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Welcome back to the BalloonTown 2005 saga, part two. In this month's column, I'm going to take you on a descriptive tour of the exhibit from start to finish, and maybe you'll discover the whereabouts of Princess Pearl.
See, last year we discovered something about our viewing audience. Essentially, Balloonsylvania took 18,000 plus balloons and three weeks to build. But when it comes to the attention span of an eight-year old kid, all of that means very little. We literally watched dozens of children enter through the main doorway and jam through the project in less than five minutes! OK, so we're not responsible for making sure that every person coming through the exhibit gets the full value of their entrance fee, but we do feel like the parents should expect more than five minutes of time passing before their kids are ready to go.
So, we decided one thing that might help extend the visit to BalloonTown and keep people's interests would be a story line. This way, the families are forced to stop in each chamber and follow the plot lines posted on signs in each room. It slows the pace, encourages the children to pay attention to smaller details, and increases the overall value of the experience.
After you pass the registration table, you pass through a couple of typical palm trees. Mind you, the entranceway to the lagoon is blocked by thick vines and foliage, so you'll have to part them in order to enter the exhibit.
Once you part the vines, you find yourself at the very heart of the theme, Balloon Lagoon. On all sides, you find yourself surrounded by high cliff walls. Of course, the cliffs of Balloon Lagoon are speckled with gorgeous tropical flowers and clinging vines. Below, the aqua blue waters of the lagoon are teaming with life. A pair of elegant flamingos sit perched in the water, searching for their next snack. Starfish and various crustaceans are found climbing along the edge of the shores and overhead, seagulls float just below the white puffy clouds.
Off to the side, however, you noticed two sights. The first is a large waterfall directly in your path. The other is Chief Ooga Booga, the leader of Balloon Lagoon's local native tribe. He sits waiting for you with a very sad look on his face. It seems that his friend, Princess Pearl the mermaid, has not been seen for several days. She had mentioned to the chief that she had heard about a sunken treasure chest recently uncovered by an underwater quake, and the last time Ooga Booga saw her, she was about to go in search of it. Clearly, something has happened to her because she never missed their daily visits in the lagoon.
Sadly, however, Chief Ooga Booga never learned how to swim, so he needs you to help him find Princess Pearl. According to the chief, all you need to do is pass underneath the magical waterfall directly before you and you will be transported to the underwater world of Balloon Lagoon. Naturally, you agree to take on this challenge, and as such you pass through the waterfall.
Now, the storyline is cute and all, but how will we pull it off? Well, let's start with the very beginning. The palm trees are simple enough, but the vines and such the guests will have to pass through at the entrance are scheduled to be made from strips of cloth cut in a zig-zag pattern to give them more of an organic look. The various shades of green and brown strips will be suspended by a cross pole over the inside of the doorway leading into the room. I really like the viewer to be completely surprised as they first enter the project, and we don't want everyone waiting in the lobby to get an eyeful of what is ahead until they're actually inside the room.
Once inside, the cliff walls of the lagoon are made entirely from square-packed garland columns. In fact, nearly every wall inside the project is made in this manner. I prefer them over SDS or RMS in this application because the very nature of the columns gives you a "double layer" effect in the event of leaks or popped balloons during the public exhibition. The flowers and vines climbing the walls will be made from various fantasy flower techniques as well as some other methods, including fabric, ribbon and such.
The wildlife of the room (flamingos, seagulls, crabs, Ooga Booga, etc) will all be made from various types of balloon sculptures. I guess this kind of goes without saying, but we want this project to be as true to balloon decor as possible without moving into the prop department or taking the easy route and using lots of foils.
The "water" of the lagoon is easy enough. Numerous 5" and 9" shades of blue will be used to fill the empty space between the walls inside this first chamber. To prevent any gapping issues, inexpensive aqua blue plastic table cloths are going to be laid down underneath the balloons so the floor won't show through.
Finally, the waterfall is actually a multi-layered piece. There are two "under coatings" so to speak of 6" link-a-loons hanging downward from a similar support structure as featured in the vines. The outer layer most visible to the viewer consists primarily of individual 5" blue, light blue and white "bubbles" strung together on mono line. This combination allows us to give not only depth to the waterfall but also the (hopeful) idea of motion. Link-a-loons alone will not give the illusion of cascading water; they're too symmetrical by design. The individual bubbles placed more randomly and organically along the outside layer will create more of a motion effect for the viewer.
As the guests pass underneath the fall, they will actually enter a small blue tunnel. Inside the tunnel will be a fog machine spraying occasional blasts of misty clouds along the floor to add to the cascading water effect. In addition, small "water lights" will be mounted to add a "rippling" effect along the inside of the tunnel.
Essentially, the guests find themselves surrounded by aquatic excitement. Various helium filled pieces, consisting of both bubbles and varieties of fish, will be floating above the walkway so our visitors won't just be looking to their left and right.
Visitors will first enter what we call the "school room". After that, they'll pass by the sea horse races, a narrow stretch known as Jellyfish Alley and take a tour through Turtle Town. Along the way, they'll be introduced to other characters who will continue the story line that they hadn't seen the missing mermaid, but heard rumors about where she might be.
As is typical BalloonTown fashion, the rooms will be separated by the same square packed columns. Mind you, the walls of the underwater chambers will be designed in a wave like pattern in different shades of blue. Giant anemone sculptures will help fill in some of the spaces between scenes as well as home-made coral outcroppings.
This is where our guests will get to make a choice. Even though the Murky Deep is not intended to be scary, it might be a little too intense for smaller visitors. So, our searchers can either pass through the cave entrance to the Deep, or take the built in by-pass to skip ahead to more dangerous waters.
Last year, the most popular section of "Balloonsylvania" was Dr. Squish's lab. This year, it's expected to be the Deep and for the same reason I'm sure. The Murky Deep is actually a black-light room with sculptures made entirely from Betallic Neons. The school that is hosting the event also sponsors a yearly haunted house. Among their arsenal of special effects and lighting includes several black-light flood lights which they're being kind enough to lend to us for this application.
Because of the limited sizes of neon balloons, many of the fish created for the Murky Deep will need to be woven from 260s. This is expected to take up at least 3/4 of one of our installation days. Fortunately, because we have a larger crew of professional volunteers this year than last, I'm actually hoping to get started on them a day or two before we actually start installing. With the volume of twisted pieces that need to be made for Balloon Lagoon (including but not exclusive to plant life, jelly fish, fish parts, dolphins, sharks, turtles and more), I can use all the time I can get!
Another added bonus to the Murky Deep is a trick I learned at one of the conventions I attended years ago. Rather than just have regular bubbles inside the Deep, we're hoping to have "glowing bubbles" using Hi-Float and florescent paint. Basically, you take a few small drops of the paint and add it to the Hi-Float. Squeeze it around the inside of the clear balloon and viola, you have glowing bubbles. Mind you, I'll be doing some experiments to make sure it's working correctly BEFORE we start setting up.
According to the story line, however, you discover that Princess Pearl passed through these waters some time ago. She had hoped that the treasure chest would be found before swimming into these waters because everyone knows that there's nothing but trouble beyond the edge of the Murky Deep...
Welcome to Davy Jones' Locker, the most dangerous region of Balloon Lagoon. Here, electric eels nap nearby in the tall seaweed, and overhead great white sharks patrol the waters, looking for those foolish enough to enter their world to serve as their next meal.
What you also discover along the way is that you've found both the missing mermaid and the unearthed treasure. As you round the corner into Davy Jones' Locker, you find Princess Pearl, cowering behind the large chest of jewels and gold. It seems she was able to get in close to the treasure chest to examine the goods inside, but when the sharks returned to the region, all she could do was hide in the hopes they wouldn't find her. And the only way for you to escape is to sneak past the hungry fish and slip through a dark and dank cave.
Now that we've set the scene, let's talk a little bit about how we plan to put it in motion. Both the sharks and the electric eels are going to be made from woven 260s. The eels will be posted up along the walking path, and the sharks will be suspended directly overhead of the guests. Since the implication is that the visitors were able to sneak by them, we wanted to give our visitors the feeling like they were just within reach of danger.
Princess Pearl's treasure chest will also be woven from brown 260s, and filled with a variety of distorted balloons to create the illusion of jewels. Add a few colored twinkle lights inside and we're able to create the "bling" our missing mermaid was so desperate to find.
Finally, the cave entrance, much like the waterfall and main entranceway from the start, will incorporate an element of concealment. We really want the guests to be completely uncertain of what is ahead in their journey as opposed to just looking through a straight tunnel and seeing light on the other side.
This is where our "after party" will take place. Our smaller guests will be able to play a game, have their faces painted, color a picture of their favorite mermaid and pose with her as well. In addition, this is where guests will be able to receive their complimentary balloon as well as an entry for our scavenger hunt. At that point, the kids will be able to go back through Balloon Lagoon again and hunt for the various elements listed on the hunt form.
Ultimately, all the decor here will be fairly simple helium filled octopi. Since there won't be a lot of room on the ground for more decor, we'll have them simply "swimming" above the guests. Aside from another sculpture of Princess Pearl for the guests to take pictures with, there just won't be a lot of space with all the vending tables that are needed.
And there you have it... Balloon Lagoon in a nut shell (or maybe I should say sea shell!)
OK, next month we'll examine some of the ideas we came up with to help market the event to the public. Until then, I have to get back to work!
Steven Jones
