Screenland© — a part of Figure Nation with live entertainment, written by Terry John Barto

The area starts out looking like a grainy black-and-white movie. The audience is presumably inside a silent film in a land that resembles 1920s Hollywood. A crew is on location filming a Charlie Chaplin-style movie that visitors enter as an extra. SAMANTHA, the assistant director, ushers the new participants to where the next shot will be. She explains their motivation for the scene, snaps shut the clapperboard, and director J.B. TUTTLEBAUM yells, "Action."

Classic buildings are motifs, including Schwab's Pharmacy, the historic Max Factor structure, Ciro's, Le Dome, and all the glitz of old Hollywood. Paths in the theme park show the silent era through 1930s Streamline Moderne, then 1945 to the early 1970s Googie Architecture, as colors gradually weave into the background. They arrive in a movie studio and travel past a John Wayne western, an Esther Williams-style water ballet, and a lavish musical on the backlot, with the director on a camera crane.

After passing sound stages, winding down Colonial Street, and traversing different sets, there's a secret warehouse filled with old movie props.

Each prop stored here was imbued with magical powers by wannabe Wizard/ Propmaker PERCY McNUTIA, a persnickety man obsessed with details. His effort to be authentic went awry, and these props were banned and hidden in this warehouse on the outskirts of the studio. 

The actors include volunteer audience members transported into iconic films as they act out a scene with enchanted props. Set pieces slide in, backdrops fly in, and projections from the movie encompass them. 

Exhilarated that someone finally discovered this clandestine storeroom, CHECKMATE, the featured chess clock in Searching for Bobby Fischer, befriends the audience. He tags along as their companion to ensure their safe return.

On Nowhere Lane, travelers come from the rear of a facade to the front of a superficial hotel. They push in a revolving door and enter what should have been the other side.

Instead, guests walk through a dusty foyer and into an abandoned hotel lobby. At the end of the hall, mysteriously, doors open to an elevator. The riders are seated like in The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™/ Guardians of the Galaxy layout. The doors close from top to bottom (as if it were the blink of an eye), and the elevator takes off like a rocket.  

ELLIE, the MAGIC ELEVATOR, is a cheerful woman who is a history buff and clings to the past. She takes the riders on a turbulent passage to one-time Hollywood. Like the elevator in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Ellie goes Around the World in 80 days seconds. Then, she backs up into the Hollywood 1950s after the silent movie era and races down Sunset Boulevard. 

Enter JOE GILLIS, who convinces Ellie to move on to the present time. She tentatively wavers and chugs along but then lurches to the next level. On each level, the elevator stops will progress in time and be in the chases of the ages: Bullitt (1968), The French Connection (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Smokey & The Bandit (1977), The Blues Brothers (1980), The Italian Job (2003), until the highest level segues into the style of Back to the Future: The Ride/ The Simpsons Ride and we're in the middle of Top Gun.

Back at the ride's entrance, guests can choose between an extreme and mild ride. Next to the elevator is an escalator that leads to a smoother visual journey. It places the rider in classic TV shows, including I Love Lucy, where they are absorbed into the TV and zapped from channel to channel.

The Land, Brace Yourself, Launch Me! 

WGAw registration: 2249601 

Each unit brings to life an animated movie franchise. The tie-in is a sweeping cinematic approach to the music composition. For example, John Williams' Superman March has a driving rhythmic energy, with smooth, lilting passages like "Can You Read My Mind" drifting by in a dream. Even though the cadence varies, violin orchestrations continue similarly through the transitions to form a fundamental connection for the entire piece.

For the Reel Magic parade, the passages are themes associated with our movies. Sooner or later, every section gets a melody unique to its film, although the music stays on the same track throughout the performance. 

Choreographically, an unshakable march with innovative dance unifies the parade, demonstrating a strive for excellence that the characters conveyed in the film they represent. When their special moment floats through the music, the featured routine becomes a focal point as the others turn toward them in reverence. Since the audience is already facing the parade, subtly, it will add a feeling of inclusion and interaction.

WGAw registration: 2250981