Dark Ride: Disneyland

Dark Ride: Disneyland began as an idea within Walt Disney’s masterpiece of a theme park.

After attending a conference for critical media education, Benjamin Thevenin, PhD, found himself bouncing through the park with his wife and two boys. He paused, scratched his head, and thought: “I’m supposed to be a smart guy… what can I make of Disneyland?” And rather than write a book about it, he figured it would be way more fun to make a game about it. Which it was.

When Benjamin first pitched the idea to Jeff Parkin and Jared Cardon (the story and game gurus), it seemed like an impossible task. A virtual reality game? In a theme park? Despite the impossibilities, the idea was contagious, and they all hoped it could work. It wasn’t until Ontario Britton (the app wizard) jumped on the project that Benjamin’s wild ideas started to take true form. With the help of Brent Barson (a design master), Chris Bowles (our resident Disney know-it-all), and a handful of programming, film, and design students, the app was finally ready to be turned over to the final team: 20 BYU students with a lot of guts and a lot to learn.

As first time game makers, we spent months researching the park and developing gameplay. As part of a course at BYU, teams of students, led by professors and professionals, conceived of the story, designed and animated characters, created mini-games, and developed the app itself. During the process, we learned a lot about the collaborative process, gained some experience designing educational games and saw the stories Disney tells with new eyes.

After countless hours of trial, error, and trial again, we’ve completed the game we’re excited to share with you now. It’s the first augmented reality that takes place in a theme park, and it all started with an idea that sprouted from one professor’s mouse ears.

Read more about the project’s objectives and development, view art and gameplay, in articles published by the Journal of Media Literacy and the Journal of Media Literacy Education .