TheOriginalTiki Presents
Agrabah: The Latest Expansion to WDW's Fantasyland
Honestly even in the realms of armchair Imagineering, Aladdin remains a film that's surprisingly under-rated when it comes to the notion of adapting it into a theme park. It really does have it all...It's got a dynamic location unlike the typical European forests of most Disney fairy tales, it's got all kinds of magic powers and shape-shifting, and perhaps most importantly, it's got BY FAR the most roller coaster like scene in the history of Disney animation. Not to mention the film is a definitive classic of the 1990's, arguably eclipsed only by Beauty and the Beast in terms of sheer popularity and critical acclaim.
And that's why it's an easy choice for me to do Agrabah as the Fantasyland expansion. This new sub-area of Fantasyland will include a Pirates style boat ride called "Three Wishes" which takes you through the story of Aladdin, as well as the inevitable "Escape From the Cave of Wonders" E-Ticket which faithfully recreates the iconic sequence. Along with that there will be an authentic marketplace complete with plenty of movie Easter eggs.
Escape from the Cave of Wonders
As you enter the land, the first thing you see is the head of the cave of wonders which acts as a secondary weenie to the area (the main weenie being the palace which is located on a slight incline to rise above the marketplace). The tagline of this ride is "Become the Diamond in the Rough". Of course being the diamond in the rough grants us access to the cave of wonders and that is where the queue begins.
After winding through the desert, we go down the mouth of the lion head entrance and begin our descent into the cave. There are two main rooms of the queue, the caverns and the treasure room. We wind through various caverns with multiple waterfalls, similar to the caverns in Pirates of the Caribbean minus the skeletons. The boarding area is the sprawling treasure room. Yes, this is an intentional little nod to Pirates in terms of the flow of the queue.
We see Abu touching the diamond in the queue which leads to us needing to get evacuated on a fleet of flying carpets. The carpet ride vehicles hang from an overhead track much like Peter Pan's Flight, but are also capable of fast speeds and banked turns. The carpets will be able to fit 12 people each (three rows of four seats) Each carpet is individually designed in the same style of the famous carpet from the film, but there will only be one replica of the film carpet which will be a special vehicle to get on a trip (much like the "Golden" vehicles during the Disneyland 50th...)
The ride itself utilizes a combination of screens with tactical fire effects. Most of the ride takes place within a large "arena" (think Space Mountain) where you are flying around and avoiding cave walls placed throughout the room as well as projected waves of lava crash on giant screens. The speed mixed with the practical walls and fire will give the more elaborate "lava wave" projected effects an air of practicality to them.
The ride ends in a climatic rockslide as we get caught off from the rest of the "Arena" and enter a final helix to gain some speed before entering the brake run and unload area, which is meant to look just live the cavern Abu and Aladdin ended up in right before Genie made his grand entrance in the movie. Upon exiting our carpet we find a "secret passageway" which leads to a small oasis within the desert outskirts of Agrabah, around the corner from the main lion head entrance.
It's also worth noting that this attraction emulates the early Fantasyland dark ride formula where it's meant to place all the guests within the role of Aladdin. This is mostly to get past logic flaws such as how guests are able to enter the cave in the first place..Which I totally realize is a HUGE plot-hole with this whole thing.
Three Wishes will be a more simple D Ticket boat ride that utilizes the Maelstrom backwards flume effect for a climatic sequence. We The queue winds its way around the palace of Agrabah where Jasmine and Raja's hideaway serves as our boarding area. There we find a natural stream, a perfect transitioning point for the vehicles.
The ride tells the tale of Aladdin through the three wishes. After a brief intro to Aladdin in a recreation to the scene where he brings Jasmine to his home and they admire the view, we dive right into the story starting with getting trapped within the Cave of Wonders and finding the magic lamp.
We float through our first major set piece, Friend Like Me. This is an elaborate double staircase with the flume going through the middle. Eight AA Genies serenade us and set up the "Three Wishes" rule as we exit the cave to the sound of a thunderous applause. It seems Aladdin has made his first wish.
In the Prince Ali scene our flume floats along the rooftops of two story buildings as we get a birds eye view of the parade below. We are eye to eye with Elephant Abu and Aladdin decked out in his prince attire. At this point I should mention that this ride definitely makes up for the Cave of Wonders ride not actually having the presence of Aladdin.
We hit a 30 foot drop into what looks to be an under-water setting where we see Aladdin tied up and forced to use his second wish to have the Genie free him and save his life. After climbing a lift hill we find ourselves outside the palace where there's an AA of Iago disguised as a parrot eavesdropping on Aladdin and Genie having a conflict about not using the third wish to set Genie free. When their backs are turned Iago grabs the lamp, and we round the corner into the palace to see Jafar, Sultan, and Jasmine.
In an elaborate projection effect, Jafar with lamp in hand wishes to become Sultan of Agrabah and we see him decked out in white robes while Sultan and Jasmine transform into the "street" versions of themselves.
After a brief hallway where we see the Genie sarcastically cheering on Jafar dressed as a cheerleader, we see an advanced AA of Sultan Jafar as he wishes to become a sorcerer. With this wish he casts us out of Agrabah using the Maelstrom backwards flume effect. After flying backwards away from the Jafar AA we hit a backwards drop outside the building of about 20 feet, then go through a roundabout to get forward traction again as we enter the final scenes.
In a brief tunnel we hear Jafar wishing to become an all powerful genie before entering the climatic showbuilding where Aladdin faces off against a 25 foot tall Genie Jafar AA. You know how the story goes...Aladdin wields Jafar's black lamp and casts him inside. Phenomenal cosmic powers...Itty bitty little living space.
In the final room we see Aladdin setting Genie free. As he looses his wrist bands he transforms into the tourist version of himself before our eyes. "I'm going to Disney World..Oh wait, I'm already here!" Similar to characters such as Roz in DCA's Monsters Inc. ride and Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story Mania, this Genie actually talks with the guests and gives them a final greeting.
The Marketplace
This is a small but thriving recreation of the Argrabah market place complete with costumed guards and cut-throat merchants. Go ahead and buy a fresh apple from that cart over there...Just don't even THINK about stealing it.
All four of the other merchants as seen in the film are also a presence, including...
-The Piscachio Salesman
-The Pottery Tent
-The Necklace and Bead Tent
-Catch of the day "Fresh Fish! We Catch Em' You Buy Em'!"
In the center of the marketplace is the relocated Magic Carpets of Aladdin, a proper kids ride to offset the two bigger adventures available in the land. And thus concludes your tour of Agrabah. This is a mix of thrill, storytelling, classic Disney dark ride storytelling, with just a dash of culture thrown in for good measure. It's a modern classic Disney environment come to life in the way only Imagineering can achieve!
