best of palace games escape rooms: houdini, roosevelt or edison?
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to have played all of Palace Games’ in-person escape rooms. Located at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, Palace Games offers the trio of The Great Houdini Escape Room, The Roosevelt…
from galaxy’s edge to galactic starcruiser: why it’s so difficult to theme star wars locations
Disney’s latest Star Wars themed location, the Galactic Starcruiser hotel, is set to open in March 2022 at Walt Disney World in Orlando. But the voyage so far has been bumpy, to say the least. In December, the official trailer…
the attraction escape room is palace games’ storytelling gem: review
Palace Games’ new escape room, The Attraction, was a long time coming. When I booked it back in early 2020, I had no idea that a pandemic would postpone our date almost two years. But nonetheless, masked and equipped with…
disney star wars: galactic starcruiser hotel’s biggest design challenges
Marketed as “a 2-night, immersive adventure”, Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel is set to open in Spring 2022. This project, first announced way back in summer 20171, will welcome guests on board a spaceship called the Halcyon. There, guests…
disney genie plus app and the game design of fastpass
FastPass has been an integral part of my experience visiting the Disney theme parks. Introduced in 1999, the system was initially designed as a virtual queue. At popular rides, FastPass kiosks printed a limited number of tickets for time slots…
80 days game review: reinventing travelling around the world
When I first started looking for games about travel, I was trying find a way to replicate a feeling that we’ve all been missing out on this past year. In a previous post, I wrote about some of the games…
super nintendo world and the interactive theme park pipe dream
On 4 February, 2021, Super Nintendo World will be the first theme park to open during a pandemic. Okay, so it isn’t a standalone theme park, but a section of Universal Studios Japan. It is significant, however, because it’s first…
best travel video games for explorers, adventurers and experts
2020 has been a year of lockdowns, quarantines and social distancing. For travel enthusiasts, or even those of us who were looking forward to a drive away for the weekend or a trip home for the holidays, it’s been difficult. …
storytelling of disney’s pirates of the caribbean ride… and the redhead (part 2)
In every Disney ride, there is a strong thread of storytelling running through the entire experience. After all, Disney is a company built on story, stemming from its roots in the film and animation industries. Its theme parks are best…