Pooh's Hunny Hunt
| Pooh's Hunny Hunt | |||
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| Tokyo Disneyland | |||
| Land | Fantasyland | ||
| Opening date | September 4, 2000 | ||
| Preceded by | Skyway | ||
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Pooh's Hunny Hunt is a unique 'trackless' dark ride located at Tokyo Disneyland. It is based on the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, and is Fantasyland's most popular attraction.
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[edit] History
After the rise in popularity of Walt Disney's film adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, Disney Imagineers made plans in the late 1970s for a Winnie the Pooh attraction at Disneyland's soon-to-be renovated Fantasyland. However in 1983, when the renovated Fantasyland reopened, a Winnie the Pooh attraction was notably absent. Seven years later, during a period when the character was undergoing a resurgence in popularity, plans for a Winnie the Pooh attraction were approved at Walt Disney World. Planners utilized an existing structure, that of the Fantasyland attraction Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
The next version of the attraction, considerably different in configuration, was Pooh's Hunny Hunt, which opened in Tokyo Disneyland. Due to a closure of all of the Skyways at Disney Parks across the world, including Tokyo, a space was left where the Fantasyland Skyway station once stood. With a budget of over $130 million, and featuring a never-before-used 'trackless' ride technology, Pooh's Hunny Hunt opened in late 2000 to large crowds and praise by many Disney internet fansites. To date, the attraction continues to have some of the longest wait times of any attraction at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort.
[edit] Ride-through
The queue for the ride zig-zags in front of the entrance, which is shaped like a giant story book. Once inside, the rest of the line is made up of the pages of the story book which tell various parts of the story. Guests then board big, 5-seater honey pots. These Honey pots travel through the ride in groups of three.
Upon leaving the station, and making a left into the ride, the Honey pots stop in a line in front of a short video which has Christopher Robin giving Pooh a balloon. The vehicles then enter a very large room themed to the blustery day. There are many sights in this room, and the vehicles take turns visiting the various scenes. Pooh is seen flying around on his balloon. Kanga and Roo, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, and Piglet are getting blown about the wind. As the vehicles unite to leave the room, Tigger bounces up and down behind a bush.
The honey pots then enter a dark room with three screens surrounded by trees. A swarm of bees flies through all three before Tigger comes in and starts singing and bouncing. The entire room, the trees, and the honey pots then begin to bounce with Tigger as he bounces from screen to screen. He then jumps up into one of the trees and the swarm of bees reemerges. The honey pots then go backwards down a hallway filled with branches. Tigger is seen clinging to one with a beehive stuck to his head.
The honey pots enter Pooh's house, where he is seen asleep with the balloon next to him. As he mumbles, the balloon grows the ears and eyes of a heffalump and the entire room vanishes into a starfield. Pooh then floats up into the air.
The vehicles then enter Pooh's dream sequence. This big room is filled the heffalumps and woozles that Pooh dreams about. This room is by far the most vibrant as the honey pots dance in circles with each other to the music as colored lights and disco balls spin throughout the room. There are lots of vehicles in this room and whenever three enter, three leave. The leaving vehicles exit through the trunk of a giant heffalump which contains a tunnel. The vehicles go down the tunnel backwards as Pooh spins (otherwise, in real life, he could not escape & get hurt) above and projections of Heffalumps and Woozles spin along the walls.
The last room is filled with honey and Pooh eats his fill while saying how much he loves to eat it. There is a scent of honey in this room. The vehicles then pass a big, closed storybook of the adventure and then return to the unloading area.
[edit] Ride system
Although track-based traditional dark rides based on Pooh do exist at Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and the Magic Kingdom, Pooh's Hunny Hunt is a different attraction entirely and is exclusive to Tokyo Disneyland.
[edit] Sponsor
- Kagome Co., Ltd.:Pooh's Hunny Hunt（2011.8.30.Open）
[edit] Vehicle
The ride vehicles are fashioned to resemble honey pots; though these pots have wheels, they are completely hidden, giving the pots the appearance of "gliding" across the show scene's floors. Traditionally, dark ride vehicles are guided along an easily-visible track, and move at a (more or less) constant speed. The Pooh's Hunny Hunt vehicles have no visible means of guidance and appear to move through the attraction independently. Wildly stopping, starting, reversing direction, and even spinning, giving the ride its trademark whimsical and dreamlike visuals.
[edit] Track
This 'trackless' ride system is achieved not by GPS, as widely rumored, but by a custom LPS (local positioning system). The patented system works by directional data being relayed from a master control computer directly to each individual honey pot car through a complicated matrix embedded within the actual floor tiles. Every few seconds, the master computer generates a random path and ‘steers’ the honey pot in real-time, so as the cars roll through the ride the vehicles are, in fact, being told where to go. Because this system is in real-time, they can maneuver accordingly in just fractions of a second. This also allows for spontaneous yet synchronized ‘honey pot choreography’ with groups of honey pots (as many as 8 in a single show scene) appearing to ‘dance’ with the others, often timed with ‘beats’ in the music. Due to limitless variations possible, each journey through the attraction is unique.
[edit] Other LPS Uses
Aquatopia (at Tokyo DisneySea just next door) is the only other ride in the world to use a variant of this groundbreaking ride technology. It is unknown if this ride system will ever be built outside of Tokyo, although a ride based on Disney's Beauty and the Beast using the LPS system (teacups instead of honey pots) was designed by WDI before Hunny Hunt, yet still remains unbuilt. Pooh's Hunny Hunt has been rumored at having a budget of around $130 million, although this cost included the development and testing of the never-before-built LPS ride system. According to multiple sources[citation needed], a new E ticket attraction will be opening in the Walt Disney Studios Park at the Disneyland Resort Paris in or around 2014, based on the 2007 hit movie Ratatouille. It is rumored that this ride will use the LPS technology as well. A planned fourth version of Journey into Imagination is also rumored to be based on the LPS system.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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