Post by David Trevino

It was a great honor to serve as Project Director for Texas Theme Park Engineering and Design's Spring 2026 project, "Who Wants to be a Time Traveler?", the organization's first-ever point-based immersive experience. Guests moved through three themed eras, completing puzzles and earning points as they progressed. From early concept development through production and live execution, I worked with multidisciplinary teams including set dressing, electrical, puzzles, marketing, structure, and operations to bring the experience to life. Because this was a new type of experience for TxTPED, a large part of the process involved defining the experience from the ground up, including how the point system integrated with gameplay, environment design, and guest flow. I focused heavily on planning and coordination throughout the project. This included leading weekly meetings, organizing timelines, and tracking progress across several teams to ensure alignment between creative intent and technical implementation. Managing dependencies between teams and adjusting schedules in real time was key to keeping development on track. The experience ran for about two weeks and, with a ~$1000 budget, generated approximately $400 in net profit. Seeing the project function in real time reinforced how important both planning and reliable execution are when delivering an interactive experience at scale. Equally important was balancing creative vision with technical reliability. I worked to ensure that set design and storytelling elements were fully realized while supporting the integration of lighting, audio, and show control systems needed to bring the experience together. I want to recognize my wonderful co-directors, Ollie Mae Harrison and Gabriel Gomez Reyes, for helping shape the project's overall vision, along with the incredible team leads, Catherine Capurso, Ashley Smith, Sebastian Rodriguez, Domenica Collaro, Andrea Cantu, and Nikolas Risoldi, for organizing and leading their teams throughout development. I also want to thank TxTPED's advisors, Karen Maness and J.E. Johnson, for their guidance and support during production, as well as all TxTPED members for their contributions across the project. This was a highly collaborative effort across a team of over 30 students and would not have been possible without their commitment and creativity. Through this project, I strengthened my experience in project management, cross-functional coordination, system integration, and production planning within a fast-paced, collaborative environment. I'm so excited to see what experience Texas Theme Park Engineering and Design brings next!