The Monkey King is a dark ride located at EPCOT's China Pavilion replacing Reflections Of China and House Of The Whispering Willows. It is based on the ancient Chinese myth of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. The two buildings are gutted and a track is added connecting them. Most of the scenes are located in the old Reflections Of China theatre. The ride system is inspired by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The scenes are animated scenes aesthetically similar to Chinese ink paintings on screens surrounded by physical sets because the amount of motion needed for all of these scenes would be too much for animatronic figures to handle within reason. The ride's soundtrack is made up entirely of traditional Chinese classical music.
Guests enter through the Temple of Heaven and queue through the temple's rotunda before boarding their vehicles in the old pre-show for Reflections Of China, redecorated to resemble a Chinese scholar’s library. The vehicles are based on rickshaws, but the space where someone would pull the vehicle is empty, making it appear as if it’s moving by magic.
The first scene guests see is an egg-shaped rock on the edge of a cliff that suddenly hatches, revealing a monkey. Narration begins saying, “A magic stone sat at the very top of Flower Fruit Mountain, where it marinated in celestial energy for thousands of years. One fateful day, a monkey burst out of the stone! This monkey was Sun Wukong, who would go on to become the Monkey King. When he joined the other monkeys on Flower Fruit Mountain, they noticed how unusually powerful he was.” After that, a very large troop of monkeys runs to see Sun Wukong and they all chat amongst themselves about how wonderful he is.
Next, guests see Sun Wukong and the monkeys at a huge waterfall as the narration returns saying, “One day, Sun Wukong and his new monkey friends journeyed to the source of a stream where a powerful waterfall thundered down. The monkeys were all very curious about what was behind the waterfall, but none of them dared to venture to the other side. They declared that whoever was brave enough to go into the waterfall and strong enough to make it back out would become their new king.
Guests then watch as Sun Wukong hops across rocks in the stream below the waterfall, goes behind the waterfall, then comes back out from behind the waterfall as the narrator says, “Sun Wukong answered their challenge and successfully completed it. He was now The Monkey King and for many years, he and his monkey friends lived peacefully on Flower Fruit Mountain.”
Guests then see Sun Wukong sitting in a temple alongside an old wise man, the Taoist sage Puti Zushi, as the narrator says, “One day, tired of his everyday life, Sun Wukong sought out a powerful sage named Puti Zushi who taught him how to use magic and granted him the secret of immortality.” Guests then move into the underwater palace of the Eastern Dragon King's armory as the narration states, “Once Wukong had gained many new powers, he decided he also needed a weapon. Brash and arrogant, he travelled to the palace of the Eastern Dragon King and demanded the Dragon King's finest arms and armor.” Wukong then picks up a red pillar with golden ends as the narration says, “To make a long story short, Sun Wukong finally decided on the Ruyi Jingu Bang, an enormous pillar that controls the ebb and flow of the tides. Sun Wukong used his magic to shrink the pillar down. It got progressively smaller until it was the size of a needle, making it easier to carry around.”
Guests then enter a lush bamboo forest where Wukong is suddenly ambushed by demons as he begins turning to different animals to evade capture and the narration says, “Sun Wukong gained many other powers after studying with the sage. One of them was the ability to transform into all sorts of animals and objects! As he grew more powerful, he became more arrogant, hotheaded, and self-important.”
Guests enter the Heavenly Court and see Wukong kneeling before the Jade Emperor, the head god of the Chinese pantheon, as the narration says, “Sun Wukong's arrogance grew more and more, until one day, he demanded to be included in the heavenly court. The Jade Emperor agreed, appeasing him with an empty title - "Guardian of the Immortal Peach Orchard". Next, guests see Wukong in the Immortal Peach Orchard as some celestial maidens harvest peaches from the trees and the narration says, “One day, a group of celestial maidens went to the orchard to collect peaches for an Imperial banquet. The peaches in the heavenly orchard are special, conferring immortality on whomever eats them. There are three types, and they take either 3,000, 6,000, or 9,000 years to bloom.” Guests then see the celestial maidens suddenly drop to the ground asleep as Wukong clones himself by plucking hairs off his body and aggressively devours the peaches alongside his clones. The narration says, “Furious that he had not been invited, Sun Wukong used his magic powers to put them to sleep. On top of that, as revenge, he ate every single peach in the orchard! How did he manage this? Well, Sun Wukong has many supernatural abilities. One interesting skill is that he can pluck out hair from his body and transform it into clones of himself! However, Sun Wukong's clones are as mischievous as he is, and they too caused trouble in the orchard.”
Suddenly, guests see marshals of the heavenly army rush into the orchard, weapons pointed at Wukong , who defeats them all as the narration says, “After Sun Wukong ruined the celestial banquet, the Jade Emperor sent many soldiers to apprehend him. However, they were all soundly defeated.” Guests then enter the Jade Emperor’s palace, where they see him fuming as the narration says, “Tired of Sun Wukong's shenanigans, the Jade Emperor decided to appeal to a higher power for help - the Buddha.” Guests then face a palace window where they see the Buddha descend, scooping Wukong up with his hand, before they exit the palace and see Wukong standing in front of some giant pillars with a huge, empty void behind them as the narration states, “When the Buddha arrived, he picked up Sun Wukong with one enormous hand and issued a challenge: if Sun Wukong could escape his palm, then he could have the Jade Emperor's position. If not, he would face imprisonment. Sun Wukong laughed uproariously. Accepting the challenge, he bolted, traversing millions of miles in an instant. He quickly reached the end of the universe, where he saw some giant pillars.” Wukong then begins writing on the pillars as the narration says, “First, to prove that he had made it to the edge of world, he scribbled letter by letter descriptions of all his past exploits, from his birth out of the magic stone to his exploits in the immortal peach orchard. When he was finally done, he took one last glance at the pillars. When Sun Wukong returned to where he started, he discovered that those pillars were the Buddha's fingers. After that, the gods sealed Wukong in a mountain for centuries before a Chinese monk on a pilgrimage to India released him, but that is the beginning of another story about the monk, Wukong, two demons on a quest for redemption, a dragon who turns into a horse, and their Journey To The West.”
Guests unload their vehicles and exit through what used to be the House Of The Whispering Willows, which is now redecorated to appear as a Chinese scholar's office.
Guests enter through the Temple of Heaven and queue through the temple's rotunda before boarding their vehicles in the old pre-show for Reflections Of China, redecorated to resemble a Chinese scholar’s library. The vehicles are based on rickshaws, but the space where someone would pull the vehicle is empty, making it appear as if it’s moving by magic.
The first scene guests see is an egg-shaped rock on the edge of a cliff that suddenly hatches, revealing a monkey. Narration begins saying, “A magic stone sat at the very top of Flower Fruit Mountain, where it marinated in celestial energy for thousands of years. One fateful day, a monkey burst out of the stone! This monkey was Sun Wukong, who would go on to become the Monkey King. When he joined the other monkeys on Flower Fruit Mountain, they noticed how unusually powerful he was.” After that, a very large troop of monkeys runs to see Sun Wukong and they all chat amongst themselves about how wonderful he is.
Next, guests see Sun Wukong and the monkeys at a huge waterfall as the narration returns saying, “One day, Sun Wukong and his new monkey friends journeyed to the source of a stream where a powerful waterfall thundered down. The monkeys were all very curious about what was behind the waterfall, but none of them dared to venture to the other side. They declared that whoever was brave enough to go into the waterfall and strong enough to make it back out would become their new king.
Guests then watch as Sun Wukong hops across rocks in the stream below the waterfall, goes behind the waterfall, then comes back out from behind the waterfall as the narrator says, “Sun Wukong answered their challenge and successfully completed it. He was now The Monkey King and for many years, he and his monkey friends lived peacefully on Flower Fruit Mountain.”
Guests then see Sun Wukong sitting in a temple alongside an old wise man, the Taoist sage Puti Zushi, as the narrator says, “One day, tired of his everyday life, Sun Wukong sought out a powerful sage named Puti Zushi who taught him how to use magic and granted him the secret of immortality.” Guests then move into the underwater palace of the Eastern Dragon King's armory as the narration states, “Once Wukong had gained many new powers, he decided he also needed a weapon. Brash and arrogant, he travelled to the palace of the Eastern Dragon King and demanded the Dragon King's finest arms and armor.” Wukong then picks up a red pillar with golden ends as the narration says, “To make a long story short, Sun Wukong finally decided on the Ruyi Jingu Bang, an enormous pillar that controls the ebb and flow of the tides. Sun Wukong used his magic to shrink the pillar down. It got progressively smaller until it was the size of a needle, making it easier to carry around.”
Guests then enter a lush bamboo forest where Wukong is suddenly ambushed by demons as he begins turning to different animals to evade capture and the narration says, “Sun Wukong gained many other powers after studying with the sage. One of them was the ability to transform into all sorts of animals and objects! As he grew more powerful, he became more arrogant, hotheaded, and self-important.”
Guests enter the Heavenly Court and see Wukong kneeling before the Jade Emperor, the head god of the Chinese pantheon, as the narration says, “Sun Wukong's arrogance grew more and more, until one day, he demanded to be included in the heavenly court. The Jade Emperor agreed, appeasing him with an empty title - "Guardian of the Immortal Peach Orchard". Next, guests see Wukong in the Immortal Peach Orchard as some celestial maidens harvest peaches from the trees and the narration says, “One day, a group of celestial maidens went to the orchard to collect peaches for an Imperial banquet. The peaches in the heavenly orchard are special, conferring immortality on whomever eats them. There are three types, and they take either 3,000, 6,000, or 9,000 years to bloom.” Guests then see the celestial maidens suddenly drop to the ground asleep as Wukong clones himself by plucking hairs off his body and aggressively devours the peaches alongside his clones. The narration says, “Furious that he had not been invited, Sun Wukong used his magic powers to put them to sleep. On top of that, as revenge, he ate every single peach in the orchard! How did he manage this? Well, Sun Wukong has many supernatural abilities. One interesting skill is that he can pluck out hair from his body and transform it into clones of himself! However, Sun Wukong's clones are as mischievous as he is, and they too caused trouble in the orchard.”
Suddenly, guests see marshals of the heavenly army rush into the orchard, weapons pointed at Wukong , who defeats them all as the narration says, “After Sun Wukong ruined the celestial banquet, the Jade Emperor sent many soldiers to apprehend him. However, they were all soundly defeated.” Guests then enter the Jade Emperor’s palace, where they see him fuming as the narration says, “Tired of Sun Wukong's shenanigans, the Jade Emperor decided to appeal to a higher power for help - the Buddha.” Guests then face a palace window where they see the Buddha descend, scooping Wukong up with his hand, before they exit the palace and see Wukong standing in front of some giant pillars with a huge, empty void behind them as the narration states, “When the Buddha arrived, he picked up Sun Wukong with one enormous hand and issued a challenge: if Sun Wukong could escape his palm, then he could have the Jade Emperor's position. If not, he would face imprisonment. Sun Wukong laughed uproariously. Accepting the challenge, he bolted, traversing millions of miles in an instant. He quickly reached the end of the universe, where he saw some giant pillars.” Wukong then begins writing on the pillars as the narration says, “First, to prove that he had made it to the edge of world, he scribbled letter by letter descriptions of all his past exploits, from his birth out of the magic stone to his exploits in the immortal peach orchard. When he was finally done, he took one last glance at the pillars. When Sun Wukong returned to where he started, he discovered that those pillars were the Buddha's fingers. After that, the gods sealed Wukong in a mountain for centuries before a Chinese monk on a pilgrimage to India released him, but that is the beginning of another story about the monk, Wukong, two demons on a quest for redemption, a dragon who turns into a horse, and their Journey To The West.”
Guests unload their vehicles and exit through what used to be the House Of The Whispering Willows, which is now redecorated to appear as a Chinese scholar's office.