MONTEREY – Artifacts that deliver you again to a time when pirates and treasures could possibly be discovered within the waters off the Monterey Peninsula, have been recreated with a themed immersive journey experience on historic Cannery Row.
Primarily based on a real story that dates again to 1818, Treasure Hunt: The Journey takes members on a tour via the caverns of Cannery Row. The themed experience, developed by the Daniels Wooden Land and Sally Darkish Rides firms, hopes to open quickly.
“There was a pirate that sacked Monterey within the 1800s,” common supervisor Jeff Mosier mentioned. “That's the theme of the experience, with some added twists that make it entertaining for all ages.”
The experience – a primary of its type in Monterey – is getting its ultimate touchups. It’s situated underneath Sly Mcflys, 700 Cannery Row.
The plan that advanced two years in the past is themed with treasures, pirates, ghosts, even a 180-year-old piano all through the 8,400-square-foot tracked journey, offering its personal distinctive attraction.
“Now we have gone a bit of over funds,” Mosier mentioned, “to a tune of $8 million. The excellent news is it got here out of our personal pockets. So we're debt free. We didn’t have a whole lot of room for error with the house. Each measurement needed to be exact.”
Treasure Hunt: The Journey is near opening in Cannery Row pic.twitter.com/2bOiQl3NFI
— John Devine (@JohnJDevine) Could 4, 2023
The target within the four-minute experience is to shoot the skeletons along with your ‘treasure collector’ (weapon), in addition to different themed objects that come throughout you as riders try and take the treasure by piling up factors.
Alongside your journey again into time, you’ll discover interactive objects that may ping in case you nail them, in addition to a pair of cannons that sometimes shoot off a lightweight spray of water.
Every cart, which seats 4, will take you thru a mine cave that was created by hand earlier than you embark into the caverns of Cannery Row, the place skeletons, ghosts and Captain Bourchard search to guard the treasures.
Six carts will run concurrently on the electrical monitor in a well timed vogue, roughly 45 seconds aside, permitting as many as 24 riders at a time. Admission can be $24.99 and reservations can be allowed upfront to keep away from crowds.
Treasure Hunt: The Journey is near completion on Cannery Row pic.twitter.com/U21ICZSq3V
— John Devine (@JohnJDevine) Could 5, 2023
“All of what you see on the ceiling and alongside the partitions was handcrafted,” Mosier mentioned. “Rather a lot went into the designs and thought course of. There may be nothing like this that we’re conscious of.”
Every part within the absolutely immersive experience has a theme, beginning when the elevator drops you into the mine, to the dim flickering lights that create that horrifying feeling.
Whereas the target is to shoot objects along with your ‘treasure collector’ as they pop up alongside the course for factors, you may’t assist however really feel you’re in a film setting.
All through the experience, you hear the voices of Molina – the city drunk, and Captain Bourchard, who's defending his treasure from each the patrons and Molina.
The expertise really begins close to the principle entrance of the constructing, the place an 850-pound pole – that needed to be introduced in by hand – hoists a speaking and shifting pirate and parrot that greet you.
Your journey, which is roughly 20 minutes from the begin to end with a pre-show – takes you down a flight of stairs to the place you run into Molina and Don Pedro the donkey.
When you’re underground, the experience begins with a larger-than-life kraken that hovers above your cart and follows you all through a portion of the journey.
Remnants of what was as soon as a wax museum – that includes centuries of California historical past – have been additionally saved as a historic perspective to the property of Cannery Row.
“There’s additionally a piece of fingers on a wall of all the employees which have labored on this undertaking,” Mosier mentioned. “My hand is the one the place you rating factors in case you can guess which one.”
As you make your method via the caverns, what seems to be hundreds of skeletons to fireplace at, grace the 20-foot screens of animated waves of water, together with treasure chests that sit in actual sand.
A fog display screen alongside the journey creates an eerie really feel, offering a way of the unknown earlier than you start firing once more at your targets, including to the ambiance.
Among the many 14 high-definition televisions that assist inform the story, are two that sit above you on one portion of the experience as you make your journey via this magical journey.
The design and crafting that went into this undertaking offers a really feel that you simply’ve gone again into time, offering drama and twists round each nook alongside this journey.
“We hope that the patrons study a little bit of Monterey’s historical past, delivered through an interactive and enjoyable journey the entire household can get pleasure from,” Mosier mentioned.