I was tasked with designing a marquee for a new attraction – “The Scarab’s Curse.” Set in Cairo, 1922, this walkthrough show features an archaeologist who leads guests deep into the recently discovered tomb of Tutankhamun. Along the way guests would face various skin crawling horror special effects before emerging safely back to the surface. Requirements for the marquee were for it to be freestanding and positioned at the queue entrance. The attraction’s name, signs for both Standby and VIP lanes (with separate wait times) were also required.
The storyline behind this marquee is that precious artifacts and portions of an Egyptian temple are being removed, stripped down, and prepared to be shipped to museums across the world. The most prominent example of this is a portion from the inside of the temple itself, cut off and in the process of being uncovered with towering scaffolding nearby. Turned into a makeshift advertising space, metal signs and work lamps have been hastily secured onto the formerly sacred temple wall to attract tourist attention for a scarab’s display inside the main temple. These work lamps and lanterns make up the area’s lighting, keeping in theme with a temporary dig site. A gramophone left behind by one of the excavators plays the era’s jazz classics, echoing into the courtyard.
Prop scaffolding can be seen on the other end of the wall, put into place by a careless archeologist who was in the process of translating the hieroglyphics seen in the center of the wall. Unfortunately, despite a warning from the Danvers Archeology National Geologist Expedition Reserve (D.A.N.G.E.R.) to keep the translation station covered from tourists, the tarp has blown off to reveal the ancient warnings of a curse within. Palm trees create much of the landscaping in this barren desert setting, most importantly serving as natural shade for the attraction’s outdoor queue. Ruined walls and brick walkways form the pathway that guests will take through the first portion of this queue.
To clearly communicate wait times for both Standby and VIP lanes, a repurposed time clock used by archeologists to punch in for work can be found on top of a platform of detailed crates marked with archeology-related gags. Despite not working as it used to, metal signs have been bolted onto the nearby wooden beams as a retrofitted divider for the two lanes needed for guest capacity.