Dr. Freeze’s Ice Cream Experiment

The exterior of this experience is brightly colored and represents two buildings that are seemingly pushed together and of very different design. The pink shop is based off of traditional ice cream parlors that many people will recognize. The main color scheme of the experience (pink and green) is reflected in the color of the bottom windows, siding and striped awnings. Large windows dominate the front of the building, showing the fun activity within. The “second floor” of the building is a forced perspective illusion. The windows allude to the fact that Dr. Freeze may live on the second floor, but the second section of the building is not tall enough for a real space above.

The lab has fake “metal plating” walls with geometric patterns. The top edge, at the roof line, is a LED tube fixture with controllable light controls so they move in various patterns and colors. Ice cream shipment boxes have been forgotten on the roof and so the ice cream (Neapolitan flavor) within has melted down the side of the building. On the wall, this is represented as 3D smooth sculpted plastic and then transitions to paint as it reaches the concrete, so the walkway is not blocked. The large green window looks on into the first section of the lab, where guests can see the initial decorations and bowls of ingredients inside. Two pipes are affixed to the edge of the building, one with special bubbling effects in a see-through section.

On one edge of the roof are two tesla coils designed to resemble ice cream cones. Lighting affects zip across the electric lines along with sizzling noise effects. Two pink windows show a view into the middle section of the lab experience, the inspection station. The last window, with frosted glass and sculpted icicles, allows Guests to see the Freeze Ray. As they watch the process, steam from a grate below blasts them with cool air and fogs up the window with additional frost. At the edge of the lab building’s wall is a patched hole from an explosion. Green residual blast marks remain behind the badly matched bricks, pipes and waffle cone pieces.

The interior of the classic ice cream parlor has elements from the “original” building as well as messily organized items from Dr. Freeze and his experiments. The white and black tiled floors and pink wall color give it the bright feel associated with ice cream and sweet treats. Other elements that match what the shop would have originally had include the gold and pink velvet ropes for the queue and the pink and white staff doors. On the right-hand side of the room are the doors that lead to and from the lab, in a bright green (for the pink and green color scheme) and metal plating. Each of the windows has sprinkles stuck inside.

At the front of the queue is a cutout of Dr. Freeze directing Guests to the spot where they can learn more information about both parts of the experience. The desk next to him has his lab experiment journals, where he shows combinations that Guests can order at the front counter and pamphlets with information about the lab experience so that they can read more about it before taking part in it. The queue is defined by both the classic ropes as well as boxes and equipment Dr. Freeze has left about. Boxes have labels from cold places in the world such as Mount Everest and canisters are full of compounds and additives for the Freeze Ray.

Above the counter is a black chalkboard with white chalk writing showing the menu and specials available in the shop. In addition, there are small drawings of science items and equations. The counter contains items that Guests are used to seeing at ice cream shops including cold slabs, ice cream storage shelves, and containers filled with colorful candies. In their lab themed costumes, the staff members created the ice creams and put them into beakers, then checking out the Guests at the register. On the left-hand side of the shop is a test tube set up with bubbling effects when Guests use them to put toppings on their ice cream (explained more in part 5 of the lab). There is also trash cans, napkins and utensils.

On the right-hand side of the shop, next to lab doors, is desks and shelves with items that Dr. Freeze doesn’t want to get dirty in the lab. The bookshelf has many titles with funny names that he uses to find the best ways to do his experiments. Some of these might include: “100 Ice Creams from Around the World;” “TOP SECRET Chocolate Recipe;” “Frozen: the Art of Ice;” “The Mystery of the Yeti;” “Vanilla > Chocolate: Part II;” and “Ice Age Recipes.” Above his desk, is a mind map with red string that Dr. Freeze has tried to use to understand the secret of the perfect ice cream. The board is full of images of the Yeti, mountains, snow, fruits and space as well as documents from secret government projects and cookbooks.

In addition to the larger elements mentioned, the shop should be filled with funny details that Guests can only find by looking and reading further into all the décor. Based on puns, gags and cultural references, everything should pertain to Dr. Freeze, ice cream, science and science fiction, and cold things in general. Every small detail and items have a well thought-out and reason as to its placement and design so that it makes Dr. Freeze’s world completely real.

In the entrance of the lab, a staff member in the lab costume assists Guests by explaining the experience, giving them costumes and taking payment. The lab coats hang on a rail made of pipes and the goggles are lined up on a shelf with another cutout of Dr. Freeze. Below is a bin of the rubber gloves. Each of these items has various sizes, mainly a smaller size for children and a size for adults. A lab desk has stacks of experiment sheets; papers which the Guests can read the full instructions and rules as well as pick out the ingredients they are going to use in the experience. Each item has a checkbox and Guests use pens to check off the ones they want. They can pick up to 4 flavors of ice cream and up to 6 candies as mix-ins. They cannot pick more than this or the machine will not be able to freeze their ice cream. In addition, Guests can write their name and an imaginary name for their creation and then the sheet serves as a souvenir from the experience.

Monitors above the desk show videos and images from various experiments by Dr. Freeze and a chalkboard shows different equations and drawings of ice cream items. Two tubes reach high into the ceiling and down into the floor, one filled with various ingredients of fruits as well as vegetables and the other with ice cream in a swirling effect.

On the right side of the queue, a shelf is full of boxes, canisters, and other supplies for the lab. On the opposite, an oven is full of glassware and a pot rack has pans, wires, and other random items hung about. A shelf sits underneath a control board of buttons, filled with the bowls that Guests use for the experience. In addition, crystals grow from the floor and ceiling and microscopes are set up to look at various sprinkles.

At the corner of the room are two important components, the ice cream base dispenser and candy dispensers. The ice cream dispensers are similar to frozen yogurt machines, expect they dispense the ice cream in a powdered form. Four machines are set into the wall, each with four flavors housed within. Labels for all the flavors are listed on cards above, the colors matching the various tube dispensers within the machines. Guests set their bowls onto the stand and choose their flavors with buttons on the top. The buttons they press also depend on the number of flavors they have chosen. For example, if they have only chosen one flavor, then they will press to add 4 servings of it. And, instead, if they have chosen 2 flavors, then they will press to add 2 servings for one and then 2 servings for the other. At the candy dispensers, the top is a lava lamp effect with various candys stuck within the moving bubbles. On the bottom, actual candies are housed in twenty compartments with opening drawers. Guests can pull open the drawer and use the scoop within to add candies to their mixing bowls.

The third station is an important stop in meeting safety standards and checking in on Guests during the experience. Using a camera arm prop attached to the desk, the staff member scans the creations the Guests have made. Monitors on the other side of the desk show pre-made but randomized scans with words of affirmation and labels of “compounds” (fake) found within the bowl. During this station, staff are checking for safety standards and fixing any problems that may arise for the Guests so that no problems will occur during the freezing process at the next station.

In addition to the main counter, cabinets and sinks sit behind the staff member. A tool rack is full of various beakers and tubes as well as mixing spoons and spatulas. Three washing machines are stacked with one full of white lab coats and gloves and the other spilling over with strawberry ice cream. A large hazard disposal pipe has cautionary stickers, arrows and a hatch.

The Freeze Ray (5000 – written on a piece of paper taped over the last names) is a large silver metal machine covered with frost and icicles from its extreme inner temperatures. Below the machine’s name is a thermometer which fills up with color that gets bluer as the process starts. On the sides of the machine are two swirling rainbow light bars that rotate and dials that spin. Inside the main compartment are two rays that light up with two colors that match the colors that Guests pick from the control panel. In addition, various ice cream cones and items are frozen in ice blocks.

At the control panel, all of the buttons are pressable, but none activate or cause effects until the staff member turns them on at the correct time after explaining the necessary information to Guests. The largest buttons are freezing additives that Guests can add to their experiment while the ice cream is in the machine. The other main button is the main lever that they pull to start the machine. Various effects happen throughout the area while the machine is running including lighting, air and sounds. The freeze ray uses conveyer belts and magnets to bring the ice cream bowls inside the main compartment and then mixers fold down during the process to mix the ice cream while the liquid nitrogen is pouring inside through the rays.

The last area of the lab is relatively simple in order to simplify the process for Guests to avoid any confusion. An instruction chart, with the same information as the sheet they picked up at the beginning, is on the wall above a shelf full of the beakers for their ice cream. Cups of spatulas are available for them to scoop in the ice cream, and then the dishes can be returned in the dish return container. A shelf of extra candies provides them extra toppings and a counter has utensils and napkins. Around the corner of the room are baskets to return the costumes they wore.

On a tall lab table, a setup of various test tubes and flasks are interconnected with buttons underneath. Four spouts sit above a grate for beakers to sit on. The tubes allow Guests to pick from four toppings; when they press a button, the liquid in the tubes boils, bubbles and races along. The real toppings, though, are hidden in a compartment in the tubes and dispenses over the Guest’s beaker as the tube effects finish.

Guests meet Dr. Freeze in this side room of the lab, where he stands behind a lab table covered with various instruments and scientific items. A chalkboard is covered with equations and drawings from his experiment work and is surrounded by the same rainbow LED lights that are on the exterior of the building. A barrier blocks the Guests from getting too close to him as they take photos with him in their costumes and with their creations.

Dr. Freeze is an interactive audio-animatronic, controlled from another room by a staff member. His eyes are block by the tinted goggles, but the rest of his face is 3D molded soft plastic. His cheeks, hair and eyebrows move in 3D while his mouth is an inner animated projection onto the soft surface so that it is easier to make him talk. While he talks to Guests, he is very animated, excitable and goofy. He can move his arms, but one hand is always holding a flask of ice cream. He poses when Guests stand in front of him for pictures, and then waves goodbye to them when they go.