| Movie World Australia, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia – Wyatt Design Group, Inc. was commissioned by Sally Corporation, Jacksonville, Florida, to assist in creating an original dark ride experience using Sally’s new media-based interactive system to be installed at a regional theme park. DC Entertainment’s Justice League™ was to be the featured intellectual property in this unique combination of physical sets, animatronics, and 3D media projections that invites theme park visitors to fend off an alien threat to the planet. WDG collaborated with Sally’s in-house development team to create the story and content, as well as the conceptual ride layout and set design for this attraction. The show set design is unique in that dimensional sets must be designed to seamlessly integrate giant projection screens and visually coordinate with media backgrounds, as well as dozens of animatronic figures and programmed action show sets, environmental effects, and related systems. |
The first of these installations was at Movie World Australia on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, which opened in 2012 to rave reviews:
“. . . the unbelievably real 3D effects and sound, wind and heat blasts and falling walls made for an extremely immersive experience,” wrote Tanya Westthorp of the Gold Coast Bulletin. Richard Wilson of Parkz magazine commended the ride for its engaging theming and immersive story line, concluding “Justice League adds a new dimension to Warner Bros. that has been sorely missing.”
This first installation resulted in an encore performance for Sally Corporation for Six Flags Theme Parks, Six Flags Over Texas, Arlington and Six Flags St. Louis, where they were asked to produce two similar rides at two different parks, and both opened in Spring of 2015. See WDG project overview Justice League: Battle for Metropolis.
In both rides, guests enter the attraction through the façade of the Justice League Headquarters. After a briefing by Batman and an animatronic Cyborg in the load area, riders are provided a pair of RealD 3D glasses before boarding their tactical assault vehicles and entering battle. The main section of the ride consists of guests using their laser blasters to shoot over 250 interactive elements, earning points as they assist the Justice League in ridding the planet of the usual DC Entertainment villains committed to the destruction of Earth as we know it. Twenty (20) themed vehicles are guided along a 197-meter track, through eight to ten large-format 3D projection screens, and more than 16 animatronic characters in multiple physical sets representing Metropolis, Central City, and Gotham.
WDG continues our collaboration with Sally Corporation; as we are currently engaged in design of yet another generation of this hugely successful interactive ride to be installed in an international studio theme park that cannot be named at this time for Spring of 2017.
© Warner Bros. and DC Comics, 2012
Principal credits: Show Set Design by Wyatt Design Group. Ride, animatronics, and sets produced by Sally Corporation, Jacksonville, FL. Media produced by Threshold Animation, Los Angeles.