One more time: Mickey's House of Wonders (feedback and critiques wanted)

[mharrington]

This is (hopefully) the last time I will have to deal with this...

On numerous occasions, I have posted ideas for a Mickey dark ride in the Magic Kingdom. One of them was actually by @MANEATINGWREATH as an extension of Main Street for the Town Square Theater (Magician Mickey's Magical Madcap Mania). The other is my own idea, augmented time and again, for Storybook Circus (Mickey's House of Wonders), which was recently updated (go here for the first post: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/some-unfinished-business-in-fantasyland.954370/#post-8670645). I liked them both so much that I really could not pick a favorite, so I had put up a thread with these two attractions (along with a third attraction I came up with I didn't think much of): https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/three-mickey-rides-which-one-is-the-best.940296/. I included a poll for people here to vote on which one they preferred, with Mickey's House of Wonders winning handily, with eight votes to only two for the Magician Mickey concept.

But still, I am bothered. I like them both. I like the concept of Mickey as a traveling magician in town on Main Street, but I also like the concept of the House of Wonders. At one point, I even considered swapping out the House of Wonders concept with Magician Mickey, or even keeping the latter on Main Street, to make that Main Street the first Main Street to have a true attraction (the WDW Railroad notwithstanding), while leaving Storybook Circus the way it is now. I actually was considering all of this because I was thinking of duplicating the ride for Paris (in Fantasyland near the Mickey meet-n-greet, which has a similar, if not identical, theme to Florida) and Hong Kong (in the Opera House-like building currently home to the Art of Animation, also making that Main Street home to a true attraction (again, the trains notwithstanding)). Of course, in Paris' case, there is (or at least, there was) a rumor of a small Toontown-like area being added so a copy of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway can be added there (either that or it would just be added to Fantasyland itself). But I digress.

Anyway, I'm pondering the possibility of Mickey as a traveling magician who also hosts the House of Wonders in Storybook Circus, particularly since the Town Square Theater is so close to the WDW train station and the circus typically arrived by train, as per an article from Passport 2 Dreams: http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2012/09/lightning-in-bottle-storybook-circus.html. The article argues that while Dumbo is ostensibly the reason for the land to exist, the real star is the railroad (hence, the train station):

The railroad had previously provided important conceptual links on Main Street and Frontierland, but it grows into a central role in this area. When you enter, you're directly facing a train and train roundhouse - that's the introductory statement! Your other options include arriving on a train, or walking in via Tomorrowland and directly facing a train. WDI has covered all of the bases here. The entire area is, in fact, motivated by the train, because the Circus arrived on it.

Anyway, after much deliberation and agonizing, I think I may have finally, FINALLY found a way to make the two concepts work together in Mickey's House of Wonders, at least at WDW's version. However, I'm not sure if the concept would fit physically in Hong Kong's Fantasyland in particular, since I'm more concerned with trying to add Peter Pan's Flight to that park somewhere, somehow (maybe replace PhilharMagic there?). But I digress.

I will get to the ride's verbal tour soon, but until then, what are your thoughts?

 

[Miru]

I guess this would work out, and make the train ride feel special and better than ever before. This would really honor Walt, too.

 

[mharrington]

I guess this would work out, and make the train ride feel special and better than ever before. This would really honor Walt, too.

Funny you should mention Walt, as the article on Storybook Circus also brings him up:

By being called Carolwood Park, being set in the Midwest, in some far off once upon an Americana, the area brings in the ghost of Walt Disney's childhood. Disney harbored a fascination with the circus, of which Dumbo is only the most obvious example. There are also a scant dozen shorts, Toby Tyler and Fun and Fancy Free, and the fact that Disney bought and restored an entire Circus wagon train and ran it through Disneyland to a Circus he staged inside the park twice daily.

Is Storybook Circus not only the circus of Dumbo, but the circus of Walt Disney's imagination? It certainly seems so. And by telling that story, it also seems to tell the story of the impetus behind the entire Magic Kingdom itself. It's the origin story for the entire theme park.

Although, because of "Dumbo", which is set in Florida, I'm thinking, very subtly, of hinting that the circus is in fact set in Florida, the same as the whole resort, even though the article claims that this circus is in the Midwest someplace (hence, Carolwood) and not in Florida.

 

[mharrington]

Okay, so here we go with the verbal tour for Mickey's House of Wonders, one more time. It's going to be huge, with pics, so it's going to be broken into at least two posts...

Here is the approximate location of the ride:

The ride lasts 3-4 minutes, about as long as the Peter Pan ride at the other end of Fantasyland. This will be something akin to Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.

The entrance looks approximately like the entrance to what would have been Mickey's Madhouse in what would have been Dumbo's Circusland:

As you enter, you wind through a reduced queue, about half the space of the queue in the image above. The remaining space, along the exit path, will be home to an alternate meet-n-greet space known as the Silly Symphonic Sideshow (replacing Pete's Silly Sideshow), where you can meet with various lesser-known characters like Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Ludwig Von Drake or the Three Little Pigs.

In the queue here, it is shown, via a trunk full of magic show items, that Magician Mickey the Magnificent is a traveling magician who pulls double duty as House of Wonders host by day and performing magician by night, adding a little bit to the area. It is based on the Town Square Theater, where Mickey performs a magic show and traveled by train to Carolwood Park to perform. He has his good friends Donald and Goofy, also circus performers, Donald a seal trainer (The Astounding Duke Donaldo) and Goofy a stuntman (The Great Goofini), on hand.

The House of Wonders, where you board a colorful carriage-car through a zany funhouse-like attraction, where anything can happen. And it just might, apparently, with odd-shaped mirrors, special effects, and much more, to say nothing of Donald and Goofy trying to operate things. Throughout the queue there are a few props and memorabilia from their tours (hinting that Storybook Circus is a traveling circus), as well as the aforementioned magic trunk belonging to Mickey.

The queue winds back and forth on the right side and should be enough to hold a 35-minute wait before spilling out into Storybook Circus (although it will definitely have FastpassPlus available).

You then climb into your ride vehicles for your trip through the House of Wonders. They are themed as the aforementioned carriage-car-things which look like a cross between the non-cage cars of Casey Jr...

…and the larger motorcars from the updated Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (before it closed in 1998):

In short, they look like the Mr. Toad cars with the circus-like filigrees from Casey Jr. The cars seat six passengers per seat, and to make up for the loss of the roller coaster element of Mickey's Madhouse, they will actually be a milder version of the EMVs found at Disneyland's Indiana Jones ride and the Animal Kingdom's Dinosaur ride. As such, there will be some jerking, lurching side-to-side motions, so it's going to be a little rough, but not as rough as Dinosaur. Incidentally, there is a moment in the Winnie the Pooh ride that also gets a little jerky as the honey pot vehicles there "bounce" with Tigger, but that's only for one scene, however. Each of the cars are one of three colors, red (for Mickey), blue (for Donald) and green (for Goofy). On the fronts of the cars, they have designs of the characters' heads like the old Mickey's Fun Wheel:

And on the backs, they have small license plates that look familiar. I'll tell you what they are later, but I will tell you right now that it is reminiscent of those license plates you see on the walls of the queue of the Roger Rabbit ride.

As you climb aboard, you hear Mickey providing the typical bilingual safety spiel, and once the lap bars are down, you are on your way.

Scene 1 - Meet Mickey and Pals
Mickey, Donald and Goofy all greet you and then Mickey sends you on your way into the House of Wonders by pulling on a rope attached to a group of steam whistles (themed to Steamboat Willie) that opens a door to usher you in. Donald and Goofy, meanwhile, start operating lights and machines to turn everything on. However, Goofy accidentally stumbles into the magic trunk from earlier, including the "unknown light"...

...which zaps Donald and brings all other objects to life, including a crystal ball, which in turn zaps a magic hat inside and causes it to spew out rabbits, birds and playing cards. They all get loose and fly into the room ahead of you. That can't be good...

The spill effect is a shadow on the wall and sound effects, and the scurrying is through projections, also on the wall. Also, the figures of Mickey, Donald and Goofy here may seem familiar to many fans
, and that's because the figures themselves are the same figures from the long-gone Mickey Mouse Revue, which was relocated from Florida in 1980 to Tokyo Disneyland for that park's opening in 1983, but has since closed in 2009:

(Sorry, that's the best I could get on short notice.)

However, since the Donald figure in particular has since been reused for Epcot's Mexico boat ride, it seems likely that that figure will have to be reused from a mold used to create the original figure, like how the molds used to create the Seven Dwarfs here were reused to create the Dwarfs in the post-1994 Snow White ride (and by extension the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train).

Scene 2 - Mickey's Follies
You find yourself in a barn scene like the one above, derivative of an early concept piece for the original Mickey's Madhouse:

Numerous barnyard animals are performing some silly dances, such as cows doing ballet (as in Mickey's Revue) and ducks dancing around and shaking tailfeathers (as in Mickey's Follies). Off to one side, Clarabelle Cow plays piano (from Mickey's Amateurs) and Horace Horsecollar plays some kind of... pipe instrument... thing (as in The Whoopee Party)...

All the while, Mickey tries to lead the band in a Band Concert-like outfit while also playing clarinet, like in Blue Rhythm:

However, the rabbits and birds from the hat threaten to disrupt the proceedings, as Mickey becomes confused about what's going on.

Scene 3 - Animal Antics
Leaving the room, your vehicle transitions into a room with performing animals. Here, Donald is trying to get some seals (two adults and one pup, resembling Salty) to perform a number, as in Mickey's Circus...

Actually, the seals themselves look more like those in Mickey and the Seal:

As they perform, nearby, a bear, lion and gorilla, who had all been threatening a nervous Donald, all start dancing to the seals' tune (which is the Donald Duck song (based off of an old Donald Duck snowglobe with him and his nephews in a teacup)). The moment is derivative of a black-and-white Mickey short, where the mouse is threatened by both a lion and a bear, but when music from Mickey's accordion is played by a monkey, they start dancing. From inside of a pool of water, a whale (resembling that from The Whalers) dances, too, while Goofy rides on his back like a cowboy in a rodeo. Meanwhile, the birds and rabbits join in as well.

The bear, lion, gorilla and whale look like those in The Pointer, Pluto At the Zoo, Donald Duck and the Gorilla and The Whalers, respectively:

Also, as Goofy rides the whale's back, he is wearing his cowboy duds like how he does in this poster found in the queue for his ride nearby:

Scene 4 - Barrel of Fun/Hall of Mirrors (transition)
The noise of one last blast from the horn startles Donald and sends him stumbling backward on the lively crystal ball, which sends Donald into a crazy barrel of fun, which you go through. The crystal ball turns the barrel into a spinning hall of mirrors with distorted reflections all around. Donald gets teleported inside one of the mirrors, a magic one, which has also gone loose from Mickey's magician trunk, along with playing cards, as you go inside as well. As you enter, not just Donald, but Mickey and Goofy, too, have been teleported inside, and they all try and figure out what's going on...

That's all for now. I will do more later. But for now, what do you think so far? I feel as though my ideas seem to be kind of rambling with my ideas here, but what do you think?

 

[mharrington]

Well, since no one is responding, I guess I will continue...

Scene 5 - The Animated Inanimate
Three separate scenes activate at once, all involving crazy inanimate objects come to life, including giant phones and stacks of playing cards, both as in Thru the Mirror...

In this case, the cards are giant versions of his own magic cards (with Mickey's face on them), with Mickey dancing along with them here (albeit confused about what's going on)...

Meanwhile, around the corner, a clock goes wild as automatons appear in a hidden door to hit a bell (like in Clock Cleaners). It is not just based on Clock Cleaners, but it's also derivative of a transitional level in "Epic Mickey", based around the cartoon, as it shows the reverse side of a clock, like so:


Donald, irritated by the racket, tries to shut off the automaton, but to no avail.

Scene 6 - Goofy's Wipeout
Finally, there is a pool of water (with fish from the Tank of Terror inside)...

It forms into a huge wave that Goofy tries to surf, as in Hawaiian Holiday, even wearing the same bathing suit as in that short:

But alas, the wave comes in contact with that crystal ball, and Goofy wipes out. The wave hits a huge fan used to create wind. The fan malfunctions and goes haywire!

Scene 7 - An Unnatural Disaster!
This leads to the result of the last scene: a huge whirlwind where everything is blown in all directions! It is derivative of the climax of Mystic Manor, where you go around in the room (from 5:30 to 6:23):


As this happens, the William Tell Storm from The Band Concert plays. If it sounds familiar to Disney park fans, it probably should, as it sounds like it does in the Silly Symphony Swings at the CA Adventure:


You, Mickey, Donald and Goofy all get caught up in the pandemonium, along with all the magic objects, including the crystal ball and Mickey's special magic wand, both of which Mickey grabs. Meanwhile, Donald grabs yet another prop from the trunk: a flare gun for emergency purposes only, based on the flare gun from the climax of Magician Mickey:

He aims for the fan to shut it off. Mickey calls out to him to be careful with that thing, as he should use the wand and the crystal ball together to stop everything. Unfortunately, Donald doesn't hear in the chaos and, what's worse, his aim with the gun is off, and the flare blast hits a crate of fireworks instead (labeled for nighttime use only)! The result is an explosion scene, a la Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit:

There is a moment of darkness as Mickey is heard saying an incantation that makes the crystal ball glow brightly and there is the sound of reversion.

Scene 8 - Farewell
Mickey, Donald and Goofy are united again. The whole area has been repaired, thanks to Mickey's wand and crystal ball being used together. Mickey holds both in his hands, and the magic trunk is shut (save for a rabbit and a card peaking out). Mickey thanks everyone for visiting, in spite of any technical difficulties and admits that he maybe shouldn't have put the trunk so close to the House of Wonders. But they are all happy and relieved that nobody was hurt and that you had a great time. What's more, Mickey adds, this was a great opportunity for him to practice his magic act for the circus that night. As you leave, Mickey says that he hopes you had fun today.

Scene 8.5 - Unload
You reappear near the load area, disembark and head back through the main queue building structure and to the Big Top Souvenirs. However, on the exit path over to the gift shop, there's a meet and greet with circus-themed characters (the aforementioned Silly Symphonic Sideshow).

And by the way, instead of Tony Anselmo voicing Donald Duck, I was thinking of Daniel Ross voicing him instead. Ross voices Donald on "Mickey and the Roadster Racers",

And that was "Mickey's House of Wonders" in the Magic Kingdom's Storybook Circus! Hopefully, after my trying to meld the magic show with this ride together, this will be the last time I will have to come back to it, at least in terms of the whole ride.

What did you all think of it? @Miru? @tcool123? Anybody? Please provide me with your feedback and critiques (which is in the thread title, after all).

 

[Miru]

I really like all the nods to the classic shorts. The Epic Mickey reference was a good idea. It’s a good way to honor it without bringing up the many darker elements of the game. Also, I think Mickey Mouse Works and the modern shorts could perhaps get homages too. And I like the continuity.

 

[mharrington]

I really like all the nods to the classic shorts. The Epic Mickey reference was a good idea. It’s a good way to honor it without bringing up the many darker elements of the game. Also, I think Mickey Mouse Works and the modern shorts could perhaps get homages too. And I like the continuity.

Thanks. The original Mickey's Madhouse was based on the old black-and-white cartoons, and this concept is kind of an outgrowth of that, although it's more on the color cartoons than the black-and-whites, save for the "Mickey's Follies" scene. However, I wasn't necessarily paying homage to "Epic Mickey" per se; I was mainly using the game as a visual reference.

Also, if by "newer shorts", you mean the 2010s Mickey shorts, I was trying to steer clear of that, mainly because of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, which is coming not only to the Studios, but also to Toontown at Disneyland. Also, I'm not sure if it's still on the table right now, but rumor has it that it is (or at least was) in the works for Disneyland Paris as well, which means my idea for this ride of mine won't work there, because I was thinking of putting it in Fantasyland there. However, the Runaway Railway is/was rumored to be going in Fantasyland, but I have no idea how it would fit thematically. The only way it would work there is if they made a small Toontown-like area for it to be put in.

 

[Miru]

Thanks. The original Mickey's Madhouse was based on the old black-and-white cartoons, and this concept is kind of an outgrowth of that, although it's more on the color cartoons than the black-and-whites, save for the "Mickey's Follies" scene. However, I wasn't necessarily paying homage to "Epic Mickey" per se; I was mainly using the game as a visual reference.

Also, if by "newer shorts", you mean the 2010s Mickey shorts, I was trying to steer clear of that, mainly because of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, which is coming not only to the Studios, but also to Toontown at Disneyland. Also, I'm not sure if it's still on the table right now, but rumor has it that it is (or at least was) in the works for Disneyland Paris as well, which means my idea for this ride of mine won't work there, because I was thinking of putting it in Fantasyland there. However, the Runaway Railway is/was rumored to be going in Fantasyland, but I have no idea how it would fit thematically. The only way it would work there is if they made a small Toontown-like area for it to be put in.

I was actually mostly referencing the 1999-2003-ish shorts on Disney Channel.

Also, I like the addition of some sensory elements to the ride.

 

[mharrington]

I was actually mostly referencing the 1999-2003-ish shorts on Disney Channel.

I remember that show when it was on ABC (before it was on Disney Channel). Actually, I was trying to go for more of a "vintage" feel with the choice of cartoons here. Some of the cartoons on "Mouse Works" were decidedly "modernized" and probably would not work here. I had deliberately tried to limit the content to the 1930s and '40s for a reason, not only to give it a vintage feel, but also as a kind of sort of tie in to "Dumbo", which I believe was set in a contemporary period (the early 1940s, in that case (it came out in 1941)).