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.
Out of this world project
From 1995 to 1999 we worked almost full time at West Edmonton Mall, applying a brand new theme to what is now Galaxyland. It was a massive project! Our team expanded to twenty-two great people during that period. We applied a new overlay to most of the rides and all of the signage throughout the five acre indoor park and beyond, into the mall on other attractions. After we returned to our studio we would get the call to go back and do signage and features for new rides as they were installed. The last ride we did for them, about 2007, was the Galaxy Orbitor, a spinning coaster. We did the entire project in our studio, rather than on site, (a first for us) and then transported it to West Edmonton Mall for installation by their team. Most of the work we did for the mall is still in service up to twenty-five years later!
Flash to the past
In the mid 1990's we got the chance of a lifetime as we were asked to put a new fun face on many of the numerous attractions at West Edmonton Mall. We didn't know it then but the job would keep us there for five years full time and a few more years part time. We started the job with a small crew from British Columbia and over time expanded with local hires to more than twenty. This picture was taken in 1997 (twenty years ago!), a little more than a year after we started the massive project. Two employees in the picture are from BC, two from Edmonton, one from Nova Scotia plus Janis, Peter, Rebecca and I. We sure looked a whole lot younger then!
