Valon Kyla: The Village of Lights

Disney Imaginations Competition 2019

Each year, the team at Walt Disney Imagineering (the creative teams behind the myriad Disney feats in theme parks, hotels, experiences and more) hosts a design competition for college students. The theme changes with each project, but each topic similarly pushes teams to think and create and present in the same way the Imagineers do. 

From the 2019 competition, the Imagineers prompted:

The world is full of Natural and Ancient wonders that are difficult to enjoy and explore either because they are remote, inhospitable, or have disappeared from time. In what ways can you create an experience that explores and shares these Wonders safely for a wide range of guests, at or near the original presumed location?

As a team, we developed a multi-day experience centered around one of the most magical and beautiful Natural Wonders of the World: Aurora Borealis. Valon Kylä is a family-friendly experience in Romanievi, Finland, where guests can explore the history and meaning of the Northern Lights through a dark ride focused on the Finnish myth of the Lights, multiple collaborative artistic experiences where guests can create their own Lights, and finally end each day by settling into a number of different themed watch locations to take in the beauty of the village’s namesake.

Team: Aurora Chang, Muhammad Bin Tahir Mir, Conor Triplett, Jue Wang

Role: Engineering and Technology, Attraction Design, Concept Development and Story Writing, Research, Producer