Theme Park Dream
I started the dream as I was entering into a house, Victorian in style, a bit spooky, and the door closed behind me. I heard some kind of narration about the haunted nature of the place, and something about pirates and the vengeful god, Neptune. Then the windows, which were false, went dark, and it appeared that a storm was raging outside, complete with lightning. I was blasted with water coming through the windows, on all sides, as if waves were smashing into the house. I remember thinking how amazing it was that a “ride” would go this far.
Then it was over, and I could see daylight through the windows. In fact, could see daylight all over the place, since the house was coming apart. A group of angry pirates then started coming up through a trap door in the floor near the far wall. I rushed over and stomped around their heads and arms, careful not to actually make contact, and realizing this was all part of the game. They retreated, and I jumped out a window to my right into a pool that the house was floating on. More pirates started to come at me, and I swam for the side of the pool, heaving myself over just before the pirates closed in on me.
I found myself in a vaguely medieval town, marveling at the detail, and found little signs that gave me clues as to the nature of the place. It was a theme park, called Caligia (no idea why, or if that meant anything). The employees were all acting the part of residents of that little world, and they all carried pager/PDAs that told them the descriptions and names of approaching patrons, so they could address them directly. It was a bit like The Pirates of the Caribbean come to life, and I couldn’t wait to see more.
Unfortunately, I found I needed to pay the entry fee to continue, and a flyer showed the base price: $499. The place was impossibly expensive to run, clearly, but easily one of the best theme park concepts in my memory (which was, you know, dream memory). It’s a rich man’s game, immersive wonderlands.
