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Intracellular 

 

A highly immersive dark ride hybrid roller coaster type attraction that takes guests on an expedition to the core of human cardiac cells to fix damaged mitochondria. On your incredible journey within, you will come face to face with the intricacies of the human body, and venture where mankind has never gone before.

Queue/Backstory
You walk into the UAG Labs which is a genetic research lab (UAG is a stop codon for DNA replication, so its name is in reference to genetics) Upon your arrival to the lab, you notice on histology slides and X-rays lines up along the research hallway. Inside the open doors you can see research tables, lab equipment, PPE, and other items lined up in an organized fashion inside. On the walls - in a framed newspaper article - you can see a reference to METLabs and their success with miniaturization - from the old Body Wars attraction - as an easter egg to the pavilion's former attraction. The article goes on to say that MET Labs became extraordinarily famous for their expeditions into the human body - even for a simple splinter, and moved on to a bigger lab and a bright future. Nevertheless, the triumph of MET gave other science communities the knowledge and fortitude to use the miniaturization technology to more easily study and cure diseases on a microscopic level. However, the process is just beginning. The UAG Labs have taken the technology to such levels, that not only can they shrink down to the size of a cell, they can shrink down even further - to the intracellular level. 

At the intracellular level - a wide window of opportunity lies in front of us. Hundreds of diseases lie intracellularly - and to be able to shrink down to that size would be a marvel of human engineering and a marvelous expedition for the science community.

You approach the boarding dock and are given a pre-expedition conference call via webcam with a board of doctors and researches of UAG Labs about the mission and what it entails for you and the lab as a whole.

Dr. Gates - head of the UAG Labs - welcomes you and thanks you for taking this noble expedition to cure one of their patients. He continues, describing your journey within as a diagram depicts in visuals the part of the body as he narrates over it.

Dr. Gates: "The mission is to travel to the mitochondrion -- often referred to as the 'power plant of the cell' - it serves a vital role in several important metabolic processes and functions that would take too long to describe in full. The essentials that you need to know for this mission are that the mitochondrion consists of two layers, an inner and an outer membrane. The outer membrane serves as a barrier between the cytosol and the inner environment. The inner membrane, identified by the numerous infoldings known as cristae, contains the molecules and enzymes necessary for the electron transport chain and the pumping of protons from the mitochondrial matrix to the intermembrane space establishes the proton motive force, imperative for ATP synthase to generate ATP during oxidative phosphorylation"

Dr. Gates takes a breath and jokingly smiles at the complexity of the situation.

"Essentially...without a working mitochondria - human life cannot survive - the cell most likely will kick start a process known as apoptosis - which is programmed cell death. We need to get to the mitochondria and fix it before the apoptosis kick starts and it begins a chain reaction in the body."

The screen rotates to the almost needle-like cruiser that you will be traveling in.

"We've coated your transporter with histamine, a natural chemical in the body, so that the patient's immune system doesn't react and attack you as a foreign object entering the body - haha - wouldn't want that to happen! It'd be all out war. What will happen is you'll dive down through the epidermis, through the layers of skin to the subcutaneous level - where you will pick up an artery and travel with it to heart - where you will dive into the 3 disrupted cardiac muscle cells of the patient.

Want to know why and how your heart pumps? Well...it's due to the mitochondrial power of the cardiac muscle cells - using the ATP they generate to pump blood throughout the circulation and keep you alive. So you can see how critical this is for the patient's survival. Fixing these cardiac cells will ensure a safe and healthy life - and there's no time to waste...so let's get to the boarding procedures - thank you for your bravery and for taking this incredible journey within ...with us. Good luck team!"

The monitor pans to the boarding procedure instructor.

Instructor: "When the doors to your vehicles open - take a seat and pull up the restraint until it locks in place. Those who are prone to motion sickness, head, back or neck problems, should bypass this experience due to the turbulence, drops, turns, and stops in the attraction. Best of luck UAG team on your mission!"

Ride Vehicles and Ride Design
A 16 row (8 car) roller coaster type vehicle - with 2 seats per row in the shape of a probe before it is miniaturized into the body. You must be 44" to ride this attraction.

Loading Procedure
As you prepare to board you can hear on the loudspeaker and radio conference calls, the doctors and nurses taking the patients vitals and doing pre-probe checks before the procedure.

 

On the second floor of the loading area - you can see a room with Audio-Animatronic doctors and engineers in the "control room" with Dr. Gates leading the team. The team of doctors will periodically narrate via on-board audio and assist your journey within throughout the attraction.

 

As you are standing on the loading platform - faint ominous music slowly begins to swell.

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