Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Disney Top 50: #45 - 41

#45 - Alice in Wonderland - (Disneyland)
1958-Present
30 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists.  Top vote: #3 (Karen W.)

Alice in Wonderland is a dark ride in Fantasyland at Disneyland. Based on the animated Disney adaptation of the same name, the attraction resides next to a second ride, the Mad Tea Party, based on a scene in that same adaptation. 

The presence of two rides based on the film is unusual in that Walt Disney said he regretted making it because it lacked a connection to the audience's hearts.

In 1983, the ride was updated as part of an overall refurbishment of Fantasyland, as the Upside-Down and Oversized Rooms were eliminated and the Mad Hatter's unbirthday scene was moved to the very end of the ride. A new narration track by Kathryn Beaumont, the original voice of Alice, was recorded. To create more unified theming in Fantasyland, the Mad Tea Party attraction was relocated at the rear of Fantasyland to a spot adjacent to the Alice in Wonderland ride that same year. The Alice in Wonderland attraction, however, did not reopen until 1984, one year after the rest of the new Fantasyland opened.

#44 - Walt Disney World Monorail - (WDW)
1971 - Present
31 total points
Appeared on 3 of 16 Lists.  Top vote: #5 (Amy G.)

The Walt Disney World Monorail System is a public transit system in operation at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The resort currently operates twelve Mark VI monorail trains on three lines of service, the express monorail from the Ticket & Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom, the resort monorail, servicing Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the Magic Kingdom, and the Contemporary Resort, and the Epcot monorail, bringing guests to and from the Ticket & Transportation Center to Epcot.  

The monorail system uses a set of pre-recorded announcements to instruct and entertain passengers. Prior to departure when the pilot closes the doors, an announcement asks guests to "Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas." The phrase, so popular that it was placed on a t-shirt, was recorded by Jack Wagner, who was known as "the Voice of Disneyland." In 1988 following the construction of the Grand Floridian Resort stop, Kevin Miles replaced Jack Wagner as the voiceover. Wagner can still be heard today as the "Please stand clear of the doors ..." phrase remains with his voice, partly because it is installed on a separate system.

#43 - The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (DL)/Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid - (WDW)

2011 (DL), 2012 (WDW) - Present
32 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists.  Top vote: #9 (Linda C.)

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (titled Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid in Walt Disney World) is a classic Disney dark ride based on the film The Little Mermaid, located in Paradise Pier at Disney California Adventure and in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. 

At Disney California Adventure, the ride building is modeled after a 20th-century aquarium. The Palace of Fine Arts replica that served as an entrance for Golden Dreams was kept as the entrance for the new attraction. The queue passes beneath a series of canopies and into the building itself. The loading area features a large, hand-painted mural depicting the story's major characters.

The Magic Kingdom attraction has a different exterior and queue, featuring Prince Eric's castle and the surrounding cliffs. Guests enter through an underground cavern at low tide, and part of the queue includes an interactive scavenger hunt with Scuttle. The mural in the loading area is also substantially different from the one at California Adventure.

#42 - Fantasmic!  (WDW-Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea)

1992 (DL), 1998 (WDW), 2011 (TDS)  - Present
32 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists.  Top vote: #9 (Linda C.)

Fantasmic! is a nighttime show at Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and Tokyo DisneySea in Tokyo Disney Resort. The show features fireworks, live actors, water effects, pyrotechnics, music, several boats, decorated rafts and projections onto large mist screens featuring reworked Disney animation to tell the story of Sorcerer Mickey's imagination. 

While the characters featured both onstage and in the films projected onto the water screens differ in the different productions, all three versions of the show feature a finale where Mickey faces a giant version of Maleficent in her dragon form, eventually using the power of his imagination to defeat her.  

#41 - Illuminations: Reflections of Earth  (WDW- Epcot)

1999 - Present
33 total points
Appeared on 2 (!!!) of 16 Lists.  Top vote: #3 (Matt W.)

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is a nighttime show performed nightly in and over the World Showcase Lagoon in Epcot at Walt Disney World. 

The show utilizes fireworks, pyrotechnics, laser lights, fountains, and fire to create a visual production of the story of humankind. The show premiered on October 1, 1999 as IllumiNations 2000: Reflections of Earth and was so successful that after the millennium celebration ended, the 2000 was dropped from the name and the show was continued. 

The centerpiece of the show is the Earth Globe, a 350,000 pound globe housed on a barge. The world's first spherical video display system, the globe is wrapped in 15,600 LED clusters, each consisting of 12 light-emitting diodes. The Globe contains 258 FlashWorks mini strobe lights (43 per petal), is controlled by 6 computer processors and is considered to be the most complicated piece of show action equipment ever made by Disney.

This is way low for Illuminations, guys.  


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