Friday, May 8, 2009

Monsters In Tomorrowland! - Part 2

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We continue today with Tokyo Disneyland's new Monsters Inc. attraction (for Part 1 of this series, click here.) After waiting 9 hours (8 hours and 45 minutes to be exact), our Fastpass time is now up and we can go get in line! At least the Standby line is only two and a half hours now (3 hours less than it was when we got our Fastpass!)
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Two murals appear on the inside of the dome over the queue. Note the continents are all made up of individual doors.
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This second mural kind of reminds me of some of the Public Works artwork from the 1930's.
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Clocks on the wall show the times for major cities around the world.
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A workstation has been left unattended.
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Posters on the wall inform us of a Monsters Inc. "Special Event."
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Below, are the Monsters Inc. "Security Trams." Each ride vehicle is equipped with two flashlights. The blue portion of the vehicle rotates around 360 degrees on the base. These vehicles reminded me a little of Tokyo's Pooh attraction. Even though these vehicles are on a track (unlike Pooh), they whisk the riders into a scene and stop while the action unfolds and then they scurry away into the next scene. They also reminded me a bit of Toy Story Midway Mania because the top part of the vehicles (the blue portion) rotates around 360 degrees on their bases, so sometimes you are going forwards, backwards and even sideways through the attraction. These vehicles also enter the attraction 3 at a time, just as they do with Pooh's Hunny Hunt.
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The attraction's soundtrack is almost entirely in Japanese. Rather than give my own description of the attraction, which I usually do, I'm including part of a description from Wikipedia. I've made some changes where I found the description of a scene to be wrong or incomplete.
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Oh, and by the way.....most of the audio-animatronic figures in this attraction are VERY animated. They blink, roll their eyes, and move their lips while they are talking. It's quite an improvement over Disney's California Adventure's Monsters Inc. Mike and Sulley To The Rescue! attraction.
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Now we can board the security tram......
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Scene 1 - Sulley has brought Boo back to Monstropolis in hopes that she will join in the flashlight tag festivities. Although it seems as if Boo is interested, she giggles naughtily, intending to go exploring rather than playing. Sulley warns her not to go off to far, but Boo simply responds by giggling. Turning a corner, guests find that Randall has returned from the human world intending to capture Boo in his butterfly net.
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Sulley warns Boo. She's hiding just behind the yellow tanks used to hold screams/laughter.
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Scene 2 - The vehicles then enter the power supply room, facing a window overlooking all of Monstropolis at night. Mike stands nearby at the switch of a power generator that supposedly supplies power to all of Monstropolis. Mike turns off the generator, causing the entire factory and the city to go dark, thereby kicking off the game of flashlight tag.
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Before the power gets shut off.
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After the power is shut off.
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Scene 3 - Entering the boy's locker room, the flashlights turn on, allowing guests to point them at various objects, setting off different actions. Several tiny monsters pop out of the lockers, while other objects simply pop out from underneath floor tiles and benches. Turning into the bathroom, Sulley can be seen searching for Boo with his flashlight.
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Sorry, I don't have any photos of the inside of the locker room, but above is a photo of the bathroom. Boo pops up from the laundry cart on the far right, giggling with towels on her head. Next, Randall pops up from inside the cart on the far left. Note the monster peeking over the top of the bathroom stall on the right.
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Scene 4 - Pulling into the laugh floor, guests find several of Monsters Inc.'s top comedians joining in on the game, Sulley is seen searching for Boo underneath tables. Mike can be found with both hands stuck in a hanging door and swinging back and forth as another monster tugs on his leg. Leaving the laugh floor behind, guests pass Randall again, hiding behind a door.
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The arms of the monster on the right wave around wildly.
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Scene 5 - Leaving the factory and entering the streets of Monstropolis, various monsters can be found searching the streets with flashlights, many hiding in objects such as mail boxes, windows and television sets. Boo is seen standing on a manhole cover and suddenly Randall appears behind her with a net. Luckily, Sulley pops out from the manhole beneath Boo, hoisting her into the air.
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Scene 6 - Entering Harryhausen's sushi restaurant, guests find the octopus-like chef searching for Boo, who can be found popping in and out of several different take-out boxes. Several monsters can be found throughout the restaurant, which also react to the flashlights.
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A scream and a "splash" are heard coming from behind the vehicles, they then rotate around to reveal that Mike's girlfriend Celia, has fallen off of her seat and into a nearby pool of water.
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Scene 7 - The vehicles then head back into the streets of the city. More monsters appear here including one that is about two stories tall. Mike is seen being electrocuted by a large power source continuously, the veins in his eye illuminating with each shock.
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Scene 8 - Entering the factory again, we see Sulley near the waste disposal system. Worried that he has lost Boo again, he calls her name out in fright.
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We then see Boo playing near some trash cans outside of a garbage compactor, unaware that Randall is directly behind her, raising his butterfly net. Randall is muttering to himself about his success, when suddenly Mike emerges from a box on the floor and shouts "GAME OVER", knocking Randall backwards into the garbage compactor.
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Following the trail of the garbage compactor, guests witness Randall roll down a treadmill, being crushed by a spike-lined wheel, pressed repeatedly by large iron poles, spun across another large wheel while changing skin colors, being chopped up by a large wall-like contraption, and emerge from the compactor in the shape of a cube, much like several other compacted cubes of garbage around him. Randall's eyes roll dizzily as he groans in pain.
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Scene 9 - Turning away from the garbage compactor, we see Mike, Sulley, and Boo outside of Boo's door, saying goodbye.
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A great effect here (that was not captured in my photo) is that as the vehicles approach this scene from an angle, riders can see around Boo's door and there is nothing behind it except for a wall, but as they pass directly in front of the open door, her bedroom is visible on the other side.
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Scene 10 Leaving them behind, the vehicles pass a very small monster named Rocky who says "bye-bye" in a VERY DEEP voice (as mentioned in the previous post, he was created just for this attraction.), Boo then pops up beneath him raising him into the air as she also says "bye-bye." to guests. Turning yet another corner, guests enter a filing room and pass an interactive audio-animatronic Roz. This Roz figure interacts with guests much like she does in "Mike and Sulley to the Rescue" at Disney's California Adventure.
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Riders then exit their vehicles and leave through the Monsters Inc. Company Store.
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Before entering the store, riders are handed a free copy of the "Monsters Eye."
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Personally, I really enjoyed this attraction. As mentioned before, the audio-animatronic figures are definitely an improvement over the Monsters Inc. attraction at California Adventure. The rotating vehicles also add an extra level to the attraction. I think it is every bit as entertaining as Tokyo's Pooh attraction. I said in an earlier post (back in November) that if Tokyo's Monsters Inc. "blows the California version out of the water," then I could forgive them for sticking it in Tomorrowland and also for painting the exterior that hideous color when every other building in Tomorrowland is gray, white, silver or blue. Sooooo.....I forgive them! It would be nice though, when the attraction goes down for it's first major rehab, if they were to paint it a color that fit in with it's neighboring Tomorrowland buildings....just a suggestion!

4 comments:

The Viewliner Limited said...

I love Monsters. Great post.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

WOW, this attraction looks very detailed and fun. I love the part where Randall goes thru the trash compactor, Reminds me of classic cartoons! Is it just me, or is everything at TDL a notch or two above all the other parks? The attraction building (minus the paint) and its queue line are more rich & detailed than all of DCA! Thanks for the great post. Now, not to bug you, but do we get a "goodbye" to MMR post soon? Greedy aint I?

TokyoMagic! said...

VDT, your observations are correct. The attraction IS very detailed and yes, everything at Tokyo Disneyland (and Tokyo DisneySea) IS a notch or two above all the other parks.

As for the Mickey Mouse Revue...so you aren't tired of it after a three part post, plus two follow-up posts back in March? I may try to do something for it's official closing in a couple weeks. :-(

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Hi TM! Ok, yes, I'm being a bit greedy, sorry about that.. Its just that I never got to see MMR in person and it really saddens me to hear it will be gone forever. Since I know you have some of the last images I'll ever see of the attraction, I'm just curious to see them. No hurry at all, and I did thoroughly enjoy your Monsters in Tomororwland Posts, way more comprehensive than anything else I've seen on the net. Thanks!

Tim