Ocular Ascent
at Tokyo DisneySea's Victorian Bayside
Tier IV Project
Introduction
The Philosophies and Traits of del Toro films
Guillermo del Toro is a unique auteur with a specific set of filmography separated from most other directors in Hollywood. Known for his world-building and naturalistic approach to monsters and myths, del Toro's films transport the audience into another world, but without the length of exposition in explaining its complexities. He makes the supernatural, natural. His characters tend to be orphans or conflicted, and their choices along the journey ultimately determines whether they are the hero of the film, or the villain. Many times his films contain objects of important nature to the main characters, and when something happens to said objects it usually pushes the characters down a certain path, or leads them to make an important decision about their future.
The main character(s) also tends to exhibit a power or skill that many or all in the supernatural, natural world, do not possess, making them powerful in the sense that their decisions have ultimate consequences. Time also plays a paramount role through the films, with allegories to clocktowers, watches, and other symbols denote how time is finite, or further the arc of characters hoping to seek immortality, among a wide variety of other reasons.
These common traits throughout the films are not unlike most successful directors in Hollywood who have a specific sensibility with their films that the audience comes to expect. What comes to mind are directors such as Martin Scorsese, among others being examples of directors who carry over certain character traits, symbols, and camera techniques throughout their filmography. Nevertheless, in 2020, with del Toro having had several years of development with his 'Haunted Mansion' film in flux, a new concept sparks his imagination, and while the Disney Haunted Mansion might not happen, a new revolutionary idea for an attraction in Tokyo DisneySea just might.
Concept Development
del Toro has often stated his fascination for Victorian London, and that he has an entire room dedicated in his house to all the works of Dickens among other Victorian authors, delving into the culure, artistry, and world building of this time period. He has also mentioned an interest in Jack the Riper, even stating that his museum/home has a ton of 'Ripperology' content in it.
With his passions for both Victorian London and Jack the Riper, del Toro saw an opportunity to branch into a different form of story-telling. One that would immerse his audience in the setting in 3D rather than being exposed on the 2D cinematic appearance. Tokyo DisneySea offered an opportunity to work with the Oriental Land Company, where imagineers were tirelessly bringing the new expanding animation franchises of Tangled, Peter Pan, and more to the park.
Why Tokyo DisneySea?
He pitched his concept for Tokyo DisneySea to create a more darker, supernatural attraction - one that would blend in well with the more mature themes of the park such as the Hightower Hotel and Journey to the Center of the Earth. In addition, this pitch would also be a nice balance for the more kid-friendly attraction expansions they are currently constructing.
The pitch went well, and del Toro retreated to Cars Land to celebrate.
Soon after the meeting, construction on a new E-Ticket trackless attraction: Ocular Ascent began, along with the Victorian Bayside land that it would be encompassed in.
Map of Victorian Bayside
Victorian Bayside would be located in a patch of expansion pad land near the Indiana Jones and Lost River Delta areas, with connection bridges to the main island and to the rest of the park.
This area would continue to tie in with the 'nautical' theme of the park, as the Thames River flows through Victorian London. As guests approach the land, they see boats and shipping containers docked on the waterfront. They approach Gothic architecture and other entities as they continue on towards the center of the land.
Bustling street paths and cobble stone streets line the way, candle lights and claustrophobic corners immerse the guests in this late-1800s environment. As you make your way through the town you approach a laboratory open for exhibit view, entitled 'Ocular Ascent by Dr. Marge Clearwater' Curious as to what this entails, you step inside this Victorian laboratory stairway and into a switchback queue throughout a contemporary time-piece laboratory.
Attraction Statistics
Attraction Rank: E-Ticket
Attraction Type: Trackless Branched Hybrid
Attraction Hourly Capacity: 2,150 guests
Attraction Theoretical Hourly Capacity: 2,400 guests
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Fastpass: Yes
Premise
Set in Victorian London, around 1888, a husband and wife (Dr. Vernon and Marge Clearwater) are chemists and ophthalmologists running a small family owned laboratory in the center of London. They grew up as orphans in the London Orphanage and became married, connected with their passion for science and new-age technology. Soon into their studies at Oxford, Vernon developed a set of binocular spectacles, which using a concoction of different chemical mediums, which he thought would allow patients to see long distance better. One night, he ended up falling asleep with his experimental spectacles on, but rather than seeing farther, it allowed him to see into another dimension -
the macabre dimension.
A distortion of terrible nightmares, monsters, and creatures from the deep that prowled London's streets, causing traumatic events in the 'reality' dimension, by crossing through a portal located near the base of the Palace of Westminster's clock tower.
Vernon, in his hypnotic sleep state, with his spectacles on, could move in four dimensions like a lucid dream, and traveled through this bizarro London up towards the portal. But there stood a daunting dark figure, and when Marge woke up the next morning, her husband never did. Perhaps trapped in the macabre dimension, or simply gone from the reality dimension. Before his passing, Vernon had made two sets of binocular spectacles, both of which Marge kept close in the laboratory.
Queue
And this is where the guests are transported. All through the Victorian Bayside land, guests see flyers and character actors talking about this unknown villain(s) secretly roaming throughout London. The land keeps true to the cultural architecture of the time-period as well as the clothing, designs, and facilities available.
'Jack the Riper' as the perpetrator is known, has becomes a topic of intense debate among the people of London, and Marge suspects that it is a spirit in the macabre dimension who has been crossing over disrupting the reality dimension with a series of violent attacks, maybe that's even where her husband went. You enter into the laboratory and see different Victorian experiments in medicine, analgesics, chemistry, and biology. Meandering around the bends and through switchbacks in and out of hallways, you approach the astronomy rooftop of the laboratory where an animatronic Marge speaks to the guests.
Vernon and Marge's Laboratory
She uses the spectacles, and a new form of Victorian medicine called 'anesthetics', to sleep with the binoculars on and travel into the macabre dimension where she can face this creature once and for all. This is where the journey begins for the attraction as you are provided Veron's set of spectacles and are transported into the macabre dimension. Here 'ghost drawn' carriages transport you and Marge to find this Riper, and close him off from the portal between dimensions located near the base of the Palace of Westminster's clock tower.
Ride Vehicles and Technology
As you enter the macabre dimension you notice the mathematical and physical aspects of the surroundings have been changed. Buildings now tower over the London streets on makeshift angles, Gothic buildings now are covered in more detailed designs, taller and more prominent than ever. The trees reflect a more ominous geometry, branching out from their decrepit trunks to hover menacingly above the dirt paths.
Transition from reality to macabre dimension
The ride vehicles themselves approach out of a gray, misty aroma, almost as if they are floating towards you as you await them outside of the street corner of the laboratory. A cackle and howl at the quarter-moon illuminates the carriages as they approach, driven by 'ghost' horses that you can't see. You can hear their haunting hooves and bewildering breaths as the carriages approach. Using a trackless ride-system, guests will be taken through the streets and corridors of the mystical macabre dimension, with binocular spectacles on full display, this attraction will utilizes physical sets mixed with the '2.5 D' technology on display in the Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction that opened in 2019. Using a similar system, there will be no need for guests to where 3D 'gimic' glasses and instead experience the different dimensions without the need for glasses.
A
Trackless 'Branched' attraction is a new technology that designates when an attraction has a decision point. The active interaction of the audience with the attraction is another way del Toro has taken the cinematic experience and brought it to life. Near the end of the attraction, like most of his protagonists, the guests will be faced with a choice, and by leaning one way or the other, the carriage will branch towards that finale. del Toro has mentioned how he enjoys video games, and calls them the comic-books of this generation - and in this, we will enact a video game technique of RPG (role playing games) to decide the finale.
Attraction Blueprint
Scene 1 - The Macabre Dimension
Scene 2 - Your Surroundings
Scene 3 - Creatures from the Deep
Scene 4 - Corridors to Nowhere
Scene 5 - Rain
Scene 6 - Marge's Voice
Scene 7 - The Chase
Scene 8 - The Choice
Scene 9.1 - Close the Door Ending
Scene 9.2 - Finding the Creature Ending
Attraction Ride-Through
The carriages depart the curbside near the laboratory and travel north towards a street corner. (Scene 1) You get further accustom to the ornate and bizarre surroundings as your carriage continues forward. Part of the carriages merge off into another steet corner before meeting up once again at a cross-walk. (Scene 2) Crossing the street is a woman, who if you only saw her from the waist up, you'd think is a normal Victorian woman. However as the moonlight glistens on her you see animatronic tentacles and an octopus like figure to her legs, something is not right, but it all seems mundane. (Scene 3)
A peculiar piano plays peacefully in the backdrop, from Victorian era composer Franz Liszt, it presents a soothing and oddly melancholy backdrop as you ride through the streets approaching all of these bizarre looking creatures.
*note del Toro has been known to be partial to fish monsters due to his appreciation of the film, Creature from the Black Lagoon.
More fish creatures approach from the Thames River side of the street, as the moonlight shines down on them as they wander the streets and the piano backdrop continues to play, they move their tentacles along with the sound of the music as it flows throughout its verses.
The animatronics flow as if they are real. Authentic motions that give off the illusion of realism - you see a family of 'monsters' roaming towards a park for a night-time stroll. You once more hear a cackle and a burst of wind rotating your vehicles towards a narrow corridor. (Scene 4)
The music echos and continues to play in a higher pitch, until suddenly it comes to a stop. Rain begins to fall in the macabre dimension, but it isn't rain like in the reality dimension, it's green rain with a strong odor of burning wood, opposites in the reality dimension, in the macabre dimension, rain doesn't put out fires, rain illuminates fires and lights a blaze to a candle lit street corner nearby. (Scene 5) You also hear Marge's voice echo throughout the corridor that we need to reach the clock tower. Your vehicles pursue, but now with more dark music in the background. (Scene 6)
Racing towards Big Ben, you can see it in the distance, but not before ascending up winding hills and daring turns to reach the top peak of crimson colored facades draped in front of the clock tower. Bringing your vehicle to a halt though is a menacingly dark figure standing in the middle of the road. This is the ripper everyone has been talking about. The dark figure approaches your vehicle but the ghost horse darts away before the figure came any closer. It sways in the wind next to you, and you get a glimpse of his malevolent face. (Scene 7)
You race further on as the figure follows behind, and you approach a fork in the road, the branch point in the attraction and see Marge and the dark figure standing side by side. The figure, the menacing villain, turns out to be Vernon Clearwater, who has, through parts unknown, transformed or been possessed into being this 'monster' - Marge has made a choice to stay with Vernon, who she claims has been framed for crimes in the reality dimension, and the riders are left with a choice, to believe Marge and try to find the true villain, or close the portal for good from the macabre dimension. (Scene 8)
Close the Door Ending
Guests travel quickly towards the left hand side of the branch as Marge and Vernon pursue them. Continuing to ascend up the side of the streets, you narrowly miss as the transforming Marge has an encounter with you. As you approach the portal, Vernon stands above you, floating over the edge of the portal. He hands down his binocular spectacles, allowing you to close the portal, with a menacing scream in the background from elsewhere in the dimension, leaving you wondering whether he was the villain after all. (Scene 9.1)
Finding the Creature Ending
Believing Vernon and Marge you continue on deeper into the city and hear a voice calling from above. As you approach the voice, you sense that you've found the villain, but in reality - it's simply Marge distracting the guests as Vernon attempts to destroy their carriage, leaving you with no transport back out of the macabre dimension. But right before the carriage is destroyed, Vernon looks at what the macabre dimension has done to Marge, transforming her into a villain, and has second thoughts, allowing the guests to escape and close the portal to the reality dimension after they escape. (Scene 9.2)
As guests return to the reality dimension, they notice the destroyed spectacles on the curb of the unloading area, as they fall down a drainage pipe and into the channels towards the river, and out to sea.
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Conclusion
A Victorian attraction will not only be able to embellish del Toro's nuanced style and artistry, but bring something special to the characters in the attraction themselves, and give the guests a chance to experience the subjective ending for themselves, hopefully leading to a discussion after the attraction of 'who was the hero, who was the villain?' Something that will keep guests coming back on the attraction to look at all the eclectic details and try to piece together del Toro's imagineering puzzle.
Also after talking it over @AceAstro and I can confirm that the final project will be due Sunday, August 19th with the winner being crowned soon afterwards.
