Category: Entertainment & Media

With Disneyland’s diamond celebration well underway, it has been very exciting to be able to virtually explore the lands and attractions with Disney Infinity and their Disneyland Project. The Disneyland Project is a complete recreation of the Anaheim park using the Infinity 2.0 video game. The Infinity game designers built the entire park, from Main Street USA to the Hub and all the surrounding lands and attraction facades. Then, they enlisted the help of players to build the individual attractions. Everything was then linked together, so you could explore the park. All this took place over the past few months, and the entire park with attractions is now available for download in the Toy Box for players.

I will continue my review of this project with a tour around Adventureland, Frontierland & New Orleans Square. (check out Part 1 of this series)

Tiki Room

Just a one room INterior house. Nicely done, but nothing to do here. There are some tiki props, but the hightlight is the tiki bird tree with Jose, Pierre, Michael, and Fritz.

Jungle Cruise

This one seemed so promising at first. The entire set looked well placed and wonderfully themed. The mechanics of the ride also worked well. With you jumping aboard a hockey puck that was then moved along a path automatically while you just had to move the camera around to look at all the set pieces. But were this attraction went wrong was in the script. Text would pop up, but the jokes were poorly written, and many were not at all what you would find on your average ride. Many of the jokes were horribly misquoted, like “rear of water” and others. Many of the actual gags that could have been easily built were missing as well. The giant Trader Sam looked good and it had the temple ride-through, but overall I was relieved to make it back to the dock.

Indiana Jones

This one starts with a giant walk through queue. It had pros and cons. It was very well themed, using many INterior decorations and artifact toys. But it was way to big, long and boring. I would have made it more platform like to give the gamer something to accomplish. At the end of the ride, there was a jeep waiting for you to ride. From here, you drive up to the start/finish line and have the option of starting a race or not. I’d recommend not activating a race on first play. Instead, take a leisurely drive through and enjoy the set. I’d also recommend not holding the acceleration. If you pump the drive button to start and stop your vehicle and stay on course, the jerky motion really feels like attraction. I will say, knowing what other builders can, do, the builder of this attraction should have had Mara’s eyes animate. Also, Indy is only in it once… he needs to show up at least twice. Overall its a great scene by scene representation of the ride.

Pirates of the Caribbean

I had high hopes for this one, but then was sadly disappointed by the horribly broken mechanic. It was a very nice set up from the queue, but then it went downhill from there. First off, the “boat” is Tony Stark’s Sports Car. It automatically generates and then moves slowly in an invisible rail. Seeing what other people had done, like in the Jungle Cruise, and object that you jump on top of instead of in, would have worked better. But the whole mechanic of the ride is broken, and I gave it many tries. The boat too slow, it misses script queues, and it tumbles down waterfalls often falling off the course. The cave scene is way too long. There are some highlights… the town on fire looks great. There is an animated skeleton skull.  The auction scene has pop up text. And the jail scene has Jack and Pluto. There is also a well done treasure room cut away with Jack. And the pirates fighting cannon scene is done very well done with all kinds of explosions and action. Overall, there are some great scenes… the problem is getting there in your attraction vehicle. I had to get out and walk it.

Haunted Mansion

This may be one of the most brilliantly executed Toy Boxes I have ever played. Using the remote control function, which has a learning curve, the building gives the player a very fun way of viewing the stretching room portraits. It also adds replay-ability because you want to see each one. Then it cuts to the hanging scene and I have no clue how they pull off this optical illusion using the tools at hand! The doors around you open as needed and you proceed to the loading platform. The rides automatically moves you forward. You do not touch a single button once “upon the ride.” The sound effects, like thunder and lightning are perfect and so well timed. Great touch with the door slam. And this builder knows his Disney… it has the exact script. The seance scene was very fun. The attic and graveyard are done so very well. But the best part is the Hitchhiking ghosts. The effect is simply jaw dropping. You see the ghosts before, then your vehicle spins, and like magic, you see your character in front of you and you get the ghosts riding in your vehicle effect. They even included the final scene with bride saying goodbye.

Splash Mountain

Perfection. Great vehicle choice. Its a slow moving vehicle from the Guardians play set that is very easy to handle. Instead of automagically moving you on invisible rails, you drive yourself… at your own pace. There are text cues and the course is easy to navigate. As you make your way up the mountain, there is a great cut scene with a vehicle slashing down. They use the lone ranger wagon and it looks perfect from afar. Great splash visual and sound effects at each drop. Smooth and flawless execution. Even the double dip into the laughing place! Characters are sparse, but well done. Oswald as brer rabbit. You can also choose a day or night ride. The sound effects on the lifts are amazing. And the final splash down is so much fun.

Big Thunder Mountain

I had very mixed feelings about this one. The toy box itself, from a distant cut scene, is very impressive. The builder did a wonderful job on aesthetics, but slightly missed on mechanics. It’s tricky to get on your train. You must get near track and push Y as soon as train comes into view. Overall, its a wonderful ride. Fast and crazy, it really feels like attraction. But it is a little broken in parts. You have to give it a tiny touch of gas when you stop or slow to a crawl, but if you give it too much, you may get way off course. I turned around and had to 180 at times. I also tipped over at times, but it normally auto corrected. On some ramps, I completely jumped out of the course and had to restart game play. I never had a perfect run and only made it to the very end once, which became a fun challenge. The explosions and town were there, but it needed a goat.

If you have played any of these, let us know your thoughts. Next time, I will review Tomorrowland.