July 22, 2010

What Was Investigation: Cinderella Castle’s Mystery Tour

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Opening in 1986, the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour was a unique (not found anywhere else) walk-through attraction, with a tour guide as your escort. Both the mood and the lighting were dark, with villains from various Disney movies taking center stage.

After a group of about 30 guests assembled in the entry hall, you embarked on a walking tour which wound through halls and caverns inside and underneath Cinderella Castle. Stops along the tour depicted scenes featuring famous villains from Disney movies. Some villains you encountered were Chernabog, the Evil Queen, and Malficent Dragon (similar to the figure in Disneyland Paris’). A recurring character and secondary tour guide was the Magic Mirror from the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appearing in the entry hall and at several points throughout the attraction. 

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This cropped picture from the Attraction’s Poster gives a good idea at what exactly is featured in the attraction and the villains you’d meet.

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For the grand finale, your group joined a second tour group in a large, dark hall, the hall recreated a scene from The Black Cauldron, and did so in dramatic way. A lucky member of the audience was chosen, taken to a special platform and given a "magic" sword. As the monster in the center of the room showed its evil head, the audience member pointed the sword in the direction of the monster, a light shot out from the point of the sword, and the monster was destroyed. At the end of the tour the lucky audience member was presented with a medallion as a souvenir remembrance of their adventure.

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However, the attraction ended its 20-year run in 2006 as Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle was receiving a make over. Opening in 2011, a new ‘walk-through’ attraction will be opening in  as a ‘replacement’ for the Mystery Tour, but it will be a lighter, more fairy tale-esque attraction, rumored to be similar to what Magic Kingdom is getting in Tremaine Chateau for the Fantasyland Forest Expansion.

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As with most Tokyo attractions, the Pins/Buttons are few and far between, and this obscure attraction is no different. The first button was released when it officially debuted on July 11, 1986 in Tokyo Disneyland.

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This next pin was released as a part of an ‘attraction logo’ series in the mid-1990s.

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This final pin was released in 2006 as apart of the ‘Farewell’ Era of the attraction. It was a pin that resembled the medallion that was given to the guests who ‘defeated’ the Horned King, and it came on a backercard that was similar to the attraction poster.

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Pictures and Information from TDR Fan and Pin Pics

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