With the recent revival of DuckTales, perhaps it is time for other cartoons to make a comeback. Maybe in the theme parks as new attractions? Well, I hereby present to you a resurrected idea of mine, first used on Ideal Buildout, and previously featured on my Disneyland Paris blog post: The Gummi Glen Quick Cars Coaster!
Adventures of the Gummi Bears was the first TV show of the Disney Afternoon, strangely created on Michael Eisner's request based on the fact that his son liked eating Gummi Bears. It lasted from 1985 to 1991, had a stellar cast of voice actors and characters, revived animation on television, and had an awesome theme song.
The magical Gummi Bears live in the hidden forest sanctuary of Gummi Glen, keeping the secrets of their Gummi Berry Juice safe, which give them amazing super-bouncing powers which Tigger only dreams he could have. The Gummi Bears included grouchy, old fashioned Gruffi, the wise but bumbling Zummi, matriarch Grammi, the overweight, easygoing Tummi, the fun-loving Sunni Gummi, and adventurous Cubbi. They are aided by the human boy Cavin, and Princess Calla of Dunwyn. Opposing them is the evil Duke Igthorn and his army of ogres, who want to get revenge on Dunwyn.
It was a pretty fun, fast-paced, but vast fantasy world. Perfect for a Disney attraction!
The ride takes a lot of inspiration, thematically and physically, from the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It is a family-friend roller coaster, an indoor-outdoor ride, using its environment to cleverly hide the show building and structure of the tracks. Gummi Glen, an enormous twisting tree with many knothole-shaped doors, stands above the coaster tracks, on a grassy hillock, with a cluster of rocks, and several sloping hills and berms below. The tracks and ride vehicles rise and fall in and out of the hills.
Guests enter the queue line by passing over a wooden bridge and through a walkway, into a large tunnel into Gummi Glen itself. The queue line, marked with wooden cattle fences, takes guests through the interior halls of the Gummi Bears' home, first passing through the great library, various bedrooms, and finally, the storerooms containing the barrels of Gummi Berry Juice. Guests then follow a more messy tunnel, and enter a large cavern containing the loading bay.
The ride vehicles are the Quick Cars, large carved out logs on mine cart wheels, with the front carved out to resemble hawk heads. Like the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the vehicles have tilting technology, giving an extra sense of rush and fool the guests into thinking they may fly off the tight corners. Each cart has room for twenty people, two guests per row.
The vehicle is quite fast, soaring right out of the loading bay, and through a series of curving tunnels. The building has three floors - the top floor has the Gummi Glen tree, the ground floor has the queues, loading/unloading bay, and small parts of the ride that go outside, and the rest is hidden in the basement. The Quick Car quickly goes outside and reaches the lift hill, taking them outside, around the back of the tree, and the first major drops takes them back into the underground tunnels.
The ride zooms in and out, around Gummi Glen through the tunnels. Guests may catch glimpses of the Gummi Bears, bouncing around after their visitors. We then have the fun part, where we pass through the kitchens where the characters are making Gummi Berry Juice. Zummi consults his magic book, Grammi and Tummi are trying out the Gummi Berry Juice (though Tummi is chugging it down), Sunni is trying on a princess-esque dress but finds it has been stained with juice, and Cubbi poses on a table, with wooden sword in hand, vowing to "save" her dress. As we head out the scene, Gruffi bursts out of a door, telling the others to keep the noise down, and then warns the guests to get the heck out of there.
We rocket out of the kitchens, through some more tunnels, only to end up jumping onto some "disused" tracks. Of course, this would involve the ride vehicle changing tracks. If for a mechanical error, the vehicle goes down the same track, it'll slow down and stop a few feet down the track for cast members to evacuate the ride. The ride becomes faster and more wild, as we go down the track, with sharper corners and crazier turns.
Then, suddenly we are outside in some sort of gloomy wasteland, where a haunting, decrepid fortress, Drekmore Castle, stands tall in the background. We pass by Duke Igthorn on horseback, who orders his ogre minions to chase the Quick Car back into the tunnel and invade Gummi Glen. As we speed through the tunnels, ogres appear out of nooks and crannies, trying to ensnare the guests. We hear the Gummi Bears deciding to help us out and give us Gummi Berry Juice (via playful, hidden water squirters). The Quick Cars then "bounce" from track to track, using clever technology that has hinted to appear in a Donkey Kong Country roller coaster to be used in Universal's Super Nintendo World.
After one curving drop back into the show building, we pass by animated projections of Duke Igthorn and his minions falling into a trap. Around the corner, we see animatronics of the villains now caught in ropes, dangling above the track, with Igthorn cursing the Gummi Bears. The ride comes to an end as we pass by a large room, where the Gummi Bears and their friends are throwing a party, before heading out to the unload area.
The ride would have an exit gift shop, Grammi Bear's Juice Kitchen, based on Grandma Sara's Kitchen at Tokyo Disneyland, selling Gummi Bear and Disney Afternoon merchandise, as well as selling Gummi Berry Juice drinks.
The likelihood of such a ride getting made is unlikely. Disney don't seem to care much for the Gummi Bears anymore, and the similarities to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are obvious. Still, if DuckTales can get a revival, and a rollercoaster based on Rescue Rangers can still stand in Mickey's Toontown, there is still potential.
All images belong to their original owners.
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