Take a whimsical journey, filled with music and laughter, to the Hundred-Acre Woods. Along the way, you'll meet your favorite characters from the animated classic The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, including Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Piglet, Gopher and Owl.
Hop into a giant 6-person beehive and be swept away by a magic breeze past colorful leaves from the 4 seasons. Watch as a blustery windstorm blows Winnie the Pooh and baby Roo into the air and a driving rainstorm floods the Hundred-Acre Woods.
Bounce home with Pooh and Tigger, where Pooh settles down for a nap. Step into Pooh's dreams as strange, dazzling, multi-colored visions of Heffalumps and Woozles come to life. Beware! They are out to steal Pooh's honey! This 4-minute experience, filled with colorful sights and classic Disney songs, is sure to put a smile on faces big and small!
Ride Experience
Upon leaving the outdoor load area, the ride vehicles arrive indoors into the Hundred Acre Wood where Pooh is again trying to get the honey with the balloon. With Eeyore and the other characters is Gopher who appears out of his hole to greet the guests. The ride vehicles move into the rain scene, moved from the second to last scene in Florida's to the second scene in California's. Most of the things at this point are identical to Florida's version. The ride vehicles move into the shortened Tigger scene, before moving to Pooh's bedroom where a similar part to that in Florida's version concurs.
The ride vehicles move into the Heffalump and Woozles dream sequence where the woozles with jack-in-the-box necks watch the guests. This version of the Heffalumps and Woozles scene focuses on the Heffalump and Woozle characters, with the absence of the objects with human eyes and mouths. A pink Tigger pins Pooh to the floor near some honey. Some of the effects at this part of the ride are similar to those at Florida's, minus a large balloon carrying Pooh above the guests. Instead, Pooh bobs up and down in a balloon suspended above a swirling whirlpool of honey. The mechanism was the one which once lowered "Teddi Barra" from the ceiling in Country Bear Jamboree, the Audio-Animatronic theater presentation previously housed in the show building.
As the ride vehicles leave this scene, a subtle tribute to Country Bear Jamboree is suspended above the archway. The trophy heads of Max the buck, Buff the buffalo and Melvin the moose, audio-animatronics from Country Bear Jamboree, can be spotted if you look up and backwards while leaving the Heffalump/Woozle room. The heads were taken from theatre 2 of the Country Bear Playhouse. The vehicles enter the start of the finale scene where Pooh is enjoying a smackerel of honey. The Heffalumps can be seen flying off into Pooh's dreamland, prior to several of Pooh's friends tell him to wake up. Proceeding on, the ride passes Pooh's bed, before moving on to show Pooh's friends (this time all sculpted figures with movement) celebrating his birthday. As the vehicles move to the load area, several of the gifts Pooh received for his party are shown, and are moved back as the vehicles continue until they finally reach the load area.
Touring Tips
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh rarely has much of a line, and you quickly proceed through the queue to the loading area. It's a fun diversion if you are waiting for a Splash Mountain Fastpass to become active.
- The queue is entirely external. Though you enter the queue in the same location as when it was Country Bear Jamboree, you do not go into the covered bridge. The area the queue moves through is themed to be lightly wooded with various Winnie the Pooh related touches, such as beehives dripping with honey, and the faint sound of buzzing bees. The exit path leads back into Critter Country, near the Pooh's Corner store.
- Sit in the first two rows if you can - if you're in the last row your view is a bit obstructed by the high back of the vehicle.
- Movement is gentle throughout the ride with no real surprises to scare the youngest children. Much of the ride occurs in semi-darkness. To the degree that any ride is good for all children, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is one of them.
- There is a mild thunderstorm scene so if your little one doesn't like thunder be prepared.
- Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore are usually found throughout the day outside the attraction's exit by the Pooh Corner shop.
- After your journey to the Hundred-Acre Woods, stop by the outdoor Winnie the Pooh & Friends character greeting location in front of the attraction and get your picture taken with some of your favorite Winnie the Pooh Characters - including Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. Check the Entertainment Times Guide at Disneyland Park for specific times of operation.
- Wheelchairs and ECVs should enter through the regular queue. Wheelchairs can roll right onto the vehicle. ECV users must transfer to a standard wheelchair to ride.
- The closest restrooms are located at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. Go down the steps into the seating area and the restrooms are on the left.
Facts
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a dark ride based upon the film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, itself based on the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. The attraction exists in slightly different forms at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Pooh's Hunny Hunt, located in Tokyo Disneyland, is an entirely different "E-ticket class" attraction, featuring full audio animatronics and an innovative 'trackless' ride system.
- This attraction opened on April 11, 2003 and replaced Country Bear Jamboree, which closed in September 2001.
- Each hunny bee-hive has its own name, like Heffabee and Heffalump.
- Look behind you as you leave the "Heffalumps and Woozles" room and enter the "Hunny" room - the animatronic heads of Max, Melvin, and Buff, from Country Bear Jamboree, are hanging above the archway.
History
After the rise in popularity of Walt Disney's film adaptation of Winnie the Pooh, Disney Imagineers made plans in the late 1970s for a Winnie the Pooh attraction at Disneyland's soon-to-be renovated Fantasyland. However in 1983, when the renovated Fantasyland reopened, a Winnie the Pooh attraction was notably absent.
Following the success of the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, plans were made for a new section of the park located behind Fantasyland. Called Mickey's Toontown, this section of the park would recreate the Toontown that was seen in the film. One of the rides that would have gone on the east side of this land was a Winnie the Pooh dark ride in which guests would ride in "spinnable" honey pots (much like the Mad Hatter teacup ride in Fantasyland) through what was conceptualized as the best scenes from the three Winnie the Pooh featurettes. The ride fell through before it could be made, though, and the space that this ride was to have taken up and vehicle design of this ride were worked into Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin.
The only solution to complete the growing roster was to bring the Winnie the Pooh attraction to Disneyland. An original plan from the mid 1990s had an indoor and outdoor light boat ride featuring a Winnie the Pooh theme, which was shelved by 1999. So, a new dark ride was planned. However, Disneyland is the only resort of all five Disney Resorts to have little room for expansion. The only solution to open an attraction in the park was to utilize a current attraction.
Fantasyland was ruled out because it contained the least amount of available space and because of the age of its buildings; park managers anticipated that the attraction would be popular and decided to place it in an area that could better accommodate the crowds. Critter Country, a small parcel between New Orleans Square and Frontierland was ultimately chosen, since Winnie the Pooh already had his own greeting area in that land. The area already featured two popular attractions, Splash Mountain and Country Bear Jamboree, the latter being the first attraction to open in the land (then Bear Country) in 1972.
Imagineers chose to replace the Country Bear Jamboree with Pooh due to its lack of popularity, which would require major excavation for space and leveling for the ride. When news of the former attraction's demise broke, many fans were once more upset at the loss of another classic attraction and again sought to change the park managers' minds. However, then-managers Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris, both unpopular with Disneyland enthusiasts, ignored this and continued. The budget for the attraction was set at a reported $30,000,000, most of it dedicated to reformatting the Country Bear Jamboree show building. When it finally opened in 2003, it received large promotions by park management and lines were somewhat long at first, but quickly dropped off.
Its turnover rate with guests was low compared to older dark rides in Fantasyland. Some Disneyland enthusiast websites are generally critical of the attraction, considering it cheap and a bad reminder of the Paul Pressler/Cynthia Harris era of Disneyland's management. However, for younger and other guests, the ride is considered fun and another addition to the park. Some columnists still poke fun at it by posting images of the attraction's average wait times of 2 or 5 minutes while other similar rides might have 30, 75 or even 90 minute waits, even on days when the park might be at full capacity.
Some of the ride's advocates have commented that the ride has low waits because it is hidden in the northwest corner of the park, yet said location is adjacent to Splash Mountain, one of the most visited attractions in the park, and near the Haunted Mansion, another popular classic attraction. However, amongst all four versions of the attraction, this one is the least popular, in terms of attendance.
Hidden Mickeys
- A Mickey is hidden in the faux wood, found on right as riders pass though the swinging entrance doors. It's a small Hidden Mickey that can be seen disguised as a knot surrounded by wood grain.
- Some of the overturned dirt around Gopher's burrow create a Hidden Mickey.
- Just after entering the attraction, there is a Hidden Mickey in the first scene. Look through the painted bushes to locate the Hidden Mickey. It is on the front side of Gopher's burrow, facing the entrance tunnel.
- In the scene where Pooh Bear is sleeping, there are a pair of Mickey Ears hidden on a honey jar. The ears have been hidden on the second shelf from the top, on the bookcase behind Pooh.?
- A Classic Mickey is hidden in the honey splatter spiral (posted on the wall with Heffalumps).