I’ve obviously done a s**tload of reports on this place before, so I won’t be going into great detail apart from with a couple of new things since I’d been last.
I was supposed to go to a preview show of Mickey and the Wondrous Book, the show that has replaced The Golden Mickeys, a couple of weeks ago. However, I got sent a text message the day before to say that the previews had been cancelled while some technical issues were ironed out.
Big-eared, mousy c**t.
The show has opened since then, but I couldn’t make it down there in time on a weekday to catch it. The annual pass “previews” were rescheduled for last week, with the special showings in the evenings, meaning I could pop down after work. Weirdly, the show is down at the moment to iron out technical s**t, but the passholder shows went ahead as normal.
I had about an hour and a half to kill, so did some stuff. They’ve got the Christmas stuff up.
They’ve shoved this photo-op thing up just inside Fantasyland so that people can advertise their 10th Anniversary for them. There’s a photographer on hand if you want to pay for the privilege.
I had a couple of goes on Space Mountain first I think, with a couple of rerides later. It only had a five minute wait in the normal queue and was, as usual, walk-on using single rider.
Have a POV that’s not mine, showing off this dark coaster in all its glory.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQQ4cngez38[/youtube]
Despite riding this sooooooo many times now, it’s still one of my favourite dark coasters, not necessarily as a coaster, but as a whole package. The soundtrack is right up there with my favourites of any ride. It’s by Michael Giacchino, the guy who wrote the soundtracks for Lost, Up, Inside Out, The Incredibles, the new Star Trek films and Jurassic World amongst loads of others.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCMX7Cmcxus[/youtube]
I walked through Adventureland, not riding anything. You’ll all be thrilled to know that most of the scaffolding around Tarzan’s Treehouse has been taken down now though, so it might be time to finally get those flights booked.
I had a few goes on Big Grizzly Mountain. Like Space Mountain, the regular queue was only at 5 minutes, with a walk-on single rider.
Rode Mystic Manor. Obviously.
I’d never bothered with Slinky Dog Spin before, but I was walking through and it was walk-on, so gave it a go. Meh.
Fairytale Forest is almost ready. I’m going to a preview a week today, so mark that in your calendars and try to contain your excitement.
The train is open again now. It’s been opening and closing more frequently than a $5 whore’s legs recently, with the construction of Iron Man, so no idea if it’s back for good yet.
Onto the show then. The entrance is pretty cool, with sparkly lights and s**t.
The stage area looks much more impressive than before. There’s light smoke pumped into the auditorium and music playing ( sounds a bit Harry Potter-esque to be honest), which creates an atmosphere that the previous show didn’t have.
Subtitles appear on the spines of books (Chinese on the left of the stage, English on the right), which is MUCH better than the basic TV screens they had previously.
It opens with a new song, Happily Ever After, which was written for this show/the 10th anniversary of the park. I didn’t like it when I first heard it, but it’s grown on me. It’s cheesy as all s**t though.
The “wondrous book” of the title is technically stunning.
The basic story is that Mickey and Goofy dare each other to open the book, which makes Olaf from Frozen pop out. Mickey then goes inside the book to find Olaf’s story to get him back before he melts, arriving on different “pages”. Like the old show, it’s just a tenuous way to link a bunch of Disney songs together, but it’s definitely more cohesive now.
The King Louis costume was impressive. As with the Mickey Mouse and Goofy costumes, the mouth opens and closes in perfect sync with the words, and the eyes blink. I’m assuming it’s done electronically as I can’t see how a person inside could do it, especially with the King Louis costume as they’re having to jump/dance around a lot as it is.
The next section combines Ariel, Rapunzel and Merida.
Next it’s onto Aladdin. The “book” was used to really good effect with this section, with the performers interacting with what was on the screens.
There was a very cool quick-change trick at the end as well. I didn’t like the Genie though. The costume/helmet thing was just weird.
Then it’s onto The Princess and the Frog. I’ve never actually seen it, but this section of the show was really impressive.
Mickey finally finds the right page, and Olaf goes back into the book.
This obviously prompts some Frozen action since any and every Disney show from now until the apocalypse will have to somehow involve f**king Frozen.
Guess what she sings. Go on. Guess!
As she’s singing some song nobody’s ever heard of, there’s some snow on the first few rows. After that, Mickey gets stuck in the book for a bit, some pages fly around and loads of snow starts falling all over the audience. It’s pretty fab to be fair.
There’s a reprise of the Happily Ever After song at the end, with various Disney films being flicked through on the book. They’ve kept the “shoot streamers over everything” thing at the end, which is a good since people love it and it’s a very clear signal to get the f**k out.
Overall thoughts then. When I first heard the name, I thought it might be just a Magical Map clone from the California park, which I wasn’t happy about since I found that show pretty piss-poor really. It’s possibly because of the whole outdoor-seating thing, which has such a detrimental effect on daytime shows; there’s no atmosphere.
Wondrous Book is clearly a companion show to Magical Map. There’s a similar premise, and the “map” and “book” use similar technology. The “book” takes the technology to a whole new level though. As I just mentioned, the fact that it’s a small, indoor theatre really helps with an immediate atmosphere. The technology is clearly stronger, but I think that it’s a much better show overall even taking that out of the equation.
Is it better than the show it replaced? Probably yes. The Golden Mickeys was definitely due for an update at the very least since it had been running for 10 years. Personally, I preferred the song choices in the old show, but that’s just me. I also prefer shows with more physical sets as opposed to screens, but Wondrous Book at least doesn’t just use the screen as a background with nothing else going on, as Magical Map does, making Map feel very 2-dimensional.
Anyway, here’s someone else’s YouTube video again. From this distance you get to see the overall picture of what the show looks like. Skip through to 11 minutes for the actual show.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV4eCorb-Xk[/youtube]
I was planning to leave after that, but decided to stick around for the fireworks since I hadn’t seen the new projection work, catching Paint the Night in the meantime. They weren’t doing the castle projections over Halloween when I was last there, I’m guessing because they were using the projectors on The Jungle Cruise, Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly at the time.
The soundtrack and fireworks are the same, minus a few that used to come from the front of the castle, but the projection mapping makes the whole thing soooooooo much better. I’m surprised that Hong Kong was the last park to get in on it really; they’re usually pretty ahead of the curve.
Someone else’s video again:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWz0PQKFBCU[/youtube]
I missed the “Frozen Tree Lighting Ceremony” since I was in The Wondrous Book at the time, but I’m guessing it’s the same as last year: 4 people sing a medley of Frozen songs and then the light come on. The area is really nice though since they have snow machines going from the tree to about halfway up main street.
I’m not sure if the snow keeps going from the tree lighting at 6:30, or whether they turn it on again after the fireworks when people are leaving. Sorry if that’s about to cause a lack of sleep in anyone; I’ll try and find out.
I had a decent evening of it considering I’d planned to just pop in to catch the new show, staying for a little under 5 hours, getting a fair few rides in and finally catching the updated fireworks.
I was supposed to go to a preview show of Mickey and the Wondrous Book, the show that has replaced The Golden Mickeys, a couple of weeks ago. However, I got sent a text message the day before to say that the previews had been cancelled while some technical issues were ironed out.
Big-eared, mousy c**t.
The show has opened since then, but I couldn’t make it down there in time on a weekday to catch it. The annual pass “previews” were rescheduled for last week, with the special showings in the evenings, meaning I could pop down after work. Weirdly, the show is down at the moment to iron out technical s**t, but the passholder shows went ahead as normal.
I had about an hour and a half to kill, so did some stuff. They’ve got the Christmas stuff up.
They’ve shoved this photo-op thing up just inside Fantasyland so that people can advertise their 10th Anniversary for them. There’s a photographer on hand if you want to pay for the privilege.
I had a couple of goes on Space Mountain first I think, with a couple of rerides later. It only had a five minute wait in the normal queue and was, as usual, walk-on using single rider.
Have a POV that’s not mine, showing off this dark coaster in all its glory.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQQ4cngez38[/youtube]
Despite riding this sooooooo many times now, it’s still one of my favourite dark coasters, not necessarily as a coaster, but as a whole package. The soundtrack is right up there with my favourites of any ride. It’s by Michael Giacchino, the guy who wrote the soundtracks for Lost, Up, Inside Out, The Incredibles, the new Star Trek films and Jurassic World amongst loads of others.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCMX7Cmcxus[/youtube]
I walked through Adventureland, not riding anything. You’ll all be thrilled to know that most of the scaffolding around Tarzan’s Treehouse has been taken down now though, so it might be time to finally get those flights booked.
I had a few goes on Big Grizzly Mountain. Like Space Mountain, the regular queue was only at 5 minutes, with a walk-on single rider.
Rode Mystic Manor. Obviously.
I’d never bothered with Slinky Dog Spin before, but I was walking through and it was walk-on, so gave it a go. Meh.
Fairytale Forest is almost ready. I’m going to a preview a week today, so mark that in your calendars and try to contain your excitement.
The train is open again now. It’s been opening and closing more frequently than a $5 whore’s legs recently, with the construction of Iron Man, so no idea if it’s back for good yet.
Onto the show then. The entrance is pretty cool, with sparkly lights and s**t.
The stage area looks much more impressive than before. There’s light smoke pumped into the auditorium and music playing ( sounds a bit Harry Potter-esque to be honest), which creates an atmosphere that the previous show didn’t have.
Subtitles appear on the spines of books (Chinese on the left of the stage, English on the right), which is MUCH better than the basic TV screens they had previously.
It opens with a new song, Happily Ever After, which was written for this show/the 10th anniversary of the park. I didn’t like it when I first heard it, but it’s grown on me. It’s cheesy as all s**t though.
The “wondrous book” of the title is technically stunning.
The basic story is that Mickey and Goofy dare each other to open the book, which makes Olaf from Frozen pop out. Mickey then goes inside the book to find Olaf’s story to get him back before he melts, arriving on different “pages”. Like the old show, it’s just a tenuous way to link a bunch of Disney songs together, but it’s definitely more cohesive now.
The King Louis costume was impressive. As with the Mickey Mouse and Goofy costumes, the mouth opens and closes in perfect sync with the words, and the eyes blink. I’m assuming it’s done electronically as I can’t see how a person inside could do it, especially with the King Louis costume as they’re having to jump/dance around a lot as it is.
The next section combines Ariel, Rapunzel and Merida.
Next it’s onto Aladdin. The “book” was used to really good effect with this section, with the performers interacting with what was on the screens.
There was a very cool quick-change trick at the end as well. I didn’t like the Genie though. The costume/helmet thing was just weird.
Then it’s onto The Princess and the Frog. I’ve never actually seen it, but this section of the show was really impressive.
Mickey finally finds the right page, and Olaf goes back into the book.
This obviously prompts some Frozen action since any and every Disney show from now until the apocalypse will have to somehow involve f**king Frozen.
Guess what she sings. Go on. Guess!
As she’s singing some song nobody’s ever heard of, there’s some snow on the first few rows. After that, Mickey gets stuck in the book for a bit, some pages fly around and loads of snow starts falling all over the audience. It’s pretty fab to be fair.
There’s a reprise of the Happily Ever After song at the end, with various Disney films being flicked through on the book. They’ve kept the “shoot streamers over everything” thing at the end, which is a good since people love it and it’s a very clear signal to get the f**k out.
Overall thoughts then. When I first heard the name, I thought it might be just a Magical Map clone from the California park, which I wasn’t happy about since I found that show pretty piss-poor really. It’s possibly because of the whole outdoor-seating thing, which has such a detrimental effect on daytime shows; there’s no atmosphere.
Wondrous Book is clearly a companion show to Magical Map. There’s a similar premise, and the “map” and “book” use similar technology. The “book” takes the technology to a whole new level though. As I just mentioned, the fact that it’s a small, indoor theatre really helps with an immediate atmosphere. The technology is clearly stronger, but I think that it’s a much better show overall even taking that out of the equation.
Is it better than the show it replaced? Probably yes. The Golden Mickeys was definitely due for an update at the very least since it had been running for 10 years. Personally, I preferred the song choices in the old show, but that’s just me. I also prefer shows with more physical sets as opposed to screens, but Wondrous Book at least doesn’t just use the screen as a background with nothing else going on, as Magical Map does, making Map feel very 2-dimensional.
Anyway, here’s someone else’s YouTube video again. From this distance you get to see the overall picture of what the show looks like. Skip through to 11 minutes for the actual show.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV4eCorb-Xk[/youtube]
I was planning to leave after that, but decided to stick around for the fireworks since I hadn’t seen the new projection work, catching Paint the Night in the meantime. They weren’t doing the castle projections over Halloween when I was last there, I’m guessing because they were using the projectors on The Jungle Cruise, Mystic Manor and Big Grizzly at the time.
The soundtrack and fireworks are the same, minus a few that used to come from the front of the castle, but the projection mapping makes the whole thing soooooooo much better. I’m surprised that Hong Kong was the last park to get in on it really; they’re usually pretty ahead of the curve.
Someone else’s video again:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWz0PQKFBCU[/youtube]
I missed the “Frozen Tree Lighting Ceremony” since I was in The Wondrous Book at the time, but I’m guessing it’s the same as last year: 4 people sing a medley of Frozen songs and then the light come on. The area is really nice though since they have snow machines going from the tree to about halfway up main street.
I’m not sure if the snow keeps going from the tree lighting at 6:30, or whether they turn it on again after the fireworks when people are leaving. Sorry if that’s about to cause a lack of sleep in anyone; I’ll try and find out.
I had a decent evening of it considering I’d planned to just pop in to catch the new show, staying for a little under 5 hours, getting a fair few rides in and finally catching the updated fireworks.