1031 – North Pole Park Train Tour
A theme park in the North Pole is just getting started just in time for you to get a good winter's rest.
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Notable Language:
- Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
- Mammalian
- Yosemite-Type Influence (YTI)
Notable Culture:
- Disney
- Cary Elwes
- The Princess Bride
Notable Talking Points:
- This train’s better at pulling
- Meet expectations and also upend expectations
- This land is very under construction
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Episode 1031 – North Pole Park Train Tour
[START OF RECORDING]
SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, patron peeps, couldn’t do it without you. Thank you so much for your support, patrons. I really appreciate it, and I’m so honored to be able to put you to sleep, and what do you say we get on with the show?
INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake, whether it’s thoughts you’re thinking about on your mind, feelings, any…so thoughts about the past, the present, the future, feelings, anything you’re feeling physically or emotionally that’s coming up for you. So, feelings, physical sensations, changes in your time, your temperature, your…I talked about this a while ago; your lat…changes in latitudes or changes in attitudes or changes in dreams.
Holy cow, that’s what I’m dealing with right now, some strange dreams. I had Cary Elwes in my dream and it wasn’t a bad dream, it wasn’t a good dream, either. It was one of those dreams…I said oh boy, that was strange. Not appropriate for a sleep…oh, sorry. I’m introducing a sleep podcast. I haven’t even got to the beginning of the intro yet. So, whatever is keeping you awake, I’d like to take your mind off of that. The way I’m gonna do it is I’m gonna try to create a safe place. I’m gonna smooth it, I’m gonna pat it, I’m gonna rub it down, I’m gonna say safe place, I’m gonna use my hands in a welcoming manner. Hopefully you could feel that because I’m glad you’re here. Then I’m gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night. I guess I say that, but ideally…the sending is more of an emotional thing.
I don’t know if you get that; I’m sending my voice across the deep, dark night. My voice was…before I started sending it, it was being sent, but it was a pre…you know what a train…it’d be like if the train engine was in the middle of the train. You say, why don’t you…they never ask me for any advice, but I’ve seen engines…or are those…locomotives, they call them. I’ve seen them at the front of trains and then some places I’ve seen them at the end of the train. Here’s an idea, free idea, go ahead and use it. Maybe science, as usual, will prove me wrong, or…but usually we don’t get to science, ‘cause they say Scoots, you don’t need to look that up. Common sense would say…and I’d say okay, that’s…makes common sense to me. I didn’t think of it, but you say what about putting that locomotive right in the middle?
That’s kinda like when I send…then they say well, where…what…can you use an example, Scoots, of when that had worked? Well, when I send my voice across the deep, dark night. But you’re speaking somewhat figuratively. Oh, really? Oh yeah, I guess you’re kinda right. Kinda right, kinda wrong, but…well, with the train…Scoots, we can’t…oh, okay. It makes sense. Yeah, I ride in a train. I getcha. Oh, tonight’s episode will probably be about trains, so that’s handy. Okay, where was I? Oh, to send my voice across the deep, dark night. I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents. That means I’m gonna get mixed up, I’m gonna go off-topic, I’m gonna repeat myself, I’m gonna seem like I’m not making any sense. That’s 100% craft, you know.
It’s not my real personality shining…it is. It’s a little bit of craft, a little bit of magic, and a little bit of me. But seriously, some part of my brain’s like wait a second, if you can put the train at the front or the end, how come you can’t put it in the middle? I mean, I understand; you say well, this train’s better at pulling and this train’s better at pushing, Scoots. I say, okay. So then you just put those two in the middle and you put the trains on either side. Boom. You got yourself a super…you got a situation there. You may have a super train. I’ve heard other trains called super trains before, but is it…does it have one locomotive pushing and one pulling? Yep. See? You had to think about it. Even the engineers of the world, the…oh no, only the imagineers…the…no, the engineers?
Oh, I don’t know my imagineer from my engineer. Only the engineers in my mind paused and wondered about that. That was how I knew I’d never be an engineer. Stick to looking at trains. So, okay, so if you’re new, you probably already got the sense this podcast is very different. It is somewhat of an acquired taste, but not in an exclusive way. It’s like a free sample you’re listening to now. It usually takes a couple free samples to figure out huh, this podcast is different; tastes different, the texture’s different. It’s a bit strange. So, give it a few tries. That’s what hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have said. Didn’t like this podcast the first time I listened; now I listen every night. Really, I’m not even kidding. You could look through our reviews.
That’s like, every fourth review says something like eh, wasn’t for me, but then I gave it a few tries; I realized oh, this is a podcast you don’t really listen to or pay attention to. So, that’s one thing to know. The other thing and the most important thing to know is that I’m glad you’re here and I really hope I can help you fall asleep, because you deserve a good night’s sleep. You deserve a bedtime where you can feel a little bit of relief and rest and not rigmarole, where it’s something you at least feel neutral about and you don’t dread, because I’ve been there. If I can help you with that by being goofy and taking your mind off of stuff, it’d be my honor. But if you get the rest you need through this podcast or any other podcast, you can see other podcasts at sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou.
If you can find something that works for you and you get better…the better…you get some rest, your life’s gonna be a little bit better, a little bit more manageable, and that’s the most beautiful thing I could ever do other than being a parent and a family member and a friend and a member of the community, which is all interrelated to that stuff anyway. So, you can do that stuff, too, that’s really…would be touching and honor…I’d be honored to make your bedtime less dreadful. The other side of that is I know how it is. Like I said, I got the…last night I had a case of the ewes from Cary Elwes. They say, that’s not how you…and I say okay, the actor from that movie with the…Princess Bride movie, among other great appearances including recently on other shows, even.
But yeah, it wasn’t…like I said, it was just…I said, wait a second…I guess we were kind of friends. It was weird; we were at a conference together and I was just like…anyway, not important. What’s important is you getting the sleep you need, because I know how it feels in the deep, dark night, tossing, turning, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep. That was last night. I woke up from that dream and a couple other ones and it was not…one of those things. Too close to my alarm for me to fall back asleep and too early for me to be comfortable getting up. So if I can help, that would be my pleasure. The other things to know is that this podcast doesn’t really put you to sleep.
It’s here to keep you company while you drift off, and if you can’t sleep, I’m here to keep you company too, or if it’s during the day and you need a break. I’m here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff, so that is really what my job is, right? So, that’s what I’m here to try to do, and not so much put you to sleep. Now, if you fall asleep, that’s great, ‘cause I’ve taken your mind off of stuff. Maybe you’ve gotten confused. Maybe you realized I can only…I…this voice is kinda comforting even when I don’t pay attention, or maybe you’re just like oh, you were keeping me company and then I just fell asleep, because that’s…I was listening loosely. So, it’s also a podcast you don’t really totally listen to. It kinda makes sense. You can listen, but the listening’s optional. So, those are other important things.
The other things that can throw new people off and that regular listeners love hearing about is the structure of the show. The podcast…with podcast apps in particular, you can really adapt to how you listen to the podcast once you become a regular listener. But the show is structured in a very specific way to meet the goals of the show. So, one of the goals of the show is for you to feel welcome. Now, not everybody’s gonna feel welcome, but I hope you do. That’s what we start off with; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Like, a kinda ‘come on in.’ I hope you feel seen and you say okay, I’ve…I could feel welcome here. Then there’s support, support for the listeners that maybe are having a tough time right now, support for communities we all are a part of and live in, and then support for the show, ‘cause one of the goals is it comes out twice a week which is a pretty good amount of work, regularly every single week, twice a week, and that it’s free or that paying for it is optional.
So, the support for the show there and later in the show is what enables us to do that. Then after the support part there is the intro, and the intro goes from, what, I don’t know, eight minutes into twenty minutes into the show, or somewhere…it could be earlier or later or it could go longer. That’s where I’m…what I’m doing now. I try to explain what the podcast is. Generally, I am not super successful or at least I’m not very…I don’t know. Am I not cogent? I’m not efficient at it. But that means you get a different intro every time you listen to the show, so you say oh, okay, I have something new to listen to every night, some new tangent Scoots could be going on. Dreaming of Elwes. So, at least my brain doesn’t say oh no, this is just another set of birds singing in the wilderness or whatever.
Now, that does work for some people; it just doesn’t work for me. So, there’s that. Then there’s…what else do we got going? Oh, the intro. Oh, then after the intro is more sponsor support, sponsors and stuff. That’s…again, the show…our goals are the show to be free…oh, also, most people fall asleep after the intro and after the sponsor stuff, during the story, because the other purpose of the intro and why people say why does the intro go on and on and on, it’s to help ease you into bedtime or be there as you’re getting ready for bed, and just be a separation between the daytime and the nighttime, kinda like a long, slow landing strip or something like that. So, that’s why the intro goes on and on and on, and why…it’s fine; listeners do fall asleep during the beginning of the show, or they skip ahead, 2% or 3% of people, or they listen to story-only episodes on Patreon, or they make playlists on Patreon for what works for them.
But yeah, that’s kinda this progression of the show. That support there helps us keep the show free for everybody, which is cool. Then there’s our story. Tonight it’ll be another train tour. We’re doing these seasonal train tours up at the North Pole. Then there’s some thank-yous at the end. So, that’s the structure of the show, that’s why I make the show, to help you, because…and because I’ve been there, because I know…I might not be know…know what you’re going through, but I have a general idea of what it feels like, the loneliness and the frustration, so I don’t know. I’m really glad I’m here. I work really hard, I yearn and I strive. I really hope you can…I can help you fall asleep. Give it a few tries. Thanks again for coming by, and here’s the ways I’m able to do this for you for free twice a week. Thanks.
Alright, hey. Welcome to North Pole Train Tours, or the…yeah. I mean, we’ve been trying to take all the train tracks. Not…well, technically not all of them ‘cause some of them are top secret, but to take everything here at the North Pole and use it for more than one purpose, and that includes maybe one day opening up the North Pole to tours. So, today we have another special tour. Thank you for settling into your seat. We do have some…a welcome…a couple welcome things for you to enjoy. This is the tea cart here, and we…but it’s also…you could have some cocoa, you could have some tea, just some water if you want. Later on, you have a option…this is a warm service, but…or a cool water service, but we will have nog later, other options.
We have some sugar cookies and cookie alternatives, sugar-free cookies, gluten-free cookies, and just some candy canes, however you…yeah, they are delicious. Oh, you could try all of them. You can have one of each or…but you’re gonna see at the station, as we begin to pull out, that is…now, we don’t normally glorify Santa too much here at the North Pole, or all of us elves. But this is a really special place, and occasionally we need a statue, and this is a particular…this is our North Pole Main Station. I guess because there are…this is one of the trains — not that you’re on — but that comes into the station that is one of the ones that is regularly used by non-North Polians, or North Poles. They say, what…if you’re a resident of the North Pole, what do you call yourself? We call ourselves North Poles.
You know, people have a laugh at it, but normally people don’t ask anyway. They say oh, you’re an elf. But if…when we practice language, because some of us use different language apps, you know, like learning the languages of the world; part of…an important part of our…both our jobs, but it’s also enjoyable. We try to…we say oh, yes…so, but they say yeah, that’s…and we’re North Poles. I don’t know if that’s official, though, but that’s just…it’s in popular usage here at the North Pole, or I guess it would be in popular usage if it was something that came up a lot. All that said, you’re seeing a giant statue of Santa Claus holding a hand with an elf in triumph, and Santa is pointing off in the direction of where the sun would normally set. Well, actually, exactly where the sun would set here on the evening of the 25th.
Correct, because that’s when Santa says I’m going to bed for a while, a long winter’s nap. You can kinda see that Santa’s shoulders, if you really look closely, are a little bit slumped, but the joy and relaxation on both Santa and the elf’s face is very…the kinda reaction you have after a satisfying work season. Now, you’re gonna be noticing a…now, you can’t see these out the window. It’s ‘cause there’s also a walking path, but we’re going through. We’re gonna take one right turn and then another right turn, then a left turn and a left turn, then a right turn and a right turn, and a left turn and a left turn as we work our way out of this…out of the North Pole. That’s also because the existing infrastructure, I find it very relaxing ‘cause the train would already have to go slow anyway, ‘cause we’re leaving the station.
There’s a residential area. So, we’re weaving in-between residential areas and some guest areas, guest facilities, and also we’re going…we’ll be underneath some buildings that were built on top of this. Then we’re gonna do a left, but instead of a…two lefts, we’re just gonna make one left, and we’re gonna go on a long stretch. Now, if you were walking outside, it would kinda show…because…you could kinda notice that a lot of our…we do a lot of things where we have a park on top of stuff. So, above the train tracks, a lot of the times, we have…if we’re not underground or there’s not already something above us, we do have these greeneries covering particularly here, because it reduces sound, and the train does run on electricity, but in the past it did not.
So, these greeneries…it’s a bit of a arch or a bit of a…not a dome. A ceiling; a green ceiling. You know, of course intertwined with the metal, but you can walk up there, and that has a history. It’s the North Pole’s Memory Lane. Now, that is only for North Polians, because there is another memory…and now we’re taking a right and working our way through…that’s really for North Polians, though there is a section of it…so, the part where we turned left but we didn’t do two lefts is where…that’s North Polians only. If you go back…that was when we came out of the underground again, but if you went back to the…where we were making a lot more turns, that is kinda the more official mythology of the North Pole. It’s not really changed much, and the…just as the entertainment, and also it’s…goes along with popular culture.
So, the official in quotes, “history of the North Pole” is the…we try to do…take all the world’s traditions…I guess popular myth, and some less than pop…the myths you may say are less than popular, but it’s weaved into the cultures of the world that we serve. Now we’re making another right turn and yeah, again, all the history is going on above us. Another thing we’re…we are working on…because even though these two…we do want to do another walk like this on…now, it might not be above the…any trains, so it’s kind of strange I’d be telling you this, but you know, there’s a lot of repurposing going on of train trestles, and we love that kinda stuff. We take inspiration from the world sometimes, but we’d…once we’ve established a location, we’d like to do something with some of the timeline of the…the public timeline again.
Not just the pop culture, ‘cause a lot of time, parts of our North Pole timeline that you might be coming…that might be news to you. It is all part of this place we’re going eventually, as we make another turn again. We’ve got two more turns before we enter North…I guess they should prepare you for…is a train tour through North Pole Park. This was something we had a lot of…this is something that’s been a long time coming, but a long time avoiding, which was a theme park and a celebration of…and a place for people to come to the North Pole. Now, you do have the option like with these train tours to actually experience the real North Pole. Elves, we’re mammals too. Maybe you didn’t know that, so we do share a lot of mammalian traits with human beings.
There’s human beings that are part of the North Pole, but…so, we all have strong feelings, right? Not all those…those feelings are real, but we also have…so, there’s always been a vision for a long time to have a theme…we don’t want to use the word theme park just because that is a loaded term up here, but I mean, I’m here to give you a tour. I’m not here to pander to the North Polians. This is…will not be a train tour geared towards elves, but people could…I guess could come on it. But so, it’s basically a theme park because the thing was…because you can’t have people running around the North Pole, because there’s work to be done and also, there’s stuff that…things and…it also is our job to keep the mystique…is…that was another very strong concern. One; why do people need to come up here at all?
None of their business. Keep it a fan…keep it…let them project their own thing onto the holiday season. Why…? So, we took those and we finally are about…now, we’re not open and we’re not…we don’t have a opening date, but you’re gonna get to see some of the things that are under construction, some of the things we’re working on here. I think it’s very exciting because again, it’s to celebrate…I don’t know. Part of it is, what would…in a both…I think it’s great because I…they say…the people…the pro-North Pole Park, which I say…people wanted a fancier name, so maybe it’ll change. I don’t know. But the creative constraint of both retaining the mystique of the North Pole in a way that gives people what they would expect but also surprises them and delights them with things they don’t expect.
So, that’s kind of like…those are…twofold mission of designing the park. We’re gonna make another turn. Of course, you say well, are these parks influenced by…? We say of course, yeah; we’re building on what people may already know or have experience with at different theme parks in…you know, down in the southern world. So, we’re taking a turn here and we’re gonna come through. Now, we’re coming through and there’s gonna be…now, we actually control the windows of the train for this part because there are things that you can’t see and that are still under construction. Those are construction walls on the one side. What you’re gonna notice out here is this great…now, this is…again, this is a area of contention, but a big part of the North Pole are…is the North Pole region and the geography.
So, you’re gonna see a gigantic mountain range. It is not real. It is a…but it is…isn’t that amazing? It is kind of the popular mythologized kind of mount…style of mountain range; purple…I’ve heard it called Purple Mountains Majesty, but it is more of a granite. It has a very Yosemite-type influence and kinda jutting rocks, and a lot of flowing water. We already have the waterfalls. Then you’re gonna see two different things on the mountain moving, but…in addition to the waterfalls. Actually, our train will be a third thing moving as we…we’ll eventually go around and then…spoiler though; we’re gonna come through a waterfall tunnel, so that’s why we’re making this turn. You’re gonna kinda see…now again, the…from this train, you really can’t see very much of the park. The mountain range is in the…on both sides.
Then another thing you’re gonna notice versus theme parks in your world for the most part is that this mountain range is themed on…this is a fully-themed range. Because of the thing that it would have been so intrusive on the residents of the North Pole and the people working there, to just have it be a…the back side of it not be themed, I guess if you were using your terminology down there. But yeah, there’s an alpine…there’s a lift that goes up to an alpine coaster-type ride, and there’s also a river ride or a rafting ride that goes through as well. The idea is that those are brightly…so, there’s actually…I guess if you count the gondola lift up to the alpine ride…and those are actually the cars being lifted. So, it saves…the people don’t have to get off the lift and then get back on their car. It’s all integrated.
So, it really is only one attraction, though it seems like it’s two. Those are brightly-lit or brightly-colored and at night, brightly themed to kinda fit the situation, but also because that’s the perpetual motion idea. I don’t know. I’m not…I’m still writing this tour. Kinetics, I think, is what the people that are designing the park would say, kinetic motion is important because it’s feeling something. You got the water, then you have the boats in the water. You have our train. You have the gondola looking, then you have the alpine cars. I guess another part of the kinetics is the sounds of the people having fun. So, that’s exciting. Now, we’re going through a tunnel here and you’re gonna see some beautiful mural work that’s been done. Again, some of these murals…these you can kinda see some are complete and some are incomplete.
A lot of them are showing…kind of glamorizing…you see the wildlife of the North Pole, and different real mountain ranges. It’s just meant…we’re just going through and we’re gonna exit in a waterfall here…is that…just again, remember that this is a real place you’re in, even though this is a fantastical view. The North Pole is real. North Pole Park is kind of a fantasy interpretation of it. I don’t know. Again, I’m just giving a tour to you. Yeah, now we’re gonna go through this waterfall. We’re gonna start to head down. This would be where our train would be most visible. You could kinda see the gondolas now going over us. We’re kind of working our way down. The alpine car will go by, and you could even…if you go to the other side of the train and look down, you’ll even see part of the river raft ride.
Now, none of this is actually…some of them may be being tested. I know that they’re all running, but part of that…now we’re gonna take…as we come here, we’re gonna take a turn and we’re…now, this was another big debate of breaking the illusion versus not breaking the illusion. But this is like a…breaking the illusion, because we said well, the train goes through the whole park anyway, so, what is…so, the illusion would already be broken repeatedly. We said, what if there was a way to break the illusion without…be like okay, we understand; we’re all reasonable people here you’ve paid to come into this park. So, this again was a very…discussed, but we said well, what if it titillates you for some things later on, which are parades? That’s another part of these kind of parks.
So, first we’re gonna go through this giant sculpture here. Again, even though this…what’s interesting about this sculpture is it’s a very shimmering sculpture that’s meant to play with the sun. It’s got glass and metal and flowing water. This sculpture is just barely visible from some of the actual vehicle…the attractions, and then the light of it is…plays almost like light off the water on some of the mountains. But it’s…this is how in-depth…I said let’s really go for it. So, we’re going through the sculpture and you’re gonna kinda see here; we’re first gonna go into…we’re gonna go into two areas which you’ll notice this is a outdoor area. It’s covered, though. These are where some of the floats are for the daytime parade, and the first one you’re gonna notice there really well is Rudolph, of course, jumping forward with Rudolph’s nose so bright.
Then kind of behind Rudolph, the fog parting. There are motion and light aspects to that, and then there would be…on the back is a ice skating thing, which again I say, what is…? I say yeah, this is kind of what people expect with these parades. Actually, the ice skating thing, yeah, that’s at the very beginning…the end, but in the middle where the clouds are, that is actually a trampoline for some aerial performers. Then again, there’d be other…we will change out the floats we show. But now we’re going into the dark because we have a nighttime parade, of course. We’re gonna…you’re gonna see some floats. There’s a transition period where we let your eyes adjust to the darkness. You’re gonna start to see these are very powerful holiday lights, LEDs, everything you have going.
Those are bear cubs, so…and they are kind of light-up bear cubs, so they’re not exactly biologically accurate. But they are so cute. Oh, are they. There’s gonna be other…these bear…and then look at…as we bend this corner, a giant mama bear. The bear cubs are gonna be automated to run around the mama bear. At some point, even the mama bear…can’t do it during this, but the mama bear can stand up on her two legs. Yeah, the bears…you can see they can offer different…they’re all different colors and there’s a lot of action that can be…the light…the technology we have access to is not that different than the southern technology. But so, that’s…of course, just something to look forward to ‘cause…and then it’ll have the times of the parades as you’re taking the train. So you say oh, I want to go on that.
I want to see those parades later. So, the next thing we’re coming up to…we’re kinda cutting around. We went through one area, and this section of the park that we’re working on is kind of known…it’s gonna be known as Santa’s Workshop. That’s the section of the park, which all of us elves have a laugh about ‘cause we say well, that’s really…means where we all work. But it’s gonna be a area…and now, it’s not complete. It’s still under design and construction, but there are some areas here that are complete. Of course, and…oh, there…so, there…you may smell rein…there are reindeer here, and that’s a big part of it; real reindeer. Actually, this is where a lot of the…now, just to spoil it a little bit, these will be retired reindeer that worked with Santa, just because we don’t want to…this is work, walking around with southern worlders and maybe being petted or showing…there will be a show.
Now, that arena is not complete. But that’s behind that big facade that looks like kind of a glorified…it’s not even a facade; it actually is a three-quarter building, but that opens up and yeah, it does kind of…evokes a working stables, but gigantic. Then on this other side, these more industrial style buildings, but again with an…kind of a North Pole touch that kind unifies the two styles. You say okay, those look like they were designed…and they were. They were designed by one of our more famous architects, Kanda. But Kanda, they…anyway, I don’t want to get too…’cause I haven’t written out the…I don’t have all the facts. But so, on this side is of course where the sleigh would be, and this attraction is going to be what of course people have been looking forward to their whole lives, and especially even with modern holiday films, Santa’s sleigh.
We again this…base this on what worked in the past and what worked in the present and what we think will work in the future. So, a lot of people would want an interactive experience that is available after the ride as well as a lot of stuff explaining the actual physics of the actual ride. But this ride is actually…what’s really impressive is that a lot of it is built on the real technology. So, the pre-show and the queue will be…it will be immersive in a sense, to immerse you in the story. I can’t give you all the details of the story behind the attraction, but I can tell you that the…what it’ll involve is…so, the pre-show will be preparing you and talking about some of the technology that they can share, leaving out parts, and maybe some things that aren’t true to throw off anybody that would say well, I’m gonna make my own sleigh.
I say, good luck with that. There is magic involved. So, but so…what was I saying? So, building up to that, and then building up to something where you get involved in the story, or you can project yourself into the story, but it won’t be interactive. It will be exciting. Then the ride itself, the ride system…we made it so it’s very thrilling but available to all and that it’s…it actually has real motion versus a motion simulator. But it has real motion within a motion…like, the vehicles can move as well and a lot of real sets, but then some illusions. It would be a really, really fun attraction. Then again, people said well, can it be changed around? I said no, this is a ride that should be just thrilling enough for almost everyone with the except…toddlers and under probably shouldn’t ride it, or people…I don’t know. I’m not in the…that department.
But so, but thrilling enough that everyone’s gonna want to ride it that qualifies to ride it over…so the ride itself, in addition to the story and the effects, will be thrilling in a way. So, now we’re gonna…our train is gonna curve. I kind of…I get to control the speed of the train so I could over-explain things. But so, now we’re going back. We’re making a little bit of a turn, and we’re gonna see the loading area and the starting areas for the raft ride that we saw earlier. The raft ride is actually based on…what a lot of people don’t…might not realize is that we do…and you were on the other tour where we talked about some of the geothermal elements of the North Pole that maybe people don’t understand.
But so, this is showing…this will technically be…you’re on a raft that’s meant to transport…in the…now, on the ride, you’re transporting presents or you’ve gotten…it’s very thinly veiled. But the buildup for this ride will be that you’re…there’s some sort of external event and you’re getting in these rafts that are normally…they say well, we’re testing it out for human transport. We usually transport presents. In reality, it’s…and you can learn the real history, is that that’s the way we transported parts, raw materials, and still do in places where we can keep the water from freezing either due to geothermal or just natural…or during that time of year.
We say okay, well, we know these months we could move raw materials or via aqueduct or canals that…or, of course, ideally natural rivers and streams. So, this one’s very…something you can expect, but it should have some things you don’t expect where you…of course you go okay, this part of…this part’s closed kinda thing. There are also…huh. I’m not supposed to talk too much about this, but of course we’ve created some antagonists for the North Pole, and that’ll be part of the story for the park. Those antagonists will be involved in this ride as well. Not all the rides. Now we’re turning out into an area and you’re gonna kinda see an area, and it looks like a humungous playground. You’re gonna see netting and towers and slides, and that is kind of a playground. It’s a training area, an elven training area.
There’s different stops and activities. Now, you don’t have to over-train. It is based on a lot of real training that we elves do depending on our positions and our work tasks as well as just overall wellness practices. But mostly it’s a place for younger children or older children to run around and climb and slide on stuff. There’s a lot of natural features there, too. Of course you notice that we’ve got a lot of trees at this park and lot of trees that are hopefully gonna grow in. Of course, a lot of it is made to be hearty for this area. But again, with some of the geothermal activity, you’d be surprised. A lot of the things from the garden that you went to…maybe you didn’t see.
I can’t remember what we saw, if we saw any tree farms, but yeah, a lot of that’s provided through the gardens that you visited, and some of the decorative aspects of this park will also be. You can even see that now because we’re going through an area…now, this is actually kind of a food hall. We’re just seeing the outside of it, but it’s based on some of those gardens. That giant mural on the wall there is to indicate yeah, this is to celebrate some of the parts of the North Pole that…gardens of the North Pole and some of the…all the production. This will be a interesting food hall because there will be food stalls and places to eat. There will be performances. There has been some debate about working with the people from the Dickens Fair to do something like that there.
But for the time being, it’s just gonna be, you can eat some delicacies that North Polians enjoy as well as foods that you may find traditionally at a theme park or a little bit better-tasting and stuff, as well as a lot of dessert areas. Now, that’s time…if you would like some nog or another little snacky-poo, we have that here. Now we’re turning and you’re seeing another part of the park here. This is a part of the park that…we’ve still…there’s still a debate going on, but when it was designed, and I think as it will go forward, is that you…while you’re walking at the park, not that far out of Santa’s North Pole, there’s just this large tunnel that has fresh steam. It looks like the tunnel just came…opened up.
We’re trying to…the main concern was that it doesn’t feel too intense, so that’s again a decision that was beyond me, but that it’ll be a unlabeled thing, but maybe there will be…the best bet, I think, is that there’d be play actors or performers they’re encouraging or going through. Maybe even…this was a strongly-held debate; hiring child actors to also express common feelings and then having…the people said I don’t know, is that okay to do that? To say okay, let me show you; let’s go through there together. But once you go through the tunnel, you’ll go into a land that is themed around…and I have to be delicate about revealing too much…some of the North Pole antagonists. This will be…have popular culture in mind, but also be…believe it or not, there are antagonists in the North Pole.
I mean, and some of them live in the southern world and some of them live in the North Pole. But so, that’s another balance we’re trying to strike, is…but there isn’t…there is…there isn’t a very common thread. Recent films have…some of them have touched on that, but is to kind of…we’re essentially basing it on the reality, for us. So, it’s a difficult task for all of us here at the North Pole and the creative teams behind the park. But creating something that is based in real antagonism, but making that fun and making it into an accessible myth that you could participate in. So, the first ride would be…you could kinda see down; that’s…we…you saw the tunnel with the steam coming out. It’s, again, trying to balance not…saying well, we’re gonna have all ages here. We don’t want anyone to come to the North Pole.
So, it may be a idea of building FOMO to go there. But one of the things is going to be…was traditionally a dark ride. This dark ride will be kind of a tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at actually North Pole Park. It’ll be a dark ride created by the antagonists in the North Pole, where they’re celebrating their way of life and kinda saying how we impact them. So, kind of creating…in a fun way saying oh, we’re…they’re working together in a heroic way against the North Pole influence. Not in a way…in a way that’s based in truth, I guess, is what I’m saying, not in a way that…and again, this is a very delicate balance, in a way that’s very fun from their perspective but also true without making fun of them, because they’re not…because it is fiction. So, it’ll have a lot of robotics and it will have live performers which we feel like is important.
But this one will be all ages, like slow-moving system so that anyone can ride. It won’t be frightening except for people that maybe are bringing their own assumptions. It’ll be, again, very carnival celebration of what they would have, because you’re…I guess I can tell you this part. It says approved, is to say this is like a…they’re a county fair for where the…all the antagonists are kinda celebrating. I could even tell you that what they’re celebrating is that this year, Christmas guy canceled and they’re having a fair about that. I can say that. So, it’ll be really fun. It really will be fun and it will exit…this one, I haven’t told you any about this, but it will exist in the gift…a themed gift shop with even…also a food stand so that they’re celebrating their foods…celebrating, and toys and stuff. So, I…I don’t know.
I think it’ll be fun. Then another attraction that they’re attempting to work on…oh no, no, I guess I’m not allowed to say that. So, they are working in multiple attractions. There will be one or two time-filler attractions that little kids could go on, and maybe a show, so that this would be its own little land. Again, doesn’t have a title and there is another exit coming up here. We’re gonna go…we’re kinda going over it and down. Now, this is…this land is very, very under construction. It really doesn’t…we’ve just started work on it. But this is to celebrate all of the humans in the North Pole area, in the Great North or whatever you would call it, not just within ten or twenty miles, but within a very great distance and throughout history.
So, the first peoples that were here…I mean, with…so, all the way through, people…and so, some would be celebrating the First Peoples and their cultures and their ways of life. You could kinda see; we have the area sketched out. One of the areas is the coast there. Also practical things that we’re learning. So then there’s the working peoples of the current…over the last two hundred years, and celebrating the working peoples; the providers, the fisher people, and the scientists, a lot of different things of…so, yeah, it’s…the…this is a area full of potential I guess is what I’m saying, and of potential…well, one of the only debates was oh, should there be a human-based area? People said well, the humans are the antagonists. Just put them in the antagonist land. But you know, we said okay, let’s be realistic here.
So again, this is a area that’s still kind of modeling and being designed, ‘cause they said well, wouldn’t…why would humans want to visit a human…? You said okay, well, there’s gonna be…I know for a fact there’s gonna be a sea…very fancy seafood restaurant overlooking this waterfront. That’s the only thing you can kinda see. Then there’s gonna be the waterfront. Then there’s also gonna be…there’ll be a…this is…kinda doesn’t quite fit, but they said okay, what’s the main attraction? It’s gonna be a sledding ride. Now, a little bit different from our alpine coaster-style ride. This will be real snow and real ice. So, this is a big vision, and they’re still testing out the ride vehicles outside of here. So, they haven’t even built it. But…with real cold and again, real sets, ‘cause they said okay, we’re gonna keep combining this idea of story and thrills.
So, that’ll be…I guess that, and then of course there should be some things to draw people in at a distance. There will be the waves crashing and then there will be seafood…a fancy seafood restaurant, and I know other seafood options, and probably some non-seafood options. Then again, a lot of history which we want to do in ways that are respectful to everybody and that celebrates it. I’m kinda realizing that this tour, we’re over what time I was supposed to have you delivered back, so I’m gonna show you one more area of the park and then maybe you could return for another tour, because there’s one more area of the park we could visit, which is…now, this is interesting, so be ready, but we’re going to go through these mountains that separate this human-based area into an area that, again, there’s not much construction going on, but that’s meant to celebrate and where we will work with actual human…southern company, southern world companies to celebrate pop culture Santa.
So, Santa and pop culture. So, this will be…’cause we…again, we have to say…one of the things was give people what they…expect…give it to them in a unexpected way. We said well, we can’t ignore…so there are other lands more influenced by Santa and pop culture. But we said well, what about this popular version of Santa or this popular version? Is there a way…? So, we’re still working on those deals. Intellectual property, they call it. But then there will also be things you would just expect at the North Pole. So, this would be more of your areas where candy canes…one of the things people were thinking about is Santa getting ready to work with kids telling Santa what Santa wants for Christmas and those kind of things. So, this would be full suspension of disbelief and reality, while…and not our reality.
So another thing that we’re struggling with as North Polians, ‘cause some people say, but this isn’t what we have. This isn’t our world. So, and again, which a lot of fans of Hollywood, so should we have a red carpet and a movie theater? Then what movies…? Would it be a movie theatre like the ones in the theme park where there’s all movies you could just go and stand around and look at? Would it be some sort of 3D movie or highlighted movie? Or would it be another attraction like a dark ride or some other type of attraction? I mean, I think the biggest thing is gonna be…the food is gonna be very popular. So, this would be like the place to get stuff that you would already expect. This would be the only place you would get to interact with Santa Claus.
Now, I have to tell you that it wouldn’t be…I mean, not to spoil it; it wouldn’t be the real Santa Claus, so we’re trying to figure out an audio…an animatronic or robotic Santa, or you’re looking in on Santa getting ready or a video chat. So it’s like, can we do some sort of attraction like that? Or I mean, I think another version of things we’re working on is something based on what is…what was the…’cause…but the intellectual property holders don’t necessarily want to do this, is oh, what was true and what was incorrect about that film? So, I don’t know. Then having maybe a show. I guess the main intention of this land is to celebrate everyone’s assumptions about the North Pole because they’re not here to be lectured or said well, those are all wrong. All your assumptions are incorrect.
That’s the way to do it where we have some context where you say well, okay, we’re…through this intellectual property, these films or these specials…but I guess it’s difficult because people…we have a lived reality up here, right? So, not everybody’s in a hurry to say that’s…none of that’s even accurate. But you say, don’t you like it anyway even though it’s not accurate? That was pretty entertaining. Some people say no, I wasn’t entertained at all. So, I guess the intention was to set out to create a land specifically to deal with those objections. Say okay, well, that’s what the purpose of this land…is not to be realistic. I mean, none of the North Pole Park is, you know. So, it’s just…I guess it’s one thing or the other. We’re doing…we’re all doing our best to enjoy it.
I really appreciate you coming on this tour and I hope you’ll join me for the rest of the park. I know that you…oh, you’ve fallen asleep. I didn’t even notice that. So, that’s good that you’re resting. Then you could just rest. I’ve stopped the train but I’ve got the train still having a motion, so you feel like you’re on the train. Then I’ll take you on the rest of the tour when…after you’ve rested ‘cause you had that cocoa and that nog. I’m sure you have visions…maybe there’s a part of the land with sugar plums coming up. I don’t remember, but I’m glad you’re here with me. I appreciate it. I’ll see you when…I’ll see you soon.
[END OF RECORDING]
(www.leahtranscribes.com)