A choice-driven, dual-mode narrative: two distinct ride experiences within one iconic Coaster Wheel.
Time Rider turns an iconic structure into a character led journey. At its heart is Dr. Chrono, an inventive adventurer vying to connect eras via her Chrono Spin time-travel portal. Guests step into the narrative at entry by choosing their role - Time Keeper or Time Traveller - linking their place in the story intrinsically to the dual ride experiences.
Time Rider demonstrates how a strong narrative and cohesive design elevate an experience into a journey. From the workshop that forms the queue and rooftop ride loading area, to the massive rotating signage components that are integrated with the motion of the ride structure, guests are drawn into Dr. Chrono’s adventure - right down to choosing between two different ride experiences, a rarity among the world’s largest rides. Rotating watch hands, gear wheels, animated springs, bright jewels and tourbillon cues translate precision horology into a unique aesthetic, clear from within the gondolas, readable at plaza scale, and legible from afar, creating a strong park icon that reads across ages, languages, and distances.
Choose Your Experience
The role of the Time Keeper is to wind the mainspring, their fixed gondola turning the great wheel like a key that brings the clockwork to life. The role of the Time Traveller is to align the portal’s jewels, their swinging gondolas moving the jewels into place as the wheel turns. Inspired by the intricate movements of mechanical timepieces, these paired roles activate the Chrono Spin portal.
Pass Through The Workshop
The queue winds through Dr. Chrono’s workshop, where wall graphics and props hint at ongoing time-travel experiments, building anticipation as guests ascend to the loading level beneath the mechanism of the great wheel.
Two Paths, Two feelings, One Story
Time Rider differentiates itself from traditional giant wheels by using a Coaster Wheel (a coaster-enhanced Ferris wheel) to deliver two distinct ride experiences. Time Keeper cabins provide expansive, orientation-rich panoramas from fixed gondolas. Time Traveller cabins are mobile gondolas riding a compact track; as the wheel turns, gravity carries each cabin up and slightly out before it arcs back toward the structure, creating a “descend and swing-back” family-friendly thrill. Each side of the massive Coaster Wheel reinforce the narrative: the south-east façade presents gold and blue across the monumental mechanism, while the north-west façade shifts to silver and green, subtly suggesting a passage through time as guests move through the experience.
Design Integration - Story, Structure, and Graphics
FORREC anchored the experience in the strong theme of mechanical clocks with a time-travel twist, expressed across structure, graphics, and motion. The main structure’s colour strategy supports long-range recognition by day and night, while key central graphics (ride name, clock face, blued hands, and gearwork) are split between fixed elements on the static frame and rotating elements on the main wheel, creating a truly dynamic graphic that reads from multiple vantage points. The two elevations are intentionally distinct (south-east gold/blue, north-west silver/green) to reinforce the passage-through-time motif at park scale.
Gondola graphics differentiate roles (Time Keeper vs Time Traveller), giving guests a hands-on experience of the theme. All components were detailed for multiple viewing distances and angles (plaza, mid-park vistas, skyline) and for day/night legibility, including designing for wind load with the ride manufacturer, and providing direction on colour and animation with the lighting consultant for the Coaster Wheel’s incredible lighting package that comes to life as the Chrono Spin portal opens and becomes a signature beacon for all of Gyeongju World.
Guest Readability & Accessibility
Colour-coded roles, clear iconography, and minimal text make the story legible across ages and languages, while straightforward boarding, clear wayfinding, family-friendly motion profiles, and complementary visual/audio cues support a broad range of guests and needs.
Time Rider demonstrates how a strong narrative and cohesive design elevate an experience into a journey. From the workshop that forms the queue and rooftop ride loading area, to the massive rotating signage components that are integrated with the motion of the ride structure, guests are drawn into Dr. Chrono’s adventure - right down to choosing between two different ride experiences, a rarity among the world’s largest rides.
Rotating watch hands, gear wheels, animated springs, bright jewels and tourbillon cues translate precision horology into a unique aesthetic, clear from within the gondolas, readable at plaza scale, and legible from afar, creating a strong park icon that reads across ages, languages, and distances.
Partners
- Intamin Amusement Rides
- Gyeongju World
- Maxtron
