Magician Mickey's Madcap Mania (working title)

[mharrington]

I've been trying to figure out how to put Pete in, which is weird, since he's almost never seen in the parks as a meet-n-greet character. To follow up on an earlier post...

The thing linking all of the various seemingly disparate sections together is Mickey's magic hat and wand, which are causing things to go haywire.

I have also considered maybe having Pete be involved in this ride somehow (maybe he owns the theater and is upset that Mickey, being the main entertainment there, goes on tour). He deliberately, discreetly shakes up the bag and unzips it just slightly enough that when Donald and Goofy take it, they drop it, after which the hat and wand fall out, and Pete steals them both.

What do you think? Should Pete be involved? If so, what would his motive be for making trouble for Mickey and friends?

The only other thing I can think of for Pete's motive to make trouble is that an act of his at the theater had been displaced by Mickey and the gang's and he wants revenge for it.

Also, @ThemeParkPriest, I don't believe you really answered my question about your suggestion for the Mickey meet-n-greet in Paris. You had said that it should be railroad-themed given its proximity to the Fantasyland station. However, my argument is that Fantasyland in Paris is mostly based on European fairy tales (save for Dumbo), and any railroad-themed meet-n-greet would be mostly American in theme, and I don't want that, mainly because I don't want to offend the French who have already given the park a bad name for it being too American.

If I went with the Storybook Circus dark ride, then the Mickey meet-n-greet would have to be rethemed appropriately. The only thing I can think of is a replica of the Mickey meet-n-greet in Shanghai, but that is all just a bunch of (often animated) paintings and such, with none of the posters seen in the queue of the meet-n-greet of today. In any case, here's what Shanghai's meet-n-greet looks like to give you an idea:


So what are your thoughts about that, @ThemeParkPriest?

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

I've been trying to figure out how to put Pete in, which is weird, since he's almost never seen in the parks as a meet-n-greet character. To follow up on an earlier post...



The only other thing I can think of for Pete's motive to make trouble is that an act of his at the theater had been displaced by Mickey and the gang's and he wants revenge for it.

Also, @ThemeParkPriest, I don't believe you really answered my question about your suggestion for the Mickey meet-n-greet in Paris. You had said that it should be railroad-themed given its proximity to the Fantasyland station. However, my argument is that Fantasyland in Paris is mostly based on European fairy tales (save for Dumbo), and any railroad-themed meet-n-greet would be mostly American in theme, and I don't want that, mainly because I don't want to offend the French who have already given the park a bad name for it being too American.

If I went with the Storybook Circus dark ride, then the Mickey meet-n-greet would have to be rethemed appropriately. The only thing I can think of is a replica of the Mickey meet-n-greet in Shanghai, but that is all just a bunch of (often animated) paintings and such, with none of the posters seen in the queue of the meet-n-greet of today. In any case, here's what Shanghai's meet-n-greet looks like to give you an idea:


So what are your thoughts about that, @ThemeParkPriest?

How about Mickey and the Beanstalk?

 

[mharrington]

How about Mickey and the Beanstalk?

There's a store there called Sir Mickey's Boutique, which takes reference from that cartoon, at least in part:

 

[mharrington]

The only thing I can think of for Pete is that he was going to do maybe Shakespeare or something before getting canceled in favor of Mickey. The concept could be that Pete is too much of a ham for, say, "Hamlet". It would be like this Popeye short called "Shakespearean Spinach", where Bluto is bumped from the role of Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" in favor of Popeye and for the same reason: being a ham. Here's the cartoon:


What do you think?

 

[mharrington]

@MickeyMouse10 and @ThemeParkPriest...

I suppose I could just have the ride completely overtake the meet-n-greet spot, which certainly would give more room to move around, but that would totally eliminate the meet-n-greet, and there would be no place else to put it. Sir Mickey's is a store. I don't think they'd be willing to give up a store for a meet-n-greet spot.

What do I do?

 

[mharrington]

I need to do a rethink on the ride on Main Street. Here's a modified version of the storyline, this time adding in Pete as the ride actually begins:

After winding through the Town Square Theater space (where the Tinkerbell meet-n-greet once stood and taking up space once considered for that was once considered for the aborted Willis Wood Theater concept), you go through a dressing room before you are to meet up with Mickey's group for a special backstage pass to a show at the theater. However, Pete is nearby, and unhappy that the Town Square Theater management had replaced him in favor of Magician Mickey. He was going to do "Hamlet", but management considered him too much of a ham. He is not happy about being replaced, and by a magic act of all things, and he decides to do something about it.

As Donald and Goofy bring out Mickey's all-important magic bag for the show, Pete snatches the bag away. Mickey's group, with you in tow, give chase to retrieve it for the show. You board a special caravan used by Mickey's group when they first arrived (and will be departing in after the show). Mickey and friends catch Pete, and he drops the bag, opening it up in the process and releasing the contents (sparkly dust, a magic hat, a wand, rabbits, birds, playing cards) and seemingly enlarging in size. Smiling evilly, Pete grabs the two most important parts of the bag, the magic hat and wand, as the group gets swallowed up inside.

I'm sorry I was rambling so much, but I was trying to redo the opening to involve Pete. It's just a barebones version of the opening part of the ride.

What did you think? Please provide me with feedback on it.

 

[mharrington]

Continuing on with the updated verbal tour...

You enter the magic bag, and wind up inside is a swirly purple vortex of nothingness, full of rabbits, birds and cards. It looks like the magic hat subarea of the "Castle of Illusion" revival:


As Mickey tries to get the magic hat off of Pete's head, Goofy struggles with getting the wand away from Pete. In doing so, Donald gets hit with magic blasts that turn him into various different animals at once, much to his irritation. Mickey succeeds in getting the hat off, only for Goofy, in tussling with Pete for possession of the wand, to accident hit the hat with it, causing it to enlarge and suck everyone in like a vacuum.

This leads to what looks like Mickey's house, which confuses everyone, most of all Mickey. However, it seems that everyone is now shrunk down to inanimate object size, in a scene out of "Thru the Mirror". You encounter lively objects, until Donald and Goofy accidentally fall back into a pair of king and queen of heart cards, which the king takes offense to, and sics his cards on the trio. Pete runs off, too, but not before snatching away the wand and hat that Mickey has in his possession.

Not that I'm likely to get any responses, but again, what does anyone think?

 

[mharrington]

Continuing on...

Out the back door everyone is chased by the objects in the house. Here, it's a giant garden, similar to "Mickey's Garden", where everyone is menaced by giant insects:


The giant grass then gives way to a jungle setting (normal-sized again) where everyone is menaced by wild animals, like those in "Jungle Rhythm", where you have run-ins with a lion, a bear and a gorilla that terrorizes each of the gang:


However, the encounters with the lion, bear and gorilla all resemble these:

What do you think of these?

 

[mharrington]

Whoa!

Looks cool man, I've never seen this short before. It's definitely a fun one to base an attraction on. You'd probably have to have a warning for the ride though, because some kids are sensitive.

Which short?

 

[mharrington]

To answer your question about kids' sensitivity, I was thinking of having this be along the lines of Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit: a wild, crazy ride. Anyway, continuing on...

Next up, you run into a dynamite blasting area, similar to this one from "The Delivery Boy" (go to 6:38):


You pass by several signs in various languages that warn of a dynamite blasting area ahead. Pete, holding the wand and hat, lights a stick of dynamite and throws it at you. You swerve, only to get stuck in some tar, spilled over from a barrel. The dynamite lands near you. At the last second, you finally escape as the dynamite explodes and propels your vehicle forward. Pete sees you coming and throws several more sticks of dynamite at you, causing more explosions that kicks up a lot of dirt and debris every which way. And when the dust and smoke clear, Pete is gone.

Instead, you wind up in a small area of town, home to a service station (taken from "Mickey's Service Station") and an airport (taken from "The Mail Pilot"). The plane from "Plane Crazy" flies overhead, with Mickey inside. Over at the service station, cars, with Donald and Goofy caught in them, rise and lower on their platforms. On the wall, tires spin wildly, and there are license plates similar to those in the Roger Rabbit ride whose letters/number combinations form Disney references: CAP 10 HK, L MERM8 and 101 DLMN, among others. It looks like the projection level from "Epic Mickey 2":


And then you spot Pete fleeing for his life from a rogue car engine. But he isn't looking where he's going...

The ride will be concluded next time (if there is a next time).

 

[mharrington]

Sorry I didn't see your notification.

The one with the giant insects. The sensitive kids of today would probably run and hide under their blankey.

It's not going to be like the old 1971 Snow White ride or Alien Encounter or the Indiana Jones ride. It will be more along the lines of Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit.

 

[mharrington]

As Pete runs, he doesn't look where he's going and falls into the water! He had run off the edge of Podunk Landing!

Mickey approaches, famously piloting the Steamboat Willie (whistling as he does) and activates the crane on the boat's stern (the same one used to lift Minnie onto the boat) to lift Pete into the air, literally hanging him out to dry. But Pete dropped the hat and wand in the water, so they're long gone now, so now Mickey's magic show can never happen. At that moment, Donald comes up riding on the back of a whale (as seen in "The Whalers"):

And Goofy comes in surfing on a wave, as in "Hawaiian Holiday":

As they come in for vengeance on Pete, Mickey suddenly remembers that he had a spare hat and wand on his person and puts the hat on. He tries to call out to his compadres to stop, but they don't hear in time, and the whale and wave crash into the steamboat, causing a huge splash that sends everyone every which way. At that moment, however, Mickey uses the wand in the nick of time as the wave crashes into a boat storage shed.

The room is plunged into another magical vortex of rabbits, birds and playing cards, and you emerge from the magic bag, made evident by the large zipper along the edge of the exit archway. You find yourself back in the familiar Town Square Theater, at the backstage door, with only minutes to go before the show begins. Donald and Goofy are impressed by Mickey's spare hat and wand, which he has on him proudly. They ask how he knew about it and how they got back so quickly. Mickey laughs and says that a magician never reveals his secrets. As for Pete, he is all soaking wet and hanging from a tree branch upside-down. Everyone waves goodbye and you exit.

What did you think of Magician Mickey's Magical Madcap Mania?

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

It’s good. I know it’s done, but how would Magician Mickey’s Magical Madcap Mania work with the 2013 Mickey Mouse looks?

 

[mharrington]

It’s good. I know it’s done, but how would Magician Mickey’s Magical Madcap Mania work with the 2013 Mickey Mouse looks?

It's not going to be in the 2013 look. It's going to be a throwback to the old cartoons, kind of like "Get a Horse". It's going to be located at WDW's Main Street, next to the Town Square Theater where that Broadway-style theater was going to go. By having it on Main Street, it will be almost (but not quite) the equivalent of Disneyland's Main Street Cinema, which has "Steamboat Willie" and several other Mickey cartoons playing there:


I'm also trying to base it off of the Timeless River level of "Kingdom Hearts 2":


Not to mention Pete in the Disney Villainous game:

Anyway, I think you get the idea.

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Well Mickey would have to be voice by Chris since his voice is similar to the way Walt voice Mickey.

 

[mharrington]

Well Mickey would have to be voice by Chris since his voice is similar to the way Walt voice Mickey.

I was actually just thinking of Bret Iwan. I also was thinking of doing something like "Get a Horse" (or Mickey's Philharmagic), which has audio dialogue taken from the old cartoons thrown in, which means that Mickey would be voiced by Walt (and maybe James MacDonald, too), while Donald would be voiced by Clarence Nash and Goofy would be voiced by Pinto Colvig and others.

 

[mharrington]

Okay, I'm going to tell the truth about why I went with putting the Mickey ride on Main Street instead of Storybook Circus...

I really want to do a water-based spinner like this one here:


It's for something called the Twist 'n' Splash, from Mack Rides, and the above video is just one example: a SpongeBob Squarepants-themed ride located at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in England. Other such rides include:
-The Penguin (at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom)
-Tsunami Soaker (at Six Flags St. Louis)
-Expedition Nautilus (at Attractiepark Slagharen)

Anyway, my idea for the ride would likely be themed to Donald Duck and a seal lion act (based on "Mickey's Circus"), possibly called "The Astounding Duke Donaldo and His Silly Symphonic Seals":

However, as you can tell by the mock-up of the potential location for the Mickey ride in Storybook Circus, there's no room for that and the spinner at the same time:

Maybe in a perfect world, it might be possible to do both, but the reality is, there may only be enough space for just one or the other. Unlike many people here, I like to be ultra-realistic with my ideas, which means constantly (over)thinking about the surrounding area, backstage facilities, etc. The only way that both could even remotely exist in the same land is if that tent back there (in front of where it says "Backstage to Storybook Circus Access Road") was removed, but even then, I'm pretty sure the footprint just for the Twist 'n' Splash would not be big enough to accommodate.

The fact is, as I've said on more than on occasion (case in point, here: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/how-can-i-stop-overthinking-my-ideas.979687/), I like to be realistic with everything I do and not wear the fact that it is and always will be fiction like a badge of honor.

I also had given some consideration to doing a Pinocchio theme to the Twist 'n' Splash, themed around Monstro, but it seems a lot of people (or at least @MickeyMouse10) think that a simple spinner (and a slow one at that) can't do justice to Pinocchio, especially to the climax of that movie.

 

[mharrington]

The Donald ride sounds pretty good. I think it would fit in very nicely with the Storybook Circus section. It's a decent replacement for his boat, which used to be there a while back.

You could even do a Circus version where you shoot at Clowns.

That's not the point, though. Yes, it would be a good fit, but it's impossible to have both the Mickey dark ride (the earlier Mickey's House of Wonders) and the Donald ride in that area at the same time.

As I've said before, in a perfect world, they would be able to fit, but unlike many people here, I try to fit my ideas into the real world, rather than just come up with ideas that would be good. I like to take real-world considerations into account.

 

[mharrington]

I've also thought about adding in a flat ride, possibly a second whip ride like Alien Swirling Saucers, in the area, instead of the Mickey ride and the Twist-n-Splash ride (which I was thinking of retheming to Pinocchio's encounter with Monstro), and have that be the theme of Donald and the seals. However, from doing calculations of size on Google Maps, I've noticed that the average footprint of a whip ride is about 600 to 700 feet (maybe even 800), whereas the footprint of Pete's Silly Sideshow, which my ride would partially take over, is more about 650 feet. The only way this might be alleviated is if the space was also expanded to feature that yellow tent off to the side which I believe is a bit of a rest area.

 

[mharrington]

I'm saying you should go with just the Donald ride for this section. Mickey's attraction can go on or behind Main Street, where the theatre was rumored to go.

I tried to go with a whip ride like Alien Swirling Saucers, something a little more exciting, but I think the space for that may be too big.

... And please stop repeating the line "I'm realistic and no one else on the board is." It's not nice to say that about other people.

I don't really know how else to express my thoughts and feelings, though. The thing is, I'm autistic, which is to say, I'm literal-minded. I'm more of a Dr. Channing type than a Dreamfinder type (i.e., preferring to control the imagination rather than set it free).

Because of that mindset, I've deliberately put the kibosh on many ideas I've had because they would not fit physical, real-world constraints. It's no fun coming up with ideas if they will not realistically work. It's also the reason why, back in that one thread about putting a new park in a made-up place/location, I've been agonizing about adding a disclaimer to state that what I'm putting down is not real.