If ever there was a Disney animated feature that was deserving of its own dark ride in Fantasyland, it would be Beauty in the Beast, in my opinion. That said, I have been designing my own idea for a Beauty and the Beast dark ride to be put in Fantasyland. The classic storybook theme works perfect in this classic, yet somewhat neglected land, and it is one of the most wonderful and popular Disney movies ever made.
I have been doing some scetches of my vision for this ride, and I will be continually making a storyboard for each of the scenes in the ride, including the facade and all that good stuff.
Here are the scenes I am thinking of putting in the ride:
"Belle"- Where we first meet Belle and the little town she lives in. Introduce Gaston, Lafou, other townsfolk. This would be a rather long scene.
Belle's cottage-Where we meet Maurice, belle's inventor father. Short scene, with some sort of visual gag/special effects thing involving his "wood chopping machine", possibly.
"Gaston"-while off course from the movie, I was thinking of putting this bar room scene here, so you don't oddly skip between scenes in the castle later on and the scenes in the town. I dont know, mabey not. Any thoughts?
Forest scene-short transition to the Beast's castle
Beast's Castle- This part is sort of a block for me, because there are a whole bunch of important scenes at this point in the movie, like where Maurice is imprisoned, then Belle goes to find him and takes his place, but they aren't terribly entertaining scenes for a dark ride, especially when you want to bypass most of the story and go straight for the "experiences"....yet at the same time, you want to keep the riders on track with the story, so as not to confuse them with some strange "loophole": for instance, I was thinking of just cutting straight to having Belle in the castle, but that leave the question "how/why did she get there?"
So anyway, eventually we have Belle emprisoned in the castle. Here, we meet the enchanted servants of the household, including Clogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chip, the french maid/feather duster, the dresser, etc. I see lots of fun possibilities with animatronics in these guys!
"Be Our Guest": This could be a big entertainment peak for the ride. Lots of animatronics, singing and dancing, you know, all that. Lots of water elements here, too, maybe an oppertunity to get wet...?
Something There- I was thinking about having just a really short scene with this song, so as not to slow down the pace of the ride after the big "Be Our Guest" scene....mabey just a pass by Belle and the Beast in the snow with the theme playing and we hear a quick "There may be something there that wasn't there before" verse.
Human Again- I was considering putting in a scene with this song because I like it a lot....
..maybe not...
Beauty and the Beast- This would end up looking a lot like the scenee from the movie: same ballroom, same chandelier, same dance...a nice visual scene.
Kill the Beast- A rather quick scene again, with a quick line from Gaston like "Let's kill the Beast! Follow me!" or something, with an angry mob behind him.
Battle scene- Here we have the enchanted silverware/furniture duking it out with the towns people. I see this being a really "cluttered" scene, lots of things going on at once. Lots of gags with various characters beating up the townspeople. One of those scenes where you can kinda choose what you want to watch as you fly by it.
Then we somehow have to end the ride with a fight between the Beast and Gaston, then a finale where the Beast comes back to human. And we end I suppose in a ballroom scene with the two dancing again.
As you can see, I am viewing this as being much longer and bigger than the average Fantasyland dark ride. I see this as echoing back to the longer dark rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Why can't the Fantasyland rides be as long as them?
....Plus, this is just my idea, so I can do whatever I want
Any thoughts? Ideas? Improvements?
I'll be posting my storyboard drawings every once and a while, whenever I finish each of them.
P.S. Can anyone think of a name for this attraction? Something other than "Beauty and the Beast: The Ride"?
I have been doing some scetches of my vision for this ride, and I will be continually making a storyboard for each of the scenes in the ride, including the facade and all that good stuff.
Here are the scenes I am thinking of putting in the ride:
"Belle"- Where we first meet Belle and the little town she lives in. Introduce Gaston, Lafou, other townsfolk. This would be a rather long scene.
Belle's cottage-Where we meet Maurice, belle's inventor father. Short scene, with some sort of visual gag/special effects thing involving his "wood chopping machine", possibly.
"Gaston"-while off course from the movie, I was thinking of putting this bar room scene here, so you don't oddly skip between scenes in the castle later on and the scenes in the town. I dont know, mabey not. Any thoughts?
Forest scene-short transition to the Beast's castle
Beast's Castle- This part is sort of a block for me, because there are a whole bunch of important scenes at this point in the movie, like where Maurice is imprisoned, then Belle goes to find him and takes his place, but they aren't terribly entertaining scenes for a dark ride, especially when you want to bypass most of the story and go straight for the "experiences"....yet at the same time, you want to keep the riders on track with the story, so as not to confuse them with some strange "loophole": for instance, I was thinking of just cutting straight to having Belle in the castle, but that leave the question "how/why did she get there?"
So anyway, eventually we have Belle emprisoned in the castle. Here, we meet the enchanted servants of the household, including Clogsworth, Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chip, the french maid/feather duster, the dresser, etc. I see lots of fun possibilities with animatronics in these guys!
"Be Our Guest": This could be a big entertainment peak for the ride. Lots of animatronics, singing and dancing, you know, all that. Lots of water elements here, too, maybe an oppertunity to get wet...?
Something There- I was thinking about having just a really short scene with this song, so as not to slow down the pace of the ride after the big "Be Our Guest" scene....mabey just a pass by Belle and the Beast in the snow with the theme playing and we hear a quick "There may be something there that wasn't there before" verse.
Human Again- I was considering putting in a scene with this song because I like it a lot....
..maybe not...Beauty and the Beast- This would end up looking a lot like the scenee from the movie: same ballroom, same chandelier, same dance...a nice visual scene.
Kill the Beast- A rather quick scene again, with a quick line from Gaston like "Let's kill the Beast! Follow me!" or something, with an angry mob behind him.
Battle scene- Here we have the enchanted silverware/furniture duking it out with the towns people. I see this being a really "cluttered" scene, lots of things going on at once. Lots of gags with various characters beating up the townspeople. One of those scenes where you can kinda choose what you want to watch as you fly by it.
Then we somehow have to end the ride with a fight between the Beast and Gaston, then a finale where the Beast comes back to human. And we end I suppose in a ballroom scene with the two dancing again.
As you can see, I am viewing this as being much longer and bigger than the average Fantasyland dark ride. I see this as echoing back to the longer dark rides like Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Why can't the Fantasyland rides be as long as them?
....Plus, this is just my idea, so I can do whatever I want
Any thoughts? Ideas? Improvements?
I'll be posting my storyboard drawings every once and a while, whenever I finish each of them.
P.S. Can anyone think of a name for this attraction? Something other than "Beauty and the Beast: The Ride"?
