March 15, 2013

Location: Once Upon A Toy, Downtown Disney

For over two years we've been taking a look at different video game experiences Disney has to offer with our Fun Find Friday articles, and with good reason too. Disney and gaming have gone hand in hand for quite some time. In fact, long before Ralph wrecked it, or Mickey made appearances on Nintendo, Disney board games were a huge hit with Disney fans. Some of these board games focused on the themed parks, while others focused on Mickey, and there were even some dealing with the Mickey Mouse Club!

So where are we going with all this? Well, in Downtown Disney there's a store that is devoted to Disney and its relationship with toys: Once Upon a Toy! Even more importantly, after entering through the main entrance, guests are treated by entering a room devoted to showcasing Disney's love of Board Games! The walls consist of giant monopoly boards, while the walls appear to have giant board game boxes emerging from them! Some of these board game boxes are based off of very real games, while others are games that would delight any Disney fan if they existed. Let's take a look and see what types of games Disney could have given us!

The games scattered around the room are Magic Skyway (a monorail game), Flying Elephants on Parade (Dumbo), Band of Bears (Country Bear Jamboree), Tropical Serenade (The Enchanted Tiki Room), You Can Fly (Peter Pan), The Happiest Cruise (it's a small world), The Laughing Place (Song of the South/Splash Mountain), and Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Haunted Mansion).

I know what you're thinking. How do we get a hold of these games? Well, while these games are fictitious, you're in luck! The bottom of the boxes are shown which have the game rules exposed! Naturally, due to these games not actually existing, the Imagineers went wild with the rules of the games due to them knowing that these games don't actually exist. For instance, one of the instructions on The Laughing Place game reads, "Players take off their shoes and set them aside while the host of the party silently prays that he or she has well-groomed friends."

So next time you are in Once Upon a Toy take a few extra minutes to read the rules of the game for some good laughs. But as always in life, keep in mind Rule #5 of Grim Grinning Ghosts: "If you get all four of your pegs across the FINISH LINE first, you win! Ah. How sweet it is! Who needs a weekend home in the country, anyway? Did you ever think you would enjoy this kind of success? If you play again, the loser goes first - just our way of helping the little guy stick it to the big shots, we guess."