Review
Team Prospero
Redemption for Prospero comes after last week's mess. Not even a drop of steak sauce, let alone ketchup to ruin this amazing steak.
Food metaphors and memes aside, this is very much my favorite project of the season, so much so that the few complaints I have amount to nitpicks. So much so that I have to review this section by section to praise each and every part of it.
Prologue
I'm such a ho for stylistic elements in a presentation. You know this by now. So this prologue? OUTSTANDING! It reads like a myth from a civilization long forgotten while also producing a really interesting and compelling backstory to the Port of Entry and, by extension, Legends of Literature. The Old Man and The Young Adventurer are drawn so well and really spring off the page while the story really draws you into the presentation proper.
Chapter One
The Marketplace seems like a really fun location to explore and really adds to this expansion. Additionally, I love that you set this in the world of your IOA redo. That kind of narrative consistency gets you a big plus in my book. The exterior fits to a T and really shows the care and attention to detail within the ride and that also shows in the first part of the queue. The fact that you clearly did a bit of research and didn't just stick to the Western Canon of Literature also shows. I said it in the podcast and your brainstorming thread and you clearly took it to heart which I am immensely thankful for. I feel like you could spend hours in this room and just keep finding new details and easter eggs.
Chapter Two
This pre-show: outstanding. A pre-show should never be there just to have a pre-show. It's there to establish the theme and the story. It's the thesis statement of the attraction. That is what I see right here. The main theme of Legends of Literature, that literature and stories are inspirational and will make you perceive the universe in a different light is established so well while we also get the first hint of the spectacle that is the ride with some effects that would be absolutely awesome to see in reality because of their simplicity producing something far more elaborate.
Chapter Three
And you continue that theme here. The Discworld, Oz, and The Little Prince inclusions are much appreciated here because I adore all those books. This room, in general, reminds me of the Great Movie Ride queue with the number of artifacts from films but you really expanded on it and made it that much more effective by placing it after the pre-show. My first critique: I would have added some variation to the ride vehicles. Imagine how delightful it would be for any literature lover to see a train of different vehicles from literature (keeping the same basic size and seat layout of course) from Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang to Baba Yaga's Mortar to a carriage out of a Regency romance to any other vehicle come out of the dark and into the load area. It'd really add to the fact that this ride is such a spectacular celebration of literature in its many forms.
Chapter Four
Mythology and Fantasy are kind of the perfect way to start this. They're probably the first genres of literature and that comes across so well. Let me just say: that presentation of the mythology section? So freaking cool. I don't know if I've ever seen something like that but it simulates the effects and movements of the scene really well. I hope to see more stuff like that throughout the rest of the competition.
I really love how the fantasy section builds up the trackless technology with the Chocolate scene. While I may not have chosen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (you could have given me Ankh-Morpork or the Emerald City you cowards!) it's pulled off so well that I can't be mad at it. However, this also brings me into my second critique: why would you not go into horror with the perfect transition that is the Tunnel Scene and instead go into sci-fi with the absolutely hilarious "Secret of Life" from Hitchhikers (was this ride freaking made to appeal to all my nerdy loves?)
Chapter Five
Hitchhikers! My nerdy loves are out! My main complaint here is pacing. I adore each and every book chosen in this chapter but I feel like the pacing is really thrown off with
Willy Wonka > Hitchikers > Jekyll & Hyde > War of the Worlds > Pet Sematary > Cthulu > Frankenstein > 1001 Nights.
All of these work. They work really well actually. However, I think there's something to be said for the pacing of this stretch of the ride that doesn't quite work and with some rearranging could make Sci-Fi and Horror the standout stretch of the ride if it was rearranged to something like, for example:
Wonka > Pet Sematary > Cthulu > Jekyll & Hyde > Frankenstein > War of the Worlds > Hitchikers > 1001 Nights
You work backward from fantasy to horror to sci-fi to adventure for a smooth section that already really stands out in this ride but could standout even more.
Chapter Six
That "Open Sesame" scene feels like it would be iconic. Had this been an opening day attraction, I have no doubt that "Open Sesame" would be a key aspect in advertisements and it should absolutely be a key aspect of any advertising for this ride. Additionally, more trackless hijinks, always great. I love how well the ride system is used in this attraction. It's not over the top but it's not "you could have made this tracked and nothing would change" Another odd transition in here but one I really can't think of how to do any better than it is. You could definitely do some cool trackless stuff with the Lizzie/Darcy perspective scene. I was picturing the ride vehicles rotating in place to each scene rather than staying in place. Tiki is overjoyed at Gatsby, I'm sure.
Chapter Seven
This is kind of the perfect build to the finale: a smaller scene with Les Mis and then the massive, grand, epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms scene with a final touch of trackless hijinks in the maze. Additionally, I really love how this ride ends with a last encounter with The Chronicler and a restatement of that thesis from the pre-show about why literature is important.
Chapter Eight
If The Marketplace is an appetizer and Legends of Literature is the steak, then this is the dessert. I really like the little touch of the game in The Chronicler's Workshop because it feels like the perfect little thing for kids to play with while their parents shop.
The Writers Club brings a really wonderful bit of worldbuilding into the area. I think this would be incredibly popular amongst the locals and if well-cast, would rival some of Disney's own bar-entertainment concepts. I question the inclusion of H.P. Lovecraft since, great as his stories were, he was a genuinely terrible person who prided himself on being as awful a person as possible and even if it's simultaneously softened and massively exaggerated, it could produce some extremely awkward and not great interactions. Maybe Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, Bram Stoker, or M.R. James would be better choices to fill that horror author hole. It's a nitpick at the end of the day.
I could easily spend an evening just enjoying any of these parties though. The Romeo and Juliet moment I can picture being Drunk Shakespeare levels of hilarity. Much the same for all the Halloween hijinks. I can just picture William Shakespeare and Mark Twain turning into a Statler and Waldorf-type act during Lovecraft's rantings. But my favorite thing here is Christmas. There's just an inherently cozy feel to the idea of a Christmas party filled with classic authors and then that gets turned on its head with the comedy things like the White Elephant Gift Exchange and the interactions with other authors. Maya Angelou gathering donations is an absolutely marvelous touch and one that would totally gather a lot of good press.
Epilogue
Bookends! This wraps everything up quite nicely and makes for a nice outro.
Score
Creativity: 10/10 - The IPs chosen were outstanding and a wonderful bunch, not necessarily the most obvious of picks but with a few left-field choices as well.
Presentation: 10/10 - Was I joking when I told you to run with the prose idea? Combine little touches like the Mythology scene the scene maps.
Detail: 10/10 - Dare I say it borders on too much?
Realism: 8/10 - With Islands of Adventure moving away from its literary theme in both reality and your universe, I don't know how realistic it is to pivot back into literature.
Group Work: 10/10 - This team! I love this team!
Total: 48/50
Possibly my favorite project of the season and certainly my favorite Prospero project. Amazing job and a massive kudos to
@DashHaber for leading this outstanding project.
docs.google.com
Major kudos to the world-building as well. The intro and epilogue genuinely gave me chills, and it all worked to build an atmosphere the reader of the project is invested in far before we even get to the first scene of the ride itself. One missed opportunity...I would have LOVED for the female adventurer in the story to end up being Penelope Toothsome. I was half-guessing that was going to be the big twist all throughout the project haha.
