Pinocchio's Daring Journey - Basic Fantasyland fare
Written: Jan 15 '05 (Updated Apr 23 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Familiar scenes will appeal to kids who like Disney's Pinocchio; all ages can ride
Cons: Older kids and adults find the ride fast and boring
The Bottom Line: A basic Fantasyland ride that will appeal to young children the most.
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| modernmarvel's Full Review: Pinocchio's Daring Journey - Disneyland |
I suppose it is a good thing for Disney that Pinocchio is such a classic. Young children watch the movie and then want to see the ride in Disneyland. Children aren't much for detail and are gentle critics. They usually are happy just to see familiar scenes from their favorite movies. Thus, Disney has no need to update this ride. So, for little kids, this ride is perfect, lots of scenes reproduced faithfully from the Disney movie. For parents and older kids, however, this ride is boring and predictable.
THE WAIT
On our last few visits, the wait for this ride was shorter than other rides in Fantasyland. This ride isn't as popular as, for example, Peter Pan's Flight. The wait for this ride is similar to the waits for lots of other Fantasyland rides. The line begins outside the building housing the ride. Guests are led through narrow paths that are separated by chains rather than railings. The narrow paths just about force your party into single file making it harder to entertain and keep an eye on your children. The narrow paths also can become quite claustrophobic as you are right up against other park guests. As you get toward the end of the ride, you enter the building and are led though about another 10 minutes of waiting and more narrow corridors. As you get to the end of the line, you can hear music from the Disney movie and you can see the ride cars loading and unloading.
BOARDING
THere are no height restrictions on this ride. Boarding is easy. Each ride vehicle holds four people, two in the front and two in the back. Once you get inside, you pull a bar down on your lap.
THE RIDE
First of all, the ride is pretty fast. I would guess the whole thing is over in less than two minutes. The car does not move too quickly and there are no sudden turns. Children will be completely safe in the car.
The ride duplicates scenes from the Disney movie Pinocchio is the same order they appear in the movie. During the whole ride, you hear music from the movie. First we see Pinocchio in Geppetto's cottage. Then we see many scenes of Pleasure Island and several scenes of the boys turning into donkeys. There is quick wood cutout of Monstro that rises up toward the car and then you see the happy ending: the blue fairy turns Pinocchio into a real boy.
This ride is similar to other Fantasyland rides. Some scenes are great with 3D characters and lots of depth, detail and visual interest. Other scenes are simply paintings or wood cutouts and, to adult eyes, look rather cheap.
My only gripe about this ride is that it focuses too heavily on the Pleasure Island part of the Pinocchio movie. I find the movie rather glum anyway - with the wayward children turned into donkeys. However, I wish the ride itself was a little more upbeat and focused more on the happier portions of the movie.
I can always tell when my children like a Disney ride. When it is over, their eyes light up and they ask if we can do it again. I didn't get that response from my five year old and eight year old after this ride. They were happy to see it once and move on.
RECOMMENDATION
I didn't really care for this ride and wouldn't have gone on it but the children wanted to see it. I thought the ride was just okay - definitely not one of Disney's best. However, the kids did like seeing the scenes from a movie they enjoyed. I would give this ride two stars but my kids would give it three stars. Since this ride is intended for children, for this review, I gave the ride three stars.
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Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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modernmarvel
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