The Imperial Railway II: Ride Experience
This is part II of a two-part series on The Imperial Railway. In this section, we will delve into the details of the ride experience.
The Pre-Show
Let's begin the experience from the pre-show and queueing area. While the guests queue, they will snake through a victorian waiting room. Posters, artefacts and notice boards around the room are meticulously selected to tell the story of The Imperial Railway Company. The company (used to) run train services from the Imperial Central Station in luxurious trains that promise first-class quality services. I've drawn up a sample poster for the Imperial Railway Company, designed with reference to some of the early posters from Metropolitan Railway, London (1863).
Having passed through the queueing area, guests will have the opportunity to store their belongings in the lockers. Due to the nature of the ride and the safety of the performers, guests will be required to store away all loose articles. This is very similar to the policy currently in place at Universal Parks world wide, which provide free fingerprint-authenticated locker space for the duration of a thrill ride.
Beyond the locker room is the pre-show area. Guests will be led into the room in groups of 31 (which is also the ride capacity of a single train cabin). In the pre-show, a businessman (i.e. cast member in a 19th century costume, of course) hurries into the room with a large suitcase. He introduces himself as a renowned European antique trader. He then goes on with a dramatic speech about some of the latest archeological treasures that he and his team have uncovered. He then addresses the guests/audiences as some of his newly recruited deliverers for his precious artefacts to collectors around the world. At this point, he invites one of the audiences to come onto the 'stage'. The businessman then hands him the suitcase, and, with a dark and serious tone, says that it contains dark and magical power. Pausing for a moment, he then asks him to deliver the package to a collector named Lord Henry Mystic, and points at a station on a railway map on the wall named Mystic Point.
Aside: Anyone familiar with Disney parks will instantly realise Lord Henry Mystic does exist in a real attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland. He is indeed a collector, and the ride Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland is a guided dark-ride tour around his manor featuring his collection from around the world. Further still, Lord Henry Mystic is part of a larger story line the runs through multiple disney attractions as he is part of the so-called Society of Explorers and Adventurers . Members in this society is featured in attractions such as the Tower of Terror (Tokyo DisneySEA) and Big Thunder Mountain (Magic Kingdom). Anyways, this allows the Imperial Railway attraction to tie into a larger existing story.
The Ticketing Room
The 30 guests, one of which holds the suitcase, move onto the next room, which is the ticketing room. There are 15 automatic ticketing machines which the guests can buy (for free) a single journey ticket to Mystic Point from Imperial Central Station. The machine will spit out a paper ticket which, not only can the guests can take home as souvenir, but also add to the excitement and authenticity of boarding a train. Practically, the ticket will also instruct the guests to one of three boarding platforms in the station to aid guest flow.
Train Loading Bay / Platform
After snaking through the final stretches of the queueing area, the guests arrive at the main train platform. The guests will be guided to one of the three trains (according to the paper ticket) when it arrives and the passengers have disembarked.
Ride Vehicle / Carriage
Guests will be greeted by these two-carriges trains, closely modelled after a real diesel train I came across in Austria during my backpacking trip in Eastern Europe.
For obvious reason, these are not real trains and have no engines on board. Instead, the are moved forward and background by friction wheel installed along the track. This reduces the maintenance cost and weight of the trains.
Each carriage sits 31 people in a (13 x 1 + 5 x 1) arrangement, and each train carries two carriages. The seats are arranged so that they all face the centre part of the carriage, where most of the performance will take place. While the seats are luxuriously cushioned like many first-class trains in the 19th century, they offer seat belts due to the strong g-forces during the ride experience. The person with the suitcase will be instructed to sit in either seat 7 or 26, right in front of the performing area. There is a small prop and storage area at the back of the train where performers can hide away from the audiences.
Now, most importantly, I should note that the windows are fake! They are just high-definition screens, playing motion-synchronous video feeds of the exterior scenes. Now you might think they can't be authentic enough. However, the Hogwarts Express ride at Universal Studios Florida has proven that this is not the case at all!
The Ride Experience
After boarding and that everyone has seated, the train will leave the loading platform. Video screens will synchronously transition from the station interior, through a short tunnel and into the European country side. Meanwhile, a conductor comes through the cabin, asking for tickets and an attendant comes from the other end pushing a trolley selling snacks. All these combine to create the effect of a normal commuter train cabin atmosphere.
In the mean time, the train will snake through the switch track at the backstage and head towards one of two ride simulator drums.
All of a sudden, the cabin lights went off and panic sets in. The conductor frantically reached for the emergency phone, but failed to get in touch with the train driver. He then tried the doors in an effort of futility. Then, with a loud bang and VFX smoke seeping along the cabin floor, a few hijackers stomped into the trains with (fake) guns. The laser aiming beam fills the entire cabin, which would create an exciting visual effect.
The hijacker then demanded the suitcase. After some confusion, the person with the suitcase was located, and the hijacker grabbed the case with (gentle) force. Then, the attendant who was selling snacks with the trolley a moment ago rushed forward and pulled out his gun, revealing his identity as an undercover security guard onboard. Turns out, this railway service to Mystic Point often carries precious high-value items. Thus, having an undercover guard onboard made sense. The situation quickly escalates into a fist fight, followed by a few gun shots. The (fake) physical fist fight took place at the centre of the train where all audience was able to see.
In the meantime, the train was speeding across a wobbly iron arched bridge, which was shown on the window/video screens. The conductor, still desperately trying to get in touch with the train driver now realised the driver might be killed already as the train did not slow down across the bridge.
Physically, the train has now docked in one of the two motion simulator drums. These drums can accommodate two trains at once, and can spin at moderate rpm and produce vibrations that can be felt on the train. This ride mechanism is akin to Mission: Space at Epcot.
When the train crossed the iron bridge, a sudden vibration shocked through the train (as created by the motion base). The vehicle then accelerated down the bridge as the vibration intensified. While the fight was still going on at the centre of the train, smoke and spark effects started to fill the cabin.
The acceleration of the train is key to the experience. Allow me to spare some time to explain how this sensation can be re-created using a rotation drum.
Any rotating object around an axis is driven by a so-called centripetal force. This force points towards the centre of the rotation. This is exactly the case when you spin a ball with a string around your hand. However, from the ball's perspective it feels a fictitious centrifugal force due to the fact that it is in a rotating reference frame. This is exactly the same sensation of 'being-thrown-outward' when a car makes a sharp corner turn or when a roller coaster going through a bend. Similarly, the train rotating in the simulator drum feels the same centrifugal force, which pushes the passengers outward. However, since the train is enclosed, the passenger cannot tell that the train is actually spinning. Instead, they will just feel the centrifugal force, which, along with the synchronised video graphics, will fake the sensation of acceleration forward / background, depending on which direction the chair is facing.
As the train hurdles down the track from the audience's perspective (and spinning around the drum physically), the fight between the hijacker and the undercover guard escalates to the finale stunt sequence. In this finale, both the protagonist and the hijacker were holding onto the suitcase and not letting go. Due to the acceleration of the train, they were physically thrown along the aisle of the train. When the train derailed eventually on the bridge, the acceleration intensified as the train freely fell into the valley.
Due to the spinning motion of the vehicle, the performers, who were wearing harnesses and both hanging onto the suitcase, were able to create the mid-air-stunt scene as depicted in the concept art below. Physically, they were held by the harness rope, just like a spinning ball being held in place mid-air with a rope.
Due to the intense force, the suitcase finally gave way and broke open. Light, and seemingly magical forces spilled out of the suitcase (via projection). Due to the angle, the audiences couldn't actually see what's physically in the case. At this very moment, the top of the train carriage swung open, revealing the night sky above. Wind gushed into the cabin relentlessly and everything descended into chaos. Physically, this effect is accomplished by having a 360 degrees projection screen at the top of the spinning dome. When the roof of the train cabins swings open, fans installed within the drum pushes air into the cabin.
When the train was about the hit the bottom of the valley, everything goes dark and silent. During these few silent and pitch black seconds, the train ceiling was restored back to the normal position, and the rotating drum decelerated. Next, the cabin light returned to normal and the windows showed the train travelling cross the beautiful European countryside as if nothing has happened.
The attendant laid on the ground, hugging the closed suitcase. He stood up and brushed off the dust on his uniform. He entrusted the suitcase back to the passenger, and then walked down the aisle and picked up the food trolley where he had left it.
Physically, the train has now left the simulator drum and is now on its way back to the train station platform. When the train arrives, passengers can then disembark and exit through the gift shop / collect items stored in the locker.
Final Thoughts
The Imperial Railway is a unique attraction in that it combines an experiential theatre with a motion simulator ride. As evident throughout the discussion above, these two classes of attractions are integrated together tightly storytelling and architecture into a single immersive experience.
The story that unfolds on the train is very flexible and can be changed and improved as the attraction concept matures. From a theme park operation stand point, this also enables seasonal theming and overlay to the experience, which is crucial to attracting returning guests.
What do you think about The Imperial Railway? Do you have any ideas and suggestions as to what other new scenes can be added? Let me know in the comment section below.