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Taking stylistic cues from Jules Verne and the steampunk genre, TIME LOOP is a thrilling motion simulator theater, which sends guests on a time travelling adventure of their lives. The Time Ship – a spherical theater – is uniquely engineered as a gyroscopic motion base, able to rock, spin, tilt, and complete full rotations in all directions. On top of large motions, the theater base is also capable of rumbles, shakes, bounces, and jerking motions.
The Queue (Tomorrowland Electric Co.) The experience begins inside the Tomorrowland Electric Company where guests file into an industrial machine room where giant Tesla coils fire bolts of electricity overhead. Armed guards keep watch over the coils on walkways above. Guests file through large steel blast doors into the pre-show area. The Pre-Show (Dr. Gunn’s Office) Guests enter a dimly lit hallway and see into an office through gaps in the shutter blinds. The office is littered with sketches, plans and models of the Time Ship. The door to the office, labeled DR. RAY GUNN, is cracked open. A man, in animatronic form, sits in the shadows with his back turned. This is Dr. Ray Gunn himself, an enigmatic, some would say evil, genius. He speaks calmly and deeply into a handheld voice recorder, unbeknownst to him that he is being watched. “Journal entry six nine five. December 4. Today, I conduct the most powerful experiment the world has ever seen. The Time Ship’s stabilization mechanism has…issues. Energy supply wiring has...flaws. Some safety harnesses have...failed. But time has run out. The time loop will open shortly and I must proceed with today’s experiment, regardless of mechanical failures. When I return from the future, I will finally be able to prove the existence of time travel. But, if the energy levels fail, the time loop will trap me in an infinite loop forwards – to the very end of time itself…and beyond! Timing and energy levels are absolutely crucial. Obviously.” A grandfather clock chimes the top of the hour. Still in shadow, Dr. Gunn pushes his chair back and stands up, turning into the light. He is wearing a white lab coat, large black gloves and an eye patch over his right eye. His hair is spiked as if he’s been electrocuted one too many times. In a triumphant tone he declares, “Hello tomorrow.” He clicks his voice recorder off. “Goodbye, Tomorrowland.” He chuckles. Armed guards burst through doors at the end of the hallway and usher guests into the theater, “You shouldn’t be in here, proceed to the Time Ship immediately!” The Show (The Time Ship) Guests enter a beautifully ornate spherical room. At the center of the room is a large pylon-shaped audience seating area. Pristine cherry leather seats face outwards to large, rectangular portholes along the walls covered in rich fabric curtains. Bronze arches, dials and gauges detail the room. Guests are strapped into their seats and wait in silence. They can hear Dr. Gunn and the guards having a conversation outside the doors. “Sir, subjects are in place but energy fields have plateaued at seven percent.” “Seven percent?! That’s far too low! I’ll never leave Tomorrowland let alone the Earth's atmosphere, let me inside -- wait, what did you say before that?” “Subjects are in place, sir.” “What!? There’s people in there? No, you imbecile, we travel back with people! It’s far more dangerous to go forwards with a load than backwards! Unload the Time Ship at once!” The doors to the theater shake as the guard tries to open them. The guard shakes the doors again, “Sir, the locking mechanism seems to have failed.” Lights inside the theater flicker with the rumble and roar of igniting engines. “Hurry! Use the emergency shut off! The time loop is opening!” “Sir, an emergency shut off was never installed!" "I never did such a thing!" "Sir, I asked about the emergency shut off and you told me to emergency shut up, I remember!" The Time Ship rumbles and creaks. Dr. Gunn is heard yelling above the noise, "Connect the backup energy supply! It's our only hope!" The dials inside the ship surge and the lights brighten as the ship fully powers up. The curtains in front of the portholes open to reveal Tomorrowland moving away as the ship slowly rises and spins into the sky. Passing alarms and flashing lights from a launch tower give the experience a sense of speed. As the ship approaches the top of the launch tower, a great vibration is felt. Lights flicker and some even burst. The ship emerges from the launch tower and higher into the sky. The ship gently wobbles and spins with Tomorrowland below. An audio monitor crackles on. Dr. Gunn screams with a warning, “The energy level is 62%, that's still too low! There won’t be enough power to exit the time loop with a full load! I must unload some passengers, but don’t worry, there should still be parachutes attached to your seats!” A quick alarm sounds. A few random seats in the theatre thrust upwards but immediately lower. Simultaneously, the cry of two "guests" being ejected up into a suction tube is heard. The radio crackles out into silence. Heard is a pre-recorded live orchestra. A narrator chimes in, “At Gunn Industries, we’ll shoot you…through time! Aboard the luxurious Time Ship! (Mumbles) patent pending.” With that, a loud creak and clank are heard outside as pieces of the ship fall off, rushing past the portholes. There is an intense white light outside, filling the inside of the ship. The ship slowly begins to rotate so that it is nearly horizontal (guests now are either face down, face up or sideways depending on where they are seated in the ship). The rumble and sound of a blast-off is heard as the ship shoots away from Earth. It hurtles through brilliant color, planets, and galaxies. The ship come to a stop as the universe begins to stretch away. The orchestra audio slows down and the ship is thrust into a silent, dark limbo and placed right-side-up. Silence. Darkness. Dread. With a sudden quake and a bright flash, the ship is thrust back through space at a high velocity, tumbling upside down as it approaches Earth. The radio crackles back on. Dr. Gunn is mid-sentence and hardly audible “—Time loop… (static)…five hundred years…(static)… caught in a time loop! (audible now)...I repeat, you have been caught in the time loop and have been sent backwards (static) possibly five hundred years! My calculations were off slightly. If you can hear me you must make sure that you…(static)….in order to escape the time loop, I repeat you must – (cuts out)!" The ship starts to burn up as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, intense light and heat fill the theater as it rockets back to the ground, completely and perfectly upside down! The ship plunges into the ocean with a massive boom. Bubbles, fish and other sea creatures pass by. Steam leaks from the internal pipes and water sprays through the portholes. The ship is thrust upwards, out of the water, with a thrilling jump. The ship bobs on the surface, swaying back and forth, as it ineffectively tries to regain its balance. The radio crackles back on, “if you can hear me, I’m sorry but there is nothing I can do for you now! (static) Energy levels have been reduced to (static)… no hope… (static). I can only assume you are stuck in the time loop...forever. Farewell (static)…whenever you are.” After some calm, floating on the water, the ship begins to sink. It descends to the ocean floor more and more rapidly until it hits with a thud. Exterior lights show fish and large unknown species swimming by. The lights flicker and dim. Silence. Darkness. Dread. The radio crackles on. It's a pre-recorded voice, "Emergency Shut Up initiated." A flash. The ship spins and all dials are shaking at maximum levels. The spinning slows. When the spinning stops, the interior lights dim to normal levels. Curtains now cover the portholes and everything is calm. Broken light fixtures are fixed. The exit doors open and guests are free to leave the Time Ship. It’s as if nothing ever happened. Post-Show (Dr. Gunn’s Garden) Guests exit the ship and pass by a serene garden where Dr. Gunn sits and speaks into his recording device, “Journal entry six nine four. December 3. Tomorrow, I conduct the most powerful experiment the world has ever seen. The time ship has shown several weaknesses lately...” |
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