Virginia Gazette News |

Ever curious about who designs roller coasters? Meet Melody Matheny.

JAMES CITY — Melody Matheny first became interested in entertainment attractions as a teenager while working at Busch Gardens. She didn’t know at the time she would end up becoming an attraction designer working on a variety of projects across the globe.

The Lafayette High School alumna — who recently moved back to Williamsburg from Orlando — has worked for numerous entertainment companies through the years, including Sea World, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, Nickelodeon, Disney, Universal Studios and others, along with a few cruise lines. She describes her role as an attraction designer as a combination of architecture, graphic design, interior design and artistry.

“My job is to figure out how people need to move through a space and what kind of story should be told in that space,” said Matheny, who started her own company in 2008. “I work with companies to help them communicate to people what they are about to experience and how they want to tell the story. There’s a lot of psychology involved. It’s important that it is not only visually appealing but also visually meaningful. You want people to leave feeling like they are connected to the experience.”

Locally, Matheny was an art director for the InvadR roller coaster, which opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in the spring of 2017. She was also involved with the creation of two coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Tigris and Cobra’s Curse, as well as The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal Studios.

Additionally, Matheny was a part of the team that spearheaded a roller coaster at IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai, the world’s largest indoor theme park.

“I helped design nine coasters and I haven’t ridden any of them,” she said with a laugh. “I’m terrified.”

One of her favorite projects to date has been designing four of the five cruise ports in Port Royal, Jamaica. Matheny did extensive research on the town’s history to create a pirate-themed attraction. She worked with the Institute of Jamaica, a cultural center in Kingston, to learn more about the background of the country and presented the design to the prime minister of Jamaica.

“He approved it on the spot,” she said. “That was the biggest project I’ve ever done, one that took a lot of creativity. It was very fulfilling and rewarding. I like anything that is historical because there are so many stories to tell and deciding which stories to tell is the fun part.”

In addition to being an attraction designer, Matheny also started the nonprofit Slice Creative Network — slicecreativenetwork.com — to assist entertainment companies in connecting with creative talent freelancers on projects. Slice has helped more than 300 people in a variety of fields find jobs, including technical directors, illustrators and photographers.

Her current projects include converting an 18th-century prison on Grand Turk Island in Turks and Caicos into an escape room and redesigning a party barge in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She’s also working on a traveling interactive entertainment experience with a “Rick and Morty” theme, as well as a “top secret project at Universal Studios that is going to be huge,” she said.

This summer, Matheny is also overseeing the arts program during Busch Gardens’ new “Summer of Wonder,” working with local artists from the Williamsburg Arts Group to introduce guests to various media.

“Busch Gardens still gives me all those childhood memories from growing up here,” she said. “I feel so close to Busch Gardens and am proud to be working with them again.”

Learn more about Melody Matheny‘s work at melodymatheny.com.

Brandy Centolanza, bcentolanza@cox.net