Universal Creative Lab: The Pit and the Pendulum
Working with a teammate, we shaped a one-minute dark ride scene inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum. I developed the storytelling and guest experience set within the cursed Castillo de Toledo.
Riders search for priceless artifacts—only to awaken the Grand Inquisitor, who declares them guilty and orders their torment. The ride builds tension through pacing, atmosphere, and movement as guests endure their sentence and finally confront the pendulum’s ominous swing. In this dark ride, judgment awaits, and riders must escape before the castle claims them too.
Alongside the creative development, I focused on the engineering and feasibility of our dark ride scene. Using AutoCAD, I designed the layout, scene timing, and vehicle flow to achieve a theoretical capacity of over 1600 riders per hour. I produced cost estimates, a preliminary schedule, and a 1/24 scale CAD model of the KUKA arm vehicle in Fusion 360 to demonstrate motion paths and clearances. This technical planning ensured that the atmosphere, pacing, and effects could be delivered reliably within the constraints of a real attraction.
