When we were at the West Edmonton Mall applying a new theme to Galaxyland the fellow who we reported to would sometimes ask me to ‘go for a walk’ in the mall. We would most often go to an existing attraction. He would then ask me to come up with an idea to make it work better. One time we walked to the Sea Life Caverns. This was an aquarium that was situated in the ‘basement’ of the mall. I was told that people had been literally walking over a beautiful attraction without even realizing it was there. Over a period of years the mall owners had ‘tried everything’ from buildings to all types of signage. With so many things going on in the mall visitors simply did not take notice. Ideas came to my mind in an instant (as they often do) and I promised him a sketch (with a price tag) in a few days. True to my word I did. The idea was to give people an instant visualization of what was below. A giant mechanical fish, mouth wide open spanned the staircase. Under the tail was a small gift shop and ticket sales. I also handed him more sketches of how we would tie the mechanical theme throughout the aquarium space below. The mall folks loved the ideas and it was all soon under construction. In a few short weeks guests were flocking down the stairs to see this ‘new’ and exciting attraction.
