Islands of Adventure: A Blue Sky, Armchair Imagineered Build-Out of Universal Orlando’s Storied Second Gate

Hyrule – The Realm of Zelda

Background

I know, I know. After all the talk I talked about Islands of Adventure’s literary ethos and how important it was to me, the first chance I have to insert something new, I go with a video game. But I hope you’ll hear me out. Remember, my hope for Islands of Adventure wasn’t that it would only feature books. Instead, I pointed out that to my thinking, what makes the park special is that it instead of focusing on movies, it brings to life stories.

The Legend of Zelda is surely among the most astounding stories and worlds imagined in the last century. Set within and around the Kingdom of Hyrule, the series’ protagonist Link has taken many forms between 8-bit and Breath of the Wild, but the depth of this world is incredible. And more to the point, it’s intergenerational and evergreen, continuously renewing and reviving.

The Legend of Zelda is so theme park-able, it made my list of “What’s Left?” properties just waiting to be made into “Living Lands.”

I would not place Super Nintendo Land in Islands of Adventure… but Hyrule is different. A sort of Lord of the Rings of video games, The Legend of Zelda is one of swords and sorcery; quests and countdowns; magic and fairies; villages and castles… This is a world worth exploring, and a story worth living. Also like Lord of the Rings, it’s very difficult to select a single place, time, or icon from the world to bring to life. So here’s what I did…

Build-Out

To be honest, I was a Sega kid growing up, and have only limited experience with Zelda. So I worked with what I knew, did some research, and worked out the land you see here.

In designing this “island,” I actually worked only with the Lost City section of the Lost Continent (expanding into backstage areas, too) to create a theme-park-able version of Hyrule. Having this land break off of the “wheel” formed by the park’s main path actually works in its favor in my mind, because it makes the land’s E-Ticket a “quest” in its own right – something you have to travel to instead of just encountering it as you loop around the park. In that way, Hyrule requires you to begin, to venture out, and to return. I like that.

Regardless of which of its neighboring islands you enter from, Hyrule begins in Kokiri Forest – Link’s home village, deep in the Lost Woods. With its homes carved into gigantic trees (above) and suspension bridges connecting second-story spaces, this feels like such a warm, welcoming, fantasy place.

The other thing I like is that Kokiri Village feels like such a beautifully simple genre trope. Even for those who aren’t familiar with “Zelda,” this feels like a place that instantly communicates a high fantasy world, and the start of a journey. This is a cozy, comfortable home from which we’ll depart.

… And of course, it’s all reigned over by the guardian spirit of the Deku Tree. What I love about this personified tree as an anchor of Kokiri Village is that in one fell swoop, it manages to both echo the prominent, iconic Trident of Poseidon that used to occupy nearly the same space, while also recalling the Enchanted Oak Tavern of Merlinwood, long since replaced by the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

Even though a smarter person may have started from scratch, I decided to save Mythos, reforming the iconic restaurant’s exterior slightly and giving it a mossier gray-brown stone appearance to become THE WEEPING ROCK RESTAURANT. I feel that the interior still lends itself to the world of Zelda, and reframing it as an enchanted place in the Lost Woods still feels like it works…

Departing from Kokiri, travelers would find themselves beneath the creaking windmill of the WINDWARD OCARINAS. This music shop’s main purpose is, of course, to sell Fairy Ocarinas – this land’s version of the Wizarding World’s interactive wands. Though incredibly simple, these interactive “vessel flutes” would be used to interact throughout the land.

For example, those who exit the Ocarina shop, stand on the bronze plaque before the windmill, and play the Song of Time would see the windmill grind to a halt and reverse direction. Epona’s song would cause a sleeping animatronic horse to awake and neigh in a stable in Kokiri. I think tons of (invented) songs can be used to bring the land to life. For example, the Song of the Sun performed by the lagoon’s edge would cause a lighthouse beacon to illuminate; the Song of Springs would cause water jets to leap from a rock, providing a drinking fountain. I’ve marked interactive Ocarina spots on the map above with an O.

From the Ocarina Shoppe, the trail continues on through the Lost Woods. There, under the shade of the Deku Tree, is a wagon serving DEKU JUICE – what I envision as a Butterbeer counterpart. This sweet, woody, cinnamon cranberry drink with almond maple foam “sap” would appear to come from spile taps hammered right into the bark of the Deku Tree himself. (Grotesque, I know, but maybe he likes it.)

Nearby would reside DEKU DANCE – a swirling family flat ride. Look, I’m always trying to find excuses to up parks’ family capacity, and where a good-looking flat ride works, I think we should embrace it. So many parks rely so heavily on E-Tickets that they forget to go back and add balancing B- and C-Tickets, which don’t have the same marketing appeal.

Deku Dance would be a Zamperla Demolition Derby – the same off-the-shelf ride model as Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in California Adventure’s Cars Land, or Alien Swirling Saucers in Hollywood Studios’ Toy Story Land. However, this version would be just one ride system (both of Disney’s versions have two for doubled capacity, which Islands doesn’t need) and would see guests sit in wooden wagons pulled by Deku Scrubs. This is an incredibly fun ride both to experience and to watch, as the wagons swing side to side while turning on turntables and rapidly swapping between interconnected turntables in near-miss “dances.” Imagining one of these in the shaded cover of the Deku Tree and swirling to the wonderfully chaotic and playful music of the Lost Woods (above), it just seems… perfect.

At long last, the walk through the woods would open from a shaded, forested wood into our destination: the valley village of Kakariko – an incredibly kinetic little town filled with red rile roofs, towers, banners that float in the wind, and windmills across multiple levels of enclosing rockwork.

I chose Kakariko for a few reasons. First of all, while it may make sense for a Realm of Zelda to conclude at Hyrule Castle, I actively wanted to avoid that. First of all, Hyrule Castle takes many different forms across the series, so I wasn’t sure that any given structure would instantly scream “Hyrule Castle” to onlookers. Second, this corner of the park is already defined by a castle: Hogwarts. It would seem silly to have two equally-sized castles rising over the park. Finally, I needed the deepest parts of the land to have “Cars Land” style rockwork blocking views of surrounding showbuildings.

So while Kakariko may not be some ultra-important or iconic place in the series (or maybe it is, I genuinely am not 100% sure), it fits the brief of needing to bring to life a place that’s unique among the park’s offerings, practical given the constraints, and looks distinctly of this series and of the fantasy-adventure genre.

I centered my interpretation of Kakariko in a village square built on the edge of Lantern Lake, all nestled in the mountains surrounding and decked out in moss, hanging flags and lanterns, and those iconic upswept wooden roofs. The shops include ENCHANTED ARMORY (with swords, hats, and more) and THE CURIOUS QUIVER (a main retail space, serving as the exit of the land’s E-Ticket ride). Though smaller than I’d like, the HIGH SPIRITS TAVERN serves as the land’s quick service eatery, perhaps with extra seating along the lake.

Speaking of which, the far side of the lake serves as the queue house for LINK’S KAKARIKO SKIMMERS. Again an effort to bolster the park’s supporting attractions, this is a trackless, LPS flat ride similar to Tokyo DisneySea’s Aquatopia. Though the “rafts” in the lagoon appear to be lantern-led wooden boats, they’re actually wheeled, driving around in a shallow pool of rocks, water jets, caverns, and whirlpools creating an “obstacle course” as they drive, reverse, and spin along the course with no track. Water in this raised pool would then cascade down into the park’s lagoon, serving as a sort of well to replenish that main body of water and keep it circulating.

Ultimately, the land’s E-Ticket would take be set far on the edge of town, where – amongst the rubble of broken Guardian machines – the ruins of the Temple of Time await. This is particularly noteworthy because the Temple of Time is not in Kakariko. In fact, among the citizens of town, the sudden appearance of this derelict cathedral and the ancient machine parts surrounding would be quite a source of gossip…

Entering via an ancient, mossy courtyard below the Temple itself, guests would enter THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TRIAL OF THE TIME SHARDS. Because so many stories and places have fallen into the Zelda mythology, I wanted this land’s grand E-Ticket to be untethered to any particular time or place, and to be able to represent your version of Link and Zelda’s story – whichever that might be.

So, entering the Temple of Time, guests would discover the anomalous source of the Temple’s appearance in Kakariko: the ancient glass Moon Dial has been shattered, fracturing time and space. The only way to restore the timeline is to follow the fracture back, collecting each Time Shard from the places and people Link has been. Only by revisiting the past can you and Link restore the present and undo Shattered Time.

I would like very much for Quest for the Time Shards to be this park’s Rise of the Resistance – a hyper-real, immersive, next-generation, physical dark ride built with a scale that just leaves people shocked… What I need from you is to tell me if this premise seems well tuned to the spirit of Zelda and whether someone who really knows their stuff could take the premise and turn it into a full-blown ride.

Other than a MEET & GREET space with opportunities to encounter Link and Zelda themselves, that concludes my vision for a Hyrule land. And like all great adventures, the path leads home. Guests would need to wind back through the Lost Woods to Kokiri and Link’s home village before continuing their journey onward…

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade

Background

Luckily for our ballooning word count, there isn’t much to say about Hogsmeade – a land that is both very good, and very full.

Despite being shoehorned into a very tight corner of the park, Hogsmeade has evolved wonderfully through Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure (replacing Dragon Challenge) and the Hogwarts Express, the latter even allowing for a nice evergreen “transition” space from the remains of the Lost Continent. However, that about does it in terms of obviously available land or even backstage reclamation thanks to the sprawling Motorbike coaster and the pretty immovable public road that borders the park to the west.

Honestly, it would probably be fine to say “Well, Hogsmeade is absolutely fine as is,” and just skip making changes to the land in this build-out process. That was definitely my first inclination… until I saw a concept that changed my mind. Of the two remaining sub-sections of the Lost Continent, I purposefully used only Poseidon’s Fury’s for Hyrule, leaving the current Sinbad’s Bazaar and its vacant stunt show arena’s real estate for a concept I love…

Build-Out

There’s not much worth changing about Hogsmeade, and very few opportunities to add to it… but I’m very lucky to have stumbled on the work on Adrian Gutierrez on Twitter, who gave me the go-ahead to include in this build-out a project he developed for his MFA thesis project. Designed to perfectly piece into the last available bit of The Lost Continent, the QUIDDITCH STADIUM RESTAURANT AND BAR is a stroke of genius, brilliantly compiled.

I can use Gutierrez’s own imagery to help paint the picture here (with far more images and visualizations on his portfolio site). In short, Sinbad’s Bazaar would be replaced by a new extension of the Wizarding World – a sort of rustic, wood-beamed, cobblestoned plaza on the outskirts of the Hogwarts campus that’s home to the Quidditch Pitch. Built around a wonderful, steaming, misting fountain with a giant golden Snitch at its center, this courtyard would be a big way to land in the Wizarding World.

This plaza also offers a built-in Butterbeer brewery and several retail stands selling Hogwarts House-focused Quidditch gear like scarves, banners, shirts, and more.

Standing almost exactly where the former Sinbad amphitheater did, the instantly-recognizable Pitch with its spectator towers and flying banners.

Actually, I really just recommend that you watch Adrian’s visualization of the entry experience for this restaurant, including a queue that passes through the wooden stadium’s structure as sunlight streams through the boards; guests looking down on steaming cauldrons in a faux kitchen; rich, dark wood lobbies with bronze accents…

(Gutierrez even cleverly allows guests to purchase Quidditch spirit jerseys, flags, and other rah-rah ready merchandise in the restaurant lobby… Deliciously nefarious.)

Diners would be placed in one of four Dining Rooms, each with three tiers of tables that provide views of the Quidditch game in progress via domed screens.

I realize that Sinbad’s Bazaar could’ve been used for a larger Hyrule, but I honestly love this restaurant concept and I feel that it perfectly caps the Hogwarts experience.

I basically said, “Yep, that’s it.” I’m so grateful for Adrian’s permission to include this concept in my built-out Islands of Adventure and to so freely use the images he created for it in this feature. Please do follow Adrian on Twitter and take a look at his other projects (including a shipwreck restaurant for Port of Entry!) – all incredible.

Until then, our Islands of Adventure is filling up… but we still have two slots around the lagoon to explore… Read on…