5. The Cavern of Perseverance

The Cavern of Perseverance is carved into ancient lava tubes beneath the island’s Mount Wakarango. Perseverance is the quality of steady persistence in spite of difficulties and obstacles. Only those who persevere are worthy of the Treasure of Knowledge, so T’em-poa, the Spirit of Perseverance, holds the final piece of the code. And if you want it, you’ll have to work for it.

The three Trials of Perseverance are tough. An ancient stone statue of the island’s disgraced ruler Cymon holds five glowing gems. If you want his animal symbol, you’ll need to repeat the pattern he displays as it gets increasingly tougher. (Get it? Cymon? Like the handheld game, Simon?)

Then, you must challenge the Gates of Doom, where gold skulls control a hallway of sliding stone doors. If you follow Doom’s instructions and successfully navigate the sliding doors without becoming trapped (or crushed), you’ll eventually stand before the carving of his face and receive his animal symbol.

Then, tucked away in a dark catacomb is the most difficult trial: the Eyes of Skorn. This ram-horned, tentacled, would-be goddess has the most famous challenge on the island, as her “fiery beams” (read: lasers) criss-cross her rocky chamber. You must move through the laser maze (and quickly!) to stand before her carving if you want her animal symbol.

Each of the three trials of Perseverance are brilliantly designed as you might (or more likely, will) fail at each at least once. Only those who persevere and try again will have the three animal symbols they need. T’em-poa (whose voice is comparable to Yoda, but whose intelligence is not) is located in a steaming volcanic vent in the Cavern. Once brought to life, he reminds you that you need not be the smartest kid on the block. One thing is very clear: if you want knowledge, you’ve got to keep trying, and trying, and trying, and trying.

6. The Observatory

Question, Reason, Inspiration, and Perseverance. If you can demonstrate them all, you’ll have awakened P’lunk, B’ra-zoa, L’lala, and T’em-poa. The symbols they’ve provided will come in handy, as you return to the center of the island and cross the suspension bridge up to the Observatory’s sealed doors. Type the four symbols into the brass keypad and the Observatory gates will shutter, unlock, and creak open. Step inside… and then…

Well, it wouldn’t be much fun if we gave it away. But what you learn inside of the Observatory will be very helpful. P’lunk reminds you: “The code we spirits gave you is clever as can be, for it has other meanings you are yet to see.”

With that, the symbols provided by the Spirits are translated to English. After you’ve unlocked the Observatory (which takes maybe an hour), the quest has just begun. Most people who visit the exhibit often leave the island after they’ve unlocked the Observatory. Only those who take P’lunk’s words to heart will recognize that the Observatory is just the beginning.

7. Level 2

The Observatory code provides you with all you need to begin Adventure – Level 2. Armed with the beginnings of an ancient language, you’re tasked to translate the many, many paragraphs of ancient writings carved into the walls and supports of the Observatory and Temple. They begin to reveal the history of the island, its disgraced leader, and what happened to the people who once lived here… 

As you read more and learn the history of the island, you also find a new challenge: somewhere on the island, an ancient vault is cursed. Only the chosen one can break the curse and unlock the vault, and you’ll need the four Great Spirits to do it. New, hidden trials that take hours of decoding and doing yield new animal symbols to re-awaken each of the Spirits and receive new clues that lead to new places on the island.

As you revisit the Temple, Maze, and Cavern, you find that each one has its own language. And yes, you need to translate each of them to move ahead. Ancient grids, paintings, and puzzles reveal more and more of the Valley’s history and its destruction during a great Cataclysm.

The second level of Adventure takes about twenty hours of work to complete… A totally immersive and absolutely secret puzzle game that’s incredibly challenging. And truthfully, we can’t think of another thing like it in the world. Where else are you dropped into a video game and sent on an Indiana Jones-style quest that literally takes weeks and weeks of work to finish?

8. A Model of 21st Century Attractions

More and more, theme park visitors are looking to become part of the story. Through interactivity, premium experiences, and personalization, guests want more than to observe. They want to participate. COSI’s Adventure is a sincerely outstanding model for the future of theme parks. Imagine Adventure expanded to become an entire themed area at a premium park like Discovery Cove or Disney’s long-rumored Night Kingdom.

Just imagine what Disney or Universal could do to create a stand-alone, living, immersive adventure puzzle game.

It’s totally flexible – a few hours worth of entertainment for casual tourists, but with limitless scope and months worth of puzzles for annual passholders.

It’s for everyone. It’s family friendly and keeps parents and grandparents totally involved as they look for clues, but even twenty-somethings can become totally engaged in level two without ever feeling that it’s just for kids.

It has its own original mythology, from the four Great Spirits to the Observatory; from the Explorers Society to the incredibly detailed history of the Valley revealed in level two. It’s the kind of thing that Disney fans absolutely drool over. Imagine the enthusiasm with which fans would accept those original characters, just as they did with Mystic Manor or Tokyo’s Tower of Terror… Not to mention the merchandising options!

It’s educational. Adventure may seem an odd-man-out in a science center devoted to learning, but that’s just what they want you to think. Buried beneath the tiki torches, stone guardians, and locked temples is something that harkens back to EPCOT: you’re not just having fun. You’re also learning. Like we said, COSI conceptually divided “Science” into seven main topics, of which “Adventure” is one. Most brilliantly, in order to awaken the four Spirits of the Valley, you must ask Questions, be Reasonable, think outside the box and be Inspired, then Persevere. While you probably didn’t notice it, you just lived out the Scientific Process. What’s more, Adventure encourages critical thinking, active exploration, hands-on experiments, trial-and-error, and forging ahead into the unknown – truly, a piece of science we rarely encapsulate so succinctly.

And best of all, it’s personalized, interactive, and immersive. Take an hour. Take two. Take a few weeks and work on level 2. You’ve got the map. You can explore the island in any way you want, awaken the statues in any order you want. Heck, you don’t have to awaken them at all! Just walk around and take in the incredible environment, dig in the sand in the Well of Questions to uncover skeletons, play in the disorienting, tilted King Throne Room of optical illusions, and slide down the playground slide buried into the Cavern… The Valley of the Unknown is yours to explore.

Premium experiences are all the rage. People will even pay more for premium parks like Discovery Cove, where they can get hands on and really be immersed into something different and one-of-a-kind. While it’s only an exhibit area at a science center in the Midwest, Adventure may just be the most likely model for premium park experiences we can find today.

Adventure is one of seven learning worlds at COSI in Columbus, Ohio. The others – Ocean, Progress, Space, Gadgets, Energy, and Life – are similarly immersive and outstanding experiences that follow EPCOT’s early model in a decidedly 21st century style. You can read about COSI, its EPCOT connection, and the six other learning worlds in Theme Park Tourist’s feature here. COSI is located in Columbus, Ohio, just a short drive from both Kings Island and Cedar Point. If you can spare a day, at it to your schedule. You won't be disappointed.

Would you like to experience Adventure in the Valley of the Unknown? Would you tackle the many ancient languages and new trials of Level 2? Does Adventure set a precedent for interactive theme park attractions of the future? Tell us in the comments!

Disclaimer: The author of this article is a Team Member at COSI. COSI did not review or endorse or sponsor this feature. The views and opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of COSI, its team, or its leadership!