Mystery Cove
Early Mystery Cove entrance concept
I served as Creative Lead through the development of Mystery Cove, a new indoor waterpark planned for Mall of America. I worked closely with MOA’s VP of Experiential, Chris Grap to help develop his concept into a living, breathing environment.
From the beginning we wanted to create a highly themed, immersive environment that transported guests from the real world into a tropical adventure. This gave us a focus on a strong story foundation, supported by themed landscaping, buildings, props, music and lighting to be as rich and convincing as possible.
Development
I always like to start with moodboards as it’s the fastest way of establishing a foundation for the look, mood and personality of the project. It also helps when pitching to stakeholders - a picture tells a thousand words after all! With moodboards I started defining a tropical island, combined with the ingenuity of its castaways creatively recycling found objects that wash up on the island’s shores.
Distilling these ideas into an overall Design Ethos and Principles helped everyone involved work towards a singular vision, and support a clear story.
Design Ethos:
“The uniqueness of Mystery Cove will depend largely on the design execution, with every element seamlessly building and supporting the story without contradiction.
From the largest attractions, to the smallest detail. Everything feels like it was built by hand from parts found in nature, or scavenged from washed-up flotsam and jetsam. As a result, there’s a friendly, smalltown feel with ingenious upcycling and objects used in surprising ways.
As everything has been found and recycled - this means nothing will match - on buildings, every door and window will be different, lighting fixtures won’t be repeated and tiles won’t be uniform. It all feels organic, and not like it was bought wholesale.”
Design Principles:
Reward Exploration - “Give visitors reasons to come back by packing in too many details for them to absorb in just one visit. We don’t just design for the first visit, we design for the 20th visit. We want the park to be equally satisfying for casual visitors and hardcore explorers alike; on the surface you can have a great time, riding the attractions and experiencing the Cove, but for people who like digging for details, there’ll be plenty to find.”
Living Environment - “Everything in the park will make sense within the story - this will be an immersive, rich environment that is closer to a theme park than a swimming pool. Plenty of kinetics will allow the world to feel alive, rather than a boring diorama - moving attractions, water, structures and light. This will be a lived-in world with evidence of characters’ homes, handmade props and attractions. Everything will look like it’s natural, or hand-built, rather than looking artificially engineered.
Story
“In the dead center of the Bermuda Triangle lies Mystery Cove, a tropical paradise that doesn’t exist on any map, and can only reached by mishap. During a terrible storm, a plane crash brought the Siddy twins, Evelyn and Arthur, to its shores. Using their skills, Evelyn the inventor and Arthur the botanist not only survived, but thrived as they explored the unique and enigmatic island. In time, more lost souls arrived and came to call Mystery Cove their home, each bringing their talents and culture to the community. Now you’ve arrived as a castaway, ready to discover the secrets of Mystery Cove for yourself.”
Outposts
Mystery Cove is divided into five uniquely themed outposts, allowing Mystery Cove to feel richer to explore and have a greater variety of looks and moods.
I got to create the Outposts, name them, develop their identities through moodboards, sketches and concept art, and finally create these postcards for marketing the idea.
Fortune Falls - This is first outpost visitors will encounter when they arrive at Mystery Cove. A beautiful but mysterious waterfall of glowing azure water, with a crashed plane perched on top. Wind blows though the rocks and plants. The eerie sounds of radio transmissions and SOS signals seem to haunt the falls.
The Cove is the heart of Mystery Cove; a stunning beach where waves lap the shore, and stricken steamship Il Corraggioso lays on the rocks. Walkways and rope bridges criss cross waterfalls behind the ship and a lazy river winds around the lagoon. This is a place to relax, grab a cocktail and take in the scenery.
Bizarboretum - These gardens are home to Mystery Cove’s most remarkable plant life. Guests can take a spin around Arthur’s greenhouse, or smaller gardeners can get soaked by gargantuan flowers in the splash garden. All the buildings and fixtures have an ornate 1920s feel, but overrun by nature.
Peril Peak is the highest and most dangerous part of the island - lava flows down into steaming ponds and gnarled windswept trees dot the landscape. A Mexican daredevil family have set up their old carnival tents and lights and reused their motorbike ramp to create a slide only the fearless can conquer.
Eureka Reef is where Eveyln has set up her workshop, turning the flotasam and jetsam that washes up on the reef, into gadgets and inventions to make life on the island easier. From the water-purifying slide wheel to the power generating waterslides, everything is upcycled, kinetic and ingenious with a little Streamline Moderne flair.
Attractions
For each attraction, the main challenge was dressing the proposed ride systems to support into the look and theme of Mystery Cove
F&B
The food and beverage experience was designed to be as themed and fun as the attractions - each one reflecting the personality of the castaway who runs it.
Double Dog Dare - What would a hot dog stand look like if it was run by a troupe of circus daredevils?
Tac-o-matic - A Streamline Moderne taco truck, built by a genius inventor
Vesuvio’s Dive Bar - This charming nautical themed tiki bar is located in the stricken wooden ship, Il Corraggioso. It is owned by the ship’s former captain, world famous diver and treasure hunter - Signor Vesuvio. In his arrogance, his overloaded ship ran aground at Mystery Cove one stormy night, never to return to the ocean, The interior of the ship is a warm, mysterious and inviting place, filled with treasures from his legendary voyages - maps, antiques, digging equipment, flags, a fish tank with a replica of his ship, and a giant safe.
Tuberries give a grounded reason for the inflatable tubes in the park, and create a unique food offering too
Seasonal Events
Halloween - For the Halloween season, Mystery Cove takes on a spooky atmosphere after dark; the radio station plays Halloween themed music, broken up with static and ghostly howls. The sounds of a mysterious beast stalk the jungle, shrieks and roars fill the slides, crashes of thunder and lighting light up the Cove. Peril Peak is decorated for Dia De Los Muertos with an ofrenda for the Fuertes matriarch. The Bizarboretum is overrun with goofy, monster plants. Special Halloween food, drinks and cocktails give guests a reason to stop by this month.
Christmas - Mystery Cove gets an unexpected visitor every Christmas when Santa's wayward sleigh crash lands on the island. Reindeer can be seen all across Mystery Cove, getting some R&R before their big journey. Tropical Christmas tunes play on the radio station, with the characters announcing their Christmas plans, Santa sightings and traditions.
The Cove’s residents decorate the island in their own idiosyncratic ways; Arthur’s garlands of exotic plants, Evelyn’s built a gift wrapping machine. Santa himself will be available for kids to meet in the Christmas Grove.
Logo
Mystery Cove’s logo was inspired by typography from the park’s 1930s-50s setting, including movie titles, pulp magazines, WPA National parks posters and tiki bar matchbooks. This typography conveys the park’s romantic historical setting, as well as the air of the strange and unknown surrounding Mystery Cove’s story.
Having a stripped-back wordmark makes the design versatile enough to be used on any surface, whether its carved into rock, painted onto a sail or burned into wood.