Enchanted Plot Holes with Belle

[bubbles1812]

One of the many fun things to do as a nit-picky critic is to point out all the plots holes in a given story. Since Belle has a newish story telling attraction at MK, let's see how well it fits within the overall plot logic of Disney's Beauty and the Beast :

- Where did Beast get a second magic mirror? The Enchantress gave him the portable surveillance device seen in the movie, but where did the wall mounted one come from? No one in the movie besides her had magic powers, so how did this one get made? And why give it time travel properties? I assume this is either for Belle to go to 1885 to save Doc Brown or further in the future to kill some Morlocks.

- How come when Maurice first goes into the castle Beast catches him and throws a giant fit, but never notices a classroom sized group of kids marching about, stomping and singing off key? Must have been busy with that bath he was having with Lumiere and the hat rack to get ready for his date...but isn't Lumiere with us?

- How could there be human servents in the castle if the curse is still going on? I guess Belle hired some college interns. This would explain why she isn't ouright stunned to see other humans in the castle.

- Does the attraction follow the original movie or Special Edition storyline? If it's the former, that hallway with the Wardrobe shouldn't be so tidy. Also, Belle should shoot first.

- Wouldn't having people go back in time, even to just visit Belle, have future consequences? Butterfly effect anyone? I'm pretty sure we don't need to see Gaston win the next time we see the story.

And yes, this post may be a little silly, but so is the attraction. Olivanders works because the events shown there are based on the book/movie with little alteration and still make sense given the context presented, unlike Belle which bends over backwards to justify its silly set-up (though I still liked it in previews).

Lol. Belle should shoot first? That cracked me up.

I don't think I could even begin to address your questions so I will just address your final comments with what I thought of the attraction... It is very silly and some of me wishes they had put in an actual ride. I would also never wait for it. my mom and I saw the last show of the night in February so we just walked in... That said, I think that actually made it more enjoyable because it was a small group. Every kid got to play a part and the small group allowed the CMs/Belle to have a bit more of an intimacy/interaction because of it. (I can't even imagine how long it would be with people jam packed in there with all the kids needed a picture with Belle. But I digress...) Because of that smallness, my mom and I really enjoyed watching it, plot holes and all, even though we had no kids participating. It doesn't make all that much sense as you aptly pointed out, but it can be fun, even if I will tell people only go towards the end of the night

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Lol. Belle should shoot first? That cracked me up.

I don't think I could even begin to address your questions so I will just address your final comments with what I thought of the attraction... It is very silly and some of me wishes they had put in an actual ride. I would also never wait for it. my mom and I saw the last show of the night in February so we just walked in... That said, I think that actually made it more enjoyable because it was a small group. Every kid got to play a part and the small group allowed the CMs/Belle to have a bit more of an intimacy/interaction because of it. (I can't even imagine how long it would be with people jam packed in there with all the kids needed a picture with Belle. But I digress...) Because of that smallness, my mom and I really enjoyed watching it, plot holes and all, even though we had no kids participating. It doesn't make all that much sense as you aptly pointed out, but it can be fun, even if I will tell people only go towards the end of the night

The thing has hour+ long waits all day due to its limited capacity. Unless you go first thing in the morning, or right before close you'll have to wait quite a bit. Even during the last 30 minutes of the park when I was there it still had 30min waits.

 

[bubbles1812]

The thing has hour+ long waits all day due to its limited capacity. Unless you go first thing in the morning, or right before close you'll have to wait quite a bit. Even during the last 30 minutes of the park when I was there it still had 30min waits.

Eh... The thing claimed it had a 25 minute wait and we walked right in. Same way Small World had a 35 minute wait and I was on it in 20. And Mermaid had 40 minute wait, which took us about 10 minutes to walk thru the queue and we got right on it. Maybe I just got lucky but generally at the end of the night, I've found most of the wait times to be fairly off. Like I said, we were the last group of the night so maybe we just timed it exactly right by sheer dumb luck, but we did not wait. Not trying to root my own horn but I'm pretty good at guessing the actual wait time of things no matter what the wait time claims. Peter Pan claimed it was 40 but the parade was starting so I knew not to take that one serioulsy for example. And we were on in 5. The end of the night just is wacky. Wait times fluctuate a lot more. So my recommendation stands... If you want to do Enchanted Tales, go towards the end of the night. Though I don't doubt your experience either. I know it can get very crowded. That's why we avoided it all day that day lol.

 

[Kristamouse]

I think someone mentioned children not noticing the continuity changes. My daughter, then 6, noticed the BatB show at DHS was out of order. To be honest I can't remember the changes myself but I do remember her being bothered. Will be happy to report if she notices anything amiss with Belle's Story,but we won't be there until May.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The whole story is really convoluted and unfortunately I really do think Disney just figured that it is for little kids and therefore it would not be given any thought. This attitude is wider spread and alienates those who must accompany young children, creating the very sort of vicarious enjoyment that Disneyland deliberately sought to end.

There is some semblance of time travel, but why does Maurice want to relive his daughter's imprisonment and his impending commitment?

 

[rct247]

All attractions have inconsistencies or things that if you analyze will make things not make sense.

 

[All Disney All The Time]

It's an enhanced Meet and Greet for young children, let's not make more of it than it is.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's an enhanced Meet and Greet for young children, let's not make more of it than it is.

"You're dead if you only aim for kids."

 

[All Disney All The Time]

"You're dead if you only aim for kids."

Really? Disney has profited bazillions by targeting just that demographic. Do you think that "Rapunzel" was produced with an eye to the adult market? Or "Merida"?
The MK has always been geared towards families with small children and by my experience, especially small, girl children of late. Princesses and fairies sell and for every adult who buys a ticket, a souvie, a movie or any other product for themselves there are many more who are buying it for their children.

Parents will stand in line for hours to get their young children the Meet and Greet with the Princesses and fairies, then will spend $50 or more to get them the Bobiddity Princess makeover. They'll buy the new Tinker Bell movie as soon as it's available for their young children and they'll saturate their young child's room with whatever Disney character the child wants.

The new Belle attraction is an enhanced Meet and Greet designed for families with young children. Most teenagers and adults will have little interest in it, except for those who are either diehard Disney fantatics or once in a lifetime visitors who are "going to do it all". The parents will stand in line for as long as it takes for their young child to get to "play a part" and have "quality time" with Belle, and then they'll buy whatever their child asks for.

Even my wife, who is a Disney nut, says that she doesn't see herself going to it since we don't have granddaughters that would "play a part", "meet Belle" and get lots of photos while it was all going on. But yet, in spite of that, she still demands that we take our yearly pilgramage to WDW.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Really? Disney has profited bazillions by targeting just that demographic. Do you think that "Rapunzel" was produced with an eye to the adult market? Or "Merida"?
The MK has always been geared towards families with small children and by my experience, especially small, girl children of late. Princesses and fairies sell and for every adult who buys a ticket, a souvie, a movie or any other product for themselves there are many more who are buying it for their children.

Disneyland deliberately sought to avoid the overdone focus on young children now present in Walt Disney World's Mgic Kingdom. Disney and Pixar's animated success is not from aiming at children, but a wide audience; that means being able to entertain adults capable of thought. No kiddie fair, in cinema or themed entertainment, is going to garner widespread critical and cultural acclaim.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Really? Disney has profited bazillions by targeting just that demographic.

The dude was quoting Walt Disney himself. Guess Walt didn't know much about marketing.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

All attractions have inconsistencies or things that if you analyze will make things not make sense.

That's true. Very true.

Pirates doesn't make sense. It's a sequence of piratey impressions, almost dreamlike. As is the Mansion, or Thunder Mountain.

But these date from before the story-mania era. If one insists on having a narrative story, as so many WDW experiences nowadays do, then inconsistencies and plot holes do become a problem.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That's true. Very true.

Pirates doesn't make sense. It's a sequence of piratey impressions, almost dreamlike. As is the Mansion, or Thunder Mountain.

I don't thinks its a lack of sense, just leaving some things unsaid. A far mor real experience as life is hardly a linear, prescriptive narrative. If we are curious we will often find ourselves in places in which we are lacking in at least some of the information regarding the origins of the situation.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I don't thinks its a lack of sense, just leaving some things unsaid. A far more real experience as life is hardly a linear, prescriptive narrative. If we are curious we will often find ourselves in places in which we are lacking in at least some of the information regarding the origins of the situation.

Ah, monsieur is a philosophe.

 

[All Disney All The Time]

The dude was quoting Walt Disney himself. Guess Walt didn't know much about marketing.

You may not have noticed but Walt has been dead a long time now. And yet WDW is the most visited vacation spot in the world.
I stand by my opinions of MK and the new Belle attraction. It's for small children and the parents of them who will stand in line for however long it takes and will buy whatever their children want.
There are many people we can "quote" and those "quotes" may not be any more applicable in today's world than Walt's.

 

[All Disney All The Time]

Disneyland deliberately sought to avoid the overdone focus on young children now present in Walt Disney World's Mgic Kingdom. Disney and Pixar's animated success is not from aiming at children, but a wide audience; that means being able to entertain adults capable of thought. No kiddie fair, in cinema or themed entertainment, is going to garner widespread critical and cultural acclaim.

I know of few adults who have purchased "Toy Story" for themselves. "Widespread critical and cultural acclaim" does not always translate into profits, frequently the opposite. But targeting the children who will make their parents' lives miserable until they get out the credit card does.

 

[lazyboy97o]

You may not have noticed but Walt has been dead a long time now. And yet WDW is the most visited vacation spot in the world.
I stand by my opinions of MK and the new Belle attraction. It's for small children and the parents of them who will stand in line for however long it takes and will buy whatever their children want.
There are many people we can "quote" and those "quotes" may not be any more applicable in today's world than Walt's.

What then is psychologically and/or emotionally wrong with all of us to be so adults infatuated with the entertainment of young children?

I know of few adults who have purchased "Toy Story" for themselves. "Widespread critical and cultural acclaim" does not always translate into profits, frequently the opposite. But targeting the children who will make their parents' lives miserable until they get out the credit card does.

Films aimed purely at young children are some of the worst performing at the box office, thus their tendency to be more overwhelmingly released only for the home purchase market.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

come on, Disney vacationers and their kids are not interesting enough to be such active participants in these themed experiences. I didn't come all the way to WDW to see the elementary school play version of Beauty and the Beast.

Ouch!

 

[All Disney All The Time]

If Disney "cared" about what adults wanted then MK would be full of thrill rides on a par with Hershey. The MK is ALL about families with young children, meeting Princesses and fairies and buying their wares.

In the meantime, buy yourselves some Disney stock, it has been REALLY good to us over the past 20 years. In spite of your complaints and analyses. Go figure. Ain't it funny how Disney management has figured out a way to return a VERY nice profit to the shareholders in spite of WDWMagic and all its "geniuses". There's a reason it's a blue chip stock and it ain't because Disney comes here and reads the "advice" and "opinons".

 

[All Disney All The Time]

If that's the case, then why go to the added expense of putting Storytime with Belle in a show building with animatronics in the first place? They're not going to analyze the experience or know the difference after all...


That's probably the best way to describe it...If Enchanted Tales was around when my siblings and I were young, we would have thought it was lame and would never have gone back, which would have severely disappointing because we all like Beauty and the Beast. In my opinion, if somebody pitched Enchanted Tales as an idea for an attraction back when WDW was building things like Splash Mountain and TOT, they would have been laughed out of the building. I find it amazing that in this day and age an "attraction" like this, which amounts to little more than the world's most expensive game of dress-up, is considered innovative simply because it is "interactive".

As the OP pointed out, the forced interactivity gimmick wreaks havoc with the BATB continuity. It's very ironic that the interactive aspects that are specifically designed to engage guests in the story actually make it more difficult to suspend disbelief. There's nothing wrong with immersing the audience in a storybook world or even characters acknowledging guests, but, come on, Disney vacationers and their kids are not interesting enough to be such active participants in these themed experiences. I didn't come all the way to WDW to see the elementary school play version of Beauty and the Beast. I come to be dazzled and to see the Imagineers put on a show.

The reality is, Disney doesn't "care" how long you traveled. Haven't you figured that out yet? I don't see a Disney accountant worrying, "WDWGoof07 traveled this long to get here". That accountant is calculating, "We added Belle's enhanced Meet and Greet and sales of Beauty and the Beast merchandise are UP". Money talks and WDWMagic BS walks.