Abby's Wonderboat Dark Ride
A magical river adventure where guests join Abby Cadabby to chase down her stolen wand
A narrative-based dark ride experience designed for Sesame Place Philadelphia. Before boarding, each person creates a personalized Muppet companion, which appears through interactive projections during the ride to help Abby in key moments.
Team
Duration
Role
Tools
Zeqe Golomb
6 weeks
Concept & 3D Designer
Blender, Illustrator, Photoshop
CONCEPT STRATEGY
Fill a ride-type gap
Most attractions there are flat rides and coasters, so an immersive dark ride becomes a new anchor experience. Story-driven and distinct from what the park already offers.
Build a destination around an under-featured character
Character areas aren’t evenly represented. Centering the ride on Abby creates a new identity for the park and strengthens the overall character lineup.
Design for shared family appeal: kids + nostalgic parents
A large portion of guests are parents who grew up with Sesame Street, so the ride should be fun for both kids and adults. Having playful moments that each age group can enjoy.
USER JOURNEY
EXPERIENCE TIMELINE
It takes about 20-30 minutes total, including the queue. Guests spend ~3 minutes creating a personalized Muppet before boarding, and the ride lasts ~5 minutes. Groups move through in sets of four, for an estimated ~325 guests per day.
RIDE OVERVIEW
Muppet Character Creation
Guests create their own Muppet at a themed kiosk using a spinning wheel and button.
The character is saved and will reappear during the ride, reacting to guest movements.
Boarding
Guests board the ride, and Abby appears as a projection on transparent scrims, flying through the space. She welcomes everyone to a Sesame Street river tour, but just as the boat is about to leave, it starts to rain. Abby tries a weather-changing spell but she realizes she can’t find her wand.
Sesame Street
She points a spotlight at a nearby building. A running silhouette appears on the wall, and it looks like someone is escaping with her wand.
Sesame Street
The bad guy uses the wand to open a magic portal, and the space fills with fog. Abby decides to take everyone with her to chase down the wand.
Enter Magic World
They enter into a magical world, and the boat slowly move forward through the river
Crystal Cavern
They follow the guy into a cavern filled with glowing crystals. The boat orbits around a large central cluster of crystals. On the main crystals, guests see reflections of their own Muppet characters. The reflections track each person’s movements using cameras hidden in the boat, making them feel like real reflections.
River Rapids Challenge
the bad guy caused a storm with the wand causing the river to turn into rapids! The boat breaks down after this scene, and Abby encourages everyone to “row” together to get the boat moving. Once guests start rowing, the boat resumes moving.
Entering the Starlight Field
They enter a room filled with falling stars, and Abby guides the boat to safely weave through them.
Uncovering the Mystery!
The bad guy gets hit by a falling star. Abby recover the wand and discover it was Gonger, who only borrowed it to make cookies for Cookie Monster because the ovens are broken.
Return
When they return, it is already nighttime. Abby uses her magic to create a firework show and guides everyone off the boat.
Unload & Exit
In this hallway, guests see a full-body view of their character walking beside them. As they approach the exit, the projected character slowly fades out.
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TECH DIAGRAM
Here’s a breakdown of the ride technology. From Muppet creation and rider ID assignment to interactive projection on board.