Ride a Scallop Shell to the Bottom of the Sea

The Story Line on Paper

Ready by May 2011?

A new sort of dark ride is under construction at California Adventure, based on the 1989 animated hit, The Little Mermaid.

It’s a big-budget attraction — more on the scale of Haunted Mansion than Alice in Wonderland — and it looks like Team Disney expects this attraction to be a big hit.

Guests will hop on to a conveyance that will work in a similar fashion to the “Doom Buggies” in the Haunted Mansion — a conveyor belt next to moving seats. The seat is a scallop shell that holds two guests.

First guests meet the characters that live in both worlds, Scuttle and Sebastian, who will escort them down into the sea.

Along the way riders will meet and be entertained by the different characters from the story, as the blueprint shows. Even though it looks be be a major capital budget outlay, the attraction is not a thrill ride, so its appeal will have to come from oohs and aahs, not woo-hoos and yee-haws.

The magic will have to be in the details. There’s some bragging about how guests will feel as if they really did just drop into the ocean.

To see more about the ride, check out the displays at the Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar.

It’s supposed to be ready in 2011, and there’s a large structure in place, but it’s hard to believe it will be all finished up in less than a year. Getting this hot new attraction done on time must keep a team of project managers up at nights.

Here’s to what looks to be a great new attraction.

Make Planning Fun!

As of today, there’s a great new app available for the iPad: Parktabulous Disney World for iPad.  We now cover the bases for these two popular resorts on iPhone and Android phones.

On Apple devices, we now have

• Parktastiq. Our original app provides a great guide to Disneyland and California Adventure for iPhone and iPod Touch devices
• Parktabulous covers Disneyland on iPad. The big screen is great for kicking back and planning your trip
• Parktastiq Disney World helps you at Disney World Magic Kingdom
• Parktabulous Disney World helps you plan your trip using your iPad.

We also have Parktastiq for both Disneyland and Disney World Magic Kingdom on Android. Just search for “Parktastiq” in Android Market.

Disney World Magic Kingdom for Android Users

Tens of millions of people visit Disney World every year. In fact, by most rankings, the Magic Kingdom is the most visited park in the world.

In addition, every day, about a quarter million people fire up a new Android smart phone. Naturally, it makes sense to help those Android users put their phones to work and help them plan their trips to Disney World. Of course, Smart Phone users love to go to Disney resorts!

Where are all those Fun Attractions?

If you have an Android smart phone, look for “Parktastiq” in Android Market. This handy, attractive app brings the park to the palm of your hand. There are two apps there — one for Disneyland and one for Disney World Magic Kingdom.

The functionality is similar to the iPhone apps, but adapted to work ideally on the Android environment.

For left-brain types, Parktastiq has a list view so they know what attractions and eateries are in the park.

For right-brain types, there’s a map to see where everything is.

There’s a simple and fast wishlist feature that lets you pick the rides you want to do, and also a tracker to see which ones you’ve done.

A simple red/green/yellow marker system tells you how busy the rides are.

And there are details of each ride, so you know what it’s about: a summary, if it has FASTPASS(r), height limitations and park policies.

We also show park hours and activities for the day.

What's Going on in the Park Today?

The Android apps are free, so there’s no excuse! Just grab these apps and check out the parks!

What is this Ride about?

Put Your iPhone to Work at the Magic Kingdom

We’re excited to have our first Walt Disney World app in the App Store: Parktastiq Disney World. We’ve started with the Magic Kingdom, since it’s the most popular theme park in the world. What are our next steps?

• Parktastiq Disney World for Android
• Add more Disney World Parks. We’ll tackle Epcot® next
• Add Disney’s Animal Kingdom park
• Take on Disney’s Hollywood Studios park

The Magic Kingdom

It was a lot of fun preparing our first app for Walt Disney World, and we hope that it’s fun and helpful for you to use at the park!

One more thing: our iPad version of the app is ready to go, and we’ll be submitting it to Apple shortly, so within the next dozen days or so, you’ll also be able to plan your trip on the iPad.

Drawing Chip is Fun!

California Adventure has its wild rides (Screamin’, Tower, Grizzly River) and its blockbusters (Soarin’, Midway Mania) but it also has a great attraction in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot with the Animation Academy. Once inside, you find yourself in a cavernous commons area with a shifting display of animations on huge screens.

From there, you have 4 places you can go:

- Turtle Talk is a short, interactive video with Crush the sea turtle from Finding Nemo

- Hands-on displays at  Sorcerer’s Workshop, with delightful low-tech machines and fun high-tech stations

- A Zoetrope with Toy Story characters at Character Close-Up

- Hands-on drawing at Animation Academy

This final option is a huge amphitheater, like the ones you might have sat in in those huge university classes, like Physics. All the guests take a seat, grab a sheet of paper, and follow the instructor as she or he guides you along as you draw your own chipmunk — either Chip or Dale, depending on the session. People consistently came out with great sketches of this animated rodent.

It’s interesting to hear the terminology for the different shapes — a rainbow, for example, is a staple. The instructor also talks about how simple shapes can convey the intended emotion.

Educational and fun — a great way to spend 30 minutes on a crowded afternoon. We ended up spending 90 minutes taking in all for elements of the Disney Animation attraction.

In case you haven’t heard about these, Hidden Mickeys are a game between Imagineers and guests, where images of the iconic mouse are slipped into attractions and areas of the park. Some are easy to recognize, some, like these gears, are arguably the real thing, and some are doubtful.

Happy hunting!

Gears for Ears

Pizza Oom Bye-Bye

• Maliboomer closed in September and is halfway down already
• Pizza Oom Mow Mow is now oom gone-gone — at least the siding on the building
• Donald’s Boat, the S. S. Rustworthy, was a dud from the get-go, and will probably be replaced by green space
• Bountiful Valley Farmers’ Market, south of A Bug’s Land
• Sam Andreas Shakes, next to the Farmers’ Market
• Mulholland Madness (it will become Goofy’s Sky School)

The new things have to fit in with the park’s new theme of 1920s California, the heady days when industries were new and state budgets were balanced.

What new rides can we look forward to?

• Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. This is a huge dark ride, based on the 1989 blockbuster, where guests will drop into the sea and ride along in scallop shells. This is rumored to open in 2011, but a quick look at the ride’s current state doesn’t support that optimistic estimate
• Several rides at Cars’ Land, including a high-speed raceway
• Goofy’s Sky School, the remake of the Mulholland mini-coaster
• Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta will open in May, 2011. They’ll have salads as well
• It looks like a new park is going to replace Maliboomer – guests told Disney that they wanted more greenery, and they’re the boss!

Looks Like a Park will Replace Maliboomer

Disneyland has always been characterized as a ball of clay, to be repeatedly reshaped, but it’s almost static in comparison to California Adventure. It’s exciting to see a theme park change so quickly.

We’re making sure Parktastiq keeps up with all this, keeping your list of rides up to date.

No More Shaking on this Fault

Sam Andreas Shakes appears to be no more — it’s hemmed in by a fence marking the boundaries of the new Cars Land. It and Bountiful Valley Famers’ Market both have to take one for the Cars team. Seems like a fair trade: top-grade attractions and a new land take the place of a couple of rustic nosheries.

Say Good-bye to this Truck Farm

Because attractions come and go over time — and over a short time in California Adventure — we’re working on a new feature for Parktastiq to handle deleted attractions. We plan on submitting an update to both the iPhone and iPad apps this week (Oct 17) that will get rid of rides that are being taken down.

- Improvements in the sync between our “cloud” services and the app. What does this mean for you? Better information on how busy the rides are.

- Changes to the maps. Since we launched Parktastiq in July of this year, 6 attractions or eateries have disappeared in California Adventure (Maliboomer, Pizza Oom Mow Mow, Mulholland Madness, Sam Andreas Shakes, and Bountiful Valley Farmers Market). Maliboomer is now off our map.

- An new check-in process that lets you tell your facebook friends about all the fun you’re having at the park, and also lets you tell us how long a ride is supposed to be (wait times are posted). Nobody likes to wait in line, and more people telling us what the posted wait time is means more accurate times for everyone.

Enjoy your time at the parks, and we hope you put Parktastiq to work!

Dropping the Drop Ride in a Hurry

Maliboomer, the drop ride in Paradise Pier, was closed in September, and is coming down fast. No news as to what will take its place, but the construction crews are wasting no time in getting rid of the towering structure.

So, what was wrong with this ride and why did it have to go? It certainly offered thrills, but it was lacking in story, and narrative is what makes Disney attractions work.  Sure, it resembled a step-right-up-and-ring-the-bell-win-a-cigar hammer game, but that’s a concept, not a story. Tower of Terror is a drop ride, but it has a story. It also didn’t fit with the park’s new theme of 1920s California.

Some thought maybe the structure would be put to new uses, but that is apparently not the case, as the structure itself is coming down fast.

Here’s to whatever comes next.