After watching the newest Imagineer tour of Storytime with Belle I have a disturbing feeling.
I feel that the attraction will be absolutely boring for adults, especially those without kids, and teens.
Maurice's cottage looks great, but that is just the cue of the attraction.
The magic mirror looks amazing...and that takes you into Belle's library.
The talking wardrobe is fantastic and fun....but then.....
The cast member starts handing out cardboard picture frames, horse heads, and mockups of the dog/footstool.
She throws a cloth cape on a kid to play The Beast and then they are going to be part of the retelling of Beauty and the Beast. (Yes, not even The Beast shows up....you get some little kid playing The Beast...seriously?!)
That's It?!?!? That's all we get after all of this time, money and build up. We get to be trapped in a room while we watch little kids reenact the story of Beauty and the Beast? No changing scenery? No moving us through the ride or revolving stage like Carousel of Progress? Just a cast member playing Belle, 6 or 7 little kids with cardboard props, and a room where we have to sit and watch them act it out?!
Explain to me how this meets with Walt Disney's vision of having attractions fun for kids AND adults?
The only adults that can thoroughly enjoy this are the parents of the kids in the show. Everyone else gets to watch and be bored like you are in Turtle Talk with Crush.
Why do the Disney suits have to tailor everything toward only kids now?
So if I have no kids, and want to check out Storytime with Belle here is what is going to happen.
1) I wait in a ridiculously long cue just to walk through Maurice's cottage.
2) I shuffle into a little room with a group of other people to watch the show and there is nothing else for me to dobut to watch the kids perform. Yawn.
3) Meanwhile the next group will have to wait for (probably 10 minutes) the show to end and the next group to come in.
This is not Philharmagic where an auditorium of people can file in and move the line quickly. This is a small group show.
I see a major problem with this attraction. No dark ride, no fast moving flow of peope, just walk and wait. It seems very much like ToonTown and walking through Mickey's cottage. As an adult it is fun once to check it out....and I never went back there again.
IF this is all Storytime with Belle is going to be....I see a tremendous missed opportunity by Disney imagineers to make this something even more special and inclusive.
I am curious to hear everyone's feedback, or if someone has more information that can prove me wrong.
I love belle!!!
