Pokémon Island Adventure

Pokémon Island Adventure
1999 map of Warner Bros. Movie World with Pokémon Island Adventure present
Location	Oxenford, Queensland, Australia
Status	Defunct; current spaces occupied by Batwing Spaceshot and Superman Escape
Opened	December 1999
Closed	January 2000
Operated by	Village Roadshow Theme Parks
Website movieworld.com.au

Pokémon Island Adventure was a walkthrough attraction at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, based on Pokémon Snap. It operated from mid-December 1999 to the end of January 2000.

Park cross-promotional activities

Visitors to Warner Bros. Movie World during the attraction's tenure were given a goodie bag upon their arrival, which included a picture of Ash and Ash's Pikachu, a poster of Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back that doubled as a park map, a journey guide (for use in the attraction) and five pieces of a puzzle ball. Guests were encouraged to collect the remaining 15 pieces of the puzzle ball; additional puzzle pieces could be collected at the Pokémon: The First Movie Headquarters, a store that sold Pokémon merchandise at the park, by purchasing a Pokémon collector cup or showing a filled out journey guide to an employee at the store as proof that the attraction was completed.

Attraction

Before visiting the attraction, guests went through a waiting area, which featured posters of various Generation I Pokémon and TV sets that played various Pokémon commercials as well as scenes from Pokémon: The First Movie. At the end of the waiting area, guests boarded a tram named the 01 that took guests to the attraction. A pre-recorded message played as guests rode to the location, explaining the adventure that was about to take place.

At the attraction's entrance, guests walk through a gate reading "BACK TO THE LAB!!" as several Movie World employees greeted them and proceeded to lead them through various themed areas from Pokémon Island, the main setting of Pokémon Snap. Guests were to note down any Pokémon they spot during the adventure in their journey guide; these Pokémon were either physical props or appeared as two-dimensional images in the background. The first area is based on the Beach course – a Meowth surprised guests as it pops up from some boxes near the entrance, and painted on the wall next to it, a Snorlax can be seen. As guests look forward, they witness a Doduo peeking its heads out from above, and further along, a Butterfree in a palm tree as well as a Lapras depicted swimming in the distance on the wall right before they reached the next section, the Tunnel.

In the Tunnel area, guests would spot an Electrode; across from it, a Pikachu holding a Poké Ball can be seen sitting in front of a hole. From the hole, a Diglett would pop up. Directly above them, a Kakuna can be seen overlooking guests. Also in this section, a Haunter would appear; though few details are known of this encounter. After this short section, guests reach the next area, the Volcano. This room contains constellations painted on the walls of Vulpix, Rapidash and Magmar. Guests have to walk around a lava pool; a Charmeleon would then pop up from a cliff overlooking the lava.

The next area is the River. Guests are greeted by a sign of Shellder, and it, Slowpoke and Psyduck can be seen in the area. In a patch of tall grass located in the center of the room, guests would spot a Poliwag. In a waterfall overlooking the area, a Magikarp would leap out before guests made their way to the next area.

In the next area, the Cave, an Egg can be seen in the center of the room. Guests will also notice a Grimer present inside the cavern walls, and a Jigglypuff will begin singing for the guests. At the top of the room, a Koffing and a Zubat could be seen looking down at guests. The Movie World tour guide would direct the audience's attention to the area where Grimer is located, as suddenly the Egg would hatch and a spotlight of Articuno would be seen in flight.

The penultimate area is the Valley. To the right of the entrance, guests can spot a Geodude, and at the top of the room, a Staryu can be seen hovering above them. On the wall at the top of the room, a Starmie can be seen painted on. The tour guide once again directs the audience's attention towards a waterfall in the center of the room, where a Dratini will quickly pop its head out of the water. Near the waterfall, another Geodude can be spotted scaling the rock wall, and a Mankey can be spotted overlooking the cliff. A spotlight would display an image of Sandshrew; only a photo remains of this encounter.

As guests reach the end of the Valley area, they pass through another "BACK TO THE LAB!!" gate, which, like its counterpart in Pokémon Snap, returned guests to Professor Oak's Laboratory. The tour guide explains that Professor Oak is out looking for Mew, who has created some constellations that the Professor is researching. The constellations Mew has created appear on the ceiling – Dugtrio, Cubone, Pinsir, Koffing, Mewtwo, and Kingler. The tour guide then surprises guests by revealing that Mew is within the laboratory somewhere, and calls for it to say hello. Suddenly, Mew pops out from boxes located on the top floor of Professor Oak's laboratory, allowing guests to cross off the elusive 151st Pokémon on their journey guides.

Interestingly, the May 2000 issue of PoJo's Unofficial Pokémon News & Price Guide Monthly describes a different scenario in which an actor portraying Professor Oak would appear at the Laboratory and explain to guests that he had been on the lookout for Mew; after the constellations are shown, Mew would appear behind him, but just as guests try to get him to turn around, Mew would be gone. After this, Mew would reappear, delighting both the guests and the Professor. This indicates that two versions of the final scene were prepared, likely dependant on the availability of the actor(s) portraying Professor Oak.

Post-closure

After the closure of Pokémon Island Adventure, the Pikachu, Meowth, Jigglypuff, Mankey and Haunter props used for the attraction were relocated to the Pokémon: The First Movie Headquarters, which continued to operate past the attraction's closure until it was rebranded to the Kids’ WB! store at a later date. The space that once housed the waiting area for the attraction became occupied by Batwing Spaceshot in 2006, and the building used for the attraction itself became part of Superman Escape in 2005.

Trivia

• The attraction was designed by James Colmer, an Australian special effects artist, Alan Griffith, an architect that had worked on many projects at Movie World,, and James Churchill, an art director for Movie World and Sea World.
• Rainbow Cloud is the only area from Pokémon Snap that is not depicted within the attraction.

References

This article is part of Project Real-Life, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on Pokémon activities and events experienced in the real world.