More Monsters

Here are some more photos of Tokyo Disneyland's future attraction, "Monsters Inc. - Ride and Go Seek!". The photo below shows some construction work on the side of the building. I had to shoot this photo from second level of the Star Tours exit. They had covered up the opening that would normally allow guests to look down into this area with a wall, but they didn't cover it all the way...only about six feet up, so I was able to take the photo below the same way I took the shots from my last post.....by raising my camera above my head and shooting blindly. Note the attraction posters covered up with tape and plastic.

Two days later, this area was completely open to guests and I was able to walk right up to these posters and photograph them better.

The next shot is of the attraction's Fastpass distribution area. It pretty much looked finished and ready to go.....except for the covers over the machines.

Here's a close-up shot of the Fastpass sign.

And the last pic for today is a shot of the sign for the attraction's merchandise shop.

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I do have to say that I will rarely find anything to criticize when it comes to the Tokyo Disney parks, but I do just have this to say about the building's exterior paint job.....what is with the Disney Imagineers' love affair with this color? We saw it in Anaheim's new Tomorrowland of 1998, then again on the exterior of The Tower of Terror attractions in both California Adventure and the Walt Disney Studio Park in Paris. Now it turns up in Tokyo's Tomorrowland, when every other building in that land is painted in shades of gray, blue or white. I really don't get it.

And while I am already criticizing, I have one more complaint. What does Monsters Inc. have to do with Tomorrowland? I realize that the Imagineers have pretty much thrown themeing out the window completely....otherwise we would not have a Finding Nemo attraction in Tomorrowland in Anaheim, or Monsters Inc. attractions in Walt Disney World's Tomorowland and California Adventure's Hollywood Backlot. However, I always thought that when it came to Tokyo, they didn't mess around. After all, the Tokyo parks are not owned by Disney. Disney does still have some control in what the Japanese do and Disney still designs the new attractions for them, but the Japanese always seem to demand the best and don't seem to worry about cost as much as Disney does when it comes to their parks in the U.S.

I am hoping that when this ride opens, comparing it to Anaheim's Monsters Inc. attraction will be like comparing Tokyo's Winnie the Pooh attraction to Anaheim's......meaning, that it blows the other one completely out of the water. Then all will be forgiven as far as it's exterior color scheme and location. Okay, rant over.

My next post will include one last set of photos of the exterior of this attraction.

Tokyo Pooh!

This is the facade for "Pooh's Hunny Hunt" at Tokyo Disneyland. This attraction occupies the former site of their Fantasyland Skyway station. Tokyo's Skyway closed in 1998 and Pooh opened in it's place in 2001. This is a very popular attraction in Japan and on their busiest days, Fastpasses for it can be gone by mid-day. In fact, the line just to get a Fastpass has been known at times to extend around into Tomorrowland and they will even place a cast member at the end of the line with a sign designating that it is only a line to GET a Fastpass.

The "giant book" theme continues on the inside of the building.

The queue weaves in and around over-sized storybook pages.

These are the ride vehicles. There is not a visible track.....the vehicles "slide" or "glide" along on the floor. They enter the attraction three at a time and will stop briefly throughout the ride while the action unfolds around them. At times they will spin, bounce and even go backwards. This is truly an amazing ride system......AND an amazing ride!

Tomorrow, we will examine one particular scene from inside this wonderful attraction and compare it with photos of the exact same scene from it's sister attractions in Anaheim and Orlando. Brace yourself.....it isn't going to be pretty.

Br'er Owl and Br'er Weasel

I don't know if this owl actually has a name or not, but he can be seen inside Tokyo Disneyland's Splash Mt., talking to the guests that are waiting in line. I use the word "inside", because as I mentioned in yesterday's post, most of the queue for Splash Mt. is located indoors. I have a theory about this owl. I think that he....or at least his "head", could be the old sidekick of Eagle Sam's from America Sings at Disneyland. It looks like the right size and shape....I just don't have anything to back up this theory.



For my second photo, we have the weasels from Tokyo's Splash Mt. I had been told by someone that all of Tokyo's weasels were from the America Sings attraction in Anaheim because Anaheim's Splash Mt. doesn't have weasels, but after recently riding Splash Mountain in Anaheim and seeing that it does contain weasels, I am now thinking this probably isn't the case. Almost all of the America Sings characters were reused in Anaheim's Splash Mt. and then they were later recreated for Florida's and Tokyo's versions. If anyone knows of any of the original America Sings audio-animatronics that made it into Florida or Tokyo's Splash Mountains, I would love to hear from you! I still think that the owl in the queue at Tokyo Disneyland is Eagle Sam's sidekick, but that is just my own unconfirmed, unofficial, "probably wrong" theory!



Just for fun, I have scanned a "NOT A FASTPASS" ticket for Tokyo Disneyland's Splash Mt. just to show the artwork since it is different than Disneyland's or Walt Disney World's. Notice at the very bottom of the ticket, that Tokyo's Fastpass system will actually tell you what attraction you already hold a Fastpass for.

Buzz'd In Tokyo

Just across the way from Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain, is Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. This attraction replaced their Circle Vision theater the same way that Anaheim's and Paris' did. I do enjoy this attraction, but it's a shame that the only remaining Disney Circle Vision theaters are located at Epcot. I miss the 1967 version of "America The Beautiful"!!!! I still can't believe that Disney actually brought it back for one last year before converting the theater into Rocket Rods queue. I guess they do something right once in a while (I mean bringing America The Beautiful back, NOT the part about converting it into Rocket Rods queue). Oh, but I digress. This is Tokyo and they do just about EVERYTHING right.

Take a look at those Fastpass machines. And take a gander at the cast member costumes. Check out those crazy saucer shaped caps!

The photo below is of a photo-op found near the entrance to Tomorrowland. The Little Green Man with his back to us is holding a camera, while the others are posing for him. Oooooooooooooooh!