Pooh's Hunny Hunt...

[Peabody]

Hi all.

Wondering if anyone else has ridden this ride?

I spent a day at TDL in fall of 01. The park was crowded by my standards, but we were able to ride all major rides in one day so it wasn't bad. At 11am, the standby line for Pooh was 4 1/2 hours and the line for a Fastpass was 1 hour!!!

I have to say it was worth every second, and I would have gone on it again if I could. I've been to a lot of Amusement parks but this dark ride is hands down the most amazing thing I've ever ridden. The technology boggles my mind and I was left speechless. When I went and rode Pooh in Florida later that year I have to say I was SO dissappointed....it was like riding the Haunted Mansion and then going in the Haunted house at the county fair.

Has anyone else had the privilage of riding this? After visiting the place and riding that ride, I really wished (as "offensive" as it sounds to the memory of Walt) that the Oriental Land Co. would buy and operate our parks!

[Rainfully]

FOUR AND A HALF HOURS?!?! for POOH?! Good lord... never ever ever. I don't care how amazing the technology is... good gracious. That's just pure insanity.

[Peabody]

I exaggerate not! 4 1/2 for standby, and 1 hour to get a fastpass ticket. That's not the fastpass entrance, the line to get the ticket!!!!

From what my native friend told me, it was not crowded that day by their standards, even though it was by mine.

If I was ever going to wait 4+ hours for a ride, though, it would be that one. WOrds can't describe it! And I thought Indiana Jones, Spiderman at IOA, the original Countdown to Extinction, TOT, etc were impressive rides. That one takes the cake!

The tech. alone didn't make it impressive. The sets, props, animatronics, sound/music, everything.....it seemed to be the most fully realized and "perfect" ride I've ever seen. Took me by total surprise!

[Rainfully]

Well, for me personally, I can't see waiting 4 and a half hour for any ride... or anything really for that matter. What were the wait times like for the other attractions? Sorry to veer off course here but this totally intrigues me.

I'm glad you enjoyed Pooh, though. It's nice to know they can make a GOOD Pooh ride!

[Peabody]

Oh...I can understand your thoughts completely. 4+ hours is NUTS! (My fastpass got me in that night for about a 10 minute fastpass wait.

If my memory serves me right, I rode Splash Mt. and Big Thunder right at opening with 10-15m waits each. We went and fastpassed Pooh, and then hit all the others. Pirates was abotu 15+ minutes all day despite it's high throughput. HM was about 30+ all day as well. The fantasyland rides were quite long, and I think I only rode PeterPan and It's a Small WOrld. I don't think I did Snow White. Space Mt. was 30+ all day.
The only "major" attraction I don't think I did was Country Bears.

Anyway, I know we're getting a little off topic, but it's OK. I was able to hit everything I wanted to once, and I think I did Spash and Space Mt. twice.

Some pics of the coasters are up at my site... www.coastergallery.com as well as 3 or 4 other japanese parks.

[Rainfully]

That's your site?! AWESOME! I've been there before... I think to get some info about Six Flags St. Louis... there's not many sites with info about my humble hometown park! That's really cool... being a big coaster fanatic I do love your site! :-)

[Peabody]

Thanks! It's not just mine. I do it with my brother who happens to live a long ways away! Whenever we get together it's usually at a park somewhere! (He's in MN...I'm in LA)

[Dustysage]

I agree about Pooh. I was there on a week day and during the parade the line was only 3 hours, so I got in. It was totally worth it! The technology is fantastic and so well done. If you build something special, the crowds WILL notice. If you build crap like the Pooh ride at Disneyland, CA they will notice that too (and your line will only be 5 minutes).

[figment1986]

(Wait.. I dont see any SFMM on your site......)

Great photos from the disney parks...

I wish disney would use that technology used on pooh.....

[x_Stanimal_x]

I was in disney land and went on the ride. i must have been there at a good time in the summer because the line was only 30 min. when i was in florida their pooh was 4+ hours at one point or another. the pooh in california ride is cooler though.

[DisneyLurker]

I have ridden it a number of times...even on the day it opened. That day I waited about 30min. early in the morning after the opening ceremony. Even these days the Fastpass queue can reach an hour wait while standby can get to three hours. There are times, however, when standby is less than 30 minutes.

[Peabody]

Good, I'm glad to hear it's improved.

Figment1986: We haven't gone there since we opened our site actually. With new babies, new jobs, etc. it's hard to travel much now! Anyway, hardly a day goes by where we don't get asked where the SFMM pics are. Our answers are either "Want to buy me a plane ticket? " Or "We'll go when they open up every coaster on the same day"...something which has yet to happen there! Last time we were in LA (1999) we had 2 days, so we chose DL and Knotts.

[Ryan]

This ride is incredible. It doesn't even compare to the Pooh rides in California and Florida. It's the Mission: Space of dark rides. For true Winnie-the-Pooh fans this ride alone should be worth the cost of the flight to Japan.

We were there in September and the line-up was over 3 hours at 11am. I videotaped the lineup for fastpasses and it just went on and on and on. It was actually kind of funny watching the castmembers holding the "fastpass line" signs trying to keep up with the end of the line because people just kept pouring in. Obviously we decided to try again later.

We went back after dinner and the line was down to under an hour so we lined up. 30 mins before closing it was a 5 min wait. I acutally agreed to ride this a second time and entirely missed Splash Mountain! Oh well, gotta save something for the *next* trip!

Ryan.

[winniepooh]

Thanks! It's not just mine. I do it with my brother who happens to live a long ways away! Whenever we get together it's usually at a park somewhere! (He's in MN...I'm in LA)

Your website looks really nice Peabody.

I have a question, on your pictures the Tokyo version of Gadgets go coster looks bigger than its californian cousin. Is that so?

[Rainfully]

I found a great video of the ride here. If this is the next generation of dark rides, I can't wait to see what the future holds! Awesome!

I also checked out that Sinbad ride... holy cow are their AA's awesome! Imagine what Small World would look like if all the AA's looked like that!

Now I really really wanna go to Tokyo...

[Orcatime]

Those videos are great! I haven't been to the DL Pooh ride..yet but hopefully they can send a copy of that to DL if what I'm hearing is true about the quality of DL's version.

[Peabody]

Winniepooh: Thanks for the kind words. Honestly, I haven't ridden the California version....my one visit there was a short, crowded day so I was unable to ride.

[MickeyMania]

While I like that jazz version of Heffalumps & Woozles, I kind of wish they had went with the original song. Although I'm sure the other Guests are grateful that with a lyric-less song, they don't have to put up with me singing along. "Beware! Beware! Be a very wary bear!"

I learned that they supposedly have air jets that blow around to make it feel windy, although I didn't get that confirmed. I dream of taking a good friend of mine on this ride. Since childhood, he's been afraid of Pooh and the blustury day in particular. It's weird and yet devilishly amusing to see a grown man freak out at the sight of an orange bear. Since I learned about these jets, well.. You know... The cruel side in me comes out. :monkey:


edit to say: Love the little English gag about "The End" there in that ride video.

[Captain Jack]

From what I hear, or seen from www.themeparkreview.com, the new "Pooh" technology is being used on Aquatopia as well. Who knows, maybe the Flying Saucers coming to WDW will also implement this new, amazing technolgy.

[TDLFAN]

TDL's Hunny Hunt is simply the most amazing Fantasyland dark ride ever built at a Disneyland Park. The way the technology combines with the set's animation, lighting, EFX, and all things thrown in just because, creates a truly wonderful sensory assault. At opening time (as someone stated) the lines were on average 4-5 hrs long with lines to get FP tobe around 60-90 mins long, then about 30 minutes once inside the FP queue. Now, Buzz's Astroblasters (a decent C-Ticket by OLC standards) has taken away a bit of the punch from Hunny Hunt, but you can still find 2 hr+ standby lines on busy days at TDL.

No matter how long the wait is..(and I waited 4 hrs on it's opening day before FP were in use at Hunny Hunt) The attraction is so worth it. A TDL "must ride at all cost".