What Was Investigation: Cinderella Castle’s Mystery Tour

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Pictures and Information from TDR Fan and Pin Pics

The Disney Food Blog presents WDW Foodie Fest

As the Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2010—Delicious Discoveries approaches, the Disney Food Blog is planning a special gathering for the opening weekend of the annual event, it’s called the WDW Foodie Fest.

The event will be taking place on Sunday October 3, 2010 from 11am to 2pm. It will be an Open House Style, so you don’t have to stay for the whole thing, and can come and go as you please. AJ is planning various events and fun surprises, like a Scavenger Hunt around the World Showcase, calling it the WDW Foodie Fest Amazing Race.

For more information be sure to follow the WDW Foodie Fest on Twitter, and check out it’s official website.

The most important and best information about this event is that it is COMPLETELY FREE to register and attend.

The WDW Foodie Fest officials would like to get a estimation number of how many people would be interested in attending so they can get the appropriately sized venue, so even if you have any inkling that you’d like to attend, feel free to register at the official website.

If you have any questions be sure to contact the WDW Foodie Fest via email or Twitter.

Pics and Pins of the Black Cauldron

In a continuation of our 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Black Cauldron, today’s Pics and Pins of Movie Monday features many pins from Disney Animation’s least known, and cult favorite. Surprisingly, this movie features many pins for a movie that wasn’t well-received.

The main protagonists of the film are Taran and Princess Eilonwy, and try to get the Black Cauldron away from ‘evil’. 

A group of characters, called ‘The Fairy Folk’ is a group of fairies that add to the film in a little way and give the movie some ‘child appeal’, even though the characters only appear for a short time, they have many pins.

The film combines scenes from the first two books, and uses the Horned King in place of Arawn as the movie's prime antagonist. He looks quite different in the movie; the antlers remain, but he wears a red hooded robe. Instead of a normal human, he appears to be an undead, skeletal creature whose eyes glow red upon being angered or excited and is more on par with a sorcerer. The Horned King seeks the Black Cauldron to bring to life an army of undead soldiers and conquer the world. Deploying his servant, Creeper, the dragon-like Gwythaints and human soldiers, the King seeks out the pig Hen Wen to aid in his quest. He eventually accomplishes his goal, but is thwarted some time later, when Gurgi throws himself into the Cauldron. When he attempts to cast Taran into the Cauldron as well, he ends up being consumed by the Cauldron's power and destroyed.

 

         

 

The Witches of Morva, Orddu, Orgoch, and Orwen are three antagonists of the film. They sold the cauldron for the sword, but also kept the cauldron hidden from humans. They made Taran’s quest for the cauldron hard, and placed many obstacles in the way.

 

These final pins feature various characters from the film. Like this first set was released in Disneyland Resort’s Hidden Mickey 2010 Series. It features the five characters on a Black Cauldron background.

  

These final pins were released in 1985 for the release of the movie.

   

Pictures from PinPics

Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2010—Celebrating 15 Years of Delicious Discoveries: Festival Guide