strategy aspect of the game. Now, as one of the three killers, my job was to kill off you all until I got to the finals and avoid being found out. And, well, there were several moments when we became close to being found out, but in the end two of the three original killers made it to the finals without being found out (all of us made it though, despite MEW being voted out early on).
Now you may ask, “RM, what big moves did you make in this game that make you a worthy recipient of the SYWTBAI title?”, and I can tell you there are several.
First, by far the biggest move I made all season was convincing you all that we were the killers but had been switched by Tiki at the merge and that there was now a clean slate and two new killers. And, it worked! Mickeyfan and I didn't receive a single vote after that, according to
@TheOriginalTiki ! Now, I would go into more detail about that for those who weren’t involved, but for the sake of time, I’m going to pass over that. Sometime over the next two days, I'll hopefully provide a more detailed write up for what went down during this move. Now, while I have to give mickeyfan credit for going along with it and other moves, most of the moves (including this one) the killers made were of my imagination and strategic mind. In the end, it was mostly me who decided who would go home or who would be killed. Now, I know this could further disincline someone to vote for me, but I believe it shows my willingness to take risks in this game. Also, in order to further myself and mickeyfan (and MEW too) in the game, I needed to look out for our best interests.
This is shown through our targeting of space and Figment, two of the best Imagineers we've seen on these boards in a long time. I knew, should I get to the semi-finals with the two of them, they would easily beat me. Therefore, I needed to further myself by convincing everyone to get rid of them.
I really did feel sorry that their Imagineering skills couldn't save them in the competition format (i.e. no kind of way to win safety through winning a challenge). So, we decided to use our kills to get rid of their Diamond Power of MVPs, but voted them out via the voting process, to ensure that they wouldn't come back into the game through the Museum.
However, I didn't limit myself to aligning with just the killers. I also maintained an alliance with DSquared throughout a majority of the game and kept both of us safe by pulling strings with the killers and others, even without telling him I was a killer.
Finally, as mentioned above, I used my kills and didn't rely on my kills to control the game. Many times (such as the elimination of Space and Figment), I used my social abilities to convince people to vote out our target via the normal vote to ensure they wouldn't reenter the game, while still using my kills to get rid of their Diamond PoMVP. My social awareness in this game, I believe, merits a vote for me!
In sum, I played both a strategic and creative game that I believe deserves your vote. I want to thank
@TheOriginalTiki and
@JokersWild for being amazing hosts/judges.
@mickeyfan5534 and
@MANEATINGWREATH, you were a pleasure to work with as killers and the same goes for everyone else who I encountered this season! You are all fantastic Imagineers and I hope to work with you again in the future!
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