"The Big Surprise" is a theatrical installation featuring a six-minute animated movie created specifically for GIVE KIDS THE WORLD, a Make-a-Wish destination located in Orlando, Florida, USA, that incorporates a custom-designed show control system with accompanying special effects situated in the actual theatre space in order to create an intimate, immersive, and engaging experience for the audience. GIVE KIDS THE WORLD is a themed residential development that is staffed primarily by volunteers attending to children with life threatening illnesses and their families. These families come to Orlando from all over the world to spend one week experiencing the myriad entertainment and theme park attractions of Central Florida. At GIVE KIDS THE WORLD every day of every week has a designated purpose and festivity associated with it. Saturday for instance is the weekly birthday of Mayor Clayton, the bunny rabbit mayor of GIVE KIDS THE WORLD. The village wanted to expand beyond the traditional birthday party that is celebrated in their theatre every Saturday, so they asked the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center if we could devise a broader, more technologically sophisticated experience to augment the usual cake and soft drinks. A group of eleven ETC students were given this task as a semester-long ETC Project. In the course of the fifteen week term, these students conceived the idea, designed the experience working closely with the client, implemented all the technology, and then installed everything in the Safari Theatre on the grounds of GIVE KIDS THE WORLD and premiered the experience and the movie before an audience of invited guests and children. In this live demo, member of the student group will show the animated movie, detail the show control system and demonstrate how some of the live special effects were incorporated into the experience.