The location I have selected for a ride on the miracles of Jesus (at my Bible World resort) is “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.” That ride is located in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World and in Critter Country at Disneyland. It is a dark ride that uses a track (although the one in Tokyo Disneyland is trackless). In The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom book, I had the ride layout of the Winnie ride at WDW, so I used that as the layout for the Miracles ride. A dark ride (with a track) is a good ride type for this set of stories, because it will provide close-up encounters of Jesus’ healings. There are other ride types that could work (depending on budget and space allowances)—the E-ticket “Rise of the Resistance” ride, a boat ride, or some type of show.
With all of the miracles that Jesus worked during his 3 years of public ministry, how would a ride designer select which miracles to include? I based the number on the layout of the Pooh ride, in which I counted to have 7 main scenes. Well, John’s Gospel has 7 major miracles that are called the 7 Signs! Those 7 are the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), the Healing of the Official’s Son (4:46-54), the Lame Man at the Pool (5:1-17), the Feeding of the 5000 (6:1-15), Jesus Walks on Water (6:16-21), the Healing of a Man Born Blind (9:1-41), and the Raising of his Friend Lazarus (11:1-47). The scenes of my proposed ride follow that order except I have reversed the order of the Feeding and the Lame Man to provide for a bigger scene for the Feeding. However, the correct ordering could be kept by adding/removing walls. For the Wedding Feast of Cana, the first room will show the water turning into wine through lighting effects. Guests can see the water from a waiter pouring from the stone jug into a pitcher as well as some other waiters who are spilling water out of their jugs. The second room shows the tasting of the wine. An element that would need special development is Jesus walking on water (with Peter sinking). Other healings of Jesus (or scenes from John’s Gospel, like the Samaritan woman) could be included in the queue for the ride.
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The next story from the Bible that I would like to highlight in a ride is Noah and the Flood (see Genesis 6-9). Like my first Bible World ride concept (The Ten Plagues of Egypt), this story would work well as a dark ride. I have selected Pirates of the Caribbean as the ride that could be transformed into Noah and the Ark (I call it “Noah of the Flood” to make it sound like it’s predecessor “Pirates of the Caribbean”). One reason is that Pirates already uses boats (or mini “arks”). The story doesn’t have as much “thrill” to it, so I’m saving Splash Mountain for another story (Jonah). The space in Pirates allows for a detailed telling of what happened before, during, and after the flood. I should mention that the story of Noah is memorialized in the to-scale Ark Encounter in Kentucky. That attraction could be best described as a walk-through exhibit with some animatronics. The owners, “Answers in Genesis,” use a literalistic interpretation of Genesis, which is maybe best described in another post. The ride layout that I used for my Noah design was the Disneyland version of Pirates, although it can be easily adapted to the Walt Disney version (or the versions in Paris or Tokyo but not Shanghai). The Disneyland version starts by going by the diners at the Blue Bayou (that restaurant would need to be re-themed) with one scene before the boats go out of view. The first scene of Noah of the Flood would be Noah and his family together before he gets word of the forthcoming flood. The next scene would show the moral depravity of their contemporaries (in PG rated material, maybe with some similarity to the old debauchery scenes at the end of Pirates). The remaining scenes are rather straightforward: warning of the flood, Noah builds the ark, the animals are gathered, the rain starts, more rain (with interior scenes of the ark), the birds being sent to check for land, the debarking of the ark, and the covenant with Noah. Most people already have an image as to what it looked like loading the ark with all of the animals, so a lot of work would need to be spent on making that scene be unique while at the same time faithful to what we can best surmise from the story. I think the human depravity scene (which is the impetus for God ushering in the flood) as well as the scene of God making his covenant with Noah (in the form of the rainbow) could be very impactful for the guests, as those parts of the story are not especially well-known. The exterior of the ride building could be changed to reflect an ancient port town (like Nineveh in the story of Jonah). I hope that after reading this, you can better envision what it would be like to ride through the story of Noah and the flood! FThe Repentance of Nineveh, Anglesay Abbey
One story of the Bible that I think would do really well as a dark ride is the Ten Plagues of Egypt (see Exodus 7-14). In case you don’t know what a dark ride is, it is an indoor ride where all of the environment (sights, lighting, sounds, smells, and movement) can be controlled. Disneyland sort of broke the mold with dark rides with attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, and Peter Pan. Disney continues to raise the bar on dark rides, although parks like Universal and Efteling (Netherlands), have also made important contributions to this ride type.
The Disney ride that I have designated for transforming into the Ten Plagues of Egypt (as part of my Bible World plan) is the Haunted Mansion. I envision the left side of the Magic Kingdom being transformed into lands of the Old Testament. I think the Omnimover ride system (basically a type of ride that allows for continuous loading) that is already in use on the Haunted Mansion. would be a good system for this story. Alternatively I could see a ride system that has a little more thrill to it (maybe even a roller coaster) work well due to the increasing conflict between Pharaoh and the Israelites in the course of the story (culminating in the Egyptian charioteers being drowned in the Red Sea). I’m not the first to think that the account of the Ten Plagues could be told through the use of a dark ride. Ark Encounter in Kentucky (owned by the Creationist group “Answers in Genesis”) had mentioned as far back as 2013 that they would plan on a 7-11 minute teaching ride of the Ten Plagues. I have not heard any further word on whether that will become a reality. The ride I am envisioning will begin with a scene at the burning bush with God telling Moses to go speak to Pharaoh so the Israelites can worship God in the desert. There will be alternating scenes between Pharaoh’s Palace and then the city (with the effects of the plague). For the sake of brevity, the scenes could focus on the Ten Plagues with a few additional scenes of Moses and Aaron talking with Pharaoh. The Ten Plagues are: water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, sick cattle, boils, fire/hail, locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn. After the final plague (the death of the firstborn), there is a quick scene in which Pharaoh tells the Israelites to leave. The final scene would be the Red Sea opening up prior to closing on the Egyptians. Rather than using “Doom Buggies,” the ride vehicles would be chariots. Obviously the facade of the building would need to be changed to be in keeping with an ancient palace. If a new building were to be constructed for the ride (rather than using the Haunted Mansion space), it would be made to look like Pharaoh’s Palace. This new construct would still use the Omnimover system, Pharaoh’s Palace would be located in the middle space of the ride (different sets between the Plagues). Look at the photo for this concept. “Blue Sky” refers to a brainstorming idea without constraints. It’s sometimes called “pie-in-the-sky.”
A Blue Sky concept for Walt Disney World (WDW) I would like to explore is the concept that it would become Bible World—the entire resort themed to different elements of the Christian faith. The parks would be focused on the following themes (obviously there are many details still to be worked out): Magic Kingdom becomes Miraculous Kingdom.
EPCOT becomes the Center for Culture.
Hollywood Studios becomes Heavenly Studios.
Animal Kingdom becomes Creation Kingdom.
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