Yesterday about 100 actors came out to audition for eight host positions at Disney’’s California Adventure attraction, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. According to a spokesperson for Disney they are not looking for a Regis look-a-like but are instead searching “for someone with very strong improvisational skills, quick witted””. The attraction will open this fall and guest will compete for prizes ranging from Disney Pins to a trip to New York.

Written by Barry L. Wallis

We were at DL yesterday and “The Walt Disney Story Featuring Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” was open (official opening is 7:45AM Tuesday, 7/17 to celebrate DLs opening day). I don”t think I ever went to the original so I can”t do any comparisons, but here is the quick scoop:
The attraction is housed in the DL Opera House (the second building on the right side after you walk under the DLRR). The exhibit area is well done (no animatronics, though). They used to have recreations of Walt’’s two offices set up (the formal one and the working one). The formal office is still there, but the working office has been moved to WDW for the upcoming 100 Years celebration. There is also an exhibit area in the back with a diorama of the White House when Lincoln was there.

The “show” is done in three parts: a movie of The Walt Disney Story in an open area next to the exhibits, the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln pre-show (in the back of the Opera House) and finally, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in the auditorium (like a small version of the Hall of the Presidents). Before the Mr. Lincoln pre-show starts you are given wireless headphones (very comfortable) and listen to a short presentation (in projected B&W pictures) about Matthew Brady (the pre-eminent portrait photographer of that time). At the end of the pre-show you are told that you are about to get your picture taken by Mr. Brady and are ushered into the auditorium (which, my wife tells me is much smaller than it used to be).

The sound in the headphones is *very* good. In fact, my wife commented on how much it sounded like the Monster Sound Show (now Sounds Dangerous featuring Drew Carey) at D/MGM and she hoped we weren”t going to get our hair cut. Well, she was wrong. We needed to get our hair before we got our picture and that was quickly followed by every cheap 3D audio trick in the book (”sorry for all the bugs buzzing around your ears, it’’s been a hot summer”, “hear let me blow that bit of hair out of your ears”, “allow me to light that lamp” [had matches been invented yet?]).

After that comes a short history lesson (via dialog and B&W pictures) to put the Gettysburg Address in context. It includes an interchange between Lincoln and Fredrick Douglas where Douglas agrees to make sure the black soldiers continue fighting if Lincoln guarantees them equal pay by the end of the war. I wondered two things about this: 1) Did the interchange actually take place (it was prominently displayed as history) and (2) Did African-Americans (back then many of them were) call themselves blacks? The whole thing sounded a bit anachronistic to me (no problem with the content, just how out of place the execution seemed). My wife said they used to have the “two brothers” portion that they have at the American Adventure here, but that’’s gone now.

You finally get to watch the lifelike animatronic of President Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address. From what my wife tells me, he used to deliver the speech in Washington, D.C. In this incarnation, he delivers the address at the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery (is this more true to history?). This is rather moving and certainly gives you more the feeling he is talking to real people than reading it in a text book.

After the presentation you are led out into a room that houses the “DCA Sneak Preview” (although DCA has been open for 5 months). Hopefully, they will change this room around to be more Lincoln related soon. Oh yes, one more thing… the entire attraction is air conditioned!

The Disney pin collecting web site dizpins.com has released the first images of the upcoming interactive pins for the Walt Disney World 100 Years celebration. The pins will light up during parades, fireworks, and when near certain park areas and attractions.

On Saturday a 23 year old woman tripped and broke her ankle while being evacuated from Indian Jones after the ride had broke down. A spokesperson for the park stated the accident had nothing to do with the ride closing. Instead, the injury occurred during the evacuation.