Monday, June 23, 2014

Journey to the Center of the Earth at Neo Disneyland


Within the bowels of Mt. Prometheus in Discovery Island, is the star attraction of Neo Disneyland, Journey to the Center of the Earth. 
Visitors enter the queue from caverns within the volcano. 
While in line guests are guided past smoking fissures of lava, intricate reproductions of Victorian scientific labs and eventually to a bank of elevators designed to bring visitors even deeper in to the planets center.
 The walls are a mix of hardened magma and porous volcanic rock. Water drips from make shift duct work and electrical lines run through out the space, connecting the caged lights which illuminate your way. Some lava still glows a faint red, oozing down the rocky walls. 



A drilling machine can still be seen poking through a section of the caves ceiling allowing a hint of daylight to filter through. Another detailed diagram shows your position at the Earth's surface and your eventual goal at the base camp hundreds of feet below you. The scope of the Victorian age technology seen through out the attraction is typical of a lush movie set. It seems that the crew members are on tea break.

Along the way you pass by several beautiful pieces of artwork, Victorian age sketches of the various explored areas of the caverns. It is here that you get a glimpse of things to come, etchings of crystal mines, looming mushrooms as tall as trees and unearthly creatures. 
After winding through the queue, down a few flights of stairs and into an elevator, we reach the boarding station. 
This area is darker, more foreboding and physically hotter than on the surface, an amazing continuation of the queue. The electrical lines can still be seen strung from the ceiling - follow them and you will see them terminate into a giant generator, sparking and whirling as it powers the place. Fog pours from an opening at the far end of the queue as you continue, descending on ramps. Past some more machinery and then over rocky riverbeds you finally get a glimpse of the load area and the vehicles. 

Each car which will carry you on your adventure, seats six passengers in three rows of two. On the front is a large earth moving shovel, you'll also see that the wheels are guarded by steel plates and there is a safety cage surrounding the occupants. 
We start off cruising past the crystal caverns we had seen in the sketches. Glowing pods of giant crystal rods surround us. luminescent spires of pulsating color and light, the crystals are just the first of many exciting things to come. 
We now enter the mushroom forest. Here we pass giant mushrooms ranging in size from a few feet to 15 feet or so in height. In and among them are fantastical creatures of all sorts. Jumping spider-like bugs, bioluminescent butterflies, goblinoid little people,  prehistorical looking reptiles and birds, and iridescent living plants all make this their home.

Here, to the right we see an opening overlooking an underground sea. Silverly fishes can be seen swimming beneath the surface of the waters. Suddenly, a large sea serpent like creature emerges out of nowhere and bumps into our vehicle      

Out of control we bounce forward past a flowing river of lava. On our left is a huge ball of fire, and we can feel the heat. To the right side is a branch filled with giant egg-like sacks. The car turns to the right and we come upon a huge subterranean creature that calls the Center of the Earth its home. 20 feet or so tall he roars, rears back and lunges forward at us, molten rock bubbling around him. 
The cars take off like a bat out of hell.


We go flying up, twisting and turning along the way in near blackness. Light can be seen up ahead... there's a smoke filled opening and BOOM! We get blasted out of what seems like the top of the volcano.
 Suddenly the cars plunge back down and into total darkness. 



Finally we emerge at the unload station, back on safe ground. Again this area is just as fully themed as those before it. After disembarking from the vehicles, we descend a spiraling staircase which twists around a huge set of pipes until we exit the attraction back into the surface world.

Friday, June 6, 2014

Neo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion part 3

As the sounds of the ghostly party slowly fade into the distance, the Doom Buggies carry guests into the heart of any good haunted house: the Attic.

A musty, dusty realm filled to overflowing with hundreds of family heirlooms, artifacts, knickknacks, and curious, from Captain Blood's trips. One of the many objects that guests can spot is a treasure chest and a pirate flag with skull and crossbones. An eerie heartbeat fills the attic, along with a demented harpsichord version of the "Wedding March" getting louder and louder as we proceed through the rotting rafters of the attic.

Soundtrack: Haunted Mansion Attic Harpsichord 
A phantom pianist pounding away at its keys on a dusty-old harpsichord, playing the "Wedding March" in a melancholy manner. The light of a flickering candelabra revel his shadow, slanted across the walls.

 
On the left side, a wedding dress all stained in blood, next to a hatrack and portrait of a young woman in an elegant 19th century gown. A hangman's noose can be seen dangling in the rafters. 
Siting towards the exit of the attic, is the ghost of Blood's ill fated bride, Lavinia. he appears as a young woman, pale and glowing, with her bridal dress billowing in the wind. A glowing heart can seen within her chest. Which illuminates her ribcage. With each beat of the heart, she quickly ages and becomes a skeleton in a tattered wedding dress. 

As guest leave the mansion, the buggies will spin and fall backwards. Down into a grove a trees with claw like branches as if their trying to grab them. Our buggies land on the ground as we venture into the Mansion's grounds. A once thriving place once home to maintained grounds, living flowers and ornate statues, now becoming a playground for the dead. As specters, wraiths, ghouls, and apportions from different times periods come out fro a swinging wake. Here we are greeted by a rather cadaverous undertaker near the gates of the cemetery.

"Ah, ther you are. Welcome to our cemetery. Please, do feel free to look around and meet with some of our extended family members. They've been just dying to meet you."

Corpses begin to emerge from their tombs and coffins, while skeletal wraith like beings emerge from within a set of tombs and fly into the nights sky.

One of the ghost that guest will encounter is an old time rag time band play a jazzy version of Grim Grinning Ghosts.

 A troupe of skeletons and zombies dance to the sounds of macabre music makers. Accompanied with five marble busts, singing in a barbershop quintet. 

Soundtrack: Grim Grinning Ghosts from Phantom Manor 

A group of ghosts ride on turn of the century style bikes on top of a hill around a tombstone. 

Moving on, a group of childlike ghosts partake in activities in a small playground. Such as swinging on the swing sets or at the teeter-totter.

We then pass a couple of ghosts in Edwardian attire socializing with one another in a soiree, with a cup of tea or glass of champagne.



Guests stumble upon a coven of witches conjuring sprits from within the bonfire while they chant along to the song Grim Grinning Ghosts.



 Near the end of the graveyard, is a black horse draw hearse pulled by an invisible horse. Here guests will see Bloodmere, now with the face of a rotting corpse standing on a open coffin. 
"Leaving so soon my friends? I don't think so! You can't leave now, your souls belong to me now! Ha, ha, ha, ha. Once you enter my house, you're souls are mine forever." 

 Just when all hope seems lost, a shining vortex of light appears with a the entrance of a crypt. A skeleton in a tattered bridal dress floats midway, it is Lavinia and she seems to be pointing the way to safety.    
Soundtrack: Pointing Bride Instrumental 

A set of mirrors comes into view, within the reflection Captain Blood attempts to keep the guests from escaping. But then vanishes into thin air. His finale words that brings a chill down your spine. 
"You won't escape."

 Guests will then unload their doom buggies in an underground tunnel that was once used for smuggling and storing stolen goods.

On the way out, you may find some intresting details, such as barrels of grog and rum, ancient artifacts and skeletal remains of Captain Bloods victims.  



 Just before exiting, the spirit of Lavinia bids farewell and to hurry back. 

"Hurry back, hurry back. Be sure to bring your death certificate. We've been dying to have you."  



Emerging from the tomb and into the light of day, guests will find themselves at the family plot. The graves are marked with the names of many family relatives, ancestors and the many formal tenants of the house. A well stands in the center of the courtyard. If they look closely, the water seems to be tainted with blood from the victims. Towards the exit, stands a large crypt that inscribes. 

"Here lies the brides of the Captain Bloodmere."

Annabel 1824
Lenore 1826
Margaret 1828
Ligeia 1830
Berenice 1834
Willamina 1836
Lavinia 1838

Seven winsome wives.
Two fat, five thin.
Six of them were faithful till the end.
But the seventh bride did him in.