Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
Magic Kingdom
Land	Tomorrowland
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Attraction type	Interactive theater
Theme	Comedy club
Opening date	April 2, 2007
Hosted by	Mike Wazowski
Ride duration	10 minutes
Original name	Laugh Floor Comedy Club
Previous attractions	The Timekeeper
Wheelchair accessible

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor is an attraction within the Magic Kingdom, a theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. It opened on April 2, 2007 within the park's Tomorrowland section, where it replaced the Circle-Vision attraction The Timekeeper.

The main theater is equipped with 400 seats and utilizes digital puppetry technology similar to Epcot's voice-directed Turtle Talk with Crush. Live actors perform voices behind a large digital screen, while computer-rendered monsters appear with the actors' voices.

Plot synopsis

This attraction is set after the events of the Disney/Pixar animated film Monsters, Inc. Monstropolis is running on safe, clean "laugh power," but even now it still needs more laughs to provide for the needs of the monster world. To that end, Mike Wazowski suggests opening up Monstropolis' first comedy club.

Humans will temporarily enter the monster world via a door the monsters have placed in Tomorrowland. During their visit, guests will be entertained by Monsters, Inc.'s top comedians, where their laughs will be collected and converted to electricity.^[1]

Characters

The Laugh Floor only features two characters from the original movie, Mike Wazowski and Roz. Here, Mike is the "monster of ceremonies" and introduces the show's comedians. The most common characters are:

• Buddy Boil (sometimes Beznos, or "no nose" Boil from Russia), a purple monster with long eye stalks atop his head, whose sketches include a mind-reading act and a "comedy-in-a-box" do-it-yourself kit
• A yellow, two-headed monster whose name changes based on who is performing the characters' heads at the time (common names are "Sam and Ella" or "Mac and Jeeves"). The duo will feature a "geography quiz," where the monsters demonstrate their knowledge (or lack thereof) of geography, and a fast-paced re-telling of the Monsters, Inc. story, using guests as stand-ins for the major characters.
• Marty Wazowski, a smaller, orange version of Mike, and Mike's nephew. This character will often interact with children in the audience.

Running gags

The show's unscripted nature is designed to make each performance unique. However, there are some common jokes that appear more frequently than others.

• As the guests are seated, the theatre's cameras will locate guests and provide humorous captions, early Saturday Night Live style, such as "will treat everyone to churros" or "has no idea where s/he is" or "doesn't know they're on the screen" or "always hides a third eye."
• The show will always focus its attention on a single guest, known as "that guy," throughout the performance. Usually, the use is as part of a punchline of a joke; for example, a monster might say, "I know how I'm going to dress up for Halloween ... I'm going as 'that guy." This guest will receive an "I Was 'That Guy'" sticker at the end of the show.

Disney Imagineers have stated that as the show continues to evolve, more acts and jokes will be added and others will be retired based on guest reactions and feedback.

Interactivity

One of the Laugh Floor's key components is the level of interactivity with the guests. Prior to the performance, guests are invited to use their cellular telephones to send text messages with jokes that could be used during the show. The message begins with a short code-word, followed by the guest's first name and their hometown, then their submitted joke. Generally, three to four jokes will be used during the final portion of the show (featuring Marty Wazowski).

In the theatre, movable cameras are used by performers backstage to locate guests with whom they would like to interact. A Disney cast member in the theatre will then take a microphone to the selected guest so that the guest can talk to the performers.

Name change

The working name of the show during production was the 'Laugh Floor Comedy Club'; prior to soft openings it was renamed 'Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club'^[2]. Promotional materials and a logo were also created using this name. On March 19, the official name of the attraction was changed from this to the current name.

Awards

In 2008, the attraction was honored with a nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project by the Visual Effects Society. The producers and artists singled out for the nomination included Roger Gould, Liz Gazzano, Joe Garlington, and Daniele Colajacomo. ^[3]

References

1. ^ WDW Magic Timeline of the Attraction
2. ^ "The Laugh Floor Comedy Club at Walt Disney World". WDWHistory.com. http://wdwhistory.com/wiki/Laugh_Floor_Comedy_Club. 
3. ^ 6th Annual VES Awards

External links

• Attraction page at Disney
• Attraction page at WDWinfo
• Attraction page at WDWmagic