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, run by the ruthless Hunter Bullion, 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 the precise movements of coreographed scenes while moving freely during whitewater sections. 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.
Hollow Peak
Hollow Peak, and more specifically the Hollow Peak Reservation, is the setting of Journey to Amaweya. Nestled among towering granite cliffs and miles of dense pine forest, it is a place that feels both ancient and alive. Guests begin their journey along winding pathways that weave through the wilderness, where weathered shacks peek out from between the trees as the reservation slowly comes into view ahead.
(Moodboard for Hollow Peak Pavillion)
The Kawetani Tribe
For generations, the Kawetani traveled across the continent as traders and diplomats, building relationships with dozens of tribes along the way and often serving as trusted intermediaries between communities that might never have connected otherwise. After centuries of travel, they eventually made a permanent settlement under Hollow Peak Mountain. Though their wandering days are behind them, the Kawetani have never stopped being a people of the world. Their reservation reflects this in every corner, with textiles, carvings, and painted pictographs from cultures across the continent adorning the buildings, cliffs, and trees throughout the village.
Ambassadors and friends from distant tribes have always been welcomed here, and one of the most beloved traditions born from that openness is the Wall of Travelers, a great stone surface where visiting representatives leave a handprint each time they come. Over hundreds of years, those prints have layered and overlapped into something breathtaking, a living mural that tells the story of every bond the Kawetani have ever forged.
The Kawetani Community Center
At the heart of the reservation sits the Kawetani Comminity Center, a living celebration of Native American culture unlike anything else in the world. Built into the mountain itself, this one-of-a-kind gathering space brings together members of real tribes from across the continent to share their food, craft, stories and traditions with each other and with the world. At its center, a fire burns continuously, surrounded by an ever-changing showcase of music, ceremony, cuisine, and artistry. The Community Center is not a museum or a themed area, it is a platform for authentic Native American culture. It is alive and ever-changing, where every visit is different from the last.
(Moodboard for Kawetani Community Center)