Taking influences from Silly Symphony classics Old King Cole and Mother Goose Melodies and the celebrity angle of Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, this track based lap-bar style dark ride will take guests of all ages through many of the well-known Mother Goose nursery rhymes accompanied by a fantastic musical score. The score of the ride will take from those original films and be re-recorded using many of the same sound effects.
Premise
Old King Cole is throwing a party in Storybook Land for all manner of nursery rhyme and storybook characters. Using Mother Goose goes Hollywood as a starting point, these rhymes will be portrayed by using numerous Disney characters (in lieu of Hollywood stars) in a fun and whimsical way.
Attraction Vehicle and Stats
To help fully immerse guests into the stories, they will accompany Mother Goose herself in these goose inspired vehicle. Each will accommodate up to 4 guests (two front and back) and be guided throughout the attraction by a track running along the floor through each scene.
Estimated Ride Time: 3 minutes 15 seconds
Estimated Hourly Capacity: 900-1000
Location
To fit the attraction, the Tea Cups were moved into the forested section near the Rabbit Hole Coaster, with Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and 100 Acre Goods then occupying all of that space. The new attraction and shop will occupy a similar but slightly altered footprint from the departed Pooh. Additional landscaping will be added in Wonderland and Storybook Forest around the ride buildings to further disguise and keep theme.
Fantasyland
36 - Belle's Castle
37 - Snow White and the Magic Mirror
38 - Cinderella's Carousel
39 - Cinderella's Chateau - WT/M&G
40 - Pooh's Hunny Hunt
41 - Dumbo The Flying Elephant
42 - Peter Pan's Flight
43 - Neverland Play-Area
44 - Through the Rabbit Hole
45 - Mad Tea Cups
46 - it's a small world
47 - Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
48 - Frozen Mountain
49 - Olaf's Summer Chateau - QS/S/M&G
50 - Mad Hatter's Tea Party - QS
51 - Cheshire Delights - QS
52 - Hundred Acre Goods - S
53 - Mickey and the Beanstalk - S
54 - The Princess Royal Tea Table - TS
67 - Mother Goose’s Silly Symphony
68 - Rhyme & Dime
Attractions highlighted signify those that were relocated and/or added to Fantasyland
Attraction Layout
Queue
The queue itself will fairly simple in nature. Upon entry though, Disney fanatics will recognize some of the familiar tunes of Silly Symphony tunes. Halfway after entering the switchback queue, guests will come upon the Silly Symphony Play Area. Using the mold created by the Dumbo expansion at the Magic Kingdom as part of the New Fantasyland, guests and their children will have the option to enter and enjoy this play area until re-entering the queue.
Using similar tech as found in Image Works, children of all ages will be able to make musical works of art with their bodies in motion through various exhibits. Re-mastered Silly Symphony cartoons will play back to their musical achievements. With a few other playground style items, this area will be a nice diversion for guests. While there is also a play area near Peter Pan, this indoor space will provide a nice respite on a hot Brazilian day.
Ride Through
Having made their way out of the queue, guests will arrive to the load/unload hub. Essentially a scene in the attraction, once the exit point of the queue is reached, the room opens up into an expanse, filled with many story book style trees. Dotted throughout the forest are numerous hardcover replicas of many nursery rhymes and stories from Mother Goose.
Guests exiting their Mother Goose style vehicles will head down the forested path leading towards the Rhyme & Dime gift shop while those ready to begin their journey will take their place. Light string music plays in the background completing the ambiance. Once aboard, the ride begins moving towards the thick forested grove ahead, the trees parting at just the last minute
Scene 1 Storybook Land
Welcome to Storybook Land. The ride will move further into the forest and the music in the background shifts to a more upbeat, brass tune. Trumpets blare as if announcing your arrival. On either side, three sets of frogs in royal attire are seen marching along, trumpets in hand.
For Your Listening Pleasure
A long flowing scroll spreads through the trees with numerous nursery rhyme characters names evident and and invited to the castle for a party. Ahead lies a large-bound book; Old King Cole written across it in Olde English. As your goose approaches, the pages of the book open to allow you entry.
Scene 2 Old King Cole
The forest gives way to an idyllic castle and the throne room of one Old King Cole. The opening words to his nursery rhyme appear on the parchment as you enter and are accompanied by vocals in the background.
Old King Cole was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was……….
The background vocals cut off as riders get their first glimpse of the king. Clad in kingly attire, definitely out of the norm for him, sits one Hades, king of the Underworld aimlessly directing his jovial minions around who are preparing for the party.
Merry am I, yada yada yada.
Work with my here guys, you know that goes over there (pointing at his staff)
As listless and carefree as Hades is, party prep goes on all around him as simple animatronic figures and cut outs move about the room staging for the other nursery rhyme guests. Exiting the castle, the trumpeting music slows fades as another page leads to the next scene.
Scene 3 Hickory Dickory Dock
Vastly different from the previous scene, guests have now entered the inner workings of a life-size clock. In the background, the light tune Hickory Dickory Dock plays on. All around are gears, knobs, bolts and wire of all various sorts and sizes, twisting and turning in unison. The clock is counting down to the beginning of the party and eventually its close.
Amongst all the organized chaos of the clock hides one Gurgi, popping his head in and out of various spots inside the clock. As you enter further, the clock hand can be heard turning and finally gonging to signal one o’clock. Completing the scene, Gurgi is shown scampering his way out of the clock, high-tailing it for the party one would presume.
Scene 4 It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
Leaving the din of the clock leads to our next nursery rhyme and the gentle patter of a heavy rain. The ride enters a grand bedroom filled with all manner of decorative furnishings. A large window to the side leads to a terrace and evidence of the rain heard upon entry. The patter of the rain mixes with the rattle and shaking of the furniture for a full symphony of sounds.
The peaceful rain is then broken by the wall-shattering bellow of a hideous beast. All of the furniture can be seen slightly shaking, and as you make your way further into the bedroom, you find out why. Sprawled out on a double king sized bed, lies the Beast. He’s asleep as one can get, and snoring loud enough to wake the dead.
On his head sits the biggest knot once can imagine, rising and falling with each snore as he’s bumped his head during the night. He will be one cranky beast when he wakes up for the party, if he wakes up that is.
Scene 5 Little Bo Peep
The bedroom doors open into a beautiful, quiet countryside soundtracked by a light harp. The nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep is scrawled on the parchment as you enter. In the background can be hard the Baaa, Baaa of sheep and the whimsical tunes from a flute and clarinet, but there are no sheep in sight.
Oh no, I’ve lost my sheep
Where oh, where can these sheep be?
Who are we kidding?
Whose bright idea was it to make a dragon tend the sheep?
I’m a dragon people. Draaagggon.
When is this party at by the way?
Halfway into the dialogue, Mushu comes into view seated atop a rocky outcropping. Chin in hand and waving the other towards the countryside beyond him. There you spot the sheep, way too afraid to return to their tender.
Scene 6 There was an Old Woman
Making your way around the grazing hills of the sheep, you happen upon a large, old and worn shoe in a grove of trees. A flustered voice is heard as you come across one Mad Madam Mim waving her wand about wildly, her cottage turned into a less than ideal home for a witch.
There was an old witch who lived in a shoe,
She tried her magic to change it, but didn’t know
What to do.
She failed so many times, the strings turned into knots,
Once again, tricked by Merlin, she’s now covered in spots.
Making your way around the shoe, you see Mim once more, as cranky and frustrated as ever. The appears even more gnarled and twisted than before, and of course, Mim is covered in spots, a victim of her own failed spells.
Scene 7 Hey Diddle Diddle
The pages of There was an Old Woman lead to a darkened, opened expanse of land lit brightly by the moon shining above. An odd pairing appears as you happen upon a cat and a dog having a moonlit picnic. As riders approach, a fiddle solo begins, courtesy of said cat.
Various utensils and serving ware can be seen marching away during the song. As if this odd scene wasn’t enough, colorful humpback whales are shown flying over the moon in the distance.
Scene 8 Rub a Dub Dub
The ambiance of the moonlit scene is suddenly broken after turning the page into our next rhyme. Ocean waves rise and fall all around you under a piercing sunlit sky. Ahead lies a bathtub of a all things, filled with three distinctive characters. A dancing guitar solo leads the background instrumentals.
Rub a dub dub, three
Birds in a tub
And who do you think were there?
The rooster, the parrot, the duck who’s
A sailor
And all of them shaking a feather.
The Three Caballeros, at their zany best, are partying it up on the ocean, in this oddest of vessels. Fish are seen popping in and out of the water to the music. Making your way through a few more waves, you leave the caballeros behind as Donald has fallen out and is bobbing in and out of the water as Jose and Panchito try to pull him out.
Scene 9 Old Mother Hubbard
As guests make their last stop to peek in on the assorted nursery rhyme guests of Old King Cole getting “ready”, they’ll happen upon the barebones structure of a home. There is little color, nary a bite to eat and it’s far from the upper crust fanciness of society in the village. The tense notes of base violins lead the background music.
Lady Tremaine, or Wicked Stepmother Hubbard, is seen scrounging about her belongings, looking for anything suitable to wear. No fairy godmother apparently making their way to her home tonight.
Scene 10 The Finale
With that, guests find themselves back at the castle and the hospitality of a somewhat jovial Hades/Old King Cole. All of the characters made it from their stories, some a little worse for ware, and are partying away in the castle. Movement fills permeates the scene as the characters make simple motions on their bases, all of the objects about magically move in time with the music. The score builds up to a crescendo as the clock can be heard striking midnight.
Time for everyone to return to their story.
Rhyme & Dime
After exiting Mother Goose’s Silly Symphony, guests make their way into the Rhyme & Dime. This eclectic looking store has all things nursery rhymes where you can purchase printings of the actual Mother Goose, or the Disneyfied version as well. Here you can also find newly minted Silly Symphony swag, from t-shirts, recordings and songbooks from all of those original shorts.
forums.wdwmagic.com
) ride is a great idea. I don't think we've seen that enough. Which is a shame as I think the movie is a really wonderful film with a look unlike any other film. It's prime for a Fantasyland dark ride. I think you took the book report but added to it, with a heavy focus on the environments that makes it work even better. The story is tight, the ride is fun, the effects are realistic. All the kudos to you. I really appreciated the note about why you chose this, and it is clear the story means a lot to you. I'm glad you could extend this experience to Anton, fitting in with your own childhood memories of seeing this film with your father. The family that Imagineers together, stays together. Or something like that.
