They wait in the darkness for the next group, their eyes searching from sunken sockets. One day, animatronic zombies could give tourists their own ghoulish greetings in "Battle for Survival", The Walking Dead theme park ride that's currently being teased at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) gathering in Orlando, Florida.
Via Chandler Desrochers, /Film recently reported that the Sally Corporation is developing The Walking Dead: Battle For Survival theme park ride. Described as "a very DARK ride", this official Walking Dead experience is now being pitched to potential buyers at the IAAPA Expo 2015.
Battle for Survival's booth is making quite an impression at the convention, with an operational animatronic walker on display against a bullet-ridden prison guard tower backdrop.
As shared by /Film, Inside the Magic's Ricky Brigante is on site at IAAPA Expo 2015 and has provided a telling video tease of The Walking Dead: Battle for Survival booth (see video below).
In addition to their helpful footage, Inside the Magic also spoke with Sally Corp. Creative Director Rich Hill, who said the company was approached by AMC at last year's IAAPA Expo to collaborate on creating a dark ride. Hill has worked on the ride over the past year, crafting a script and fleshing out the the particulars of the attraction. He says that no park has bought the ride yet, but that it will end up being "an anchor attraction for some park."
Hill went on to say that Battle for Survival will incorporate 3D glasses and projection screens. A mixed media immersive experience, the ride will include a "choose your own weapon" feature, allowing participants to choose from a number of items, including a "firehose", "crossbow", "katana", and "shotgun."
Speaking with Inside the Magic, Hill revealed that Sally Corp. has been working closely with AMC and Greg Nicotero on the ride:
"[We're] working directly with AMC. Greg Nicotero's approving all of our stuff. We're working really tight with those guys."
Hill also discussed the objectives of The Walking Dead: Battle For Survival:
"The whole point of it is to kind of collect supplies and defend yourselves against walkers. So if you don't collect enough supplies, there's an alternate ending where you lose and you get eaten."
Memorable environments from AMC's The Walking Dead will be featured in the ride, including the prison and Woodbury:
"Some of the great locations like the prison and Woodbury, some of these great places that you visit during the show, that's where you're going to visit in the ride."
Similar to the TV series, the ride will emphasize practical effects whenever possible:
"We've got 3D screens and we've also got a lot of practical effects. We've got walking animatronic walkers that are projection mapped. We've got real fire, water, wind."
Although it won't match the level of blood-soaked violence reached by the show, the ride won't exactly be "family friendly", either:
"This is going to be an extreme ride. It's for teens, not for little kids... We are going to limit the gore, obviously. We are limiting some of the violence, we're not going as extreme as the show does, but it's going to represent the brand well."
Time will tell which theme park will end up being the proud owner of The Walking Dead: Battle For Survival ride. We'll be sure to keep Daily Dead readers updated on further details. In the meantime, visit Inside the Magic to watch their full video interview with Hill, and check out their preview video below.
Preview video via Inside the Magic:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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