Here is a neat little dark ride that is at Disneyland Park in fabulous Anaheim California. It opened back in May of 1983.
There are two other "Pinocchio's Daring Journey" rides.
One, in Tokyo Disneyland, opened April 1983. The other is in Paris and opened in 1992.
As you walk up to the building you see a small Pinocchio puppet standing above you. He might dance. I don't quite remember. I usually see him for the briefest of moments simply because "Pinocchio's Daring Journey" rarely has any line.
This makes it one of my favorites.
I am always surprised the line isn't longer. You usually walk up and jump right on.
As you enter your vehicle (a "wooden" toy car) you pass by an awesome painting of Pinocchio and company.
The painting depicts Pinocchio being greeted by Honest John, Gideon and the evil coachman. In the background we see a coach headed toward Pleasure Island.
The ride itself is relatively fast moving and clocks in at around 2 minutes. It starts with Pinocchio working as a puppet in a show. Soon Stromboli puts him in a cage next to what appears to be one of the puppets from "It's a small world."
He puts us in a cage too.
Now we are off to Pleasure Island where we see Mona Lisa with a mustache. I guess she's Italian.
Honest John and Gideon are here, too. They are playing that carnival game where you hit that thing with a hammer... uh... not whack-a-mole... uh... lets just call it Hammer Time.
Stop - Hammer Time!
Soon the coachman says "go ahead, make a jackass outta yourself" and sure enough Lampwick turns into one. Pinocchio thinks this is funny.
I should take him to a burn ward. He'd get some good chuckles there.
If only we had paid attention to the overall "donkey theming" Pleasure Island we could have avoided this!
Then the donkeys are taken to the salt mines.
We escape at the last second (I don't know if we ever became donkeys) and we then narrowly escape being eaten by Monstro the whale.
Then we are home free. We get a visit from the blue fairy and Figaro is so happy he wiggles his feet.
I am a bit confused at this point weather we were supposed to BE Pinocchio, or just someone following him.
And we might still be donkeys.
And I bet that game wasn't actually called Hammer Time.
It's a fun couple of minutes full of awesome black light effects and it was the first Disney attraction to use holographic technology.
I don't actually know what that is (except that I had a Trapper Keeper with a hologram on it and it was also used as a plot device in every episode of Scooby Doo.)
I give "Pinocchio's Daring Journey" 4 stars.
I would like to mention that my spell checker always wants me to change Scooby Doo to Scabby Doom. I think Scabby Doom would be an awesome name for a wrestler... but a bad name for a disease.
ReplyDelete"I had a Trapper Keeper with a hologram on it and it was also used as a plot device in every episode of Scooby Doo"
ReplyDeleteGreat story. It reminds me of Lyndsay Lohan's new movie Just My Luck available at your local Target, Best Buy and other fine stores.
ReplyDeleteI think Scabby Doom would be a better band name.
ReplyDeleteHaving never been to Disneyland I enjoyed the chance to see a ride that never made it to the Magic Kingdom.
It's seems very odd to me that it never made it to MK, especially since they put it overseas so many years later.
ReplyDeleteI suppose there is always a chance it will pop up in Orlando someday.
I was very young when I first watched this movie, and I love it just as much today as I did then. Although, I do not remember the donkey Pleasure Island sequence as I remember it the main idea of Pinocchio's Daring Journey is three pets, Shadow, a wise old golden retriever, Chance, a goofy, fun-loving American bulldog puppy, and Sassy, a hilarious Himalayan cat who are left in the care of their owners' friend that lives hundreds of miles away on a farm. After several days, the pets begin to worry. Thinking that their owners must be in some kind of trouble, they set out on their adventure home. Along the way they encounter many unexpected surprises but their determination and love for their owners helps them in finding their way. For me, this was an unforgettable story of love, courage and devotion that will inspire everyone who watches it. A must see for animal lovers! I give it a 10!
ReplyDeleteI just recently revisted pinocchio and realized its a lot darker than what i remember. it's my favorite disney movie. i'm going to disney world next year, i wonder if they have it there. anyways, i would love to try that ride someday, i'm sure i would like it
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