Prompt: Create the Façade for an Edgar Allan Poe Attraction to Replace Men In Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida.

In collaboration with Universal Creative, our team explored how underutilized areas of a theme park could be transformed into engaging destinations through the addition of new marquee attractions and immersive experiences. For this project, we were tasked with designing the façade of an attraction that would bring the world of Edgar Allan Poe to life. Our concept wove together elements from many of Poe's most iconic works into a single, cohesive narrative, creating an immersive story that unfolds before guests even enter the attraction's queue.

Process

Initial Story

Edgar Allan Poe is a man shrouded in mystery, not only from the horrific stories he wrote, but also of the tales of his life. His death being the ultimate uncertainty, but not in the way the world is led to believe. Poe died one day seemingly out of the blue from inexact causes, but his final words were said to have been “Lord, help my poor soul.” Little did he know how apt those words would be for what was to come.

In the world today, Poe’s fame has left a legacy that everyone wants to be a part of. Find his house here, or was it here? Come see this new museum of his life here. He was buried here! All grabs for the fame of a man who left a mark on the world in a sinister way. Today, the only place where you can find a place truly as sinister is in the secret writing residence of the master himself. Tucked away in Virginia is the house that Poe would secretly run away to write his most horrifyingly famous works such as The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and many more. Once a quaint Victorian mansion overlooking a pond filled with life and bright skies now stands dark and dismal, as if it has been cursed by the shadow that clouded Poe’s mind for all those years. Out in front stands a clock tower, bold and broken. The gear inside never moves and yet a dreadful ticking still fills the air. An energy of some sort is suspended by chains and ropes each forcing the orb to stay locked away. But the ticking is almost hypnotic. Some say that it is the spirit of Poe beckoning all towards it, entrapping those who fall victim to its call to descend into madness.

This energy seems to have some sort of corrupting force on the surrounding area, almost as if the horrifying stories we tell are drawing themselves from the page into the real world. This once beautiful mansion, now broken with a hazy red glow, gothic. Every tree that was bursting with life is now dead. A basement, now full of bones and wine. Even the staff who have worked more than a few days seem to be going a bit mad.

And now there is you. Are you simply the next victim to the madness? It is clear that your mind is primed for its descent. Listen to the heart, and it will never lead you wrong.

Initial Imagery

The Clocktower: The clock tower is remnants of a beautiful world and proof that everything is corruptible. Covered in vines, the tower becomes more and more disheveled the higher it goes, missing bricks, broken clocks. All the way to reveal a strange orb of energy being held within the tops of the tower by vines, chains, and ropes. As the orb tries to escape, it releases the energy into the surrounding world.

Overview: A stylized image to portray the eerie and ominous feeling of the facade.

Floorplan: The walkway will be moved farther from the show building and closer to the water to allow for additional square footage in front of the house. This will allow for a hill to be built up approximately 12 feet to assist in hiding the show building. The Clock tower exists in the center of the walking path and is one of the main features of the marquee.

Initial Walkthrough

Off of a lake in Virginia stands a clock tower, decaying and decrepit, but still standing. It can be seen from across the water, almost as a beacon, drawing everyone who sees it closer and closer, until you take one step too many. A steady beat disturbs the air, rhythmic and slow. You feel your own heart pulsate along with it. Walking forward, the world seems dimmer, as if a shadow of some sort is consuming the land growing darker until you reach the epicenter, the clock tower. What once was something of great presence and renowned, now sits broken. The clock never moves yet always seems to keep ticking a low rumbling sound. The tower is made of broken stone but the higher it goes the more stone is missing revealing the inner scaffold and mechanism inside. There is some form, hidden in part behind the clock. It looks almost like a heart, but it is hard to tell exactly. It is chained up within the tower like it is trying to break free but is being restrained somehow. This object releases an eerie purple glow, giving off some kind of power. Every so often, the tick begins to grow in speed increasing to an almost constant vibration in the air. Fog billows from out of the clock tower. As the beat crescendos to a hum, the sound instantly stops, the fog bursts out from the tower like rings off an explosion, and a silence falls, until a slow beat begins.

The clock seems to lead you closer until it turns your attention to a giant mansion off in the distance. A meandering path leads forks in two different directions, one down and one up.

If you choose the path downward, you come across a crypt. The stones have aged with time and the walls are lined with the cobwebs of the only living residents of the cavern. Bones disfigure the walls. You may be tempted to wonder where so many skulls were collected from, but it would be wise not to. The path is lit by scarcely lit torches that provide just enough light to manage forward. Down dark corridors, nightmares come to life as you see details from different Poe stores. A door cracks open to see a fragile lady with beaming blue eyes affixed by a spider. A wide crack breaks across a wall revealing a red devilish glow. But there is a light in the darkness. At the end of the crypt, there is a bar to drown your sorrows in. Perhaps order a cask of Amontillado, but be careful not to drink too much or the pounding wall may be your final resting place as well.

The other path may lead you along to the front steps of this hopefully abandoned home that presents itself as less than inviting. The boards of the patio quake as if they have a secret to hide underneath them. The door swings open allowing anyone who dares to enter, but where one may expect a cheerful welcome, darkness was all that would await anyone walking past this threshold.

Final

Story - Origins of the House of Evil

Evil cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can be contained. In a small town in Virginia many years ago laid a town full of noise and life. Everyone relied on one another for food, shelter, clothes, but they were happy with this. No money exchanged, it was all a system of trust. Trust can be an amazing thing, but too much blind trust can be dangerous.

One day, a new man came to town. He wasn’t much of a talker at first. He would go to the tavern and have a drink, maybe share a story or two, but then he would leave. He didn’t go far though. On the outskirts of town, in the woods, he built himself a house. Small initially, he was making it all on his own. Now that he built himself a he ventured into the village more often. He would join someone and talk well into the night. He would invite them to his new house to thank them for their amazing hospitality, but after they entered the woods together, the man from the village would never be seen again. No one ever found out what happened, it was as if he had vanished.

Similar occurrences would keep happening. Slowly, this man who lived on the outside of town would invite more over to his home, and more would go missing. The trust of the villager was too strong to be able to blame anyone for what was happening, but the town began to grow quieter. One day, the town fell silent.

The house in the woods that was once a shack had been built room by room up into a mansion over the years. Out front stood a fountain that almost looked endless. The water looked so deep. As if anything in it would disappear forever. The man living there disappeared after the townspeople had disappeared leaving behind the house, sinisterly empty as if no one was ever there.

Story - Poe’s Descent

Edgar is a man that has experienced much tragedy in his life, and worked through his life using the written word. His stories bring his pain to life and help him move past all of his troubles. His life is reflected through his early works, and people seem to cling to his stories. As he grew more popular, he found he wanted a quieter place to focus on his works. He had reached out to some sources and found an older abandoned house on a hill off a nearby lake in the woods. The house had a tragic past of betrayal and murder, but Poe believed that this would just guarantee himself some peace and quiet away from the world.

This house, though dank and dirty, became Poe’s sanctuary. He spruced up the place some, removing the spiderwebs and sweeping up the broken glass from some smashed window, creating the perfect writing nook that looked out upon the lake. Out near the water was a fountain. It was beautiful to look at through the window, almost hypnotic. The more Poe started out that window, the more he would feel like he could see something from the corner of his eye.

The longer Poe stayed in that house, the more powerful the images became. What started as a shadow turned into horrific nightmares that he didn’t have to close his eyes to see. To try and take some of the power from these images he was seeing, he began to write them down. He turned them into ghoulish stories that captured the essence of what tragedies he was experiencing. When he wrote, the pages began to glow, an energy burst through the pages, capturing these images within the ink on the page. He could not keep these books within the house with him. He brought them to the old crypt built below to hide these tortured tales far from the reach of anyone who could find them.

Now these stories live there, souls trapped within the covers of an old book. Just waiting.

Imagery

Overview: The ominous facade of the Poe now writes in. Down below is a crypt which is where the crypt bar and attraction reside.

The Fountain: The remnants of an old beautiful home, but it holds a great evil from within. Looking down into it seems endless. Every so often a show moment occurs. Poe from the house above sees an image that haunts him, so he begins to write. His room and the orb at the center of the fountain begin to glow red. The evils of this world are being captured within a book

Crypt: The crypt bar below is a self contained room, but can be accessed from the the walkway to the queue, the interactive space, or the gift shop.

Interactive Hallway: The hallway is a series of books that when opened, release the trapped spirit from within momentarily. Each book is a reference to a Poe story. A show moment will illuminate the space to show the power.

Walkthrough

Off of a lake in Virginia stands a fountain. It can be seen from across the water, almost as a beacon, drawing everyone who sees it closer and closer, until you take one step too many. A steady beat disturbs the air, rhythmic and slow. You feel your own heart pulsate along with it. Walking forward, the world seems dimmer, as if a shadow of some sort is consuming the land growing darker until you reach the epicenter, the fountain.

This fountain draws you near, as if there is a hypnotic heartbeat pulling you closer. It seems almost endless within. As if there would be no escape if you fell inside. The tall golden fence seems to hold you back from an impending doom. The fountain seems to lead you closer until it turns your attention to a giant mansion off in the distance. A loud crack of lightning fills the space as Poe is illuminated in the window. The room begins to turn red, then the orb within the fountain follows. The orb rises into the air as wind blows and the pulsing beat grows louder and louder. Until everything falls silent. The orb lowers and returns to its normal hue. Poe falls to the table. Everything is still, until you notice an entrance below.

A crypt opens to you, calling you inside. The stones have aged with time and the walls are lined with the cobwebs of the only living residents of the cavern. Bones disfigure the walls. You may be tempted to wonder where so many skulls were collected from, but it would be wise not to. The path is lit by scarcely lit torches that provide just enough light to manage forward. Down dark corridors, nightmares come to life as you see details from different Poe stores. A door cracks open to see a fragile lady with beaming blue eyes affixed by a spider. A wide crack breaks across a wall revealing a red devilish glow. But there is a light in the darkness. At the end of the crypt, there is a bar to drown your sorrows in. Perhaps order a cask of Amontillado, but be careful not to drink too much or the pounding wall may be your final resting place as well.

If you can resist the temptations from the crypt below, keep moving straight down the corridor to meet the world that Poe experiences. A nightmare in the day.