I just want to start by saying once again that my expectations were blown out of the water this round with just how much literally EVERYONE brought to the table. There was certainly a spectrum of people stepping up into more leadership style roles all the way to people contributing small but vital elements to the overall project, but each and every one of you nailed what you were assigned. Needless to say as I keep stressing, eliminations will NEVER be as intense as they are going to be this season. There's not going to be any good reason to eliminate any one of you, hands down. Should be a very interesting ride moving forward.
I'll start with Team Chapek. The first person I absolutely want to shout out is
@Brer Panther. I think this was hands down the absolute best contribution w'eve seen from you in any of these games over a single round. You have an art style that is very Marc Davis-esque while also distinctly your own thing, and at this point you've really mastered said style. Space and Tegan as expected provided valuable leadership, while
@Lizzy May Bee stepped up to the plate in a bold way as the first project leader.
I'll start with the positives first. I really do think as far as a vanilla "aliens in a western setting" theme goes you really nailed it. One of the major things that stuck with me as the concept of this essentially being Tokyo Disney's answer to Galaxy's Edge. The whole thing had a very Knott's Ghost Town Alive vibe which is a really good thing. I thought the dining was especially well thought out with some truly unique themes going on. I absolutely adore the little detail of the tiny AA alien pufferfish lamps. Presentation was generally top notch with particular credit going to the logo work on top of Panther's obvious contributions. One note is that I'm absolutely okay with AI artwork and was very much expecting it to come into play this season, and I'm NOT saying you're using it as a crutch this time around...just be careful not to do that. It's a very easy rabbit hole to fall down that while providing cool, unique visuals might ultimately make future projects feel a bit less personal.
On the attraction side, I also think the AA show was the big stand out. A true throwback to a sadly passed over genre of attraction that could have easily stood on its own in a prompt based primarily on AA shows. Buckshot Bart sounds like great fun, and you've gotta love that name! I'm a bit mixed on Wonder Mountain. First of all this totally isn't fair but I'd be lying if I said the name wasn't distracting since Wonder Mountain is a prominent fixture in Canada's Wonderland haha. Besides that detail, I think you went in a bold direction with RMC and generally really love how you described the actual coaster elements. Disney really should invest in more air-time machines as it's definitely an element of coasters that appeals to thrillseekers but isn't nearly as scary as inversions or laterals can be on folks that are outside of the coaster community. The thing I'm stuck on with Wonder Mountain is just that I wish there were more detail on the dark ride elements of the attraction, as they felt a wee bit passed over in favor of the excellent coaster descriptions.
Team Eisner...I have to say that out of the two teams I actually think Chapek handled their brainstorming a bit better. This is a team of big personalities, many of whom are either legends or have outright won the game. The big sticking point for brainstorming was I think ya'll took a bit too much time going back and forth on certain details, whereas I feel like Chapek was able to iron out a more vanilla concept in a quicker amount of time. That being said...I do think the chipping away at the details ultimately paid off, as it resulted in a fabuously well thought out project that subverted any worries I might have had for it.
I'll fully admit that I was straight up NOT stoked with the team going with the Antarctica theme. Frankly I felt like the setting, while still "Frontier" in definition, very much skated the "Cowboys and Aliens" vibe I was wanting out of this project that Chapek dove head first into. I was also worried that there was too much focus on backstory (hhhhmmmmmm
@PerGron
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) and ultimately the backstory while creative would end up being more of an exposition dump than a valuable addition.
Well, this team proved me dead wrong on both counts. The opening is fantastic and pulled me into the adventure of it all, and with that backstory fresh in my mind as soon as I hit the play button on the playlist and "Bye Bye Love" started playing...YEA. Instant "Frontierland" vibes. It's not a traditional Frontierland. It's nothing like the Knott's Ghost Town inspired Frontierlands of old. But man, there's just something so transportive about that playlist that was such a wonderful touch and tied the themes of the land together in a really great way. It's weird how a simple song choice can have a profound effect on how I read the rest of the project.
While I do think that the backstory might not be properly conveyed to the average person as they're walking around the land, I don't really think the average person needs to get every detail. The important thing is you really FEEL like you're there reading this. Dividing the land up into two distinct sections with the E Ticket tying those sections together was a stroke of genius. As one of the few people who's pretty outwardly critical about Rise of the Resistance, I think the idea of having the two sides would INSTANTLY fix my issues with that attraction and how sterile I think its storytelling is. (yea...that's a whole debate and I totally realize it's a very unpopular opinion
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I just prefer my attraction storytelling a little more non-linear)
Seriously, the E Ticket is just yet another PerGron masterpiece that...well done...does NOT rely on animals. I love how visually distinct the two sides are while still having very similar structures and obvious meeting points. I also have to shout out the idea of the spaceship crashed into the side of the mountain. It's those kinds of instantly iconic visuals that I really strive for in this game.
I thought all the supporting attractions were phenomenal additions as well. While I don't have a ton to say about them, I think they round out the land really nicely and was very impressed by the variety of different experiences. The walkthrough gave me some big shades of the Volcano Bay walkthrough attraction. I also really loved the idea of the planetarium and thought it was a unique concept I'm surprised more parks don't use for a quick but impressive theater show. The excavator and snow bus attractions would be great ways to increase capacity and offer some kinetic energy, and the general lack of these C tier attractions in real world Imagineering land design is truly one of the thing that gets me most depressed about the current state of the parks. Meanwhile the ride system for Expedition: Dawn is truly mind-blowing and really feels like true to life Imagineering in the combination of technology and story.
I don't have a ton to say about the shopping and dining individually, but again I love how the land is broken up into the two distinct sections that each have their signature shop and restaraunt. The ICE lounge in particular is a really neat concept, and I love the awesome variety of merch on display. Overall I think Team Eisner really cracked this one out of the park, but it should be an interesting second round since I think their big strength over Chapek came down to detail...something that's not as easy to cram in when were dealing with a simple overlay of an existing attraction as opposed to a completely blue sky land. With Team Chapek's strength of team work I could very much see them being a favorite in the next round.