Submit your attraction idea to Storyland Design Challenge

Storyland Design Challenge 2024

Storyland Studios, an experience design and strategy firm, invites armchair Imagineers, theme park fans, and artists of all kinds to “create a location-based entertainment attraction” for its Storyland Design Challenge.

The winner will receive $25,000 and will get to present their idea at IAAPA Expo 2024 in Orlando, Fla. They’ll also get to work with Storyland to “further develop the concept into a tangible, marketable product for the location-based entertainment space.”

Artists can submit their idea as an individual or as part of a team. Entry is open now through May 24, 2024.

Judges Panel and Criteria

Judges will assess Storyland Design Challenge submissions based on six values: depth and richness of storytelling, emotional resonance, design innovation, creative use of materials, executability, and ecological compatibility.

The panel of judges will include the following artists:

• Lexi Barry, strategy director and global entertainment leader at Gensler
• Morgane Keesling, senior manager of creative development at Disneyland Paris
• Fabien Manuel, creative director at Compagnie de Alpes
• Mel McGowan, co-founder and chief creative officer of Storyland Studios
• Timothy Sau Kin Ng, senior vice president of operations at Miral Experiences
• Theron Skees, founder of The Designer’s Creative Studio and former portfolio creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering
• Kelly Timmins, director of marine animal operations & sustainability at Atlantis Dubai
• Bob Weis, global entertainment leader at Gensler and former president of Walt Disney Imagineering

Weis led the creation of Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios), and recently returned to the park to celebrate its 35th anniversary alongside opening-day cast members from 1989, as well as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.