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**spunkymonkey** · 10-19-2006, 03:00 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I think thats great. I really ejoy Mystery Lodge and think it would be a great fit. Maybe where big thunder ranch used to be?

**mycroft16** · 10-19-2006, 06:46 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I think it could easily be made to fit in, and even used to more tightly tie NOS (specifically HM) into the ROA/Frontierland theme. I have always wanted to see the Mystery Lodge in person (only ever seen it on TV, just not the same).

**Professortango** · 10-19-2006, 10:08 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I would rather see it in DCA..I mean, that's what Knotts is..or was... The way California Adventure should have been done. Ghost Town, Fiesta Villiage, Roarin' 20's section, wilderness area, and the Boardwalk. Obviously the quality isn't as high, but the execution of the lands makes much more thematic sense to me. I may dislike the attractions at Knotts, but the atmosphere of the Ghost Town and the Roarin 20's section (10 years ago) never gets old.
Well, the did. Now they ripped everything appart to add more coasters. Most likely Mystery Lodge will be somehow converted into a coaster. It's kinda small, but I'm sure they can just have the steel beams and tracks go over the rest of Ghost Town or Bigfoot Rappids.

**bee1000** · 10-19-2006, 10:14 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I vote No as far as the Knott's lodge goes. I remember seeing it about 18 years ago when I was in junior high. It was fun to see, but I think it would feel dated. If Disney is going to add new attractions, I think they need to be more refined than that.

Not sure where it would fit in Frontierland, though. Maybe in DCA in the water-ride land (sorry, I've only been there once).

**spunkymonkey** · 10-19-2006, 10:21 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by bee1000 View Post

I vote No as far as the Knott's lodge goes. I remember seeing it about 18 years ago when I was in junior high. It was fun to see, but I think it would feel dated. If Disney is going to add new attractions, I think they need to be more refined than that.

Not sure where it would fit in Frontierland, though. Maybe in DCA in the water-ride land (sorry, I've only been there once).

It opened in 1994, 12 years ago.

**Barbossa** · 10-19-2006, 11:52 AM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I'd like to see Mystery Lodge come back to BC as it was part of the GM Pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver. However, it was called Spirit Lodge when it was at Expo 86. I had the chance to see it both at Expo and at Knott's and the show was pretty much the same. It would be good to have it back as an attraction for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I always wondered how Knott's got a hold of the show.

**Asterix** · 10-19-2006, 12:36 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I heard that Disney had the opportunity to buy the show after Expo, and they passed on it.

I love the show and think it would be great in Disneyland -- family friendly, good capacity etc. The Native storytelling area near the river is so well done, I'll love to see this show added to the area somehow and really fill out such a theme. Unfortunately I don't think Disney would ever accept a hand-me-down from Knott's, just for ego reasons.

How about a similar show out on the new pirate island with a pirate theme, using those creepy skeletons from the first Pirates movie? Have BRC do that one too! BRC has made other shows with the same technology and a different theme, and they have also worked for Disney before.

If anyone's interested in BRC's attractions, check out http://www.brcweb.com/cultural-heritage-attractions.htm.

**RobotMirror** · 10-19-2006, 12:57 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I've never seen Mystery Lodge. Is there somewhere I can get a description of it?

**TheManator** · 10-19-2006, 01:09 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

I saw it when it opened. I just happened to live in CA 1994 to 1996 - saw it once, thought it was boring. Bleh :P

**Professortango** · 10-19-2006, 01:18 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by Frogberto View Post

I've never seen Mystery Lodge. Is there somewhere I can get a description of it?

Basically, you sit in the audience and watch an actor begind glass. He is a Native American storyteller. He lights the fire, and using projection and such, the smoke from the fire becomes animated into the story he tells. He is able to interact with the effects to a degree, and at the very end he dissapears into smoke...I believe.

I saw this years ago back with the boardwalk area was still the Roarin' 20's and the soap box derby racers still were around.

The show itself was kinda cool technology wise, but it's the same basic beast of a problem as 3D. The experience doesn't change. Sure, they could create a few different stories for the storyteller to tell us, but it still boils down to sitting and watching an actor hit marks behind glass. I also thought the show was sort of bland having no actual physical conflict.

**RobotMirror** · 10-19-2006, 01:21 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

And this is a projection? Animatronic? Live actor?

**Barbossa** · 10-19-2006, 01:30 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by Frogberto View Post

And this is a projection? Animatronic? Live actor?

As was asked in Jurassic Park, auto-erotic...:lol:

**bee1000** · 10-19-2006, 02:58 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by spunkymonkey View Post

It opened in 1994, 12 years ago.

Hmmm, then what was it I saw? I thought you were talking about the guided tour where water flows uphill and all that. Wasn't that the Mystery Lodge?

**Asterix** · 10-19-2006, 03:14 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

It's a live actor interacting with animated film projections. It is a totally beautiful and convincing illusion. Among other things, you see the actor transform into a bird right there in front of you. At another point he disappears slowly, but the staff he is leaning on remains there in the room; when he has vanished completely, the staff falls over with a clunk. At other times the smoke from a fire will transform into, for instance, birds, which will then land on the actor or his staff, and it is totally convincing. The lighting design alone, the control of spilled light and how to fit an actor in with projected media, is sheer genius.

The show is basically about Native values -- he is reflecting on his life and family, telling stories and talking the way a wise man can, and is uneasy because he is seeing owl images, which are possibly an omen of death. (Although I have to say, I've heard that not all Native people necessarily see an owl and think it's a death omen.)

The script and production are first rate and very classy. They take the subject matter seriously; it takes courage to approach it that way.

**Dustysage** · 10-19-2006, 03:21 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Lot's of Pepper's Ghost effects (think ballroom scene in haunted). I'm not sure if it is live or projected. I always wondered. But it is a Pepper's Ghost illusion that makes it so cool.

**squeemu** · 10-19-2006, 03:26 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by bee1000 View Post

Hmmm, then what was it I saw? I thought you were talking about the guided tour where water flows uphill and all that. Wasn't that the Mystery Lodge?

No, you're thinking of the Haunted Shack, which got axed a few years back.

The Mystery Lodge is a great show, but it doesn't have too much repeat value. If they were to put it in a small room, as opposed to a huge theater, it would work at Disneyland.

**Dustysage** · 10-19-2006, 03:32 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by squeemu View Post

No, you're thinking of the Haunted Shack, which got axed a few years back.

The Mystery Lodge is a great show, but it doesn't have too much repeat value. If they were to put it in a small room, as opposed to a huge theater, it would work at Disneyland.

Now that you mention it Squeemu, I'm a little shaken up about the Mystery Lodge rumor. With the loss of the Haunted Shack and the Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, there really isn't a lot left for families at Knotts. If they nix the Mystery Lodge, they will just cement themselves as the new Six Flags of Orange County. It is so sad to see the highly themed family attractions removed from Knotts.

What a shame. As a kid, a trip to Knotts was almost as good as a trip to Disneyland - almost

**barfownz** · 10-19-2006, 03:32 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

No, Disneyland shouldn't use other's ideas. Disney is original!

**Uzmati** · 10-19-2006, 03:41 PM

Re: Mystery Lodge for DL's Frontierland?

Originally posted by Frogberto View Post

I've never seen Mystery Lodge. Is there somewhere I can get a description of it?

Interesting attraction. I've always enjoyed it.

BRC artists definitely have a few unusual techniques, even patents, up their collective sleeves. One very interesting--and very proprietary--example has to do with the animation of smoke. For a stage show at Knott's Berry Farm called Mystery Lodge, animated smoke that curls into images of salmon swimming upstream, or whales leaping from the water was used to visually aid an elderly Indian narrator as he tells the story of his life to the audience. Carlin, who describes the look of the effect as "images floating in a virtual plane," won't give away just how it is accomplished. However, she will say that the technical application of this patented process called "Holovision" is actually based on a 100-year-old magician's illusion called "Pepper's Ghost."
Source:http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.8/articles/street1.8.html

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/reviews/knott's_berry_farm/mystery_lodge/

http://www.lestercreative.com/mystery_lodge.htm

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http://www.alcorn.com/cases/knotts_mystery/index.html

Frommer's

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/anaheim&disneyland/A34578.html