Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland

by Christopher Smith

  Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too was released in 1974. This story begins with Rabbit formulating a plan to stop Tigger from bouncing. Rabbit enlists the help of Pooh and Piglet to take Tigger into the woods and leave him there alone. According to Rabbit’s plan, when the friends find Tigger the next day, the exuberant tiger will stop bouncing. After abandoning Tigger, however, it is Pooh, Piglet and Rabbit that get lost. Tigger eventually finds all three and proclaims, “Tiggers never get lost.” Tigger later babysits Roo, with both ending up trapped in a tree. Much to the delight of Rabbit, a frightened Tigger even promises that he will never bounce again if he can get out of the tree. Once Tigger is freed, all of his friends recognize that a non-bouncing Tigger is a sad Tigger. Even Rabbit agrees to release Tigger from that obligation. In return, Tigger teaches Rabbit how to bounce.

  The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released on March 11, 1977. In the years that have followed, Disney has released numerous other television series and films based on characters from the Pooh franchise, including:

  A live-action series called Welcome to Pooh Corner that aired on the Disney Channel from 1983 through 1986.

  An animated television series called The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that aired from 1988 through 1991.

  Several full-length animated feature films including The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet’s Big Movie (2003), and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005).

  Another animated television series called My Friends Tigger & Pooh first aired in 2007 and introduced a new character named Darby, a red-haired girl who played a role similar to Christopher Robin.

  Disney released the live-action film Christopher Robin starring Ewan McGregor on July 30, 2018.

  Throughout the various iterations of A.A. Milne’s classic works, the Winnie the Pooh characters have remained massively popular and continue to entertain guests of all ages. In fact, some say that Winnie the Pooh is the second most requested character in Walt Disney World, behind only Mickey Mouse.

  Stepping Inside the Milne Stories and the Disney Films

  The backstory for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is simple yet effective. The attraction literally and figuratively takes guests on a journey through the pages of A.A. Milne’s literary works and scenes from Disney’s animated films. Disney provides this simple backstory on its official website:

  A Storybook Come to Life

  Glide and bounce and swirl through some of the most popular scenes and settings of Winnie the Pooh. Board a giant Hunny Pot and get lost in the pages of A.A. Milne’s classic tales, as you journey to Hundred Acre Wood.

  Magically make your way through a colorful, song-filled storybook illustration and experience a menagerie of kooky adventures…

  Everything that guests see in the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh helps to convey this backstory, including most notably several large storybook pages that help to set the stage for different scenes in the attraction.

  Storytelling Elements

  An Interactive Queue

  The popular “Mr. Sanders” Tree marks the entrance to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Fans of Milne’s stories will recognize the Mr. Sanders Tree as the home of Winnie the Pooh. The tree was re-located from its previous home at Pooh’s Playful Spot, a children’s play area that was removed as part of the New Fantasyland expansion. If guests look inside the tree (admittedly not an easy task for adults), they will see what appears to be a green submarine carved into the wood above the doorway. This is a tribute to the now extinct Fantasyland attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage. Not surprisingly, Pooh’s home is also filled with honey pots in every nook and cranny.

  A tall stack of honey pots leans to the right-hand side of Mr. Sanders Tree and directs guests to the stand-by entrance for the queue, which is outlined by a rock and brick wall and a rustic wooden fence.

  Like most stories, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh begins with chapter 1. Large pages from Milne’s Pooh stories are scattered throughout the queue, which helps to convey the attraction’s backstory of stepping inside those stories. The first page marks the beginning of the queue and reads:

  Chapter 1

  In Which

  Winnie the Pooh Finds Many Things to Do

  Once upon a time, Winnie the Pooh sat in his very favorite

  thoughtful spot in the Hundred Acre Wood. (Do you see him

  sitting there?)

  “Oh, bother”, he thought, “I can’t think of anything to do. But I

  think if you help me to think—we could think of something very

  do-able together. What do you think?”

  This page includes a map of the Hundred Acre Wood, with numerous destinations listed including “TIGGER’S BOUNCY PLACE,” “POOH BEAR’S HOUSE,” “EEYORE’S GLOOMY PLACE,” and “POOHSTICKS BRIDGE.” The map includes a directional indicator. However, instead of designations for north, south, east, and west, this compass includes letters that spell “POOH.”

  A rustic wooden sign identifies “Eeyore’s Gloomy Place.” Here guests can crawl through Eeyore’s house, which is constructed with small pieces of wood that lean together to form a tent-like structure.

  Piglet’s home is directly across the walkway from Eeyore’s and is easily identifiable by another large book page that includes a picture of a door that leads into the base of a tree. The page reads:

  “I think we should visit Piglet,”

  thought Winnie the Pooh.

  But being such a very small and timid animal, Piglet lives in a house

  with a very small and timid door. So, when you knock, please knock

  in a small-ish sort of way, if you’re bigger than Piglet. And almost

  everyone is these days.

  A sign above the door reads, “PLEASE KNOCK.” If guests follow those instructions and knock on the door, they might actually hear Piglet inside.

  Up ahead guests will find Rabbit’s garden, which provides numerous opportunities for children to pass the time while waiting in line. In this interactive area, guests can:

  Move see-saw type levers that make crops rise from the ground.

  Spin a series of large sunflowers that are planted in front of several large wooden crates upon which baskets of vegetables and bags of seeds are displayed.

  Play drums that are in the shape of carved watermelons and pumpkins.

  Stand on several indicated areas on the ground to make gophers pop up from a garden. A funny sign in this area reads “NO GOPHERS ALLOWED!”

  Spin a wooden dial that causes several balls in a cage to bounce into the air.

  Another book page in Rabbit’s garden includes a picture of Rabbit gathering crops and reads:

  “Well I think there’s work to be done!” said Rabbit, as he gathered

  up an armload of carrots from his garden. “Just dig in! It’s so nice to

  have help that won’t bounce me when I’m not looking.”

  Yet another book page near Rabbit’s garden includes a picture of Christopher Robin and Pooh standing on a bridge, playing a game that has become famous amongst fans of the Pooh franchise:

  “We could cross the old bridge”, said Christopher Robin in a

  thoughtful, friendly way.

  That’s where Christopher Robin and Pooh would play their

  favorite game, called Poohsticks.

  “I invented it,” said Pooh proudly. “That’s why it’s called Pooh-

  sticks. Because I’m Pooh and because of the sticks!”

  A nearby sign reads “BEES AT WORK,” and points to a fun interactive area that allows children to move bees along a series of interconnected rails and through beehives.

  A rustic wooden sign with an arrow hangs on a fence and reads “HUNNY THIS WAY.” This sign leads to what may be the most popular area of the attraction’s interactive queue: several touch-screen “honey walls” that allow curious visitors to smear, write on and generally play with digital flowing honey. In addition to writing their names and dra
wing shapes, guests can discover secret images behind the honey if they swipe enough of it away.

  Several messages are written above the honey walls:

  “Drawing with honey is funny When the pictures are sticky and runny.”

  “Painting with dribbles that run down the wall is like doodling noodles that wiggle and crawl.”

  “How tasteful, how charming, how gooey and great! And how artful when framed or arranged on a plate!”

  “It’s really a treat, to make pictures so sweet.” “What fun to make art you can eat!”

  Chapter 1 (the queue) ends with the following message:

  This is where the chapter ends

  With Pooh and you and all his friends.

  But there is so much more to do

  When you go on to Chapter 2.

  The Attraction

  Guests travel aboard two-row “Hunny Pots” on their 3½ minute journey through the Hundred Acre Wood. It appears as though honey is flowing over the top edge of those ride vehicles, and each includes a sign that reads “HUNNY.”

  As the attraction begins, the Hunny Pots carry guests into chapter 2 of the story “A Blustery Day.” Guests approach a large book page that includes a picture of Winnie the Pooh being pulled in the air by a balloon and reads:

  Chapter II

  In Which

  We Join Pooh and His Friends

  In a Very Blustery Day

  One day in the

  Hundred-Acre Wood

  the East Wind

  traded places with

  the West Wind,

  and that stirred

  things up a bit.

  A Blustery Day in the Hundred Acre Wood

  As the doors to the first scene open, guests enter the Hundred Acre Wood and see Pooh and his friends battling the heavy gusts of wind on this very blustery day. Many props in this scene come directly from the Pooh stories:

  Gopher (a character introduced in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) pops up from his burrow and yells “Happy Winds-day!”

  Piglet does his best to sweep leaves in the wind, as he spins around his broom.

  Piglet’s mailbox has almost blown over.

  Kanga holds tightly onto one end of a scarf while Roo holds onto the other, almost completely swept away by the strong winds.

  Trying to garden in the storm, a dazed Rabbit is blown into a wheelbarrow. Several signs in Rabbit’s garden identify his crops as “CABEGE,” “LETUS,” and “KERUTS.”

  Pooh holds onto a balloon that swings him towards a beehive in a tree and, presumably, the honey located therein. Eeyore looks up at Pooh in dismay and says, “If you ask me, you’ll never reach that tree.” This is a scene from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

  Owl’s Tree House

  Guests next enter Owl’s tree house, which includes the very cool effects of timbers creaking and swaying in the wind with pictures and other items strewn across the floor in disarray due to the storm. Owl sits high atop a branch that has pierced through one of the house’s walls. Owl’s house includes several homages to the attraction’s predecessor, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (discussed in detail below):

  To the left-hand side of the ride vehicles is a framed picture hanging on the wall of J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq., the starring character from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The picture depicts Toad handing over the deed to the building to Owl. The picture shows Toad and Owl embracing one another with smiles on their faces.

  A picture on the floor to the right-hand side of the ride vehicle shows Moley (a good friend of Mr. Toad) and Pooh exchanging pleasantries. Pooh waves to Moley while holding a pot of honey. Moley bows to Pooh and tips his cap.

  A third picture found to the left-hand side of the ride vehicles depicts Owl with a handlebar mustache and wearing a straw hat. Winky, another friend of Mr. Toad, has a handlebar mustache, while Toad donned a straw hat at the end of the 1949 Disney package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

  Bouncing with Tigger

  Upon entering the next scene of the attraction, guests see another large book page that reads:

  And Tigger Too

  Suddenly, a big bouncey creature popped

  up from behind the bushes. “Rrrrrrrr. Hello,” said

  the creature with a wide grin on his face. “I’m

  Tigger.” And without further ado, Tigger sprang

  up on his springy tail and said, “Come bounce

  with me!” Tigger bounced out of sight with a…

  This page includes a large cutout of a nighttime sky that Tigger bounces into.

  This part of the attraction is a bit “bumpy” with Tigger (and the Hunny Pot) bouncing all over the room. Tigger randomly pops up throughout the different areas of this scene and says, “I almost bounced clear out of the ride!” Before exiting, Tigger pounces on Pooh and warns his friend of notorious honey thieves known as heffalumps and woozles!

  Another book page at the end of this scene includes a picture of Winnie the Pooh in his pajamas carefully guarding his jars of honey. The page reads:

  Pooh guarded his honey, hour after hour,

  Through the rainy night. Afraid that a

  heffalump or woozzle might be outside his

  door, Pooh marched back and forth across

  the floor. And even though he was well

  protected with his popgun, he jumped

  every time he saw the lightning flash.

  The window in the page’s picture flickers with the lightning.

  Beware of Heffalumps and Woozles!

  As guests enter Pooh’s house, we see the silly old bear on high alert guarding his honey. Jars of honey are stacked all around the room. Unfortunately, Pooh falls asleep, and guests see one of the best scenes in any Disney attraction: Pooh floating away into a crazy dream world of heffalumps and woozles:

  One of the funniest effects of the attraction occurs when a check-shaped heffalump appears out of nowhere from a checked wall.

  A woozle lights the firecracker shaped head of a heffalump who in turn blows a smoke ring at guests.

  Another heffalump plays a honey pot harp.

  Yet another heffalump is shaped as a balloon and blows air at guests.

  Woozles shaped as jack-in-the-boxes bend towards guests.

  Two additional heffalumps in the shape of watering cans lift into the air in order to start the coming rain storm.

  A Rainy Place

  Guests next enter a “rainy place” where the storm has caused the “rain rain rain” to come falling “down down down.” A very “cool” effect is that the temperature in this scene drops dramatically, with the noticeably lower temperature adding to the experience. Some of the funny sights in this scene include:

  Pooh uses the rising water to his advantage, as he can finally reach the honey in the tree.

  Poor Roo hangs above the water, holding Eeyore’s tail with one hand and his mother Kanga’s hand with the other. Eeyore stands perilously on a fence while Kanga and Tigger float in an upside down umbrella.

  Tigger reaches out to rescue Piglet, who is floating on a chair towards the Floody Place Falls.

  Guests see Pooh (his rear end at least) stuck in a tree trying to retrieve honey, an image taken directly from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

  A Hundred Acre Celebration

  After the storm passes, guests see the Hundred Acre Woods friends (minus Pooh) celebrating. The attraction’s narrator says “At last the rain went away and everyone gathered together to say…Hooray!”

  The Hunny pots then take guests past the silly old bear in a state of pure delight, covered in honey at the top of a tree.

  As the attraction nears its end, guests see one final book page that includes a picture of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh holding hands. The page reads:

  “Wasn’t that fun Christopher Robin” asked

  Pooh. “Oh, yes Pooh” said Christopher Robin

  as he happily walked along with his friend.

  “It was grand.”
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  More Pooh Magical Secrets

  The name Winnie the Pooh came from two different animals: a black bear at the London Zoo named “Winnie” and a swan that Christopher Robin had named “Pooh.”

  Guests exit the attraction into a Winnie the Pooh gift shop aptly-named “Hundred Acre Goods.”

  While not as well recognized as some of their other attraction songs, the Disney song-writing duo the Sherman Brothers wrote the music featured in the attraction.

  Real History

  The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

  The story behind how the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh came to be in Fantasyland actually begins with a completely different attraction based upon a completely different set of stories. Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows was first published in 1908. The Wind in the Willows recounts the tales of a variety of lovable animals during their adventures through the English countryside. The characters include the gentle and mild-mannered Mole, the kind, cultured and respectable Rat, and the grumpy yet good-hearted Badger. Grahame’s novel also famously introduced readers to J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq., the wealthy heir to the vast Toad family fortune and the head of stately Toad Hall. Although a good-hearted character, The Wind in the Willows also depicts Toad as arrogant, spoiled, self-destructive and prone to obsessive and impulsive behavior.

  In the novel, Mr. Toad’s latest obsession, motorcars, leads him to steal a car and eventually winds up in jail. Toad later escapes from his imprisonment and discovers that nefarious weasels have overtaken Toad Hall. Finally coming to his senses and realizing the mistakes he has made, Mr. Toad works with his friends Mole, Rat and Badger to retake his ancestral home. Following this victory, Toad holds a grand banquet and works to remedy all of the wrongdoing of his past, especially to all of his good friends.