A Perfect Disney Day (Part 3 of 3) Quiz

Answer: Autopia

Another of the rides that have, in one form or another, been part of Disneyland all the way since 1955, the current Autopia (opened in 2000) is the largest incarnation yet, occupying the space that once was used by two separate Autopia rides - Fantasyland and Tomorrowland Autopia.

The extra space gave the designers some room to make a very interesting 4-lane track layout in which the two lane pairs pass over and under each other several times. When it was conceived in 1955, Autopia was indeed an automobile utopia: It predated the Interstate Highway Act by a full year and multi-lane freeways were still a true rarity!

Answer: There are two interwoven tracks in one mountain, but everything else including queueing is separate.

Opened in 1959, the Matterhorn Bobsleds were not only the first rollercoaster ride in Disneyland, but also the first tubular steel rollercoaster in the world. The ride consists of two nearly parallel but separate tracks, each with its own loading station and queue area.

When properly synchronized, vehicles from both halves of the ride spend the first part of the ride racing before diverging towards their respective loading stations. According to their facings, the halves are referred to as Tomorrowland and Fantasyland bobsleds, but the guidebooks and park maps consider the two instances to be one ride. Matterhorn Bobsleds is one of the very few original Disneyland attractions never to have been duplicated under the same name and theme in any other Disney park, but Walt Disney World's Space Mountain uses an almost identical dual track layout.

Answer: Wonderland

The Mad Tea Party evokes a scene from "Alice in Wonderland", namely the Unbirthday Party. It exists, with minor variations in naming and optical design, in all five Disney parks. The California version however differs from all other versions of the ride in that it is the only one not having a covering roof - a rarity for this type of ride since the presence of water in the spinning disks inhibits their motion and forces the ride to shut down, so an open sky version can only be done in areas where rainy weather is uncommon.

Answer: Storybook Land Canal Boats

While many visitors associate the big castle at the entrance of Fantasyland with Cinderella due to the fact that Walt Disney World indeed has Cinderella's castle in that place, in fact that castle is Sleeping Beauty's. The only place to find Cinderella's castle in California is on the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride, a slow cruise with live narration through several of the most princess-heavy tales the Disney franchise has to offer.

Answer: "I am a real boy!"

Pinocchio's Daring Journey, like several other Disneyland rides, spent quite some time between the initial idea and the actual opening as a working ride. Plans for the ride began in 1976 when it was decided that the old Fantasyland Theater (a movie theater similar to Main Street Cinema) should be replaced with an additional dark ride.

The ride was commissioned and the parts were built but the actual installation was postponed and the ride was mothballed until Tokyo Disneyland was due to open in 1983 and the original unused Pinocchio ride was shipped there.

At the same time, however, a second version of the ride was built and opened six weeks after the Tokyo ride as part of the big Fantasyland refurbishment of that year, occupying the same building initially planned for it seven years prior.

Answer: The seven Dwarves

Snow White's Scary Adventures is loosely based on the fairy tale that inspired Disney's cinematic masterwork of 1937. It however concentrated on the dark elements of the story and initially did not contain the Snow White character at all - instead the guest was assumed to play the role of Snow White and see the story from her perspective.

This concept was however misunderstood by most guests and now the princess herself actually appears once, in the ride's final scene. These storyline problems combined with the fact that the ride is too frightening for some very young children keep this ride as one of the less appreciated Fantasyland attractions even though its execution, artwork and effects are absolutely on par with the other Fantasyland dark rides.

Answer: The presence of a human child

Sporting one of the most elaborately themed queue areas of all Disney rides, "Monsters, Inc.: Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!" follows the storyline of the "Monsters. Inc." movie. It is similar in execution to the Fantasyland dark rides, but benefits from a longer track and more space in which to build more elaborate, three-dimensional scenes from the film.

The key area of the ride reflects the scene in the door factory. Using a large hall and many doors hanging from conveyors as well as fluorescent paint and ultraviolet light, this scene creates a well executed level of vastness and mild disorientation matching the frantic search for the one door that will bring the girl, Boo, back home to earth.

Answer: A Whole New World

After "Beauty and the Beast" (Disney Hollywood Studios, Orlando) and "Legend of the Lion King" (Disneyland Paris), "Aladdin" has also received the Broadway treatment in a 45-minute live show. Along with all major songs from the original 1992 movie, this show also features the specially written song "To Be Free". Like in the movie, the central magic carpet ride of Aladdin and Jasmine is set to the duet "A Whole New World", one of Disney's most famous love themes.

The show plays in the Hyperion theater, a 2000-seat auditorium with three audience levels.

Answer: Mickey's Fun Wheel

"World of Color" uses a projection concept developed almost twenty years ago, using water fountains to create screens on which scenes from various Disney movies are projected along with various laser effects, some pyrotechnics and the use of colored lights in many of the light fixtures around the viewing area.

The backdrop of this show is the Paradise Pier area which is closed during the performance, allowing the show to use the colored lights on the spokes of Mickey's Fun Wheel, a Ferris wheel, as a source of background lighting patterns, adding additional depth to the scene.

The show is so popular that access to the best viewing areas is limited to holders of a special Fastpass ticket acquired earlier in the day and those buying a special picnic package.

Some of the light effects are in the viewing areas themselves, so if you are tall enough, choose a space near the back for the best effect.

Answer: Fantasmic!

Disneyland Resort actually shifts the "Wishes" fireworks to a slot a few minutes later on days where "World of Color" is performing to allow visitors to walk back from it to the Magic Kingdom without missing that show. After that, the final highlight of the day is the Fantasmic! spectacular, being shown on the Rivers of America. Several prime viewing areas are cordoned off from through traffic for this show and, well appreciated after a long day of standing and walking, it is possible to sit on the grass while enjoying this furioso of laser effects, animatronics, water-screen projections and fireworks all set to a soundtrack merging several of Disney's most famous songs with original music.

The Fantasmic! show is loosely based on the 1940 Disney movie "Fantasia" and shows Mickey Mouse as a sorcerer conjuring great effects from his imagination. Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland have their own versions of the show, but while the Disneyland version has seen several technical refurbishments and upgrades, it still uses the original 1992 soundtrack and plot - a good choice since it would be very hard to improve the show in any way.