Honey, I shrunk the Audience
Be a guest to the Imagination Institute's award ceremony - and become the victim of an invention, that will literally change your view of the world...
Early in 1999 Disneyland Paris premiered one of its newest and most exciting attractions, "Honey I Shrunk The Audience". Based on the "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" movies and TV show, Honey I Shrunk The Audience is one of a new breed of 3D film based attractions that have begun to appear in Disney parks around the world. Situated towards the back of Discoveryland in the old Cinemagique building (previously home to Captain EO starring Michael Jackson) The building itself underwent extensive remodelling and renovation in order to accommodate the particular effects of the new show.
Already hugely popular in Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland the attraction takes guests inside the "Imagination Institute" where they are invited to participate in the audience of a prestigious awards ceremony.
The adventure begins as guests are admitted into a small pre-show theatre
within the "Imagination Institute", here they are provided with "Protective
Goggles" (3D glasses) which are for use in the main auditorium. Whilst
in this smaller waiting area guests are first invited to watch a short a
short film entitled "True Colours" (presented by Kodak) which is
viewed on several banks of televisions screens. The presentation
is a montage of photographs, which illustrate the power of pictures.
Next guests go "live" backstage to the institute where (via the
same screens) they are introduced to professor Nigel Channing "Monty
Python's Eric Idel" who informs them that they have chosen to visit
on a very important day. Its the annual "Inventor Of The Year" awards,
and this years recipient Wane Szalinski will be arriving soon to demonstrate
a selection of his finest inventions including his famous shrinking and enlarging
machine.
From here guests pass into the main theatre for the feature presentation, once seated guests can may use of translation headphones located in selected rows to enjoy the presentation in a selection of languages.
The main presentation takes the form of an award show/ demonstration with the 3D film handled accordingly. The overall effect is that the performers appear to be really on-stage rather than on film.
Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) first appears flying above the heads of the audience aboard his hover machine which he has miniaturised using his shrinking machine. But before long the machine spins out of control setting the scene for the entire show which includes a series of bungled experiments, each of which results in hilarious and occasionally terrifying consequences, the climax of the show results in (unsurprisingly) the whole audience becoming shrunk.
Much mayhem ensues which eventually results in everyone returned to their correct size (well almost everyone??????) The overall effect of the show is truly outstanding and leaves most guests feeling "just plain weird". Through combining the visual effects of a standard 3 dimensional film and the use of sensory effects the attraction puts each guests into the centre of the action like never before.
Tips
The main show is performed in English or French (depending on the day of the week) with headphones offering translation into a selection of languages including English or French (which ever the main show is not being performed in that day). Guests should pay attention to announcement in the pre-show area, which indicate which language the show is in that day and which rows of the theatre offer translation headphones.
Compact
- Seats: 604
- Duration: 22 minutes
- Languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Film Projection: 70mm 3D
- Lifting Force: 148 tons
- Lighting: 13,000 lightsources, together 100,000 watt
- Electrical Equipment: 20 km power cable, 600 m optical fibre cable
- Waitingtime:
Specials
A little misspelling by Disney for once: till a few days prior to the opening the welcome flag in German was misspelled - but in time for the opening this was corrected.By the way: layed one behind the other the neon-lights used in this attraction would stretch 300 meters! Would you have guessed?
Even so HISTA (as fans like to call the attraction) did only open in 1999, Kodak is the sponsor of the attraction in this place since 1992 - as they were also the sponsor of the predecessor attraction, the movie "Captain EO" presented in the "CineMagique" (a name reused in 2002 in the Walt Disney Studios but this time not for the theater but the experience presented in the Studio Theatre).
Limits
Several sections of the show can be EXTREMELY intense and therefore may not be suitable for young children and persons of a nervous disposition. It is also worth noting that one section of the show takes place in complete darkness.
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More photos
Coming soon...