"Major make-over-upgrade" for Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh?

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

It's time has come.

Winnie the Pooh has always been a favorite of mine, and my families. But the ride is... to say the least, a one-off for any visit, and to say the most an incredible injustice to the stories and the current imagineers creativity. Current, frankly, it's boring!!

I really think they could add an additional level above the existing structure, add endearing elements of the story, (e.g. While Pooh's bottom was stuck at the top of page 28, his top was stuck at the bottom of page 30) and (I'm just a little black rain cloud hovering under the honey tree, I'm only a little black rain cloud, pay no attention to little me).

Add a romp through the hundred-acre woods. A rain storm. Some animatronics. Some fiunny and creative elements to get the little ones giggling and excited.

[dougeebear]

While I can appreciate your fondness for the attraction, I don't believe any refurb or major changes will be forthcoming. The attraction just isn't that popular, judging from the constant walk-on status not comments here. There are other highly popular attractions (hello, Indy) that are desperately in need of major refurbishment.

Your ideas are interesting, and I always appreciate blue-sky thinking. I'd encourage you to flesh out in more detail what you'd like to see changed or added. Bear in mind that roofs are designed to keep out the rain, not carry the weight of several tons worth of ride vehicles, show elements, and passengers so adding a second story is not really feasible without ripping out the entire attraction and starting from scratch.

[MANEATINGWREATH]

If you ask me they should once again re-utilize the building for something else and move Pooh somewhere else...possibly Fantasyland or Toontown (I red somewhere that it had been planned for both lands at an earlier time). Of course it would be a brand-new Pooh ride with better elements, a different ride system, and different scenes unique to Disneyland (they have a lot of good source material, why not use scenes from the new movie and the old movies?). Now what would replace Pooh? Simple. The Princess and the Frog.

The original intention of Critter Country was for it to be the deep bayous and marshes just south of New Orleans, just beyond the property line of an old plantation home, that home obviously being the Haunted Mansion. There was a time when Imagineers reconsidered renaming Critter Country to Dixieland and having it boast more of a Mark Twain theme in addition to the talking critter theme. One of the Country Bear theaters would host an audio animatronic solo show of Mark Twain Tonight, featuring an animatronic Mark Twain a la American Adventure performing a condensed version of the show. A Fox and the Hound dark ride would also be added in addition to a relocation of the Rafts to Tom Sawyer's Island. So with that idea in mind...

Critter Country should be renamed Bayou Country, the deep backwoods south of New Orleans (although Splash would still be set in the swamps of Georgia respectively). The shops are redone as is the general landscaping and foliage in the land. Realistic animatronic alligators are added along the riverbed in the Rivers of America near Bayou Country. Pooh Corner is gutted and replaced by three new shops: Vulture Bros. Gift and Carrion Shop, Crocodile Mercantile (revived!), and Grandma Sarah's Cookie Jar (a sweets shop themed to Grandma Sarah, an elderly female raccoon). The Hungry Bear Restaurant remains the same as does the Briar Patch shop. Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes take on a new name: Beaver Bros. Explorer Canoes. To coincide with a massive indoor and outdoor refurbishment of Splash Mountain, Professor Barnaby vacates the photo shop and is replaced by Professor Peter Possum (a new LCI animatronic at the end of Splash to heckle pictures), the shop becoming Professor Peter Possum Photographic Art Studio. As for Pooh...

Pooh is gutted completely and give a facelift, the distant structure of Mama Odie's shack rising in the distance. The ride now seats visitors into ride vehicles shaped like a little 1920's car oddly enough, sending riders right into the bayou, retelling most of the movie (but truly only the animal scenes). This ride is superior to Little Mermaid by the way and actually gets the story better across and features a suitable villain defeat.

Once again, rough ideas here but I think they'd be a worthy replacement for Pooh.

[StevenW]

I think the Pooh ride is perfect as it is. I doesn't need to be fixed. It is just as long as I can stand.

[ArchimedesWhatWhat]

I would personally like to see the ride slightly rethemed to the latest movie. Make it about finding Eeyores Tail. Replace the pyscodelic room with the Backson song. At the end of the ride (where it is birthday party now) could be "It's you, it's you, you win the honey pot! You found his tail, on this ride... Eeyore: Now it's on my back side. You get the honey.... Enjoy!!!"

[RevolverOcelot619]

While I can appreciate your fondness for the attraction, I don't believe any refurb or major changes will be forthcoming. The attraction just isn't that popular, judging from the constant walk-on status not comments here. There are other highly popular attractions (hello, Indy) that are desperately in need of major refurbishment.

Your ideas are interesting, and I always appreciate blue-sky thinking. I'd encourage you to flesh out in more detail what you'd like to see changed or added. Bear in mind that roofs are designed to keep out the rain, not carry the weight of several tons worth of ride vehicles, show elements, and passengers so adding a second story is not really feasible without ripping out the entire attraction and starting from scratch.

You could say that it being unpopular could make it a great candidate for a refurb/upgrade. 1) No one will mind much when i's close, 2)By improving it, chances are it becomes more popular.

[greenalfonzo]

They need to squeeze a new young children compatible ride in back there to complement Pooh. That's a long stretch of older/family type attractions you need to get past coming from the castle to get to a ride that is as suitable for the stroller/pre-K demographic. Something that would be very attractive to smaller kids.

There's no space for it now, but they could fit a narrow ride building just to the west of the area, where there is just a service road and open lot storage currently. Push the road further west alongside the fence, and then you have room for a short, fantasyland-style ride. My preference would be for one based on the Rescuers or Bambi.

[greeeneyes17]

I have an idea...
keep Melvin, Buff, and Max but get rid of everything else...
add some bears, some little animals, and a jamboree..
and you've got yourself an attraction

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

I say KEEP POOH in Critter Country, but give it a 21st century treatment. My goodness, it is so weak. I can't believe it cost $30M back in 1998! Is some of that money hidden behind one of those flapping walls?

[Malina]

I think Pooh is adorable, and I think that if it were located in Fantasyland or closer to the other child-friendly rides, it would have longer lines, for sure.

The Pooh ride in Tokyo is just about the most popular thing in the park--if they were to redo the DLR ride with that technology I could see it going through the roof here, too.

[ArchimedesWhatWhat]

Pooh has some really cool effects. My freind, an ex-imagineer and current cast memeber, says some of their best effects are in the Pooh ride. And I agree!

I think greenalfonzo his right. They need another ride back there to compliment Pooh. There isn't good enough reason to walk all they way back there. And Splash Mountain really blocks off that side of the park.

I say take out Hungry Bea to make room for something... I know some people like it, but again, I can't imagine too many people walk all the way back there to get food... especially since they padd through advneture/frontier/new orleans that has most of the parks food options.

[MrsMonroe]

three words: Pooh's Hunny Hunt

[greenalfonzo]

I know my post wasn't very clear, so I drew up this to show where an additional fantasyland-style darkride would fit in Critter Country. No structures would be affected; those are all parking lots & shipping containers back there.

[TheHopper]

My kids love Winnie the Pooh and I think this is an under used franchise that has so much potential in critter country. When I look at your map I see a ton of room to really take advantage of the popularity of Splash Mountain and how it dumps tons of people right into critter country. The Pooh ride is strange that they used an abstract part of the stories to choose from but if that ride was located in Fantasyland it would be as popular as all the others. I'm not saying I would move it, I'm saying if you add the rest of the characters of 100 acre woods with various rides, shops, and walk throughs you could create something really special.

They had to create a huge line just for kids to meet Pooh and the other characters in that area, I believe this shows the popularity of this franchise and it would be something huge for that back part of the park.

The major problem would be with just one way in and out of the area over the bridge in front of Splash...this area is already congested and there isn't much to go back there for. My solution to this problem would be a massive undertaking but hopefully something considered after Frontierland and Tommorowland have major additions. They need to wrap Critter Country around the top of the map, basically following the train tracks until you connect up with Toon Town. This would connect with the additional Frontierland area (that isn't there yet) and give another path in and out of Toon Town. Obviously this runs into a few major things but like I said, this would be a major addition instead of just changing the inside of Pooh.

[bigwavedave]

I think it fits well in Critter country and I gota admit it is a fun relaxing ride. No way would it fit in fantasyland. I would love to see a more modern version of country bears return