So I was at the right place at the right time and got to see a tech rehersal of Monsters Inc Laugh Floor today.
What a total mess. There's hardly anything redeeming about this fiasco at all. This "living character" project seems like a grand idea when you are bringing life to characters guest care about like Crush or Mickey Mouse, but this show features total duds that don't connect with the audience.
Some more random unorganized thoughts...
The queue and the theatre itself are themed sort of okay. The very first room is a throw off because it is exactly the same as the old Timekeeper queue, but when you move down into the pre-show holding area they start using the bright colors and sharp lines associated with Monsters Inc. It is nothing impressive, but well done for what it is, and probably the ONLY good thing about this attraction.
The seats that we have to sit on... They're like sitting on Fisher Price sets. No padding at all. You can tell that it is of the durable plastic that won't have be be repaired as often as real seating, but it is amazingly uncomfortable. It makes a bad show worse.
Then there is the show itself. Why, why, WHY?!?!?!? There is no story to this attraction at all. There is a plot, abeit a very loosely constructed plot, but it is BORING. The idea that this little generator collects our laughs and fills up as the show progresses is the only thing that holds this mess together, and even that failed miserably because NO ONE LAUGHED AT THE BAD JOKES. They only bothered to fill up the little laughter generator right at the very end when they rapid fired out a bunch of the audience submitted jokes, but even then no one was laughing too hard. I actually started screaming out "SHENANIGANS!" as that tube started filling up randomly while the audience stared around the room blankly. Besides the bad jokes, I have to say I don't care about these characters AT ALL. I only saw the movie once, so I can't even remember if these guys were in the film, but why are they using no-name characters to begin with? What happened to the crazy snow-cone guy? What about Sulley? Why is one of the main characters of the film not present in a Monster's Inc ride? What about that little color changing chameleon guy that was the villain in the film? They could have made this show slightly more interesting to watch if they had him crash the comedy club and the monsters had to win it back. But no....
So lemme see here... No story? Check. Boring characters? Check. What else? Ah, there are no in-theater effects in this thing at all. Not much lighting to speak of. Only a few random squirts of fog juice. That's it. It would have done some good to make this show a special effects extravaganza, that way at least guests could go "wow" at special effects even if they are bored by everything else. But no, nothing.
That about wraps up everything I can think of at the moment. This show is a total fiasco. 0 out of 10. Worse than Stitch. And as if this attraction was not a total catastrophe on its own merits, they stuck it in Tomorrowland of the Magic Kingdom of all places, where it deals the final crippling blow to one of WDI's neatest accomplishments (Tomorrowland 1995, I mean). This attraction has nothing to do with the future, nothing to do with making things better for tomorrow, nothing to do with anything really. What a total failure...
What a total mess. There's hardly anything redeeming about this fiasco at all. This "living character" project seems like a grand idea when you are bringing life to characters guest care about like Crush or Mickey Mouse, but this show features total duds that don't connect with the audience.
Some more random unorganized thoughts...
The queue and the theatre itself are themed sort of okay. The very first room is a throw off because it is exactly the same as the old Timekeeper queue, but when you move down into the pre-show holding area they start using the bright colors and sharp lines associated with Monsters Inc. It is nothing impressive, but well done for what it is, and probably the ONLY good thing about this attraction.
The seats that we have to sit on... They're like sitting on Fisher Price sets. No padding at all. You can tell that it is of the durable plastic that won't have be be repaired as often as real seating, but it is amazingly uncomfortable. It makes a bad show worse.
Then there is the show itself. Why, why, WHY?!?!?!? There is no story to this attraction at all. There is a plot, abeit a very loosely constructed plot, but it is BORING. The idea that this little generator collects our laughs and fills up as the show progresses is the only thing that holds this mess together, and even that failed miserably because NO ONE LAUGHED AT THE BAD JOKES. They only bothered to fill up the little laughter generator right at the very end when they rapid fired out a bunch of the audience submitted jokes, but even then no one was laughing too hard. I actually started screaming out "SHENANIGANS!" as that tube started filling up randomly while the audience stared around the room blankly. Besides the bad jokes, I have to say I don't care about these characters AT ALL. I only saw the movie once, so I can't even remember if these guys were in the film, but why are they using no-name characters to begin with? What happened to the crazy snow-cone guy? What about Sulley? Why is one of the main characters of the film not present in a Monster's Inc ride? What about that little color changing chameleon guy that was the villain in the film? They could have made this show slightly more interesting to watch if they had him crash the comedy club and the monsters had to win it back. But no....
So lemme see here... No story? Check. Boring characters? Check. What else? Ah, there are no in-theater effects in this thing at all. Not much lighting to speak of. Only a few random squirts of fog juice. That's it. It would have done some good to make this show a special effects extravaganza, that way at least guests could go "wow" at special effects even if they are bored by everything else. But no, nothing.
That about wraps up everything I can think of at the moment. This show is a total fiasco. 0 out of 10. Worse than Stitch. And as if this attraction was not a total catastrophe on its own merits, they stuck it in Tomorrowland of the Magic Kingdom of all places, where it deals the final crippling blow to one of WDI's neatest accomplishments (Tomorrowland 1995, I mean). This attraction has nothing to do with the future, nothing to do with making things better for tomorrow, nothing to do with anything really. What a total failure...
