I don't know, it looks a little lengthy for something like this, I'm thinking. Anyway, here is the first of my ideas for overhauling the preexisting area of WDW's Fantasyland...
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
The exterior of the ride is set not in Stromboli's theater, but in Geppetto's workshop. It actually looks like the Pinocchio-themed store found just next to the Pinocchio ride at Disneyland and also at Disneyland Paris. It looks like this:
La Bottega di Geppetto on Flickr - Photo Sharing!. The ride is located north of the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant. This ride is a more elaborate version of the Pinocchio ride found at other Disney parks, but with some technology borrowed from Pooh's Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland.
The entrance sign is displayed quite prominently above the door, and also on the sign that hangs off to the side, similar to the signs you see in the picture. Inside the display window are little puppet figures of Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket.
The queue is designed like the end scene that normally closes out the ride in other parks, complete with the same musical cues and everything. You get to the load area, which has the usual mural of the ride, except this time, the mural is reversed, so that whereas it looks one way at Disneyland, at WDW, it faces the exact opposite way. Equally interesting is the fact that whereas in other versions of the ride, the ride vehicles, the usual woodcarver's carts (resembling, as always, the mine carts of the Snow White ride, but with Pinocchio-type touches on them, such as designs of Figaro and Cleo on the side and Jiminy on the front) now travel in the
opposite direction that it usually goes (now going in the ride on the right and coming out on the left).
So anyway, you board your car (which has three seats to seat two people each for a total of six passengers per car). The ride begins as you pull away from the load area. You proceed forward through some gates dead ahead and into another part of Geppetto's workshop with the workbench on it. An AA of Pinocchio is seen as already having come alive and Jiminy is nearby singing, "Give a Little Whistle". Turning to the left past the bench, you pass through more gates, resembling the shop's front door. This leads out on a cobblestone street at sundown.
Here, you see Foulfellow and Gideon have met Pinocchio and are urging him to try the life of an actor. Gideon has a mallet behind his back, while Foulfellow holds Pinocchio's schoolbook away from him. Foulfellow is singing, "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee". You pass by two signs, one pointing left and reading "Geppetto's Toy Shop" and the other pointing right and reading "Stromboli's Puppet Theatre". You also see Jiminy Cricket descend from above via his umbrella as he shouts to stop and wait. Up ahead, you enter the gates of Stromboli's Puppet Theatre, the sign for which is proudly displayed above.
Inside, the puppet theatre scene is more or less an exact replica of the usual puppet show scene of the ride, with Pinocchio dancing with the Dutch puppet (on his right, your left) and the French puppet (on his left, your right). However, there are two noticeable additions. Both of which are the Russian puppets. On Pinocchio's outermost left side is the female Russian puppet, while one of the male Russian puppets with the thick black beards is on Pinocchio's right. Also, Pinocchio sings, "I've Got No Strings".
From here, the ride continues as in Disneyland: you go through the wagon area behind the theater where Pinocchio has been trapped by Stromboli in the cage, who stands nearby saying with an evil laugh, "This will be your new home, my little wooden gold mine!" You then go past them both, pass by Jiminy nearby and pass through the giant cage and back out onto the cobblestone street. You then go past the usual scene of the cobblestone street, past the sign pointing the way to Pleasure Island, which you approach, passing by Jiminy Cricket, again descending from his umbrella as he points the other way you're heading and saying, "Hey, wait for me! Come back!" But it's too late; you go through the gates of Pleasure Island.
This scene is almost identical in every respect to all other versions out there: scenery, music, sounds, everything. But even here, there are differences. First of all, the sequencing here is scrambled around so that you don't see the scenes in the original order as elsewhere. For instance, you see the candy cane Ferris wheel before the merry-go-round. Also, there is the addition of a giant drippy mug full of root beer float, found near the usual part of Foulfellow and Gideon playing the strongman game. The donkey bray the game emits is a different donkey bray than usual, too.
From here, you go down Tobacco Row, whose floor is paved like a giant strip of chewing tobacco, and pass by the Rough House. Then you enter another new scene, the Model Home, and quickly cruise through it. Here, the windows are all broken or at least cracked, there is a replica of the Mona Lisa with a mustache, and muddy footprints crisscross the floor here. You then head out the back and pass by Jiminy once more who stands in an open doorway and says, "Come on! Pleasure Island's a trap! We gotta get outta here!"
You make a turn and enter the usual scene of the Pool Hall, where you see that Lampwick has magically transformed into a donkey before your very eyes and is braying constantly. Nearby, Pinocchio covers his gasping mouth in shock. "Lampwick! What's happening here?!" he exclaims. Nearby, you go by a booth with the Coachman inside it. "So, you blokes decided to choose the easy life, did you?" he sneers.
You then head along a far more depressing route, with several cages scattered about, many of which contain a boy-turned-donkey in it, except one with the text "SOLD" on the side. "I wanna go home!" says one boy-turned-donkey. "Mama! Mama!" cries another. "Shut the doors and lock 'em tight," says the Coachman. You go past Jiminy Cricket as he points the way out of Pleasure Island. "Quick, get outta here!" he says. But first, you go past the Coachman pulling on a long rope to open the crate gate labeled for the salt mines on it. "Don't leave yet!" he says.
But you then go out onto the seashore. You go past two signs, one pointing one way to Geppetto's Toy Shop and the other another way to The Sea, which is where you're heading. Seagulls fly in the sky and the top of Pinocchio's head sticks out of the water. He now has donkey ears. "Father! Father, where are you?" he calls. You see Jiminy up ahead stuck in a bottle, looking petrified. The label on the bottle reads, "Beware of Monstro!" "Hey, look out for Monstro!" he cries.
Now the WDW ride takes a brand-new direction with an exclusive sequence not found in the DL ride. Instead of Monstro lunging at you in other versions and you swing past to avoid him and Geppetto holding the lantern, calling for Pinocchio, you pass by Jiminy in the bottle and just keep going into pitch blackness. Suddenly, lightning flashes and you find yourself actually going
into Monstro himself (not unlike how you go through him in DL's Storybook Land). You go down a tunnel, resembling the whale's throat and wind up in the belly, where you see Geppetto's shipwreck. The music here is that music you hear in the Monstro level of Kingdom Hearts.
You go past Pinocchio informing Geppetto on how to escape from Monstro: by building a fire and making him sneeze. You go around and see that Pinocchio has built the fire (accomplished by the holographic technology see so much in the ride) and you go past and back up the throat and out the mouth, accompanied by lightning flashes and a slight burst in speed to simulate your actually being catapulted out by the blast of the sneeze.
You then swing around through the crevice and from here on, the ride continues like all other versions. You are back on the cobblestone road. It is now nighttime. The wishing star shines brightly in the distance. Up ahead is Gepetto's Toy Shop, a sign for which points the way. Jiminy floats via his umbrella above the door, saying, "Well, we made it!" You go through the door and see the Blue Fairy disappear in a trail of fairy dust. You find yourself inside Geppetto's bedroom, with Pinocchio seated on it, now a real boy. "Father! I'm home! And I'm a real boy!" Pinocchio says. "Oh, I'm so happy!" says Geppetto. "This calls for a celebration!" You go past Figaro and Cleo in this same room as well and Jiminy, too, here standing on a shelf holding his "Honorary Conscience" badge. The Blue Fairy is heard saying, "And remember, when you wish upon a star your dreams come true." The usual closing scene of Geppetto's toys and clocks has been omitted, because that is used as the queue for the ride. Instead, immediately after Geppetto's room, you go through some doors and are in the unload area, where you exit the the right.
And that's The Adventures of Pinocchio, now at WDW's Magic Kingdom! What do you think?
