tltcats
03-16-2007, 06:08 AM
I just returned from the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday 3/14 and was lucky enough to catch a soft opening show of the Laugh Floor Comedy Club! The doors were open and the sign claimed that there was a 30 minute wait...it was actually more like 10 minutes. The old TimeKeeper queue is still in place but has been re-decorated as the Lobby for Monsters, Inc. with Monster appropriate additions like a vending machine that boasts items: "BLORT," "PRIMORDIAL OOZE," "SUGAR, SALT & FAT," "IT'S A REALLY BIG BITE," and others. Office doors for Mike Wazowski(appropriately sized) and "Inhuman Resources" are there, as are bulletin boards with word gags and a "Monsters of Comedy" board for the "Comedian of the Month." The audience is encouraged to contribute jokes while in queue via cell phone text messages. Many people in the queue didn't think that they really could send in jokes. The kids who DID submit a joke and heard it during the show were thrilled. I think with time and word of mouth (or cell) it will become a popular competition. There's a quick preshow with footage from the original movie explaining the innovative changes from scares to laughter.
The audience is invited in to the auditorium where they take a seat on blue plastic chunky seats - exactly what you'd expect for a monster-style comedy club, complete with little table lights!Mike is the MC. He's especially proud to introduce his favorite comedian - his nephew! At the beginning of the show the audience is taught how to greet monsters as an ice breaker. It worked well as a means for keeping everyone in the audience involved in the show - even physically! Then various monsters come on stage and interact with the audience members - all under the watchful eye of Roz who keeps reminding us that the laugh container needs to be filled. In addition to the main "stage" there's another large screen at the front of the room. Roz appears here often, but when an audience member interacts with a monster instead of just hearing them a camera zooms in on the person and he or she is instantly part of the show...a nice improvement over Turtle Talk With Crush where you can only hear the guest and not see them. I was "selected" to test one of the monster's geography knowledge. A cast member brought a microphone to me. The monster asked where I was from and when I answered Illinois he was instantly singing a crazy song about my "country" that he had never heard of before. They also have some fun putting guest a hat, shirt, person sitting next to a guest, etc. etc. It was all in good fun though - nothing mean or embarassing.
There were cast members in the back making quite a few notes. The visuals like Roz's glares and looks on the monsters' faces are great. I suspect they're still working on the comedy material though. The laughter in our show was rather subdued but much like Turtle Talk with Crush this show promises to be unique each time depending on the audience response. The crowd during our show was relatively small so that also made the laughter seem quiet. Amazingly enough though, we were still able to meet our laugh quota!
Probably the biggest disappointment was that Sully and some of the other favorites from the movie never appeared in the show. Maybe that will change...we can hope! I know the attraction is still in soft opening stage and they're still tweaking the material. Maybe there are alternative "performers" on the Laugh Floor much like there would be at a human comedy club...and Sully wasn't working Wednesday!
So, if you're in the Magic Kingdom make sure you stop by and see if the Monsters are at work!
The audience is invited in to the auditorium where they take a seat on blue plastic chunky seats - exactly what you'd expect for a monster-style comedy club, complete with little table lights!Mike is the MC. He's especially proud to introduce his favorite comedian - his nephew! At the beginning of the show the audience is taught how to greet monsters as an ice breaker. It worked well as a means for keeping everyone in the audience involved in the show - even physically! Then various monsters come on stage and interact with the audience members - all under the watchful eye of Roz who keeps reminding us that the laugh container needs to be filled. In addition to the main "stage" there's another large screen at the front of the room. Roz appears here often, but when an audience member interacts with a monster instead of just hearing them a camera zooms in on the person and he or she is instantly part of the show...a nice improvement over Turtle Talk With Crush where you can only hear the guest and not see them. I was "selected" to test one of the monster's geography knowledge. A cast member brought a microphone to me. The monster asked where I was from and when I answered Illinois he was instantly singing a crazy song about my "country" that he had never heard of before. They also have some fun putting guest a hat, shirt, person sitting next to a guest, etc. etc. It was all in good fun though - nothing mean or embarassing.
There were cast members in the back making quite a few notes. The visuals like Roz's glares and looks on the monsters' faces are great. I suspect they're still working on the comedy material though. The laughter in our show was rather subdued but much like Turtle Talk with Crush this show promises to be unique each time depending on the audience response. The crowd during our show was relatively small so that also made the laughter seem quiet. Amazingly enough though, we were still able to meet our laugh quota!
Probably the biggest disappointment was that Sully and some of the other favorites from the movie never appeared in the show. Maybe that will change...we can hope! I know the attraction is still in soft opening stage and they're still tweaking the material. Maybe there are alternative "performers" on the Laugh Floor much like there would be at a human comedy club...and Sully wasn't working Wednesday!
So, if you're in the Magic Kingdom make sure you stop by and see if the Monsters are at work!