Themed Entertainment Designer
THE CHICAGO SKYLINE
Disney Imaginations Competition Entry
2014
OUTCOME
Semi-finalists
OBJECTIVE
"... take what Disney does best today and apply it to transportation within a major city. Your uniquely Disney transportation experience should include station/stops and vehicle designs that reflect the diversity of the city, and are accessible, energy-friendly, and fun!"
PROJECT TEAM
Olivia West
Lindsey Sprague
MY ROLE
Concept Illustrator
Show Writer
2015 WALT DISNEY IMAGINEERING'S IMAGINATIONS DESIGN COMPETITION
This project was conceived by the Savannah College of Art & Design Team and created for the 2015 Walt Disney Imagineering’s Imaginations Design Competition. This project is the sole property of Walt Disney Imagineering and all rights to use these ideas are exclusive to Walt Disney Imagineering. The competition is a way for students and recent graduates to showcase their talents and for Walt Disney Imagineering to identify new talent.
All content ©2015 Walt Disney Corporation, Walt Disney Imagineering and the 2015 Disney Imaginations design competition.
The Chicago SkyLine was a team project, created for the 2015 Imaginations Design Competition. I worked with one other team member, Lindsey Sprague, on this project, acting primarily as concept illustrator and show writer. Lindsey also did concept renderings, as well as 3D models, and animation. Her website can be found here. The project prompt for the 2015 competition is as follows:
"Disney has world class theme parks, resorts, cruise ships, and other entertainment venues that are highly popular with families from all around the world. We challenge you to take what Disney does best today and apply it to transportation within a major city. Your uniquely Disney transportation experience should include station/stops and vehicle designs that reflect the diversity of the city, and are accessible, energy-friendly, and fun!"
After extensive research of cities around the world with transportation challenges, we developed the Chicago SkyLine. It's a family-friendly, transit adventure, a way to see the marvels of Chicago from the ground and sky, learning about the magic that powers innovation.
Above are inital concept sketches that Lindsey and I made, to establish the feeling that we wanted of an industrial, Wright Brother's-esque workshop. We were capitolizing on the idea that Chicago has been a city of rebirth and progress, never falling prey to hard times, but always rising above. Not only that, but Walt Disney himself was born in Chicago, in this hub of magic and innovation. It was here that it all began.
We settled on the trolley as our means of transportation, but added in some Disney magic. We knew we wanted our transportation experience to be much more than transportation. We wanted to give guests a reason to come to the station, even if they weren't riding the trolley. It was a reason to celebrate.
From this idea, we developed the Station Kinnetic, a hands-on learning and exploration center in the heart of Chicago, drawing off the wellspring of Chicago magic and innovation. In the Station Kinnetic, guests enter a new kind of workshop. They can be inspired, learn about the challenges that face our world, see the resonses that have been brought up by the great minds of today, and get the chance to develop their own solutions.
Guests enter the Station Kinetic and on the Invention Floor, they learn about challenges that face our world and experience solutions. They build and create, testing machines and turning ideas into action. Mickey Mouse appears throughout, always encouraging guests to dream bigger. Young and old alike can delve into experiences like crawling through a life-sized engine, pedaling a propeller to lift them into the air, and assembling odd objects into contraptions that could change the world. At the end of it all, guests can choose to take their invention to the front and purchase it, where it will be wrapped up for them to take home with them.
Guests will also wear an RFID band shaped like a gear, which will track their progress through the Invention Floor.
Once they are finished exploring the Station Kinnetic, guests follow Mickey up the glass evevators, past the observation deck, and in his workshop, the preshow. With some science and magic, his new reinvention of the cable car is a modern marvel. Suddenly, the room goes gray and Mickey begins to retrograde: the magic is draining away! Guests must venture out into the city and bring back the magic.
They board the SkyLine, seeing the city slip backwards in time, and head towards the lake, Mickey flying alongside in his plane. Without the Chicago magic, the SkyLine’s in trouble! At the last second, Mickey realizes the guests are the magic and the vehicle smoothly lifts off into the sky. Now the route flies through the tops of the buildings as Mickey restores Chicago’s magic by interacting with guests based on their activity in the Invention Floor.
The On-Board Show
At night, the lake beneath the SkyLine lights up with a nighttime celebration of progress and the rediscovered magic, with a hopeful promise to soar ever onward!
