The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (170 page)

In 2001, the
Disney-Pixar
film
Monsters, Inc.
hit theaters and was an immediate critical and popular success, earning over $62 million during its opening weekend and raking in more than $525 million worldwide.  As with all of the
Pixar
hits,
Monsters, Inc.
wedded increasingly sophisticated computer animation with interesting characters, a fun and fast-moving plot, good music, and genuine heart.

Monsters, Inc.
posited a world of monsters,
Monstropolis
, where the citizens are monsters and children’s captured screams power the city.  We’re all familiar with the phenomenon of kids thinking there’s a monster in their closet.  In
Monsters, Inc.
, monsters really
are
in kids’ closets, but they’re there to scare the kids and then capture the energy of their screams.  Every precaution is taken to prevent children from venturing into
Monstropolis
, which is accessible via specially designed closet doors.

It’
s a clever way to flip the childhood fear that many of us–and many of our kids and grandkids–have experienced.  And the monster characters in the film are entertaining mirrors of regular Janes and Joes we might find in our own workplace and community.  There’s sourpuss clerk
Roz
, ambitious and sneaky
Randall Boggs
, and our heroes, down-to-earth good schmoes
Mike Wazowski
(voiced by
Billy Crystal
) and
James P. “Sulley” Sullivan
(voiced by
John Goodman
).

There are a variety of entertaining twists and turns that propel the story forward, but in a nutshell, an adorable
human toddler finds her way into
Monstropolis
, putting the city in a tailspin, since monsters consider kids toxic. 
Mike
and
Sulley
find and befriend the little girl, name her
Boo
, and become her protectors.  These unlikely knight protectors hide her, care for her, and risk their reputations, relationships, and careers to return her safely to her room in the human world.

Beyond the film’s suspense and heart, its fun lies in its gentle parody of our own world, our own limitations and irrational fears and divisions, and our own illogical behaviors.  Whereas we have vending machines full of junk food and sodas, the monsters have vending machines more obviously (and honestly) full of gunk, products
named
Blort
,
Bag O Calories
, and
Sugar-Salt & Fat
.

This film seems like an obvious candidate for an immersive dark ride, but when
DCA
opened on February 8, 2001,
Monsters, Inc.
hadn’t even hit theaters yet.  It would launch on November 2, 2001 right before Thanksgiving.  That wouldn’t have stopped
Walt
, of course; he wasn’t averse to opening an attraction before the film it was based upon was released. 
Sleeping Beauty Castle
was
Disneyland
’s central icon on
Opening Day
in 1955, long before
Sleeping Beauty
’s 1959 release.  Such was his vision.

When
DCA
opened, the northeast quadrant of
Hollywood Pictures Backlot
was the site of an attraction called
Superstar Limo
.  Guests boarded purple limo-like vehicles and were whisked through a hyperreal version of Los Angeles and Hollywood, from Downtown LA to Rodeo Drive, from Malibu to the Sunset Strip and Grauman’s Chinese Theater.  Along the way they encountered mechanical, strangely stylized figures representing contemporary celebrities such as
Tim Allen
,
Antonio Banderas
,
Drew Carey
,
Cher
,
Cindy Crawford
,
Whoopi Goldberg
,
Melanie Griffith
,
Regis Philbin
, and
Joan Rivers
.

Superstar Limo
closed in less than a year–it was shuttered by January 11, 2002.  This was the first
DCA
attraction to be axed after numerous Guest complaints. 
Superstar Limo
’s problems were manifold.  Quality and aesthetics were an issue.  The celebrity figures moved in simple mechanical ways; they weren’t life-like, high quality
Audio-Animatronic
creatures.  Their appearance was considered odd, too, even disturbing, not an engaging animated look, but not a photo-realistic look either.

Relevance was an issue as well.  Although some of the stars portrayed had (and continue to have) ties to
Disney
, many had no apparent connection. 
Tim Allen
voices
Buzz Lightyear
in the
Toy Story
films, has appeared in successful
Disney
live-action features like the
Santa Clause
movies, and then starred in the
ABC
sitcom
Last Man Standing
. 
Whoopi Goldberg
adores
Disney
and her many ties to the company include voicing a villain in 1994’s
The Lion King
and, since 2007, hosting
The View
on
ABC
, a
Disney
-owned television network. 
Regis Philbin
hosted a long-running morning show and beginning in 1999 hosted the U.S. version of
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Both programs aired on
ABC
.

Notwithstanding some of the celebrity figures’ legitimate ties to
Disney
, many Guests simply didn’t know, or care about, the connections.  At a
Disney Theme Park
, Guests were looking for real
Disney
characters–like
Mickey
!  Not only did many of the celebrities at
Superstar Limo
lack clear
Disney
links and
magic
, it is the nature of Hollywood that celebrity popularity rises and falls, ebbs and flows, and some of the
Superstar Limo
celebs were fading from the popular imagination.  Nothing looks more instantly obsolete than a celebrity attraction without up-to-the-minute stars.

All in all, it was a complete mis-step.  If the limos had ferried Guests through a vintage Hollywood landscape, rather than
set pieces like a pool party and tattoo parlor, and if the classy and classic Hollywood had been populated by high-quality
AA
replicas of vintage stars that
Walt
would’ve known in glamorous old Hollywood, or
Disney
characters, the attraction likely would have engaged Guests and survived longer.

After
Superstar Limo
folded in January of 2002, the space was closed to the public.  It wouldn’t open again until December of 2005, when some Cast Members and Guests were able to experience
Monsters, Inc.
’s
soft opening
, an opportunity for
Imagineers
to gauge rider reactions and fine-tune technical and artistic bugs. 
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue
opened officially to all Guests on January 3, 2006.

With
Monsters, Inc.
the
Imagineers
were given the budget and green light to really get it right.  Based on the popular, instantly classic
Disney-Pixar
film,
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue
read instantly as warm family entertainment relevant to the
Disney-Pixar
canon.  The attraction’s colorful façade depicts dozens of doors, like those of the scream-capture factory where
Mike
and
Sulley
work and where they finally return
Boo
to her world.  The exterior’s playful colors and design set the tone and invite Guests in for a fun, breezy
Disney-Pixar
journey.

The attraction’s
interior queue is fun.  The simple set-up?  Guests are entering the premises of the
Monstropolis Transit Authority
(
MTA
) to board a taxi for a jaunt through
Monstropolis
.

Along the queue route are entertaining posters, props
, and video clips that draw you into the world of
Monstropolis
and clue you in to its culture, which is dedicated to hard work, clear-cut rules, sugar and grease, and the detection and expulsion of any children that happen to infiltrate the town.  My favorite prop is a vending machine purporting to sell monstrous treats like
Bag O Calories
,
Blort
, and
Primordial Ooze
, not too far removed from the contents of a human vending machine.

Once you reach the loading zone,
Cast Members ask for the number of Guests in your party, and then direct you to line up in front of three numbered loading gates.  When your taxi pulls up and you’re given the go sign, step lively and climb into your
Monstropolis Cab
.  Each taxi is a bright, bilious yellow with white-and-black checked patches, and has three rows seating one or two Guests in each row, for a maximum of six Guests per cab.

Like
most
Disneyland Resort
attractions,
Monsters, Inc.
vehicles have restraints.  Make sure that your lap bar is lowered and secured.  A Cast Member will check it, too, before your journey begins.  Although this attraction is relatively slow-paced, it’s still a good idea to have little ones board first, so they’re not sitting next to the door.  Even on slow-moving attractions, Guest safety remains a crucial concern.

The
Monsters, Inc.
taxis are refurbished limos adapted from the previous attraction.  Gone is the purple paint, and aside from the vehicle length, you’d never guess these weren’t always
Monstropolis Cabs
.  Each row has its own video monitor mounted on the left, a holdover from the
Superstar Limo
days.  But now, when your taxi leaves the boarding area, the video screen crackles to life with a welcome from the
Monstropolis Chamber of Commerce
and
Monstropolis
news, not a Hollywood tour.

Cabs leave the loading area and proceed down a dimly lit, purple-shaded tunnel that instantly plunges you into the rich colors of a
three-dimensional cartoon landscape.  A
trompe l’oeil
painting on the far wall gives the illusion that the tunnel is hundreds of yards in length.  You don’t drive the entire tunnel, of course.  Your video monitor delivers stunning, breaking news:  A child has been spotted in
Monstropolis
!  Egad!  The whole city is in a panic, and everyone must be on high alert!

Your taxi veers into one of
Monstropolis
’ charming little urban residential areas, closely set brownstones with stoops, some of which are homes, some of which house neighborhood businesses.  Reporters interview comically terrified citizens while ne’er-do-well
Randall Boggs
peers out from the shadows; he will pop up here, there, and everywhere throughout the four-minute ride, never up to any good.

Your journey follows the
film’s key moments, and even Guests who haven’t seen
Monsters, Inc.
will be able to follow the story.  Monsters are up in arms (up in tentacles?), but little
Boo
is actually an adorable tot and no harm at all.
Mike
and
Sulley
protect her and try to send her home. 
Randall
tries to thwart them.  Everyone in
Monstropolis
and at the scream-capture plant is in a panic.

Monsters, Inc.
is a great dark ride because it’s as immersive as it is comprehensible.  The best dark rides charm and entertain because they submerge Guests in fascinating, detailed environments that they’ve never before experienced.  In this case,
Imagineers
did a fine job of rendering
Monstropolis
as a three-dimensional place.  From the video clips on your vehicle monitor to the sets, colors, music, sound effects, kinetics, and the
Audio-Animatronic
and holographic characters, for four minutes you are part of the film.

In one of the attraction’s first scenes, y
our cab dashes through
Harryhausen’s
place,
Monstropolis
’ premiere sushi restaurant.  (The restaurant’s name is a nod to Hollywood creature effects legend Ray Harryhausen.)  Plates, dishes, and chairs were knocked over as panicked patrons fled pell-mell.  Everything is a mess, with trembling picture frames askew and
sake
spilling and pooling in a sticky puddle on the floor.  Most immersive of all, the air is thick with the smell of ginger, using Guests’ sense of smell (as
Imagineers
are increasingly doing) to further enhance the illusion of being in a sushi restaurant.