Type Of Project
Architainment/Immersive Experience. Spellbound is a permanent, immersive themed venue at sea.
Name of Project
Spellbound. It's part speakeasy cocktail bar, part walk-through story experience, part intimate close-up magic theater. Guests find it behind an unmarked black door off the ship's main Piazza. The venue is about 2,800 sq ft and holds 1000+ pieces of art, artifacts and memorabilia, plus a suite of show-controlled illusions: animated paintings, a moving ticket booth, a "haunted" piano, shadows that appear out of thin air, directional audio, photos that spring to life, a animatronic ventriloquist doll, plus 20+ other magical interactives dotted around the venue.
Client: Princess Cruises.
Venue: A co-branded collaboration with The Magic Castle (Magic Castle Enterprises, owned by Randy and Kristy Pitchford), which became Princess's official magic partner.
Design Brief
Bring the Magic Castle to sea. The Castle is a private club, open by invitation only. Princess wanted to recreate that exclusivity and sense of discovery for cruise guests. The design had to feel like a genuine extension of the Hollywood original, not a themed imitation.
A hidden, secret-entrance experience. A discreet door leads to the front entrance of an old Hollywood Theater. There, a password, or magic word triggers the reveal of the venue, echoing the Castle's famous bookcase entrance.
A sequence of storytelling rooms, each with its own personality and "activations":
- Theater Lobby, with a narrated Castle origin story
- The Inner Circle, home of Iris, the resident spirit at the piano
- Cardini Bar
- Dressing Room
- Backstage
- Peacock Theater, for the 30-45 minute magic show
Layer in hidden magic everywhere. This meant animated and interactive décor, Easter eggs, and scripted crew responses to artifacts, so that guests keep discovering things and repeat visits pay off.
Integrate the full product. The design had to accommodate themed cocktails, sleight-of-hand service staff, costumed uniforms, vintage glassware, rotating Magic Castle magicians, and Medallion-enabled guest recognition and ADA interactions.
Main goals of the client and producers:
Create a signature, differentiating venue for Princess's newest ships. It would be a premium, extra-cost experience with nothing like it at sea, and it would anchor Princess's experiential dining and entertainment offering.
Deliver an authentic partnership that honored the Castle's history, the Larsen family legacy, and later the Pitchford/Cardini connection. It also had to satisfy the Magic Castle as brand partner.
Create wonder and surprise: a sense of "where did I just walk into?" that turns a bar visit into a memorable story guests talk about.
Make it operable at sea. That meant a tight footprint, repeatable show cycles (four shows nightly plus bar service), robust show control, and a design that crew can run night after night.
Stay on schedule and budget across two newbuilds. Both ships had hard shipyard delivery dates in Italy. The work required mock-ups, fabrication oversight and on-site install in the shipyard.
Project Description
The Project
The project is a collaboration between Princess Cruises and the Magic Castle to extend the Magic Castle brand, and more importantly, the experience beyond the original Hollywood location. Spellbound by Magic Castle is a way to experience the world famous members-only club without having to be a member, know a member or travel to Hollywood.
The Location
Spellbound debuted aboard Star Princess, Princess Cruises' next-generation flagship, designed to create unique and memorable entertainment experiences. Developed over more than seven years, Star Princess was officially christened on October 4, 2025.
The Team
Princess Cruises assembled a multidisciplinary, international team of designers, technicians, fabricators, and craftspeople to bring Spellbound to life. The project united multiple leading themed entertainment specialists from the United States, Europe, and beyond to faithfully realize the Magic Castle experience.
The Magic Castle
Spellbound is the first ever partnership for the Magic Castle; and represents the first collaboration between Princess, the Magic Castle, and the founding Larsen family. Spellbound is the only place in the world where guests can experience the Magic Castle beyond its original Hollywood home.
The Magic Castle is the world's premier private club for magicians. Founded by the Larsen family and housed in a historic 1909 late-Victorian designed mansion in Hollywood, it is dedicated to the magical arts. Admission is reserved for member magicians and their invited guests only, making it one of the world's most exclusive and sought-after destinations.
The Experience
Building on the legacy of the Magic Castle, Spellbound extends its world beyond the walls of the Hollywood clubhouse, inviting guests into an original magical world inspired by its history, traditions, and spirit. Guests don't simply observe magic, they become participants, uncovering secrets, discovering Easter eggs, and triggering magical moments throughout the experience. By blending original storytelling, immersive environments, and interactive effects, Spellbound gives guests a glimpse into the world of the Magic Castle, creating memories that extend well beyond a traditional performance or exhibition.
The Guest Experience
Spellbound begins before guests enter the venue. Entry requires discovering a hidden door and speaking a secret passphrase, immediately establishing the exclusivity that defines the Magic Castle. Inside, guests explore richly themed spaces featuring more than 1,000 artworks, artifacts, and memorabilia, hidden surprises, and over 15 interactive encounters. The journey includes an intimate, world-class magic performance, making guests feel as though they've been welcomed into a secret society rather than attending a traditional attraction.
Attraction Walk-Through
Once guests arrive at the nondescript Spellbound Black Door, they are greeted by a "Doorkeeper." Guests then enter the Box Office, where they meet the spirit of Swan Walker, wife, and assistant to The Great Cardini, who materializes in the ticket booth. Swan describes the history of the Magic Castle, Spellbound, and the old vaudevillian theater in which the guests find themselves. Guests are then asked to say the magic words "Open Sesame". The marquee lights flicker, Swan disappears, and the entire ticket booth slides aside revealing the secret entrance into Spellbound.
Once through the hidden entrance, guests are greeted by impeccably dressed bar servers who all have a trick up their sleeves and a love for magic. With bespoke cocktails, guests are encouraged to explore the Inner Circle with Iris, the resident ghost; the Cardini Bar with the skillful dexterity of a close-up magician; the Backstage where props come to life; the Vestibule where mysterious shadows of past performers dance across the brick wall; and the Peacock Theater, where Magic Castle magicians astound and amaze.
Guests are encouraged to explore Spellbound at their leisure. The longer they linger, the more magical surprises await as paintings, artifacts, and props unexpectedly come to life.
Theming & Design
Spellbound's design blends the Magic Castle's eclectic visual heritage with a distinctly cinematic sensibility. Drawing from Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mayan Revival influences, the spaces are layered with ornate detailing, rich materials, and the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age. This fusion of architectural styles creates a timeless, mysterious world where every room feels meticulously crafted, transporting guests into a hidden magical society that is both elegant and immersive.
The 3,000 sq. ft. venue features more than 1,000 artworks, magical artifacts, and memorabilia. Each piece personally curated from over 15 countries, custom matted, framed, and/or shadowboxed with meticulous attention to detail. Every piece has a unique story or connection to the Magic Castle. Guests can spend hours exploring the venue.
The depth of the design has even inspired Princess to host behind-the-scenes tours led by the venue's designer, Alex M. Calle, offering guests insight into the creative vision and meticulous curation behind Spellbound.
Concealing the Technology
Theming is paramount to achieving the suspension of disbelief. Vintage posters come to life, portholes connect guests with well-known magicians, shadows dance across brick walls, a ship in a bottle weathers storms, a ventriloquist dummy unexpectedly awakens, a ghostly piano accepts and plays requests while "bantering" with guests, and a backstage Zoltar Machine delivers fortunes are just some of the effects integrated into period-inspired scenery and practical props, allowing guests to experience wonder without ever knowing the technology behind the illusion.
There are many intentional and creative ways theming has been woven throughout every aspect of Spellbound. Every square inch of the venue was purposefully themed to support the overall guest experience.
The goal is to transport guests—already aboard one of the world's most sophisticated leisure and entertainment platforms—to another place and time. By remaining true to the rich history and traditions of the Magic Castle while creating an original experience at sea, Spellbound gives guests the rare opportunity to experience a world that most would never otherwise have the chance to enter.
Challenges and Solutions
Bottling an icon (the authenticity challenge)
The Magic Castle is a private club with 60+ years of history, a devoted membership, and new owners protective of the brand. The team had to satisfy two clients: Princess and Magic Castle Enterprises. The result had to read as a genuine extension of the Hollywood clubhouse, not a theme-park copy.
Solution: The design was rooted in real history. The rooms echo the Castle's own sequence: a secret entrance, a music room with a resident spirit, a parlor bar, a library, and a close-up gallery. The team curated more than 1,000 artworks and artifacts, with magician posters, straitjackets, locks and period ephemera. Every clock in the venue is stopped at 7:04, the Castle's Franklin Avenue address. For Star Princess, the team worked directly with the Pitchfords, including a session in Dallas to review family artifacts. They built the story around Cardini, Randy Pitchford's great-uncle, which gave the owners a personal stake in the result.
2. A tiny footprint with a big story
Spellbound occupies roughly 2,800 sq ft, a fraction of a percent of the ship's area. That space had to hold six distinct story rooms, a working bar, a theater running four shows a night, and a guest flow that moves groups through a timed narrative.
Solution: The team treated the venue as a guided sequence, not a floor plan. Scripted beats, a roughly two-minute pre-show in the foyer, and a scripted guest-pulse sequence move groups through the rooms on cue. Walls, ceilings and furniture all work as storytelling surfaces. A 3D model of the space was maintained weekly and used to place every gag, artifact and curio before anything was built. The venue ended up carrying almost 20% of all the art on the ship.
3. Building for the sea
A ship is not a building. It flexes, vibrates, pitches and rolls, and it runs on strict marine fire and safety regulations. Every framed piece, shelf and prop had to survive heavy weather and pass inspection. Ceiling heights, steel structure and service runs are fixed early by the shipyard.
Solution: Artwork and décor were mechanically secured, glued and restrained. The team designed shadow boxes and display cases that look like casual Victorian clutter but are locked down for motion. Materials and finishes were coordinated with the ship's outfitting and architecture teams and specialist marine vendors such as Naval Interiors. Illusions that would normally rely on open flame or loose objects were achieved with media, lighting and show control instead.
4. Hard shipyard deadlines on the other side of the world
Newbuild dates don't move. The schedule ran from a December kickoff at the Magic Castle to spring shipping, room delivery by the yard in July, tech install in August, décor in late August, and crew onboard in early September. The shakedown cruise followed that same month.
Solution: The team front-loaded the risk. Full physical mock-ups of key rooms and effects were built and reviewed in Italy before final fabrication. Fabrication was overseen in U.S. shops for about five months, so problems were solved on land rather than in the yard. The hiddenlemons team then led a roughly 20-day on-site install and programming push in the shipyard, working alongside hundreds of other trades competing for the same corridors, elevators and power.
5. An international, multi-vendor team
The credits run to dozens of companies and many specialist teams.
These teams worked across Los Angeles, Austin, Florida, Italy, the UK, and beyond, alongside Princess's Entertainment, F&B, Marketing and Newbuild departments.
Solution: hiddenlemons served as the creative hub. The team turned the concept into vendor-ready scripts, story beats, reference packages and sketches, then kept every vendor aligned through weekly design clarification and shared documentation. Crew roles were also scripted. Each artifact came with written crew responses, so bartenders and hosts could extend the story.
6. Budget pressure and value engineering
Specialty effects on a ship are expensive, and every change ripples through show control, AV and outfitting.
Solution: The team made disciplined trade-offs. They consolidated scope, sourced much of the décor through careful curation of vintage and reproduction pieces rather than custom fabrication, and reserved custom builds for signature moments. On Star Princess, the team reused proven Sun Princess systems such as the video portal, porthole and piano interaction. New investment went to the new story and theatrical upgrades, and item costs were benchmarked against the first venue.
Innovations...
Story-driven show control on a bar scale. The venue uses theme-park-grade effects in an intimate cocktail setting: animated paintings, interactive barstools, a turning table, moving books, a bust with moving eyes, directional-audio whispers and a plasma-ball host.
A hologram effect in the Theater Lobby gives guests an introduction to The Magic Castle and Spellbound.
A password-activated secret entrance. Guests speak the magic word and the fireplace (or, on Star Princess, the Cardini display case) opens into the venue.
Personalized magic. Integration with Princess's MedallionClass wearable allows guest recognition, celebration moments such as the piano playing "Happy Birthday," and an ADA-accessible crystal-ball interaction, so every guest can trigger the magic.
Blending magic, mixology and performance. Sleight-of-hand service staff, themed uniforms and theatrical cocktails make the bar itself part of the act.
Layered, fact-and-fiction storytelling. The venue was built on real history, exaggerated history and outright playful fiction, with Easter eggs for repeat visitors.
Above and beyond...
The team managed two brand owners with deep emotional ties to the material.
The project was delivered twice, on two newbuilds in consecutive years, each with immovable shipyard dates.
Operability was designed in from day one. The venue runs four shows nightly plus bar service, seven nights a week, maintained by ship crew rather than a dedicated tech team.
Crew-facing scripts and artifact stories were written so the experience lives on through the staff, not just the set.
Equipment
Q-SYS was selected as the primary control system for Spellbound due to its reliability and familiarity to the onboard operational team. The Q-SYS plug-in Ottomater was utilized for all show-control elements, providing a powerful, flexible solution that remains simple to modify and update.
Forward Thinking Designs deployed a bespoke solution to control off-the-shelf 4K BrightSign players, enabling multi-layer video playback throughout the venue.
Samsung OLED displays were utilized throughout for their exceptional image quality, contrast, and detail.
ControlByWeb products provide network-based, low-voltage control I/O for practical effects throughout the venue.
MRD Lighting utilized ETC Mosaic for lighting control, with ETC F-Drives providing centralized LED power and dimming throughout the venue.
Octopus Design Studio selected Proto LUMA as the anchor technology for the ticket booth illusion and ArtMorph by CECOCECO for the brick-wall shadow illusion. LED-driven media effects through custom-printed panels mystify guests nightly while remaining concealed within the themed environment.
A bespoke video playback solution was developed for Proto LUMA, giving the creative team full control over playback and the resulting illusion.
Princess Cruises and the Magic Castle worked closely with Yamaha Corporation of America on the design and development of Spellbound's signature piano illusion and supporting technology.
Photos by Alex Calle
Key Team Members
PRINCESS CRUISES:
Denise Saviss - Vice President, Entertainment
Kerry Lovegrove - Producer & Creative Director
Richard Parker - Producer & Technical Director
Mark Simons - Technical Producer
MAGIC CASTLE ENTERPRISES:
Randy & Kristy Pitchford - Magic Castle Owners
Erika Larsen - President
Jessica Hopkins - Chief Operating Officer
John Lovick - Talent Coordinator
PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
Jeff Dodd - Oddd Inc.
CREATIVE TEAM:
For hiddenlemons:
Alex M. Calle - Creative Director
Sarah Dawn Lowry - Production Manager
Dakota Tracht / Jacob Lindegren - Art Director
Jared LeClaire - Media Producer
Stefani Palmer - Graphics
Kristie Rose Nonberg - Fabricator
Fernando Vasquez - Sound Designer
James Geyer - Fabricator
Caitlin Doukas / Jordan Fell / Jessica Moreno Caycho - Costumers
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING:
Michael Lagrotteria - Principal Designer
Heather Konish - Designer
Emily Hughes - Programmer
MAGICIANS & TALENT:
Neil Patrick Harris
Charlie Fry
Chef Anton
Lindsay Benner
Liberty Larsen
SHOW GIRLS:
Nadia Lotte
Brynn Route
Danni Doll
Vixen DeVille
THE MAGIC MAKERS:
AKJOHNSTON Group
Ballards Artwork Framing
CECOCECO / ArtMorph
Characters Unlimited
Control AV
Craig Knudsen, Yamaha Corporation of America
Forward Thinking Designs
John Beesley, Bee Software
Machineshop
Naval Interiors
Piano Music Center
Proto Hologram
The Next Stage