40 Disney Attractions: 31

"I almost bounced clear out of the ride!"



31. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Following the success of 1977's Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh movie, the Imagineers at Disneyland thought it would be a good idea to make a ride out of the chubby little cubby's exploits in the soon-to-be revamped Fantasyland in Anaheim. Finally, when Fantasyland reopened in 1983, there it was: no ride. In fact it would take another 16 years before a Pooh Bear ride would be created. Oddly, the Disney World Fantasyland(where the ride was first opened) had enough space for a couple more attractions, yet they instead chose to replace an existing attraction: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

But we're not talking about that ride yet! It's fatty's time to shine. A general dark ride, Winnie the Pooh takes guests in a hunny pot through Pooh's meta-storybook world. Despite its title promising Many Adventures, it mainly focuses on the events which unfold on a particularly blustery Windsday in the Hundred Acre Wood. Driving past scenes of chaos like Piglet hanging onto a broom for dear life and Kanga trying to keep Roo from flying away, the pot heads deeper into the woods before getting ambushed by Tigger, who invites you to bounce with him. Which, of course, your pot proceeds to do along the track until you come upon Tigger pounced atop Pooh Bear, telling him all about the dangers of Heffalumps and Woozles.

What proceeds is a probably my favorite part of the ride. As Pooh Bear dreams of the hunny-stealing creatures(with a ghostly version of his body lifting into the sky, thanks to Pepper's Ghost), the doors open into a bizarre blacklighted bastarized funhouse. 2-Dimensional Heffalumps and Woozles dance around, Jack-in-the-Box Woozles pop out of their boxes and a giant Heffalump blows smoke rings right in your face from his trunk. Exiting through a water can pouring rain over a hunny pot, the scene turns into a flooded Hundred Acre Wood, with thunder and lightning going off in the background. As everyone tries to rescue Piglet from floating away, the ride vehicle itself floats around(a move achieved by having the vehicle move in all directions at a steady speed). In the final scene, everyone is enjoying a party in celebration of the end of the flood. Everyone, that is, with the exception of Pooh, who has happily stumbled upon a huge hunny stash next to the end of the ride.

As lame as it is that Mr. Toad is no more, Pooh is, personally, a welcome replacement. It's cute and fun and that's what should matter. A lot of people get really mad when things are replaced by other things, but the parks were always meant to be constantly changing so that it would never be dated. Just because you liked a ride as a kid, doesn't mean it should remain that way. The park isn't meant to just cater to you or your kid or any other one individual. It's for everyone.

So quit your complaining, you chump!