Attractions Expert Q&A: Dave Cobb

By Kendall Wolf

Dave Cobb served as the park-wide creative director for the award-winning 1.6 million square foot indoor theme park, Warner Bros. Abu Dhabi. In this Guinness-World-record-setting park, Dave supervised the development of over 20 world-class attractions based on all of the iconic Warner Bros. brands, including Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbara, and DC Comics.

He is currently VP of creative development at Animal Repair Shop, a mixed-reality studio creating immersive, connected, and personal experiences for audiences of today and tomorrow.

What theme park souvenir might we be surprised to find on your shelf? What’s the story behind it?

Not a souvenir in the purchased sense, but a souvenir to me — I have two plastic and felt eyeballs that belonged to one of the animatronics from the original Knott’s Bear-y Tales dark ride. They were gifted to me by an industry friend about twenty years ago, decades after the ride closed. A prized possession from a favorite childhood attraction.

What theme park have you always wanted to visit but have never been to? 

Dollywood! Can you believe it? I’ve just never made time to go. I think we’re going to plan a Christmas trip there sometime in the next few years.

Was there a theme park or attraction that made you want to be in this industry? How did it inspire you?

Tied between Star Tours and Back to the Future because both put me directly in the middle of two of my favorite cinematic memories. As a young theater nerd and aspiring film-school writer, it combined both of those worlds by showing me that you can leverage both film and theatrical techniques together in theme parks and tell a story with an environment.

What was your favorite ride/attraction as a child, and why?

The Haunted Mansion. I even have a tattoo commemorating my love of it. It’s my origin story — at age four, it scared the heck out of me; at age ten, I discovered a book about theatrical stage illusions, and it de-mystified it, and as a teenager and young adult, I discovered its sly, arch sense of humor about death. “Foolish Mortal,” indeed.

Was there a ride, attraction, or character that frightened you as a child?

See above. Also, a weird one: The Magic Pagoda at Magic Mountain, a really weird and creepy walk-through when you’re seven or eight.

What is the oddest or coolest job you’ve had in a theme park?

Being a Studio Guide at Universal was a ton of fun and pretty cool because you got screenings, access to the lot, and daily exposure to film and TV production. But it was a very odd job, too — I was occasionally the foreman at the much-maligned Prop Plaza tram stop (RIP), which was weird and difficult and stressful and awful.

What ride/attraction do you think everyone needs to experience and why?

Pirates of the Caribbean. All of them, in order of when they opened, starting with Disneyland and ending with Shanghai. They are a clear example of how this industry has evolved — and the Shanghai iteration is, hands down, the best attraction I’ve ever experienced anywhere. Believe the hype. 

If you were tasked with creating a new theme park food, what would it be?

Adult beverages have become a huge part of the themed-entertainment food & beverage experience — just look at Trader Sam’s and Oga’s Cantina. I’d love to create some boozy beverages for attractions I’ve worked on. Heck, I think it’s a missed opportunity that they don’t create a speakeasy bar within Men In Black at Universal Orlando! Fans have even created the themed cocktails already.

You’re a walk-around character for a day – who do you choose?

Wile E. Coyote. He was my favorite walk-around character at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. The performers really leaned into his craftiness and subtle poses.

What types of attractions would you like to see more of and why?

Progressive, immersive-theatre-inspired attractions like Rise of the Resistance (and Star Trek: The Experience before it) are such a great way to combine the thrills of a ride with the intimacy and in-the-moment storytelling of theatre. I also have a soft spot for walk-through attractions, which are difficult to make work at scale operationally — but those attractions combine walk-through ideas with people-eating capacity.

Do you have any interesting theme park pandemic stories?

I loved the whole trend of people re-creating their favorite theme park attractions at home, #HomemadeThemeParks — I knew I had to do one, and of course, I needed to do one of my own attractions.

Can you talk about what you are working on these days?

Animal Repair Shop is doing all kinds of fun stuff in both location-based and at-home entertainment. Check out infiniterabbitholes.com to see our newest mixed-reality experience called THE ARKHAM ASYLUM FILES — it’s sort of a cross between a high-end board game and an escape room and uses mobile AR as a unique storytelling and puzzle-solving platform.

You are going to your favorite theme park – which industry people (dead or alive) are you taking with you?

Bob Gurr, because he’ll always stop for cocktails and will always have the best stories.