A Tale of Three Poohs

I am going to try to keep the commentary to a minimum today and let the following photos speak for themselves. These photos are of the exact same scene from three different versions of the same ride. (See my post from yesterday for shots of the attraction's facade and queue in Tokyo.)

Anaheim: Painted plywood set. Limited-motion fiberglass Pooh figure.

Orlando: More painted plywood. Same limited-motion Pooh figure as Anaheim.

Tokyo: FULLY audio-animatronic Pooh.....talks, turns head, moves arms, raises eyebrows, winks and blinks.....covered with a "fur" coat. The surrounding set is FULLY three-dimensional....the entire room! Oh, and there is the scent of honey in the air.

I know what you are thinking and I've asked the same question. The answer is money.

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! Be safe!

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.