The Enchanted Library Restaurant

Course: Immersive Experience Studio

Assignment: “Design a themed experience intended to engage the guest.”

Individual Assignment created in Photoshop and VectorWorks

Concept:
Welcome to the Enchanted Library

This unique, hybrid dining event allows families to enjoy a meal together in an enchanted dining room, followed by a variety of character experiences for children where they enter the worlds of some of their favorite characters, and a date night experience for adults where they enjoy some much-needed personal time during their vacation.

Stories come to life as Guests enter a Gothic English library, are transported into an enchanted forest to dine, and finally experience fairytale character environments straight out of favorite tales.

Experience Overview

Stories come to life as guests enter a Gothic English library. Their adventure begins in the libraries lobby which is filled with shelves of books, soaring archways, reading alcoves and a circulation desk, which acts as the check-in location.

Here guests encounter the librarians, who assist them in finding their way to their dining adventure, leading them through booklined hallways slowly taken over by vines and greenery as they approach the Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends sections of the library.

Guests encounter a large, leather-bound storybook where a door should be. Its cover opens and guests are transported out of the library and into an enchanted forest through the magic of literature.

Set among trees are wooden tables and chairs that look right at home in the forest. They feature flickering lanterns and rustic floral centerpieces and look as if they were decorated by fairies.

The walls of the dining room are alive with projections of trees and other plants swaying gently in a breeze, and guests may even see some of their favorite characters pass by in the distance.

Throughout the space, practical shrubs, flowers and vines pepper the scenery, the sounds of crickets, birds and a babbling brook create a relaxing soundscape and soft light beams down from above, filtering through the trees and creating patterns of leaves across the ground while twinkling fairy lights glimmer in the treetops.

Guests feast on imaginative dishes inspired by classic stories such as Goldilocks Butternut Spiral Pasta, Jack’s Three Bean Salad and Little Red Riding Hoods Red Velvet cake, enjoying their meal together as they watch for fairy tale friends to appear in the background of the forest.

Next, it’s time for children to depart for their adventures. Divided into groups, they move in rotation through three highly-themed story-inspired environments.

Robin Hood regales them with a swashbuckling tale of his latest encounter with the Duke of Nottingham at his camp hidden in Sherwood Forest.

At the Lost Boys Hideout, Peter Pan teaches the art of “crowing” and sword-fighting – not even Captain Hook stands a chance against them now.

And Merlin performs a few magic tricks before inviting each child to try their hand at puling Excalibur from the stone in a medieval English castle courtyard.

Little ones too young to independently participate spend time with Wendy Darling in Wendy’s Nursery, where they enjoy stories and toddler-friendly play structures under the supervision of childcare specialists.

Now it’s time for the fun to really begin - While the children enjoy their adventures, Adults retreat to a unique tree-top bar overlooking the themed story rooms.

Here, they enjoy specialty cocktails, coffees and desserts as they relax and spend some much needed, quality kid-free time amid the twinkling lights and soft music. They can keep an eye on their kids, if they want to, through magic mirror portals found throughout the space.

The adventure concludes and families are reunited in the lobby, where young guests excitedly share stories with their parents. Guests are gifted with a commemorative story book, pose for a family photo and ultimately, leave together, refreshed and ready to enjoy the remainder of their vacation.