This year, Mickey and Minnie Mouse's 90th birthday(!), I thought I would do something for the occasion, something I've been struggling with for many years now...
I have done countless threads on Mickey Mouse dark rides, some of them I created myself, others I borrowed from others (trying to remember to credit them first). My main concern at all times was doing an attraction that A) fit within the Magic Kingdom without a Toontown, B) not compete with the Studios' upcoming Runaway Railway, and C) reference the classic shorts whenever possible (difficult to do without a Toontown). Given those imposed conditions, I was pretty much on my own, particularly since I wanted it done my own way, without it being taken in a different direction than originally intended.
I was criticized, not unfairly, for being overcritical and overthinking my ideas, but that's the way I'm wired. I want things to be done just right. That was probably one reason why I was alone in doing these things.
Anyway, I have finally done no less than THREE Mickey dark rides, all for the Magic Kingdom. One idea is for Storybook Circus (a replacement of sorts for the Madcap Circus/Big Top Spin and Fun House), and the other two on Main Street, near the Town Square Theater where Mickey does meet-n-greets (this spot was originally supposed to hold the Main Street theater show before it allegedly got canceled). Each ride concept will have its own post. I was advised to post everything all the way through before expecting feedback. The only way to really do that without posting back-to-back every few scenes, as was my old way, was to do everything in a single post.
As I said before, I posted three concepts for Mickey dark rides. As such, there is no way they all can fit in the Magic Kingdom. Thus, I posted a poll where you can vote for which one you like best. Please also try to explain why you liked your choice. Anyway, here's the first entry: the one in Storybook Circus that required a do-over...
Mickey's Wonder House
Here is the full and complete ride (which I did pretty much all by myself, with no help whatsoever). It is in the same location, more or less, as the Fun House concept that @spacemt354 helped me with. But the ride itself is more or less done over from scratch by me alone. It took a long time because I had ideas which was argued did not "agree" with the circus setting. Given my argument about how the Madhouse concept could work here if it was to have worked in the Circusland concept of old (this was long before Toontown was ever thought of), I was inclined to disagree and prove the naysayers wrong. To do that, I changed the name from "Fun/Mad" to "Wonder".
As you enter the ride structure (based loosely on the Madhouse facade)...
...you wind through a reduced queue, about half the space of the queue in the image above. The remaining space, along the exit path, will be home to an alternate meet-n-greet space known as the Silly Symphonic Sideshow (replacing Pete's Silly Sideshow), where you can meet with various lesser-known characters like Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Ludwig Von Drake, or the Three Little Pigs.
In the queue here, ringleader Mickey and his good friends Donald and Goofy perform acrobatics and stunts. And their most prized possession is the Wonder House, where you board a colorful carriage-car-thing through a zany funhouse-like attraction, where anything can happen. And it is, apparently, as unbeknownst to our heroes, something is amiss here, as there is wear and tear and the occasional spectral laugh. The further you go, the louder the laughs become. On the walls you can see the occasional shadow of an odd-looking spook.
The queue winds back and forth on the right side and should be enough to hold a 35-minute wait before spilling out into Storybook Circus. With eight scenes, the ride time is about 3-4 minutes, about as long as the Peter Pan ride.
You then climb into your ride vehicles for your trip through the Wonder House. They are themed as the aforementioned carriage-car-things which look like a cross between the non-cage cars of Casey Jr...
...and the motorcars from Mr. Toad.
The cars are mounted with steering wheels to drive through (although like Mr. Toad, it's mainly for fun) and, strangely enough, with special flashlights for seemingly no reason at all. After all, why would you want to light up what should be a relatively dark fun house? In any case, the cars seat four, with a flashlight for each seat, and leave in batches of two.
Scene 1 - Meet Mickey and pals
Mickey, Donald and Goofy all greet you and then Mickey sends you on your way into the Wonder House by pulling on a rope attached to a group of steam whistles (themed to "Steamboat Willie") that opens a door to usher you in. Before leaving, Mickey points out the flashlights, in case anything goes wrong. Better safe than sorry...
Scene 2 - Mirror Hall
Inside your vehicles meander around odd shaped mirrors as 2.5D projections (tech used in Mickey/Minnie's Runaway Railway) adapts the surroundings to different shaped mirrors and settings as you circle around. Inside the mirrors are various images as a homage to "Thru the Mirror" (a globe, giant playing cards and a radio, which plays the lively music from that short here). At the end of the hall, however, a group of specters, the Lonesome Ghosts, appear in the hallway reflection, laughing. As you go through a rotating barrel that spins faster or slower seemingly at random, but actually caused by the ghosts.
Scene 3 - Donald and Goofy’s Acts
The Astounding Duke Donaldo (AKA Donald Duck) is performing a stunt with three seals (homage to "Mickey's Circus", although the seals themselves more resemble those in "Mickey and the Seal"), a young pup (Salty) on some horns and two others in a water tank, where the Great Goofini (AKA Goofy) is also performing his newest stunt, a whale rodeo (the whale resembling that from "The Whalers").
Suddenly, the ghostly laughter rings out again, startling all in the room, causing the seals to run loose and cause them, your vehicle and the whale to crash into the tank, smashing it open and spilling water everywhere. The flow of water forces your vehicle to crash through a barricade and you exit the room. As you leave, you see Goofy in a bathing suit, surfing the wave (a nod to "Hawaiian Holiday"), with the shadow of a ghost surfing along behind it!
For a brief moment, you're in darkness as the laughter rings out again, and you hear Mickey and pals exclaiming the presence of ghosts and reminds you of the flashlights on your vehicles which can help get rid of them. After all, as another classic attraction with ghosts intones: "Spirits are frightfully sensitive to bright lights." The lights activate and you can hold them up like the guns on the Buzz Lightyear ride to shine them around (rather like the Monsters Inc. ride in Tokyo).
Scene 4 - Cars 'n' Clocks
Reemerging from darkness, you see things have gone crazy thanks to the Lonesome Ghosts, who have turned the Wonder House into something really cartoon-like and less funhouse-like. From this point on, you can shine your light around the room to point out the ghosts, who now appear frequently, as do Mickey's group who are spooked, so to speak, by spectral pranks.
One corner shows a garage of sorts, paying homage to "Mickey's Service Station". Here, a jalopy and a taxicab (based on "Traffic Troubles") rise and lower comically on hydraulic lifts. On the wall behind the cars, tires spin wildly, with one being a flat that flaps around, while license plates hanging on the wall sway back and forth. These are similar to the Roger Rabbit ride's queue with various letters and numbers jumbled to form references to all things Disney (i.e., "CAP 10 HK", "101 DALMN", "L MERM8", etc.). On the ground, an engine block, chained to the wall, lashes out like a vicious dog at you. Mickey is seen here struggling against one of the Lonesome Ghosts, but your flashlight can make it briefly disappear.
The opposite corner shows the inner workings of a giant clock (homage to "Clock Cleaners"), the face of which is outside, so the numbers are backwards as the clock hands spin wildly counterclockwise. Gears spin wildly, a pendulum swings back and forth, almost hitting you, and Goofy is hiding from a ghost (fooling around with the mechanisms) under a bell (with his head sticking out) while trying not to get shook up from a mechanized bell ringer hitting the bell.
Scene 5 - Animal Antics
Now things get more dangerous as various animals (either taxidermied or allegedly animatronics) are brought to life by the ghosts and are terrorizing Mickey and, in this case, Donald. Mickey has his hands full with a lion (homage to "Jungle Rhythm"), while Donald has to contend with a gorilla (resembling Ajax from "Donald and the Gorilla") and they both have to contend with a bear ("The Pointer" and "Donald's Vacation"). As always, as the ghosts appear, you get rid of them with your light, allowing our heroes to escape from the animals as they are slowed considerably by the disappearance of the spooks.
Scene 6 - Props Warehouse
You go through a prop warehouse (similar to the Gag Warehouse), full of various circus props, such as cream pies, squirting flowers, giant balls, etc. You hear Mickey and pals coming up with a way to stop the Lonesome Ghosts and (hopefully) save the circus. At the end, you see Mickey and Goofy bringing out a wind machine to work out a plan, but Donald brings out a flare gun (homage to the climax of "Magician Mickey"), impatient to get them gone quickly. Mickey warns not to rush things, but Donald doesn't listen. He fires the gun, startling Goofy, who accidentally turns the wind machine on, which leads to...
Scene 7 - A Whirling, Explosive Climax!
The William Tell Storm from "The Band Concert", sounding like the Silly Symphony Swings version, plays here (until about 0:28)…
...as our friends and the Lonesome Ghosts, and you all, get caught up in a whirling twister of pandemonium. Donald tries to fire the flare gun at the ghosts, hoping to get the light to scare them, but unfortunately, his aim is off and the flare strikes a crate of very obviously displayed fireworks instead! Leaving, you are treated to an explosion scene (a la Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit), which blows things up, but also scares off the Lonesome Ghosts for good! Also, this music is heard during this scene (at 10:43, which is the climax music from "Magician Mickey"):
Scene 8 - Goodbye
Mickey, Donald and Goofy are united again. Mickey, echoing Kermit at the end of Muppet-Vision 3D, apologizes for any technical difficulties, but they are relieved that no one was hurt and the Wonder House only suffered "minor" damage (even though the area is in tatters). But they are glad that the Lonesome Ghosts are gone (as a gag, in the background, they are hitchhiking, just like another group of ghosts at the end of another attraction!), and that they will try to repair the damage for your next trip.
Scene 8.5 - Unload
You reappear near the load area, disembark and head back through the main queue building structure and to the Big Top Souvenir. However, on the exit path over to the gift shop, there's a meet and greet with circus-themed characters (the aforementioned Silly Symphonic Sideshow).
That's Mickey's Wonder House, the first Mickey dark ride concept for the Magic Kingdom. There are two more to come, both on Main Street, which will get put up very soon. Until then, happy (early) birthday, Mickey and Minnie!
You can start voting if you want, but you should wait until I post the rest of the ride concepts first.
I have done countless threads on Mickey Mouse dark rides, some of them I created myself, others I borrowed from others (trying to remember to credit them first). My main concern at all times was doing an attraction that A) fit within the Magic Kingdom without a Toontown, B) not compete with the Studios' upcoming Runaway Railway, and C) reference the classic shorts whenever possible (difficult to do without a Toontown). Given those imposed conditions, I was pretty much on my own, particularly since I wanted it done my own way, without it being taken in a different direction than originally intended.
I was criticized, not unfairly, for being overcritical and overthinking my ideas, but that's the way I'm wired. I want things to be done just right. That was probably one reason why I was alone in doing these things.
Anyway, I have finally done no less than THREE Mickey dark rides, all for the Magic Kingdom. One idea is for Storybook Circus (a replacement of sorts for the Madcap Circus/Big Top Spin and Fun House), and the other two on Main Street, near the Town Square Theater where Mickey does meet-n-greets (this spot was originally supposed to hold the Main Street theater show before it allegedly got canceled). Each ride concept will have its own post. I was advised to post everything all the way through before expecting feedback. The only way to really do that without posting back-to-back every few scenes, as was my old way, was to do everything in a single post.
As I said before, I posted three concepts for Mickey dark rides. As such, there is no way they all can fit in the Magic Kingdom. Thus, I posted a poll where you can vote for which one you like best. Please also try to explain why you liked your choice. Anyway, here's the first entry: the one in Storybook Circus that required a do-over...
Mickey's Wonder House
Here is the full and complete ride (which I did pretty much all by myself, with no help whatsoever). It is in the same location, more or less, as the Fun House concept that @spacemt354 helped me with. But the ride itself is more or less done over from scratch by me alone. It took a long time because I had ideas which was argued did not "agree" with the circus setting. Given my argument about how the Madhouse concept could work here if it was to have worked in the Circusland concept of old (this was long before Toontown was ever thought of), I was inclined to disagree and prove the naysayers wrong. To do that, I changed the name from "Fun/Mad" to "Wonder".
As you enter the ride structure (based loosely on the Madhouse facade)...
...you wind through a reduced queue, about half the space of the queue in the image above. The remaining space, along the exit path, will be home to an alternate meet-n-greet space known as the Silly Symphonic Sideshow (replacing Pete's Silly Sideshow), where you can meet with various lesser-known characters like Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Ludwig Von Drake, or the Three Little Pigs.
In the queue here, ringleader Mickey and his good friends Donald and Goofy perform acrobatics and stunts. And their most prized possession is the Wonder House, where you board a colorful carriage-car-thing through a zany funhouse-like attraction, where anything can happen. And it is, apparently, as unbeknownst to our heroes, something is amiss here, as there is wear and tear and the occasional spectral laugh. The further you go, the louder the laughs become. On the walls you can see the occasional shadow of an odd-looking spook.
The queue winds back and forth on the right side and should be enough to hold a 35-minute wait before spilling out into Storybook Circus. With eight scenes, the ride time is about 3-4 minutes, about as long as the Peter Pan ride.
You then climb into your ride vehicles for your trip through the Wonder House. They are themed as the aforementioned carriage-car-things which look like a cross between the non-cage cars of Casey Jr...
...and the motorcars from Mr. Toad.
The cars are mounted with steering wheels to drive through (although like Mr. Toad, it's mainly for fun) and, strangely enough, with special flashlights for seemingly no reason at all. After all, why would you want to light up what should be a relatively dark fun house? In any case, the cars seat four, with a flashlight for each seat, and leave in batches of two.
Scene 1 - Meet Mickey and pals
Mickey, Donald and Goofy all greet you and then Mickey sends you on your way into the Wonder House by pulling on a rope attached to a group of steam whistles (themed to "Steamboat Willie") that opens a door to usher you in. Before leaving, Mickey points out the flashlights, in case anything goes wrong. Better safe than sorry...
Scene 2 - Mirror Hall
Inside your vehicles meander around odd shaped mirrors as 2.5D projections (tech used in Mickey/Minnie's Runaway Railway) adapts the surroundings to different shaped mirrors and settings as you circle around. Inside the mirrors are various images as a homage to "Thru the Mirror" (a globe, giant playing cards and a radio, which plays the lively music from that short here). At the end of the hall, however, a group of specters, the Lonesome Ghosts, appear in the hallway reflection, laughing. As you go through a rotating barrel that spins faster or slower seemingly at random, but actually caused by the ghosts.
Scene 3 - Donald and Goofy’s Acts
The Astounding Duke Donaldo (AKA Donald Duck) is performing a stunt with three seals (homage to "Mickey's Circus", although the seals themselves more resemble those in "Mickey and the Seal"), a young pup (Salty) on some horns and two others in a water tank, where the Great Goofini (AKA Goofy) is also performing his newest stunt, a whale rodeo (the whale resembling that from "The Whalers").
Suddenly, the ghostly laughter rings out again, startling all in the room, causing the seals to run loose and cause them, your vehicle and the whale to crash into the tank, smashing it open and spilling water everywhere. The flow of water forces your vehicle to crash through a barricade and you exit the room. As you leave, you see Goofy in a bathing suit, surfing the wave (a nod to "Hawaiian Holiday"), with the shadow of a ghost surfing along behind it!
For a brief moment, you're in darkness as the laughter rings out again, and you hear Mickey and pals exclaiming the presence of ghosts and reminds you of the flashlights on your vehicles which can help get rid of them. After all, as another classic attraction with ghosts intones: "Spirits are frightfully sensitive to bright lights." The lights activate and you can hold them up like the guns on the Buzz Lightyear ride to shine them around (rather like the Monsters Inc. ride in Tokyo).
Scene 4 - Cars 'n' Clocks
Reemerging from darkness, you see things have gone crazy thanks to the Lonesome Ghosts, who have turned the Wonder House into something really cartoon-like and less funhouse-like. From this point on, you can shine your light around the room to point out the ghosts, who now appear frequently, as do Mickey's group who are spooked, so to speak, by spectral pranks.
One corner shows a garage of sorts, paying homage to "Mickey's Service Station". Here, a jalopy and a taxicab (based on "Traffic Troubles") rise and lower comically on hydraulic lifts. On the wall behind the cars, tires spin wildly, with one being a flat that flaps around, while license plates hanging on the wall sway back and forth. These are similar to the Roger Rabbit ride's queue with various letters and numbers jumbled to form references to all things Disney (i.e., "CAP 10 HK", "101 DALMN", "L MERM8", etc.). On the ground, an engine block, chained to the wall, lashes out like a vicious dog at you. Mickey is seen here struggling against one of the Lonesome Ghosts, but your flashlight can make it briefly disappear.
The opposite corner shows the inner workings of a giant clock (homage to "Clock Cleaners"), the face of which is outside, so the numbers are backwards as the clock hands spin wildly counterclockwise. Gears spin wildly, a pendulum swings back and forth, almost hitting you, and Goofy is hiding from a ghost (fooling around with the mechanisms) under a bell (with his head sticking out) while trying not to get shook up from a mechanized bell ringer hitting the bell.
Scene 5 - Animal Antics
Now things get more dangerous as various animals (either taxidermied or allegedly animatronics) are brought to life by the ghosts and are terrorizing Mickey and, in this case, Donald. Mickey has his hands full with a lion (homage to "Jungle Rhythm"), while Donald has to contend with a gorilla (resembling Ajax from "Donald and the Gorilla") and they both have to contend with a bear ("The Pointer" and "Donald's Vacation"). As always, as the ghosts appear, you get rid of them with your light, allowing our heroes to escape from the animals as they are slowed considerably by the disappearance of the spooks.
Scene 6 - Props Warehouse
You go through a prop warehouse (similar to the Gag Warehouse), full of various circus props, such as cream pies, squirting flowers, giant balls, etc. You hear Mickey and pals coming up with a way to stop the Lonesome Ghosts and (hopefully) save the circus. At the end, you see Mickey and Goofy bringing out a wind machine to work out a plan, but Donald brings out a flare gun (homage to the climax of "Magician Mickey"), impatient to get them gone quickly. Mickey warns not to rush things, but Donald doesn't listen. He fires the gun, startling Goofy, who accidentally turns the wind machine on, which leads to...
Scene 7 - A Whirling, Explosive Climax!
The William Tell Storm from "The Band Concert", sounding like the Silly Symphony Swings version, plays here (until about 0:28)…
...as our friends and the Lonesome Ghosts, and you all, get caught up in a whirling twister of pandemonium. Donald tries to fire the flare gun at the ghosts, hoping to get the light to scare them, but unfortunately, his aim is off and the flare strikes a crate of very obviously displayed fireworks instead! Leaving, you are treated to an explosion scene (a la Mr. Toad or Roger Rabbit), which blows things up, but also scares off the Lonesome Ghosts for good! Also, this music is heard during this scene (at 10:43, which is the climax music from "Magician Mickey"):
Scene 8 - Goodbye
Mickey, Donald and Goofy are united again. Mickey, echoing Kermit at the end of Muppet-Vision 3D, apologizes for any technical difficulties, but they are relieved that no one was hurt and the Wonder House only suffered "minor" damage (even though the area is in tatters). But they are glad that the Lonesome Ghosts are gone (as a gag, in the background, they are hitchhiking, just like another group of ghosts at the end of another attraction!), and that they will try to repair the damage for your next trip.
Scene 8.5 - Unload
You reappear near the load area, disembark and head back through the main queue building structure and to the Big Top Souvenir. However, on the exit path over to the gift shop, there's a meet and greet with circus-themed characters (the aforementioned Silly Symphonic Sideshow).
That's Mickey's Wonder House, the first Mickey dark ride concept for the Magic Kingdom. There are two more to come, both on Main Street, which will get put up very soon. Until then, happy (early) birthday, Mickey and Minnie!
You can start voting if you want, but you should wait until I post the rest of the ride concepts first.