Alice's Curious Labyrinth

Alice's Curious Labyrinth is a hedge maze at Disneyland Paris located in Fantasyland. The maze is filled with scenes from Disney's Alice in Wonderland that was released in 1951, and is mostly based on the scene when the Queen of Hearts is trying to catch Alice in the maze at the last part of the film. Alice's Curious Labyrinth has two mazes in it. The first maze has scenes from the first half of the movie before she meets the Queen, and the second maze is based on her meet and greet with the Queen of Hearts. The goal of the Labyrinth is to find the Queen of Heart's castle. Once you find the castle you can climb to the top of it and see all of Fantasyland. The castle once had a slide on it but was removed after its first year because of safety purposes. The whole Labyrinth is in the shape of the Cheshire Cat's body. The Labyrinth is an opening day attraction of Disneyland Paris Park. Below are some pictures and a video of Alice's Curious Labyrinth.

Downtown Disney

The Disney Parks Blog released a new video on Disneyland's Downtown Disney so I will do a post on it.

The first sign of a Downtown Disney was in the Walt Disney World Resort in March 22, 1975 when they opened Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village. Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village was a complex of shops and restaurants made for keeping guest from leaving the Disney property and to stay longer. Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village had a few name changes and was later named Downtown Disney Marketplace.

The Walt Disney Company wanted to make Disneyland park into a resort like Disney World so they came up with the idea to add another theme park, more hotels, and a shopping/entertainment district, thus Disneyland's Downtown Disney was born.

Disneyland's Downtown Disney District lies between the resort's two theme parks and it’s hotels. To fit it in that spot it was built on a piece of the old Disneyland parking lot (with Disney’s California Adventure) and sadly the original Disneyland Hotel that Walt Disney made had to be torn down for it to fit. Disneyland's Downtown Disney is smaller than the one in Florida and is totally free to go there.

Not just is Disneyland's Downtown Disney made to keep guest to stay longer, but it was also made to attract locals to come and experience some Disney night life. All of Disneyland’s hotels can be accessed from Downtown Disney, and the second station for the Disneyland Monorail is located there but you need a Disneyland ticket to ride it since it goes into the park. In my opinion Disneyland's Downtown Disney is better than Disney World's because it is closer to everything and it actually feels like a Disney city. Next time you visit the Disneyland Resort be sure to check out Downtown Disney. Below is the video from the Disney Parks Blog.

Mad Tea Party

The Mad Tea Party is one of the few remaining attractions from Disneyland's opening day on July 17, 1955. The ride was made to look like The Very Merry Unbirthday Party scene from Disney's Alice in Wonderland and it is the first of two attractions themed after that movie.

The attraction is in Fantasyland and used to be situated behind King Arthur Carrousel in the castle courtyard, and was in front of Mr. Toads Wild Ride and the Mickey Mouse Club Theater (Fantasyland Theater). Below are pictures of the original ride and a video about it.

When Fantasyland had it's facelift in 1983 the Mad Tea Party was updated and moved to in front of the Alice in Wonderland ride because the two rides are based on the same movie. In 2004 it was made more difficult to spin the tea cups, but if you want to spin the as fast as you can the plain lavender teacup spins the fastest. This is another attraction in Disneyland that can not operate in the rain. The ride has 18 teacups and plays the Unbirthday Song while guest are on the ride, and above the ride there are lanterns that look like to ones from the movie. Below are pictures and a video of the ride now.

This is a ride that can be found at all five Disneyland style theme parks around the world. The one at Disneyland is the only one without a cover over the top of it and all of them are located in Fantasyland.

Magic Kingdom: Mad Tea Party 

The ride at the Magic Kingdom is also called Mad Tea Party and opened with the park on October 1, 1971. The ride duration is 1 1/2 minutes.

Tokyo Disneyland: Alice's Tea Party

This is the only one of the five rides that was not an opening day attraction with the park it is in. Alice's Tea Party opened on March 8, 1986 about 3 years after Tokyo Disneyland opened.

Disneyland Paris: Mad Hatter's Tea Cups

Mad Hatter's Tea Cups has a very elaborate cover on top of it. The attraction opened on April 12, 1992.

Hong Kong Disneyland: Mad Hatter Tea Cups

Opening on September 12, 2005 Mad Hatter Tea Cups is the newest of the five tea cup rides.

Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland

Since the new Alice in Wonderland movie is coming out soon I decided to make a picture and video tour of the classic Disneyland ride.

The attraction first opened on June 14, 1958 and is the second ride themed off the movie Alice in Wonderland. People do not understand why Walt made this ride because he said that his movie "lacked heart" and the movie was almost a box office failure when it was first released in 1951. Years later though the movie is a success and the ride is one of the most popular attractions in Fantasyland. This ride is also one of the only rides in the park that closes when it rains.

Just like most of the rides in Fantasyland this ride also got a facelift and latter opened in 1984 with the new Fantasyland. The ride follows the path of the movie, as the riders (as Alice) follow the White Rabbit down the Rabbit Hole into Wonderland. They go through scenes in a madcap fashion, facing the wrath of angry flowers on a golden afternoon and dodging absurd creatures in the forest, with some questionable guidance from the Cheshire Cat. When the Queen of Hearts loses to Alice at croquet, she threatens to chop off the innocent girl's head as she (and the ride vehicles) push their way through brigades of playing cards. The vehicles then leave the ride building's second floor (a rare occurrence in a non-thrill ride at a Disney park) and descends by people waiting in line on a winding giant lily pad, before heading to the climactic scene at the Mad Tea Party. The White Rabbit ducks as a giant birthday cake with a dynamite candle explodes and the ride vehicles escape back to where they began. Alice herself is only seen in the singing flower garden hidden behind a leaf to the visitor's right. Below are some photos of the ride, the first set here are from the original ride before the facelift.

Below is how the ride looks now and in order of the ride.

Below is a video of the ride.