Flik's Fun Fair - Cast Member Preview - September 15, 2002

We were fortunate to be able to attend a cast member preview of Flik's Fun Fair with another couple.  We arrived at the entrance at our appointed time of 3pm.  It was a fairly warm day out, without much of a breeze, unfortunately.  As we made our way into the entrance and waited for the CM to check our tickets, we noticed that the entrance was a box of Cowboy Crunchies turned on its side with the back removed.  From the cutouts on the inside of the box (which served as the roof and sides of the entrance), it appeared that the box had some kind of map that had slots for cardboard characters, as the cutouts had stabilizing tabs.  Turning left so that we went through the land clockwise, we noticed the restrooms to our left.  The entrance to the restrooms is made to resemble a box of tissue turned on its side and upside down.  The pictures of the men and women and wheelchair accessible sign all depict beings with antennae.  Very cute.  Kinda like the restroom signs in the Pacific Wharf and Condor Flats areas.  Inside the restrooms, there are periodic cycles of sounds of crickets and other bugs.  Reminds me a bit of the yodeling in the restrooms near Village Haus in Disneyland.  Outside, the sign indicating the telephones is held up by an old soda can pull-tab.  Throughout the land, the lamps that will be used to provide the lighting after sunset are fireflies, most of whom are holding onto the stems of 3-leaf clovers.  There is one 4-leaf clover in the land to look for.  The clovers provide shade as well as perspective to the land.  Throughout the land are speakers which pipe in the sounds of crickets and other bugs.  I?m interested to see what effect that will have on the land when it?s dark.  I can see how it might be even creepier without the bright sun.

There are two water play areas, one of which is next to a garden hose (the kind with the attachment that provides multiple streams of water), and the other of which is around a leaking spigot.

The first ride we came across was Flik's Flyers.  The attraction sign is written on what looks like a paper airplane that has landed straight into the ground.  There are no height restrictions on this ride, and the four of us adults were able to fit into one vehicle.  There is a seat belt that covers one entire side of the seating area.  The attraction is like Dumbo at Disneyland - the ride vehicles are lifted up in the air and circle clockwise a few cycles.  You don't get to control the height of the vehicle, but it does alternate between higher and lower.  There are four different types of vehicles:  a Chinese take-out box (supposedly containing 10 egg rolls - that's the one we rode), a raisin box, a box containing applesauce servings, and a box of Casey Jr. animal cookies.  The middle of the spinning device has a pie tin atop a tub of whipped cream (nutritional information even!), and for the lighting right around the ride, instead of the fireflies holding onto clovers, they're instead holding onto different colored bendy straws.  The ride doesn't run for very long, but I?m not sure if they're still adjusting the ride times.  I presume there must be some balance that needs to be reached between giving the riders enough time on the ride itself and not making the wait incredibly long for those in line.  There is substantial queue space.

Next on the path is the ODV cart for churros which resembles an opened snack box.  We wondered what would show up if the barcode on the bottom of the box (which was the side of the ODV cart) was run through a scanner.

The next attraction was Francis' Ladybug Boogie, with the sign written as if the title of a 45" record - little plastic yellow adaptor in the middle and all.  There are no height restrictions on this ride.  The lanterns in this area as well as in the entrance to the land resemble little buds of leaves.  I didn't go on this ride, but the two people in our group who did said it was ok.  It resembles the teacups in Disneyland, but instead of controlling the spinning by turning the middle wheel, you apparently do so by way of weight distribution.  One person in our group commented that we need to wait until another friend of ours has had a chance to go on the ride and figure out how best to accomplish that as he's been known to figure that sort of thing out quite well on things like water raft rides.  We did notice that the capacity of the ride seemed rather limited.

The next attraction was Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies, with the sign written on a leaf.  There is a height restriction of 42" minimum to go on the ride and a height minimum of 48" to drive and to ride alone.  Anyone between 42" and 48" can ride if accompanied.  There is a lap bar that does not lock but is rather weighted.  In the middle of the ride area is a sign proclaiming the area as P.T. Flea's Circus, who welcomes you to his attraction after everyone is settled into their vehicles.  The tent over the attraction is held up by different colored pixie sticks, jutting out of which are lollipops that the fireflies then sit atop.  Hanging from the inside of the tent, both as reminders of the direction in which to drive and also as decorations, are Q-tips, crayons, Christmas lights, and two hand mirrors/compacts.  The barrier which encloses the ride is shaped to look like a belt, buckle and all.  On the first go around, the two men went on the ride, as the other woman and I both have slight back problems, and as much as we like bumper cars, we didn't think we'd be able to handle it.  After watching the ride for a bit, we ended up going back later and doing the ride for ourselves.  As the men had described, it is a very tame ride, not the kind of fast and hard bumping customary to other bumper car rides, but rather, you get the fun of driving the vehicles (2 varieties - one of Tuck and one of Roll) and of bumping other vehicles without the jarring that normally occurs.  It is indeed not a fast-paced ride, but rather, one that younger children (and older adults) can also enjoy.  During the course of your ride, your vehicle offers you suggestions and words of encouragement.  We later noticed that a few of the vehicles weren't working, and the "out of order" signs were written on leafs which can be draped over the vehicles.

Across from this attraction is a refreshment ODV cart designed to look like a cardboard juice box, even including the "insert straw here" instruction.

The last attraction is Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, with the sign written on a cupcake sitting on the end of a fork stuck in the ground.  There are no height restrictions on this attraction.  There are individual seat belts for each rider.  The train is actually the caterpillar himself, holding a bit-into piece of candy corn, and the seating is in each of his sections.  He is on a quest for food and invites guests to come along with him.  The first object you come across is a carrot, chewed through so that there are parts on either side of the train.  Next comes a half-eaten apple, followed by an upside-down partially-eaten half-circle of watermelon, with seeds throughout, and as you pass under, you are sprayed by some of its juice, watermelon-scented.  Next, as you pass by a billboard advertising brussel sprouts in a gooey sauce, you enter through a box of animal cookies, with some cookies still inside (and you can smell them as well).  You then pass through a section with a partially-eaten cupcake on your right and some hard candy on your left.  Then, you get to the stack of ever-treasured candy corn.  As you pass by each element, Heimlich has something clever to say, and we actually figured out that he has three distinct phrases for each section, so you might hear him say something different on subsequent rides.  Also, since there are two trains running on the track, when you get to the end, you might have to stop and wait for the other train to finish loading.  They even have a clever speech for Heimlich to give in that instance as well.  The ride isn't particularly long, but I think it's the most clever of the ones in that land.  It reminds me of a tame version of Gadget's Go Coaster in Disneyland's Toontown.

The details in the land are incredible.  #2 pencil tops (with the erasers) presumably will provide extra lighting in the queues at night.  All of the wait time signs for the rides are printed onto buttons with four little holes that have thread holding them on.  We noticed a sign to an entrance for cast members to go backstage, and instead of the usual "cast members only" sign, the sign read instead:  "Worker Bees Only".  Very clever.  The stroller parking sign that we noticed by Flik's Flyers had a picture of Dot pushing a stroller with a baby caterpillar in it.  Again, it reminded me of the clever stroller parking sign in front of "Soarin' Over California".  (There had been talk that strollers might not be allowed in the land, but obviously, that didn't pan out.  There seemed to be plenty of kids in strollers, and the walkways are big enough to support them, as long as people don't park them sideways in the middle of the walkway, but then, that's one of my pet peeves everywhere.)  The absolute best thing for me were the benches seemingly made of popsicle sticks - cherry, orange, lime and grape!  These benches were strewn throughout the land.

We spent about two hours in the area, mostly spent on the rides (the longest wait was our first ride on the train, which was about 20 minutes) and partially spent admiring all the clever details.  I've heard some comments that the rides are only for kids and adults wouldn't enjoy them.  I'd have to seriously disagree.  As I mentioned, there were four adults in our group, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time.  I think the rides are perfectly capable of being enjoyed by adults and kids together.  Of course, if one is looking for rollercoaster thrills, then yes, they'll be disappointed, but then, I'd say they're in the wrong land.  There are other attractions in the park to suit those tastes.

When we left, we were given a button indicating the cast preview event for Flik's (click here to see a picture of the button) as well as a sticker advertising Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday (click here to see a picture of the sticker).

I expect that when the area is open to all guests, it will indeed be quite busy.

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