Our protagonist, a young anthropologist named Dr. Aiyana Tewaki, dedicated her life to re-discovering the long-lost history of her people and her home until one day, that very home was threatened. Bullion Energy, a subsidiary of Big Thunder Mining Company, discovered that underneath her tribe’s reserve lies millions in unrefined oil, and they are looking to push the tribe off the reserve to get to it. Dr. Tewaki’s life is turned upside down overnight as she goes from humble historian to the last hope for her people. If she can find the ruins of her people's underground village, the reserve will be protected by the state, and her people and culture will remain safe.
Several months in, things are not looking good. Not only are the digs coming up empty, but Bullion is getting impatient, sending surveyors and seismic equipment that constantly disrupts the team's work, perhaps on purpose. To fund her research and to spread the word about her people's culture, Dr. Tewaki and her team started hosting tours of select portions of the cavern, and that's where our story begins.
It’s a quiet, uneventful day. Dr. Tewaki is off investigating a new lead and has left her interns in charge of the tour groups. An intern guides the group into the caverns and begins the tour. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake as Bullion’s seismic charges trigger the cave entrance to collapse, and what was once a simple tour becomes an evacuation. The guests then board their remote-operated evacuation rafts and prepare for the ride of their lives.
Journey to Amaweya is a groundbreaking attraction that seamlessly blends the intimate storytelling of a dark ride with the heart-pounding excitement of a whitewater rafting adventure. What begins as a calm, guided expedition into a vast underground cave system, marketed to guests as an educational tour, quickly escalates into an unforgettable fight for survival.
The attraction pushes immersion to new heights through the seamless integration of live actors, cutting-edge special effects, and state-of-the-art tracked simulator vehicles. Performers interact directly with the audience, enhancing the tension and blurring the line between scripted show and real emergency. Projection mapping, practical water effects, and animatronic set pieces transform the cavern into a living, breathing environment that reacts to the unfolding story.
At the heart of the experience is the custom ride system: a hybrid tracked raft capable of simulating both the precise movements of a dark ride and the unpredictable surges of whitewater rapids. This unique vehicle allows for fluid storytelling, switching from slow, scenic passages to exhilarating drops and turbulent turns without ever breaking immersion.
By combining rich narrative, tangible danger, and technological innovation, Journey to Amaweya offers an attraction unlike anything guests have ever experienced. It’s not just a ride, it’s an expedition, a survival story, delivering an emotional and physical journey guests will talk about long after stepping back onto dry land.