We must begin with a disclaimer: though I (and my six traveling companions) did purchase tickets to Evermore’s pre-opening party, we received notice after we were already en route that our tickets would be comped because we were traveling from out of town to an event that was not going to be finished to the extent that they were aiming for. I don’t believe this substantially affected my take away from the experience, but here’s your permission to call me a miserable shill. Go nuts.
There’s never been anything quite like what Evermore promises to be, but there have been a lot of steps on the road to get here.
Created by a team of artists, designers, and performers led by The VOID co-founder Ken Bretschneider, the park takes the VR-purveyor’s commitment to immersive design and brings it outside of the virtual space and into the physical. A roughly ten acre theme park (#notathemepark), but one without rides, queues, or hamburger stands. Instead, you have a vaguely Tolkienesque fantasy setting with one foot grounded in immersive theatre and (in theory) one foot grounded in some level of live action role-playing (#pleasedontsayLARP). Its closest parallels would be found in Legends of Frontierland and Ghost Town Alive, immersive games created for Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, respectively. The biggest difference, though, is that those experiences were grafted onto theme park areas that have existed for decades. Evermore is being built from the ground up specifically to facilitate this type of interactive play. It’s a new evolution in the themed entertainment space, and that in and of itself is incredibly exciting.
But it’s not finished yet. In fact, it’s not really even close.
Originally billed as a grand opening, the language of the ad copy shifted to frame this event as a “pre-opening party.” What that translated to in practical application was a hard-hat-minus-the-hard-hat tour of an active construction site with live entertainment, roaming actors, generous amounts of free food, and a slightly less generous amount of free booze (thanks to Utah’s notoriously absurd liquor laws). To say that the park is even half finished would be generous, and it’s clear that even when the park “officially” opens later this month, large parts of it will remain incomplete.
That wasn’t exactly a surprise, as anyone who has been following the park’s social media presence over the past few months has seen that this is still very much a work in progress. What was surprising, though, was their willingness to be completely candid about it. I had imagined we’d be confined to the sections of the park that were at least visibly near to completion, with the remainder of the park walled off and blocked from view. Instead, we were allowed to roam almost the entirety of the ten-acre space, and even the few areas we were not allowed to walk in were clearly visible through chain link fences. If opening the park so far from completion was unavoidable, this is ultimately the smartest decision they could have made, and one that none of the bigger players in the industry would dare to do. By allowing us nearly unrestricted access to this unfinished park, it invited guests to look at the bones of the place and imagine what it will look like fully fleshed out. It’s counterintuitive, but when you frame something as being obviously not completed, audiences are generally willing to make the mental leaps necessary to meet you halfway. And in the case of Evermore, the promise of what’s yet to come is extremely tantalizing.
The park itself is divided roughly in half between an entrance area dubbed the Towne Square leading into the back half of the park known as the Themed Gardens. The Towne Square portion of the park feels very close to being finished. The buildings and walkways are mostly done, though infrastructure like lighting and the large, central water feature have yet to be installed. The level of detail and craftsmanship on display, however, is nothing short of astounding. You don’t have to make any concessions for this being a small, regional park operating on a limited budget — this is as good as anything you would see from Disney or Universal. By embracing their tiny size and leaning into the core of what they want to be, by being willing to jettison traditionally obligatory features like rides, they’re able to get the most mileage out of their money.
And that’s not even mentioning all the atmosphere they get for “free” by choosing to build the thing in a suburb forty minutes south of Salt Lake City.
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Evermore is nestled in the middle of a developing commercial area right off of I-15 in Pleasant Grove, Utah; just down the street, naturally, from The VOID’s headquarters. When you enter the boundaries of the park, all of that nearly disappears, and you’re left with only the magnificent Utah mountains acting as a backdrop. It adds a sense of grandeur to this intimate little park. Despite some of the oddness of the state’s laws and culture (I lived there for sixteen years, please don’t @ me), it’s one of the most beautiful places in the United States, and Evermore fully capitalizes on that.
As for the Themed Gardens, this area is very far from finished. Most of the structures are built, and about half of those have full exterior theming, but only two of the buildings were actually accessible, and of those just one could reasonably be called anything close to complete. Outside of these structures, though, the landscaping and walkways have not even been started. It’s all just bare dirt. To their credit, they did as much as they could to make it feel like part of the world, using renaissance fair-style tents surrounding massive pumpkins carved from styrofoam. There was a temporary stage with a variety of performers, as well as a bandstand for live music, and a makeshift dance floor. It was in this environment that most of the interactions with Evermore’s denizens played out.
This is the part of the Evermore experience which is the most difficult to take the pulse of, as of yet. Even as the park itself was largely and very obviously unfinished, there was just enough to allow your imagination to fill in the blanks and envision what will inevitably be a remarkable physical space. How the interactive elements will manifest, however, remains a complete unknown. Up until the very, very last minute, this event was said to include the full Lore experience — the first of their seasonal immersive stories. Just two days before the party, though, emails were sent out informing attendees that Lore was not going to be ready for the event. What we got in its place was a loose framework for the story being disseminated through the characters via improvisational performances. The actors were great sports and did their best to wallpaper over the obvious gaps in the experience, but when it comes down to it, the story element of this immersive story park was a dead end on its debut night.
The circumstances behind it are understandable, but make it no less frustrating — a frustration I’m sure is shared by the people working tirelessly in the hopes that they can pull it together in time for their September 8 deadline. The park’s creative team has been presenting Evermore as an evolution of the immersive entertainment industry, filled to the brim with groundbreaking effects and cutting edge technology, none of which were on display during the evening’s proceedings. Eagle-eyed guests could spot some of the incomplete infrastructure being installed to facilitate these ideas (allaying concerns that the more ambitious aspects of the project might have fallen victim to budget cuts). But even though it’s clear that the original intent remains, the park’s first public showing completely lacked its primary selling point. There were some clever narrative conceits — like the idea that both park guests and characters arrived in Evermore through portals from other realms — as well as some practical oversights — it can be difficult to distinguish hired performers from cosplaying guests, especially in low light; but it’s unreasonable to even attempt to critique something so obviously unrepresentative of the intended finished product.
As someone who has been beating the drum for further experimentation with live, interactive experiences in theme park spaces, the idea of a small, boutique park dedicated solely to that is unbelievably exciting. It’s just a shame that we still don’t know to what extent Evermore will deliver upon that. The physical space looks like it will be a spectacular environment to spend time in, and for plenty of people that will be enough. It’s a place overflowing with potential, and I will certainly be back to see how it all comes together as it is finished. But not having that extra layer to peel back and be allowed to really live in this world is a substantial disappointment. Hopefully more of the experience will be online by the time it launches in earnest later this month, but it’s clear this will remain a work in progress for some time to come.
Still, judging from the reactions of attendees that night, there’s an obvious hunger for this type of experience. And even in an unfinished state, Evermore scratches that itch. I hope the park manages to make a big splash and is able to grow into the potential that is so clearly on display. What it promises to be is something I’ve been asking for for a long time, and though it’s not there yet, I am eager to see it when it’s finally finished.
Writer David Daut focuses primarily on film and television, with the occasional foray into theme parks and immersive experiences. He’s written about the Legends of Frontierland immersive game at Disneyland and on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter from when it opened at Universal Studios Hollywood.
He submitted this article, unsolicited, to No Proscenium via our email.
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