In this episode of Experience Imagination, we sit down with Mitchell Magill, President of Falcon’s Creative Group and a powerhouse in our industry. Mitchell brings a rich background in themed entertainment, spanning immersive attractions, live productions, and global destination development. We dive into his career journey, lessons on empowerment, standout moments from his time as Senior Creative Director, Executive Producer, and IP Guardian for SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, and yes… even his favorite marine animal. It’s an inspiring, insightful, and fun conversation you don’t want to miss.
The Beginning – A Start in Themed Entertainment
Mitchell: So, I came up through theater as a kid. I performed professionally. I started when I was about 7 or 8 doing Oliver and a handful of community productions and school productions. And then that turned into some paid gigs and one thing led to another. I came to Florida to go to college and got a job on the Jungle Cruise. And that was kind of the beginning of themed entertainment.
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi
Mitchell: SeaWorld Abu Dhabi was an adventure. In my mind, nothing could be more timely. We are all connected to the ocean, and the ocean connects us all, which on the surface seems kind of simplistic, but when you think about the way that we thought about the ocean, which is all water on Earth, that’s not just the big ocean basins, the Atlantic and the Pacific, etc., it’s the ocean up in the atmosphere, down underground and plants and animals inside of our human bodies. And then we revisit that statement; we’re all connected to the ocean; the ocean connects all of us. That’s water that’s always changing forms. It’s always in motion, whether it’s in ice caps or it’s in your body or mine, that we’re literally connected in this kind of beautiful tapestry dance and interconnected in a way that is important that we all have to protect.
That was something that I just fell in love with, to be able to hang out with scientists and interpreters like Scott Gass internally and really understand why the world works the way it works and try to interpolate that down to something that anybody, whether you’re 6 or 60, can make it part of your life.
That was something I really care about and clearly still have a heart for.
Mitchell: One of my favorite parts of this project was being able to focus on things like soundscapes. So, you may not notice that the park is going from day to night, but the lighting shifts as you’re inside of that building to make it feel realistic to be outdoors. We were able to shift from morning to night, even the backdrops across each of the realms have a low-resolution LED. And we went and brought in artists to draw every hour of the day on digital screens that you never see behind those backdrops that are changing the lighting and the color as the sun rises and sets throughout the day.
And you’ll hear the animals change. It might be seabirds in the morning in Abu Dhabi Ocean that shift into cicadas in the evening. And it’s all of that texture, that thing that impacts how you feel but doesn’t necessarily register in what you’re thinking about.
Designing for Cruise Lines
Mitchell: It’s very different. Onboard a ship is very contained. It’s a built environment that has to operate 365 days a year. You never get to close off part of it to do the work like you would in a theme park where we can close an attraction or a realm and put in some more entertainment over here and really just tear it down and rebuild it and imagine it from the ground up. Or if you get those opportunities, it’s very limited. It’s got to be done very quickly, so the ship gets back out to sea. And so, a lot of it is trying to get really creative within the box that you have.
You also have a limited number of people that you can work with. At a theme park, you can bring in folks from outside. You can work overnight. You don’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep or eat. You’ve only got so many cabins on board. So, while it’s in operation, that’s a huge consideration is, you know, how many people can you get on, where is the ship going to be around the world, the logistics of getting things that are being constructed over here onto that ship, and making sure that they meet the extremely high safety guidelines.
Future-proofing a Themed Experience
Mitchell: When we’re talking technology, we know year over year, it’s going to advance and that curve is getting higher and higher and steeper and steeper, right? Technology is evolving. And so, we find a last responsible moment that we can make the decision to put in whatever type of technology we need in the park.
And then that way, at least we’re setting the park up for the longest period of service before they have to reimagine it.
