It is relatively easy to come up with wild ideas and even commit them to paper. Concept drawings don't show a lot of detail. The first drawings float the ideas out there for consideration. Then the real work begins.
The rock climbing wall for the Trinidad project will tower over the park, perched on the top of the building for that extra bit of height. A rock skull on top would further the theme and story in a dramatic fashion. It was a cool idea.
But it would get much better as we discussed the idea with the folks at RockWerx, our buildiers of this attraction. Kyle suggested we add a jump to the attraction. Guests would harness up and then climb up to the top and jump (with their rapid descent controlled by a fancy mechanism.) It would be a thrilling addition to the park! I countered by upping the ante. What if we moved the rock wall to the edge of the building roof allowing our guests to fall an extra ten feet to the courtyard below. MORE COOL YET! Everyone bought into the idea.
We came up with a PIRATE name for the attraction... 'WALK THE PLANK'
As we refined the attraction design we decided a large hole through the center of the rock face would be very cool. The thing is the design instantly complicated things, especially how to fit a staircase inside the rock.
We considered and rejected a number of creative solutions. An outside staircase would give the guests a dramatic view of the ocean as they climbed, but the stairway would also impede the climbers on the outside. A circualr staircase would take up the least amount of valuable real estate but also be unsafe. In the end a simple concrete block tower with a switchback staircase inside proved to the most workable and economically viable solution. It also didn't compromise the fanciful design.
The ideas will go back and forth a few more times yet betwen the RockWerx team, the engineers and ourselves before it is all settled. Once everyone signs off on it we will begin the build to make it real. I'll be one of the first to rope up and jump from the top.
-grampa dan