Harbor Square: Attractions

 ATTRACTIONS:

9 - The New Americans

C-Ticket

Any Height

Discover the legacy of American immigrants in this historical show located in Harbor Square. This attraction is supposed to mimic the American history attractions seen in other parks, such as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the Hall of Presidents, and the American Adventure.

QUEUE:

On the side of the harbor is a building with several historical flags hanging from it. This includes flags of Qing Dynasty China, the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire, the Japanese Empire, Great Britain, and others. From there, they enter a room filled with photographs of immigrants, including Asian immigrants arriving on Angel Island. Soon, they will be loaded into a grand theater, where they will sit down and face a stage.

SHOW EXPERIENCE:

This show features a wide array of audio-animatronics, screens, and photos to tell the story of American immigrants. It features a score featuring cultural instruments from Asia and Europe, as well as other things to further immerse guests in the story of each peoples.

The show begins by telling of Irish and German immigrants in the early Nineteenth Century. Then, amidst the California Gold Rush, numbers grow and people from China and Japan come overseas. The show would tell about the cultures the immigrants brought with them and the persecution they received by early Americans. It tells of Jewish peoples who fled to America to escape pogroms, as well as Italian immigrants displaced by the unification wars. Aside from this, it tells of influential things that these immigrants did, such as working on the trans-continental railroad, Jacob Riis helping expose the harsh conditions of people living in the slums, and influences these foreign cultures had on American society.

After the show, guests can determine where their family comes from by looking at several common surnames on a wall. They can also buy themed merchandise in a gift shop, the Melting Pot.

10 - Garden of the Twelve Friends

B-Ticket

Any Height

In this traditional Chinese garden, guests can walk past mosaics of the Chinese Zodiac, portrayed as Disney characters. This is based on a similar garden found in Shanghai Disneyland.

Here are the zodiac signs and the characters who represent them:

• Rat: Remy from Ratatouille

• Ox: Babe from the Paul Bunyan short

• Tiger: Tigger from Winnie the Pooh

• Rabbit: Thumper from Bambi

• Dragon: Mushu from Mulan

• Snake: Kaa from The Jungle Book

• Monkey: Abu from Aladdin

• Horse: Maximus from Tangled

• Sheep: The Lambs from Mary Poppins

• Chicken: Hei Hei from Moana

• Dog: Dug from Up

• Pig: Hamm from Toy Story

11 - Secrets of Chinatown (FP)

D-Ticket

Any Height

Help solve a mystery surrounding lost Chinese amulets with great power in this exciting new attraction.

BACKSTORY:

A long time ago, a Chinese man by the name of Lo Tsu traveled to America, seeking to help Chinese immigrants with his unusual magic skills. With him, he brought a collection of ancient amulets, each one with great power. He used them to help others. However, this drew attention from the American community. When some gangsters found out about this, they tried to take it from him. There was a quarrel over it, and in the end, the amulets were lost.

Now, Lo is turning to the guests to help him find the lost amulets before the gang does. Although he intended to use them for good, he feels that they could be dangerous if they fell into the wrong hands……

QUEUE:

In the back of Chinatown is a building with a green-tiled roof resembling a Chinese building. Here, guests go inside and pass through hallways filled with photographs of Asian immigrants. Guests also pass a Buddha statue, Chinese art, and even a statue of a Qilin, a mythical horse in Chinese folklore. They then stand outside of one of two rooms and wait to be let inside.

PRE-SHOW:

When guests enter the rooms, they find a room filled with ancient Chinese amulets and potions. Standing there is an elderly Audio-Animatronic man, Lo Tsu, who waits for the room to fill. Once the door is closed, he begins to talk.

Lo: Welcome, visitors, to the Society of Chinese-American Protection. I am Lo Tsu, the founder of this society, and it is my job to help out Chinese citizens and protect them from prejudice and persecution.

Suddenly, a slide show plays on the wall, displaying black-and-white photos.

Lo: I traveled here a long time ago during the gold rush with my relic collection. With this, I helped other people like me get rich with gold. With our wealth, we created this society, but recently, there has been a problem.

The slideshow shows three dragon talismans.

Lo: These three talismans were the most prized of them all. When united, they could channel a magical force to make great things happen. However, these great things caught the attention of a local gang. They tried to take it from me. The good news is that they didn’t get it. The bad news is that they’re now scattered all over the town. I don’t know where they are, but hopefully, with your help, I can find them.

The image changes to a Chinese carriage with dragon designs on them.

Lo: Using some talismans, I have created these vehicles. They are drawn to traces of magic. When you board them, they will hopefully take you to the relics we seek. Just be careful, because I fear that the gangsters are looking for them too. Good luck, and may fortune be in your favor.

After this, the doors open and the guests exit into a back alley at night. The vehicles are there, and the guests board them. They fit up to six people at a time and have two rows. Once they board their vehicles, they sit down and pull their lapbars down, waiting for their journey to begin.

RIDE EXPERIENCE:

The ride begins with the vehicles moving out of the loading area and into the streets of San Francisco. Since this is a trackless ride, they will all move a different way. However, they all move down the street past several Chinese shops and restaurants.

The vehicles move down Eighth Street, where they move past more elegant buildings. This is a play on Chinese number symbolism, with eight meaning good luck. One of the relics are found on a cart, but before they can get it, some Chinese gangsters show up and point their guns at the vehicles. They head down Fourth Street, and end up surrounded by gangsters. In Chinese culture, four symbolizes death. To escape the gangsters, the carts flee into an alleyway.

On the other side, they move through a Chinese garden. Here, they find another relic hidden in the river. It magically disappears, trying to create the illusion that the guests have taken it. The vehicles continue to move and enter into a Buddhist temple. There, they find the last dragon relic on an altar, which they take as well.

Just when the guests think that they’re safe, they find themselves surrounded by gangsters when they leave the temple. Using screens and special effects, it is supposed to feel like they’re in a car chase down the streets of San Francisco. It culminates with them going down an alley and hearing a crash. On the other side, they find that the car of the gangsters has hit a wall, and the police are there to arrest them. The last relic disappears as the vehicles head into a laundromat.

While they pass through, Lo Tsu appears and congratulates them on their success. He apologizes for the trouble they had faced, but still is grateful that they helped get his items back. From there, the vehicles head into the unloading station, where they exit their vehicles and enter the Chinatown Traders gift shop.

11 - Haunted Mansion (FP)

E-Ticket

Any Height

Embark on a spine-tingling tour of a haunted residence where ghosts and ghouls are around every corner.

QUEUE:

Located at the edge of Harbor Square is a large building resembling the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. As guests pass through the gate of the attraction, they go around the mansion’s lawn. This takes them past a carriage where an invisible horse is heard, a garden filled with statues, and a small cemetery bearing pun names and the names of characters on the ride, including the Ghost Host (Edward Gracey), Madame Leota (Leota Toombs), the bride (Constance Hatchaway), and the Hitchhiking Ghosts (Ezra Beane, Professor Phineas Plump, and Gus.) Before long, guests will come to the mansion’s front door, where they will wait to be let inside.

When a mansion servant lets them in, guests enter a dimly-lit foyer with red walls and mirrors. The portrait of a man is seen above a piano. A cobweb-covered chandelier is also above them.

Then, when the doors close behind them, eerie music fills the room. Then, the voice of a disembodied voice comes from overhead:

Ghost Host: When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight…

As the voice speaks, the man in the portrait suddenly becomes older, his brown hair graying and his face becoming wrinkly. After this tone-setting narration, a servant will come in from one of two identical chambers. Those brave enough to continue follow them inside.

PRE-SHOW:

Guests enter two-story chambers that are octagon-shaped. On the second floor are gargoyles holding candles to the light room above. In an octagonal chamber are portraits on every other wall. These portraits include a woman holding a parasol, a bald man holding documents, an old lady holding a rose, and a serious-looking man in a bowler hat. Cast members will tell guests to come into the “dead center” of the room before the doors close.

Once the doors are close, music comes again and the voice returns.

Ghost Host: Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your Ghost Host. There’s no turning back now….

Suddenly, the room begins to stretch vertically, making the portraits expand downwards and reveal grim secrets about the subjects of each one. The woman is seen on a tightrope, balancing between the jaws of an alligator. The bald man is in his boxer shorts and standing on a barrel of TNT, which is being lit by a candelabra. The old lady is sitting on the grave of her husband, George, which has a bust of a man with an ax in his head nearby. Finally, the bowler hat man is sitting on the shoulders of a frightened-looking man who is sitting on the shoulders of a horrified-looking man waist-deep in quicksand. As a tribute to the original ride in California, this version of the chambers are elevators moving down.

Ghost Host: Our tour begins in this portrait chamber, where our previous guests appear in their corrupt mortal state. Is this haunted room really stretching? Or is it your imagination? Here's something eerie to consider: this room has no windows and no doors. Which leaves you with the chilling challenge, how are you going to find your way out?

Instead of saying the next line “Well, there’s always my way,” he says “Don’t try to kill each other to get out. It didn’t work for me and my friends.” With a thunderclap, the lights go out and the ceiling vanishes, revealing a skeleton hanging from a taut rope. Following a scream, the room falls into darkness again before slowly lighting up. This part, arguably the most frightening part of the attraction, was lightened up by saying how the Ghost Host was murdered rather than committed suicide.

After leaving the room, guests travel down a hallway filled with portraits. With lightning flashes outside, the portraits change to ghosts and monsters. A knight and his horse become ghostly, a woman in a Greek temple becomes Medusa, a young woman named April becomes an old woman named December, a lady on a couch becomes a were-panther, and a ship at sea becomes a ghost ship.

Ghost Host: I didn’t mean to alarm you. And don’t worry….those responsible for that grotesque scene got what they deserved, as you see here.

A portrait at the end of the hall reveals large portraits of men holding guns. When the lightning flashes, the men turn on each other and shoot each other. It is assumed that these people killed the Ghost Host.

Soon, guests will find a seemingly endless line of black carriages known as “Doom Buggies.” The omnimover Here, guests will board them and wait for the Ghost Host to lower the bars.

RIDE EXPERIENCE:

The ride begins by going through a hallway where a knight and a chair with an abstract face are seen. Here, guests see some references to the Winchester Mystery House, where they see dead ends, stairs leading to nowhere, and most famously, an infinite hallway where a candelabra is seen floating. Then, the Doom Buggies move past stairs that resembles E. C Escher’s “Relativity.”

Soon, guests pass through two rooms: one where a book is turning its own pages in a library and a pair of strict-looking busts are staring at guests and another room where a witch is seen brewing a green potion. The vehicles then move through a conservatory of dead plants, where they pass a coffin where skeletal hands are trying to lift the lid off. The inhabitant of the casket is saying “Let me out!” Nearby is a red-eyed raven, looking at guests as they pass.

Following this, the Doom Buggies go down a hallway of doors where screaming, shouting, evil laughter, and other sinister noises are heard. Several knockers on the doors are moving. The vehicles pass a portrait of a man who eerily watches the vehicles as they move by. Then, they pass a grandfather clock with thirteen instead of twelve. As the clock strikes midnight, a shadowy claw passes over it.

From there, the vehicles enter the seance room, where Madame Leota floats in her crystal ball. As they move by, she makes incantations:

Leota: Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat... Call in the spirits, wherever they're at. Rap on a table, it's time to respond... Send us a message from somewhere beyond. Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween... Awaken the spirits with your tambourine! Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond... Let there be music from regions beyond! Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell... Give us a hint by ringing a bell.

With her incantations, musical instruments rattle and shake around her. Seen near her table is a book open to pages 1312 and 1313, showing her incantations. The red-eyed raven from earlier sits on a chair.

As they pass through the room, guests hear the Ghost Host from overhead:

Ghost Host: The spirits are making their presence known around you. Mwahahaha!

Soon, the vehicles enter a large ballroom where ghosts are celebrating a deathday party. One ghost blows out thirteen candles on a cake while the others applaud. Nearby, ghosts are doing the waltz while a pair is sitting on a chandelier. On the opposite side of the room are portraits of two Revolutionary War-era soldiers, who appear and duel each other. At the organ, a ghost is playing a rendition of “Grim Grinning Ghosts” while banshees sprout from the pipes.

The vehicles continue through a billiard room, where unseen ghosts are playing cards. Near the exit of the room is the Hatbox Ghost, whose head disappears and reappears in a box and then reappears on his head seconds later.

From there, the vehicles go uphill and enter the attic, which is filled with wedding decorations. There are five portraits here, each with a different groom but the same bride. In every portrait, the bride gains a pearl necklace. From time to time, the heads of the grooms disappear from the paintings. As a spooky version of the bridal march fills the room, guests pass by a ghostly bride who sings a melancholy version of the song:

Constance the Bride: Here comes the bride... As long as we both shall live... For better or for... worse? I do. I did, in sickness and in... Wealth. You may now kiss the bride... We'll live happily ever after... Till death do us part…

After this, the vehicles exit through a balcony, where the raven is seen for a third time. They go down a ramp and past a cemetery gate, where a watchman and his dog quiver in fear. They then pass into the graveyard, where ghouls pop out behind tombstones. “Grim Grinning Ghosts” plays in the background with a group of ghostly musicians, some cats and owls making noise to the music. They then pass five singing busts, who give words to the song.

Continuing through the graveyard, guests see many ghosts in the area. This includes a king and queen on a seesaw, an old couple playing chess, banshees riding bicycles, a renaissance man trying to translate for a mummy having a tea party with some ghosts, and a headless knight holding his head, an executioner standing nearby. The Doom Buggies then enter a crypt, where the Ghost Host is heard again:

Ghost Host: Ah, there you are, and just in time….. There’s one small matter I forgot to mention. Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts! These phantoms will follow you home and will haunt you until you return.

Guests pass by the Hitchhiking Ghosts before turning the corner. There, they pass a mirror, where one of the three ghosts appears between the riders (or if there’s a third rider, on someone’s lap.) From that point, they move through a secret passage to the loading area. There, the lap bars raise and the guests disembark.

Ghost Host: I shall now raise the lapbars and a ghost will follow you home. Mwahaha!

POST-RIDE:

Guests will get off the vehicles and walk down a hallway with a conveyor belt. As they pass near an arch, they see a small, human Leota standing on an archway above. As they go underneath, she says “Hurry back, hurry back……and make sure to bring your death certificate.”

Soon, guests will exit through a mausoleum and appear in the city near the mansion, making the horror look like it never happened.