Laugh Floor Comedy Club - Soft Opening Report

[tltcats]

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!

[Maleficent's Dad]

Thanks for the report!

Sounds like they've got something good here - from what you've written, it appears to be thoroughly thought out with attention to detail. I do hope that Sulley makes an appearance though...

Thanks for sharing!

[pogo]

Thanks for the report. We are looking forward to this show in about 5 weeks from today.

[disneydawniebeth]

Thank you for that report! I posted a thread because I had heard it was soooo bad! Glad to see they worked out the blunders! I love Monsters inc. and really want this show to be a big hit.

I think when I posted the thread about how I heard it was a big flop, some thought I might be one of those die hard wdw nerds that don't want anything to change? Not true- though I was sad to see mr. toads wild ride go, I must say that I have never scoffed at a change! Disney imagineering has never really disappointed me! Oh wait- Narnia- but I will digress at that! LOL

[disneydawniebeth]

Narnia in MGM-Disney Studios- Not the movie! Just a little clarification!

[Tekneek]

I keep hearing that this is a bit of a flop, even from this new soft opening. I hope it works for the kids.

I actually liked Stitch (to reference another new Tomorrowland attraction that is perceived as a big flop), but that probably also had a lot to do with my son enjoying it so much. I know that is another attraction that is routinely ripped on, so it reminds me to take some of the negative comments about this new attraction lightly.

[tltcats]

I went back to see Monsters again when we were in the Magic Kingdom over Memorial Day weekend. What I saw was that some aspects of the show really are repeated EVERY show. This won't be obvious to most visitors who visit the most magical place on earth infrequently. For those of us who live and die by when's the next trip coming up, it was kind of disappointing. On the up side, there are clearly different comedians "behind the scenes" for different shows - and some are better at keeping things moving. THe one we "heard" this time was great at coming up with jokes on the fly during interaction with the audience. They were great at working with whatever walked in the room - anything from those silling viking hats they sell at Norway in EPCOT to a dad that was on a cell phone. Unfortunately, I think the biggest "flop" part was the part at the end where they used jokes that had been text-messaged in. I know that this is an attempt to add more interactivity with the guests but it just really doesn't offer much originality and to make matters worse they put it at the end so you kind of leave with a 'ho-hum' feeling when it would have been better to left on a good, big laugh.

There's quite a lot of untapped potential here - but it still needs more development. We'll just have to wait and see if they strive to improve or abandon the attraction "as is" because it's up and running. If the latter becomes true I don't think it will be around for long.

[wilshade]

I certainly hope that the imagineers keep tabs on this attraction. if it is employing a new concept and technology, then it would be almost ludircous for them not to.

I would like to know what the differences are between this show and "Turtle Talk with Crush"