-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Season 7: Fantasmic Journeys [CONCLUDED!]
- Thread starter Outbound
- Start date
Pi on my Cake
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
We had the opposite progression of starting with full AR before going with the Projection/Interactive/AR blend lol
Sharon&Susan
Well-Known Member
tcool123
Well-Known Member
Darn it @goofyyukyuk quickly initialize Plan B, they figured us out we must go to the other placeStanza 9: Disney’s Antarctica
Pi on my Cake
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Well. Now that I’ve had a moment to have a moment and calm down from the initial bitterness of “oh, we did the same IP,” I just wanted to high five everyone! Everybody did a great job,...again!
@D Hulk and @Disney Dad 3000 taking us to Dubai certainly offered a unique set of challenges and limitations that lead to interesting results to say the least. But each team delivered on all three Stanzas, and I hope everyone are proud of their individual efforts.
The Arcades though. That was such a fun Stanza!!
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
@D Hulk and @Disney Dad 3000 taking us to Dubai certainly offered a unique set of challenges and limitations that lead to interesting results to say the least. But each team delivered on all three Stanzas, and I hope everyone are proud of their individual efforts.
The Arcades though. That was such a fun Stanza!!
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
TheSquirrel
Well-Known Member
The Budweiser Bandit has struck on team times & Tesm realitys work
At the end of team times work there is a can of Budweiser zero
At the bottom of each page of team times presentation, there is Presented by Bud-wraith-er Zero
Team Reality has team zero & a can when it keeps swapping icons on the front page
At the end it’s sponsored by Budweiser zero
At the end of team times work there is a can of Budweiser zero
At the bottom of each page of team times presentation, there is Presented by Bud-wraith-er Zero
Team Reality has team zero & a can when it keeps swapping icons on the front page
At the end it’s sponsored by Budweiser zero
MickeyWaffleCo.
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I noticed them too but I didn’t want to say anything in case the other teams were doing Lego. 
Looking back on it it shoulda been obvious.
MickeyWaffleCo.
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I swear this is the least active this thread has ever been on results day.
Orange Cat
Well-Known Member
Quick Everybody! Let’s Flood The Thread!
It really is. Usually we jump ten pages after every Stanza concludes
Orange Cat
Well-Known Member
So uh, how um, is everyone?
D Hulk
Well-Known Member
Congratulations to everyone on your wonderful submissions for our “Lego City restaurant & ride combo” prompt…Wait, that wasn’t the prompt at all! Oh well, you blockheads provided three charming Lego projects instead, so - surprise! - it turns out this was actually a Lego stanza all along!
And even though @Disney Dad 3000 & I agreed in advance that Legoland was the worst U.A.E. park for this prompt, lacking the atmosphere and tone which best suits pairing dining and attractions, we cannot fault you all for going someplace FUN. Judged on their own merits, all three projects were well-made and enjoyable, even if they weren't what we were originally looking for. Oh well.
TEAM SPACE
COSMIC TERRACE & THE LEGO CITY MONORAIL
Team Space had tumultuous brainstorming from the get go. To avoid copying Blue Bayou (the prompt’s most obvious solution), you quickly settled on a “space” theme, and briefly got lost in the weeds. Space is a promising idea, but it needed development. The crucial restaurant component got lost in personal interests. Buckling down in the final day to get into specifics, the idea then quickly evolved into a space-adjacent monorail…and you wound up copying Chef Mickey’s and the WDW Monorail in the 11th hour.
Given those challenges, the end result is actually quite good. And also closest to what the prompt wanted. The website immediately assuages many concerns. There are some odds and ends, like the Hotel Expansion which was never part of the prompt. A hotel is a whole separate massive can of worms, not something you can sum up in one paragraph. We would’t have noticed its absence. In future rounds, use teammates’ time more wisely on important components (the ride, in this case) which could still use some love & care.
Your restaurant, Cosmic Terrace, is thankfully the project highlight. I appreciate seeing it first in the presentation lineup. It’s a little tricky to get past comparisons to Disney’s Contemporary. Theme park sci-fi tends to feel modernist, minimalist, and stark (Epcot-lite), which is a difficult mood to capture with words. Perhaps in addition to some literal descriptions (including three sentences each repeated twice – ruh-roh!), this kind of location could use more impressionistic description. How does it feel for guests to enter, to be overwhelmed by the grandeur, et cetera?
The menu sounds tasty, with nice attention paid to local tastes. Your space program theme does not lend itself to any specific cuisine – that was always the biggest limitation with this concept – but the Middle Eastern offerings are a good default choice. Some minor proofreading oversights – a salad dish described twice (once as a beverage!) – harm your presentation.
The LEGO City Monorail is, well, it’s simply a kiddie monorail, isn’t it? It’s cute & simple, which fits Legoland. Maybe too simple? There are many areas where this feels unfinished. Where is the loading station? Is it in the Space Lab or elsewhere? For that matter, is Space Lab simple a peek-in static scene, part of the queue, a separate attraction, or something else? Once again, Team Space provides physical descriptions of certain things, but neglects connective tissue to turn these parts into a narrative.
Despite all this, I do believe that Team Space actually managed to nail the prompt’s central demand – the interaction of attraction & restaurant. Both write-ups cover the Monorail gliding sleekly above the dining floor, with attention paid to how this moment impacts both diners and riders. This (and the ride’s layout) show once again the promise I see in this team and their ideas!
Ultimately, go back to the private review you received from @James G. All I’ve done is address things specific to this project. He’s addressed your team dynamic and given you a way forward. Seize it!
TEAM TIME
THE HIDDEN SIDE
And now I get to review two Hidden Side projects in a row!
With Legoland as a starting point, this IP is the most natural choice in 2021. Time & Reality both followed the same path. I’ll have to do some direct one-to-one comparisons on occasion. That’s too bad, since both Hidden Side projects are individually well made and adorable.
Team Time’s overall approach remains solid & unpretentious. They’re just a good workhorse team. With The Ghosts of Hidden Side, we dive directly into the attraction portion without a clear introduction to the IP. Though I know Hidden Side now, you must always write assuming your readers don’t share your familiarity; Team Reality managed that better.
The ride begins with some major Haunted Mansion vibes. The initial sequence from haunted house party to graveyard is veeeery familiar. But just when things are feeling derivative, the ride continues on for many, many more scenes, from a pier park to a lighthouse to an underwater sub and more! This starts to feel like a true adventure! I love the variety of scenes – ones which are clearly, wisely inspired by the Hidden Side sets. The trackless ride tech seems like an afterthought; this could’ve been on rails, based on the descriptions. Dubai already overflows with mediocre trackless dark rides, and the last thing you want is to draw comparisons with Motiongate’s Hotel Transylvania ride.
The integration of AR is much more appealing…and wholly necessary too, since it’s central to the Hidden Side brand. (Reality did it too.) I guess now Armchair Imagineering is borrowing from Universal’s Mario Kart. I greatly appreciate that children can choose to make it scary or tame. Would it be possible to add more interactivity? Rider engagement has always been a big part of the Legoland experience.
The Boo-stro has a nice evocative greenhouse setting…as always, the Lego aesthetic possibly undercuts the immersion. The haute cuisine menu is ludicrously fancy! I’ve never seen croquet monsieur on a kids menu before! The punny name and the menu’s visual design suggests a more playful child-friendly restaurant – which would follow Legoland’s childlike mission statement – so I’d love a little more context for the high-end French fare.
I wish the overlap between ride & restaurant were organically written into the other sections. While Diners enjoy nice views of the ride, one-way glass means riders never see the restaurant. Think you’ve missed out on what makes Blue Bayou and similar places so magical. You’ve at least made up for that by tormenting riders with Boo-stro ghosts. It’s creative & out-of-the-box, like a restaurant version of those water pistols they put on the walkways near raft rides.
Good overall project. It’s a better Lego project than a @Disney Dad 3000 project, but on your own terms it succeeds. Of course Team Reality did well in the few areas where you stumbled (and vice versa), which I only notice because of the direct contrast. Speaking of…
TEAM REALITY
THE HIDDEN SIDE
You are not the first to pass this way. Nor shall you be the last.
First impressions come from the now-unique Google Slides presentation format. The red background with the blocky ghosts everywhere, that gets my attention right away…I don’t love it. It gets more distracting as the project goes on, especially in the menu. As usual, Reality’s custom assets – your hand drawn artwork and homemade music – are invaluable and hugely welcome!
The brief introduction to Hidden Side is much appreciated.
Starting off with Ghost Gauntlet, Pi’s extensive ride tech section does a fantastic job of making a possibly confusing idea into something very simple to grasp. (That GIF is a masterstroke.) As you say, it’s pick-up-and-play. This feels like the spiritual successful to Legoland’s Ninjago rides, with their hands-free shooter component. This use of AR tech – more innovative than Time’s approach – suits Hidden Side perfectly, taking some inspiration perhaps from Monsters Inc. Ride ‘n’ Go-Seek but still being its own thing.
If you’ve bested Time with the ride system stuff, Time outdid you with the ride storyline. Our passage through various haunted farm scenes lacks Time’s sense of adventurous progression. The drawings of each scene by @Tegan pilots a chicken are, of course, lovely. This is a case where creating a ride layout first (incidentally, Team Time erred by forgetting one!) hamstrung your on-ride story. Usually it’s best when layout and story can inform each other, which is hard to do in the development process but it can yield amazing results.
The Meadow Restaurant continues the fun AR wackiness! This feels like a Lego-ified Be Our Guest, and likewise it would be your park’s centerpiece immersive dining experience. The harvest festival menu is easily the most on-theme of the three. (All three teams are very cognizant of Muslim dietary needs – well done!) The actual menu write-up, complete with (copy-pasted) recipes which honestly I didn’t read, that feels excessive. It’s nearly 50% of the overall presentation!
Interaction between the ride and restaurant is minimal. Unless I’m mistaken, diners peek in on a few ride scenes, and…that’s it? No greater interaction? No on-ride restaurant views? This was the crux of the entire exercise. The ride and restaurant are both independently really fun, and they share a good theme, but they feel like two separate projects rather than part of one greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts whole.
Orange Cat
Well-Known Member
Yeah I didn’t want it to feel empty, but in my attempts to do that i ended up making it a bit cluttered, oops
Disney Dad 3000
Well-Known Member
Apologies teams, my reviews will not be up until this afternoon but results coming shortly. Minor technical difficulties access my reviews file. Thank you all again for your efforts this stanza!
D Hulk
Well-Known Member
STANZA VIII RESULTS
@Disney Dad 3000 is having some technical difficulties with his computer. While his reviews will be arriving eventually, we must press on with the game!
These results are the result of much back-and-forth discussion, weighing project quality versus how well each project satisfied the prompt's requirements. These results might surprise you!
@Disney Dad 3000 is having some technical difficulties with his computer. While his reviews will be arriving eventually, we must press on with the game!
These results are the result of much back-and-forth discussion, weighing project quality versus how well each project satisfied the prompt's requirements. These results might surprise you!
Team Reality
While Team Reality produced what is overall the most impressive project, it simply did not satisfy on the ride/restaurant interaction component which was so, so crucial. Like getting a fantastic steak when ordering a salad.
Team Space
The Monorail's interaction with the Cosmic Terrace best nails Stanza VIII's X-factor, and for that reason we both considered First Place even. With more solid execution on fleshing out your presentation, this would have been a winner.
Team Time
Team Goldilocks strikes again! Your project fuses the presentation skills of Reality with the restaurant/attraction merger of Space. This is the most consistent project for the needs of this Stanza.
Orange Cat
Well-Known Member
Just Kidding, I Kinda Expected That (No Offense To My Team (Mainly Offense To Me & My Cluttered Slideshow))
We all tied for 3rd
Those who seek the spirit of Legoland,...wait