Memory 056 – Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and The Timekeeper

Come and join us for another installment of the WDW-Memories podcast, where I try to make it possible for you relive your Walt Disney World Memories when you can’t actually be there.

Well like last week, I’m scrambling to get caught up. I think the recent changes to Google+ have taken too much of my attention, and now I’m behind in my planning for our next memory. So I actually had to get up early this morning and still write the script before I could even record. Thankfully it’s about some recordings I’m very familiar with.

So today’s memory is a unique one and does require a bit of introduction. It all started with a request from Chris in Montreal, Canada. He wrote:

…also if you could manage to get The new attractions in all 4 parks and compare them with old attractions that’d be awesome.

Well Chris let me choose which comparison I wanted to do, so I got to do one that I’d been waiting for since I’ve started this podcast journey years ago. I decided to showcase Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club and it’s predicessor The Timekeeper. I know, there have been more attractions prior to this, but sadly these were the only two I have recorded. So that’s as far back as I could go.

So sometime after reaching that decision, I also received an email from Laura in Pennsylvania. She wrote:

I actually have three requests, and they really have nothing to do with each other, so if you only do one, I’ll completely understand. The first is the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I know that it changes slightly every time, but one recording would probably be a good representative, right?

Laura, I sadly can only give you one recording. I think I might have seen this attraction twice, but I only have one recording to work with, so I guess that works out for us right.

So when I tossed the topic out on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ I got the following responses. On Facebook Robert said:

Timekeeper was one of the best shows ever!

and Daniel Said

Monster inc. to me is very good and different. My little boy has to see it every visit!

and Dan said:

Monster inc.would be different…

And on Google+, Pat wrote:

Having only been to WDW five times, my experiences are very limited. My first time was in 87, and my last time was last year. (my next time is next year). One thing that Disney does better than everyone else is putting an imprint on your memory with every attraction they create. Although I only saw the Timekeeper once, it is such a dominant memory. I would love to hear that memory. Thank you for your hard work.

Thank you all for the comments, I can agree with all of you. The Timekeeper was such a great attraction, but I think it was so underrated in the parks. I don’t remember ever seeing a line for this attraction, which is probably the reason I only ever rode it once myself. I assumed it was some lame attraction, or didn’t even know it existed because there never was a line or much of a sign to begin with. But once I saw it, I always looked for it to be open again, in hopes that I might be able to get back in there and see it one more time. Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor is a good attraction in it’s own right, and definitely a unique one in the Magic Kingdom. Even if you don’t see the full backstory, or know the movie, you can still enjoy the attraction, and I know Susie sure did. Anways, on with the Memories.

So let’s start off in the present, or with the current attraction at least. We’ll begin on what has been a beautiful spring day in 2007. My wife and I were joined today by her parents. We’ve spent most the day in Epcot, and have park hopped over to the Magic Kingdom for the evening and a couple of staple attractions. We actually began our evening by turning right in the plaza, and heading down to Tomorrowland, and this was our first stop. The crowds aren’t too bad today, so our wait is minimal. We’re going to jump into this memory as we’re standing in the queue area waiting to enter the attraction. As a bit of interest, as we’re waiting to enter the attraction, I actually comment to Traci about how this attraction replaced the Timekeeper.

Our second memory goes a bit further back. In this one, we’re going to jump back to August of 1998. This was one of those trips were my family and I came over from Clearwater, FL for a day at the parks. It’s been a full day hopping between Disney’s MGM Studios, Epcot, and now Magic Kingdom. We’ve seen a lot, even though wait times on the average have been over 30 minutes. Sadly, I don’t have any more of this attraction other than when we were let into the show, so we’ll jump into this memory just as we’re let into the room.

So our Memory from 2007 is in Binaural, so headphones on, however our memory from 1998 is in a Modified Monaural, so it may sound stereo, but it’s not. You may not need to have the headphones on for that one, but I still would, as you might miss some of those special audio details.