Disney's California Adventure takes a turn for the creepy
This is for all of you Disneyland fans out there in Beehive land. All three of you.
Recognizing the lemon they have on their hands - both creatively and financially - the higher-ups at Disney have been putting a lot of effort (and about $1.1 billion) into making Disney's California Adventure a better companion park to the original Magic Kingdom. Essentially, that means making it more about recognizable and beloved Pixar characters (Buzz and Woody, Lightning McQueen, The Incredibles) and less about California.
The newest addition to the park, scheduled to open mid-year, is a dark ride with a Toy Story theme called Midway Mania. The Disneyland-focused web site MiceAge has been following the progress of this attraction very closely, and yesterday posted photos and video showing the latest addition - a giant Mr. Potato Head audio-animatronic that talks to guests as they pass by Midway Mania.
Now, I love me some audio-animatronics, but this Mr. Potato Head is a little on the scary, hokey side (think: upscale Chuck E. Cheese Band). I'm going to officially reserve judgment until I see it in person for myself, but the following videos are not instilling me with a lot of confidence in this new addition to DCA - especially the second one, during which Mr. Potato Head suddenly springs to life and then inexplicably pulls off his own ear.
Is it as scary as the dead-eyed children singing the same song for all eternity in the It's a Small World attraction? Probably not, but feel free to judge for yourself:
[Photo: NY Times]
Comments:
...I always liked Mr. Potato Head. When I was a kid I think I had Mr. Mrs., and I think there was a 'Pet,' (dog?) version too?
But still,
it reminds me of an old Jay Leno comment,
(I mean, the origional Mr. Potato Head was just the 'add on parts,' for a real potato.)
Leno said how it's such an odd thing in the US that we play with food...
-like how basically we'd go up to some starving kid in a remote country
show him a Potato,
and be all like:
'...see, Kimba? a Potato!'
(to which Kimba smiles, and goes with a quivering voice: '...ohhhhh, Potato,,, Kimba EAT the Potato!'
to which the Westerner goes
'...oh no, no, no Kimba,
we don't EAT the potato..'
(Kimba looks wide-eyed '...no EAT potato???'
'No, No,
seee, look,
we put a little HAT and some EYES on the Potato,
it's a toy!...see!'
'...but, but,
-Kimba EAT potato!'
'...No, NO,
little hands and nose,
SEE?
It's a toy!
What's the matter with you Kimba???!'
(...don't get me started on what really happens to NASA SpaceMonkey's either,
Curious George... riiiight...
-I found out about that one waaaaaaay before 'Project X.')
Posted by: wet towel at April 5, 2008 1:57 PM
I always thought that the whole idea of California Adventure was surreal.
It's like having a virtual reality tour of Yosemite inside of Yosemite.
You've traveled all the way to California from Lawrence, Kansas, and now you want to go on a *reproduction* of the Santa Cruz boardwalk?
----
Plus, they are , in effect, competing with the most famous amusement park ever --and it's right next door.
Yeah, I never did get it.
Posted by: blake at April 7, 2008 8:15 AM
Blake, I think a lot of people feel like you do. A "California" park might work in Wisconsin, maybe, but not here (then again, would we want a Wisconsin park in California?)
I think the new Pixar theme is a much better idea - it's much more Disney-like, and - come on - Pixar puts out some fine, fine movies. It would be a great companion piece to the original Anaheim park.
Posted by: Heather at April 7, 2008 9:43 AM
I would like California Adventure (or whatever it would evolve into) to be *part* of Disneyland---
but to drop another small fortune for separate admission
to another park that has the feeling of not-quite-Disneyland?
Well, if you have to make a family budget cut decision, that's probably where you'll do it.
That being said, I *do* know families who have taken their kids and bought one of the super-passes where you can bounce between the two parks.
But me, I'll save my extra shekels for one of those mickeymouse shaped ice cream sandwiches that they freeze to absolute zero.
And yeah, I dig a number of the Pixar movies---the only short I didn't like was the one where there were farm animals and they used some song like "she'll be comin' 'round the mountain"
Posted by: blake at April 7, 2008 9:59 AM
i have always enjoyed california adventure! i dont like change so i dont know how i feel about making it a "pixar" theme.
Posted by: brittney at April 7, 2008 3:17 PM
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