Over the 2022 – 2023 offseason, I was given the opportunity to lead the retheme of the park’s log flume attraction at Frontier City Theme Park. While the ride featured a series of tunnel scenes at the start, neither those scenes nor the overall attraction told a cohesive story. As such, I developed a new storyline centered on an active sawmill, reimagining the tunnel as the mill’s boiler and engine room to integrate it into the narrative. The outdoor sections would feature less physical theming since the ride vehicle would be traveling much faster, but with a heavier emphasis on sound to convey the idea of trees being fell from around the layout.

I removed the aging, moisture-damaged sets and constructed new pieces off-site, designed to be disassembled for ease of transport and reassembly inside the attraction. The new scenes featured low-voltage lighting that offered animated cues and more vibrant colors. Additionally, I created a Pepper’s ghost illusion of a moving canary inside a suspended birdcage to pay homage to the classic “canary in a coal mine” trope.