Wonka's Factory Tour
Wonka's Factory Tour was a school project where we were tasked with coming up with a brand new themed entertainment experience based off a specific intellectual property (IP). Myself and my five team members had two weeks to come up with and develop a concept that satisfied that criteria and pitch our concept to a themed entertainment industry professional alongside five other teams, where a top proposal would be selected. I was the Lead Attraction Designer for the project, overseeing how all elements of our proposed ride would support the story based off of our IP. Our hard work paid off, and on pitch night our concept was selected as the top proposal.
The team from left to right: Jacob Surovsky, Harrison Valner, Amanda Lok, Michelle Je, Athena Foo, and Hal Pan
Selecting an IP
Through a Blue Sky brainstorming process, my team and I eventually decided to base our attraction around Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Simultaneously, we began brainstorming an idea for an interactive bumper car ride system. We decided to pair the bumper car vehicle technology with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to create a new and exciting experience for our guests.
The Story
Congratulations! You are a lucky finder of a Golden Ticket, and are going to experience a tour through Willy Wonka’s Mysterious Chocolate Factory. But Mr. Wonka has his eccentricities, and this tour is certain to be full of numerous surprises. Wonka’s Factory tour is a bumper car/dark ride experience, which introduces a brand new interactive vehicle system to the themed entertainment industry. Now we mustn’t dilly dally, there is so much to say and so little time to say it. So welcome, to Wonka’s Factory Tour.
Brainstorming
Planning out the Factory Room scene in the factory
Early stages of vehicle design
Other possible rides with Roald Dahl IP
The Vehicle
The Wonka-Mobile is the cornerstone of the Wonka's Factory Tour concept. Each vehicle boards two passengers (echoing the child and one parent rule for touring the factory from the book), and 5 vehicles go through the attraction per group. The vehicles are trackless vehicles, much like the vehicles for Disney's Mystic Manor or Pooh's Hunny Hunt, with the added twist that each vehicle doubles as a bumper car. Throughout the ride, the computer stops driving the vehicle on a predetermined track and the guest takes over, exploring Wonka's Factory and more importantly colliding into the other players to score points. The vehicle with the most points at the end of the ride wins the factory.
Drawing by Hal Pan
The Tour
Wonka's Factory is divided up into a series of alternating transitional rooms and arenas where guests engage in the bumper car portion of the ride.
I drafted the ride layout, which helped us visualize the sequence of events guests would experience.
Arenas
In the arenas, guests are given complete control of the vehicles via steering wheel and acceleration pedal, and are incentivized to bump both into each other and into the theming around them to trigger interactive elements and score points.
Transition Rooms
In the transition rooms (Welcome, Chocolate River, Squirrel Room, and Scoring Room), onboard computers direct the vehicles down pre-programmed paths, as guests are moved past theming and animatronics that builds out the wacky world of Wonka's Factory.
Concept Art
In the initial brainstorming stages, I came up with the idea to have all concept art for the attraction rendered in the style of Quentin Blake's illustrations, a long time collaborator of Roald Dahl's whose freehanded water color paintings are synonymous with Roald Dahl's storytelling. Teammate and talented visual artist Hal Pan drew the concept art for the attraction. I believe the decision to render our concept art in the style of Quentin Blake helped our pitch be more compelling because it made our attraction look like a natural extension of the world of Willy Wonka by tapping into what guests were familiar with.
Gates to factory and factory facade in the distance. The color and excitement starts on the inside.
Arena A: The Chocolate Room. Featuring Oompa Loompas on grassy hills the guests can bump into for interaction and points.
Transition 1: floating down the chocolate river past doors to different rooms in the factory. Sweet smells and strange sounds come from behind the doors.
Arena B: The Inventions Room. Squares that look round watch the guests bump around past odd machines including the everlasting gobstoppers.
Transition 2: A visit to the squirrel room. Animatronic squirrels crack nuts while guests are guided around the precarious garbage chute in the middle of the room.
Arena C: The Television room. Here guests can see a miniature Wonka Mobile trapped in the television while bumping into "expensive" camera equipment and each other.