"Pinocchio's Whale of a Voyage" (feedback wanted)

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is a continuation of my idea for a Pinocchio-themed water thrill ride in WDW's Magic Kingdom: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...eds-a-better-title-among-other-things.977130/

Where the Tomorrowland Speedway once stood. Upon doing some research and figuring out distance and area via Google Maps, I found that the footprint is somewhat comparable with Splash Mountain. Here are two shots of the two areas' rough footprints:
tomorrowland-speedway-partial-area-jpg.642768

splash-mountain-area-jpg.642770


Anyway, the ride is similar to what Ridestormin' suggested in this video below (go to 26:19):


The main difference between the ride in the video and my version is that it would not be a roller coaster, but just more of a traditional water plunge ride, a milder version of Splash Mountain. It's actually based in part on an abandoned concept for a water plunge ride themed to Monstro, like so:
abandoned-monstro-concept-jpg.519884


As in the video description, the ride begins in Pleasure Island (so as to better help segue from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland) and ends with an encounter with Monstro.

The technology to simulate the sneeze would come from Mack Rides which debuted its Rocking Boat concept a few years ago:


One part I'm having difficulty with is what happens after the escape from Monstro. The video didn't say anything about it, it just says that the sneeze out of Monstro is the finale. But I think we need to end a little more happily with Pinocchio, Geppetto and Jiminy Cricket. I'm not sure how, though.

I will go into more details later, but for now, what are your thoughts?
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
As in the video, the entrance would be Pleasure Island, possibly resembling how it looks in the Disneyland ride:
1654485255702.png


In the queue would be various little interactive games you could play, which would be based off of the 2009 "Pinocchio" Blu-Ray, where you could also play various interactive games on Pleasure Island:


I'm also pondering the possibility of having the ride vehicles be circular rafts like in the Mack video above.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The queue would have interactive games like those in the "Pinocchio" Blu-Ray I had mentioned. Unlike the original dark ride, there are no scenes of tobacco or the Indians hocking them. Instead, while Pleasure Island's appearance would be similar to that of this comic strip that was produced before the film's original release:
1655058866153.png


I'm thinking this could take place as you go up the lift hill or something, which would probably be only about as high as the second lift in Splash Mountain (through the mill), though I'm not sure how tall that one is. I'm trying to keep the thrill factor here to be less than Splash Mountain, though more than Pirates, similar to how the Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train thrill factor is less than Big Thunder but more than The Great Goofini.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Rather than have it be one long lift, I'm thinking of going up a few feet, showing the places all along the way, then make a turn and go up even further the rest of the way.

To bring up Splash Mountain again, I'm also pondering having the first plunge be about as big as the Slippin' Falls drop, and the final drop, which simulates Monstro sneezing, be the same as the down-then-up-again drop into the Laughing Place (at least that's how it is at Disneyland; it's been so long since I've been on the one in WDW).

What do you think?
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Maybe the Pleasure Island part can look something like the Prankster's Paradise level of "Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memories":
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here's a rough version of the final cut of this new "Pinocchio"-themed water thrill ride. It is based on an abandoned concept for an early Disneyland attraction that never happened, where guests would ride small rafts up through Monstro's stomach and slide out through his mouth (it apparently evolved into Storybook Land):
abandoned-monstro-concept-jpg.519884


Anyway, this new ride, "Pinocchio's Whale of a Voyage", is a mild water thrill ride in the space where the Tomorrowland Speedway once stood. The thrill factor for this is below Splash Mountain (or whatever the name of it is when it becomes themed to "The Princess and the Frog"), but above Pirates of the Caribbean. The footprint of the Speedway is actually comparable to that of Splash Mountain, which I found surprising.

The area near the ride is a small lagoon with a certain angry-looking whale rising out of it, looking rather like the one from Disneyland's Storybook Land, except instead of boats going into his mouth, the rafts emerge out of his mouth to a blast of water. The rafts twist around a bend and disappear. As you look down, you can spot Jiminy Cricket peeking out from an empty bottle floating in the water, while Pinocchio and Geppetto can be spotted around the bend. Music from the movie plays here, in a nautical style like the original 20,000 Leagues submarine ride. Here's a sample of that ride's load area music to give you an idea:


Behind the whale is a rocky island, home to Pleasure Island. The position of this space where the Speedway was means that Fantasyland is jutting out into Tomorrowland. The Speedway was always particularly jarring as a transition. However, Pleasure Island, with its garish colors and lights and the spectacle of it all, would serve as a better transition, as its colors may try to compliment/contrast the nearby Space Mountain and Tron coasters. The top of Pleasure Island resembles something like how you approach it in the Disneyland ride, with roller coaster tracks and a Ferris wheel:
1656294650773.png


The entrance to the ride is over a bridge leading to Pleasure Island, which also resembles Disneyland's entrance. The area loop music continues here, but in a livelier, jazzier style to compliment Pleasure Island. In the queue, you can play some interactive games, based on the 2009 Blu-Ray release of the film (but not DVD release), where you can play several fun little games, which, based on the video below, seem quite challenging:


Finally, you reach the load area, where you board boats that resemble the raft used by Pinocchio and Geppetto to escape Monstro (more on that later). They're actually part of a new design by Mack Rides called the Rocking Boat:


As you climb aboard your boat, you hear the usual bilingual safety spiel (not sure who could do it in this case, though).

Once aboard your boat, it floats forward, and you spot Jiminy Cricket in a great worry about Pinocchio, knowing full well of what Pleasure Island is all about: that those who stay here too long will become donkeys, and that it's Pinocchio's fate as well unless he leaves.

You then mount a lift hill, about thirty feet, or about the same height as that on Frozen Ever After. It takes you past several more of the rides of Pleasure Island. At the top, you spot Honest John and Gideon, who try to predict your future: that Pleasure Island is the perfect cure for what ails you, that, rather ominously, your friends won't recognize you when you return home:
3851256440_424305068a_b.jpg


Nearby is a rather menacing-looking jack-in-the-box harlequin clown laughing ominously:
3599814581_9063522893_b.jpg


You then spot Pinocchio with Lampwick as they stand outside a crystal palace (resembling the one on Main Street, interestingly) smashing windows with bricks. Nearby is a bonfire of schoolbooks.

(On a side note, I have heard about Disney actively avoiding anything with tobacco in their product nowadays, and that will include in the upcoming remake of "Pinocchio", so I've been trying to come up with ways to do this without any smoking scenes of any kind, which wasn't easy.)

Passing by this, you then go down a small drop (similar to that one drop under the train trestle in Disneyland's Splash Mountain where Brer Rabbit is driving a handcar across). This drop takes you into a darker area where the Coachman smiles menacingly and says, "So, you blokes chose the easy life, did ya?" This takes you past an area where crates full of donkeys (who are actually transformed boys) are being prepped for shipping to salt mines. The boys-turned-donkeys are either braying or crying either "Mama! Mama!" or "Let me go, I don't wanna be a donkey!"
1656295234981.png

You then go past Pinocchio and Lampwick again, in a deserted area of Pleasure Island. Here, Lampwick is turning into a donkey, trying to cry out for help but having difficulty as he's being cut off by braying. Pinocchio is appropriately horrified:
donkey transformation comic strip.jpg


Then you see Jiminy approach to warn Pinocchio to flee. You then see them fleeing, but find their escape route blocked by the Coachman, who tells everyone with a menacing grin, "You blokes goin' someplace?". But he's standing too close to the edge of the cliff, and the wildly-kicking and braying Lampwick kicks the Coachman in the stomach, knocking him off the cliff and falling into the water below. At the same time, Pinocchio and Jiminy jump off the edge into the water to escape. This is a huge waterfall drop, about twenty feet or so, but it won't be the last big drop. In any case, it would be similar to the "escape Pleasure Island" level from the Pinocchio video game (goes from 23:11 to 23:50):


This lands you in the ocean, but suddenly, you spot a sign on a buoy reading "Beware of Monstro!" Jiminy remembers who that is and warns you: "Look out for Monstro!"
dp23.jpg


As you proceed forward through darkness, you see a flash of lightning as the huge gaping jaws of Monstro appear to swallow you whole! Pinocchio and Jiminy fall through (in silhouette form). The open mouth of the whale may look familiar to you if you've been to Disneyland, as it clearly resembles Monstro's appearance at the entrance to Storybook Land, as well as the Pinocchio ride, given that it's set in darkness with only flashes of light to illuminate:
monstro_new.jpg


Inside the whale's belly, you hear Pinocchio and Jiminy calling out for Geppetto. Meanwhile, you find yourself floating past the wrecked remains of old boats that Monstro had eaten:
697933-monstro.jpg


You finally see Pinocchio and Geppetto reuniting on a small boat, while Jiminy is standing in the entrance of a bottle. Pinocchio explains the need to escape from Monstro. Geppetto protests that there is no way out. But then Pinocchio gets the bright idea to build a fire inside the whale's mouth so that the smoke will make him sneeze them out. Geppetto is hesitant about the idea.

Pinocchio is running around collecting fire wood as Geppetto watches on in disbelief. Even Figaro and Cleo are confused as to what he is doing. The little wooden boy then sets a large enough fire that will in turn bring smoke (possibly one of those Smellitzers (like the kind that blast the smell of fresh-baked cookies from the Main Street bakery out into the street)). It's enough to fill the belly of the beast and cause him to sneeze. You can smell the smoke from the fire that he has set, and even see it on the screens that surrounds your boat. I'm not sure how the animation here, though. As great as Audio-Animatronics would be, there may need to be a shortcut here, possibly projections or something. The best that can be done with AAs is maybe something like the Olaf figure in Frozen Ever After.

Your boat turns away turns away back toward Monstro's mouth, which is now looking upward. As you turn away, you see a flash of light as a fire is illuminated. As you make your way up the lift toward the whale's mouth, you see Pinocchio, Geppetto, Figaro and Cleo on the raft, ready to leave, Geppetto warning that they won't make it past Monstro's teeth. Jiminy in the bottle is there, too, calling out for them to wait up for him. All the while, the whale is heard ominously sniffing, snorting and gasping as he gears up for a sneeze.

You crest the top of the lift as Pinocchio cries, "Hang on, Father! Here we go!" At that moment, Monstro lets out a sneeze that sends your boat down another huge drop, accompanied by a wave of water behind you. You blast past the whale's gaping mouth and out into daylight! You have escaped, for the whale is now behind you, a sort of reverse Storybook Land! The drop is, again though big, about twenty feet, is far less severe than the big drop on Splash Mountain. The effect of the sneeze is actually based on the down-up drop for the Laughing Place drop in Splash Mountain (at least at Disneyland; I don't know if it's like that at WDW), with water jets simulating the blast of water. This is the basis of that old Monstro water slide concept.

But what of Pinocchio's group? Did they escape? As your boat twists and turns tightly through the lagoon, you go behind some rocks to find that they have indeed escaped, as evidenced by them on a raft. Jiminy Cricket, too, is there, floating in the bottle:
walt-disney-studios-jiminy-cricket-standing-in-a-floating-bottle-just-after-monstro-(from-pinocchio).jpg

But suddenly, at another bend, you spot Monstro lunging up to attack, outraged at being tricked. The effect of Monstro here is similar to that of the Monstro figure in Disneyland's Pinocchio ride:
pin2.jpg


You see Monstro figure rise up and knock you and Pinocchio's group backward. A blast of water from the whale's rising knocks you back. You then spot Pinocchio's group, their raft having been smashed to bits, save for a single plank that Geppetto is clinging for dear life to. Pinocchio is seen trying to grab this plank and haul his father to safety.

Suddenly, another Monstro figure rises out of the water and rams everyone: you, Pinocchio and Geppetto, behind another rock. All is quiet, but somehow, everyone has escaped from Monstro! Everyone is happy as you see Geppetto and Pinocchio hugging happily, while Jiminy Cricket jumps for joy and Figaro dives into Cleo's fishbowl to give the goldfish a kiss.

All told, the time from the drop to the reunion on the beach lasts about the same time as from the final drop to the load area of Grizzly River Run (about 45 seconds):


And that's end of the ride. I'm trying to figure out, however, how to have guests disembark, since they get on the boats at Pleasure Island. Any ideas?
 
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mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've decided to do a few tweaks to the ride. When you first see Jiminy Cricket, he is in a worry about Pinocchio, because there's something about Pleasure Island he doesn't like. He says that Pinocchio was lured here by "some fox and cat. They're a couple of ill winds in cheap clothing, that's what they are! There's something about this place I don't like, and I've gotta Pinocchio outta here!"

Next, Gideon is playing the hi-striker game as in Disneyland's ride.

I'm also pondering removing the scene of the donkey children in crates, because I'm still reminded of the rumor that the Pinocchio ride in Disneyland would be updated to remove smoking scenes and the donkey children in crates, as a few oversensitive souls felt that this was conducive to child slavery, while conveniently ignoring the lesson about not doing bad things if you don't want to make a donkey of yourself. In any case, this new ride would have nothing of the sort here, just as all smoking scenes are missing from this version as well, in keeping with current Disney policy of no tobacco in its films ever again from now on. It would be like this comic strip of the movie was made at the exact same of the movie itself as a tie-in:
1656548850160.png


In the depressing area of Pleasure Island, Pinocchio wonders why it's so depressing and where everyone else is, but Lampwick laughs off his concern... until he starts braying uncontrollably and calls out for help before fully turning into a donkey.

Finally, as Lampwick-as-donkey kicks the Coachman and sends him teetering on the edge of the cliff, Jiminy calls out to Pinocchio to jump while the Coachman is distracted, and this leads to a big waterfall plunge as everyone falls into the water.

I also would like to know who could do the voices here, as well as who could do the safety spiel. Any ideas?
 

MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
I'd keep the Donkeys and Smoking, this is your version of Pinocchio. If we based it on what Disney is doing nowadays it wouldn't be the real Pinocchio.
 

MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
I got an out of the box idea.

What if you did a Midway Mania, Splash Mountain hybrid? This way you can do the Carnival Games part and than escape Monstro all in one.
 

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'd keep the Donkeys and Smoking, this is your version of Pinocchio. If we based it on what Disney is doing nowadays it wouldn't be the real Pinocchio.

I'm trying to be realistic with my ideas and setting them up as if they could happen, even though they probably won't. That means taking real-world constraints into account as much as possible.

I heard a rumor that the remake coming out won't have smoking scenes either. It's also anyone's guess as to how they will handle the donkey realization. Besides, this ride of mine does use exposition by Jiminy Cricket and the Coachman to explain, similar to the comic strip sample, and you do see Lampwick transform. There's also no smoking or donkeys in "Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance", which has a "Pinocchio"-themed level called Prankster's Paradise, based on Pleasure Island.

And remember the old rumor of people wanting the Pinocchio ride to be altered to remove the smoking and donkey scenes after the rumor of retheming Splash Mountain away from "Song of the South" to "The Princess and the Frog"? That's what I'm trying to do here.
 
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MickeyMouse10

Well-Known Member
Just don't change the Blue Fairy to the new version. I'm totally against who they cast in the role for it. Lately Disney has been casting people who don't look like the characters (Maleficent, Blue Fairy, Cruella, Snow White, Ariel, Aladdin, Genie, Geppetto, Stromboli, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell).
 

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