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It's Tough to Be a Bug!

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"It's Tough to Be a Bug!"
Entrance marker at Disney's Animal Kingdom
Disney's Animal Kingdom
AreaDiscovery Island
Coordinates28°21′28″N 81°35′26″W / 28.35787°N 81.59060°W / 28.35787; -81.59060
StatusOperating
Opening dateApril 22, 1998
Disney California Adventure
AreaA Bug's Land
StatusRemoved
Opening dateFebruary 8, 2001
Closing dateMarch 19, 2018[1]
Replaced byWeb Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure
(Avengers Campus)
Ride statistics
Attraction type3D film
ModelTheater
ThemeA Bug's Life
Music
Audience capacity428 per show
Duration9 minutes
Show hostFlik
Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Available
Disabled access Wheelchair accessible
Assistive listening available
Closed captioning available
It's Tough to Be a Bug!
Directed byChris Bailey
Andrew Schmidt
Written byKevin Rafferty
Produced byJohn Lasseter
Darla K. Anderson
Tom Fitzgerald
StarringDave Foley
Andrew Stanton
Cheech Marin
Tom Kenny
French Stewart
Jason Alexander
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates
Florida:
April 22, 1998 (1998-04-22)
California:
February 8, 2001 (2001-02-08)
Running time
9 minutes

It's Tough to Be a Bug! is a 9-minute-long 3D film based on the 1998 Disney·Pixar film A Bug's Life, using theater lighting, 3-D filming techniques, audio-animatronics and various special effects. Flik, a character from the movie, hosts the show and educates the audience on why bugs should be considered friends. It was the first Pixar attraction to open in a Disney park.

The attraction opened in Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort on April 22, 1998, a full seven months before the actual feature debuted in theatres, and is housed within the theme park's icon, the Tree of Life.[2] A second version of the attraction debuted at the opening of Disney California Adventure on February 8, 2001.[3] The version at California Adventure closed permanently on March 19, 2018, and was replaced by Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, an interactive screen ride based on the Spider-Man films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[1] On September 9, 2023, at the Disney fan event Destination D23, it was announced that a new 3D theater attraction based on the 2016 film "Zootopia" will be opening at the Tree of Life. Though not directly confirmed in the announcement, the new attraction is expected to replace "It's Tough to Be A Bug!" at Animal Kingdom. The closing date has yet to be announced.[4]

At Disney California Adventure, the Bug's Life Theater was in A Bug's Land. There, the queue passed through a replica of Ant Island before heading underground, where the column appeared the same as the one at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was initially part of the Bountiful Valley Farm area of the park until A Bug's Land was built around it.

Production

About a year before the opening of Animal Kingdom, Disney Imagineers had decided to place a show inside the park's centrepiece Tree of Life but struggled to find an acceptable concept. Disney CEO Michael Eisner suggested a tie-in with the upcoming Pixar film "A Bug's Life", and the creative team developed a story based on the characters from the film. Visual effects studio Rhythm and Hues was brought in to produce the 3-D animated portion of the show. Disney special effects teams created the rest of the experience, including animatronic characters, wind, water, and foul smells.[5][6]

Summary

Queue

At Disney's Animal Kingdom, the Tree of Life theatre is located inside the Tree of Life. As the queue winds around the tree, visitors can glimpse animal carvings on the tree that aren't visible from other vantage points. The "underground" lobby area features posters of various bug acts from the show, as well as those for all-insect parodies of Broadway musicals, such as "Beauty and the Bees", "Web Side Story", "Little Shop of Hoppers" and "My Fair Ladybug."[7] The lobby music overture consists of insect renditions of Broadway musical numbers.

Attraction

After the theatre doors close, an announcer advises the audience not to buzz, sting, pollinate or chirp during the show. Flik the ant, in audio-animatronic form, emerges from a hole in the theatre's ceiling and welcomes the audience and tells them to put on their bug eyes (3D glasses). The show begins with butterflies, in formation as curtains, flying away. After the title card is presented, Flik appears on screen to give the show's acts. A Mexican red knee tarantula (referred to as a Chilean rose tarantula in the show) named Chili makes his appearance. A pair of acorn Weevils, along with Weevil Kneevil, place a slingshot on the stage and launch acorns from it (triggering hidden air cannons). Chilli shoots the first acorn with a quill but fails to hit the second because Weevil holds on to it, then taunts Chili, who chases after him. Flik presents the second act as a "soldier termite who defends his mound by spraying intruders with acid". A piece of the set falls with a rumble, and the "Termite-ator" steps out, then shoots at a taunting flea, then the audience, sensing more intruders (which triggers hidden water sprayers), despite Flik's protests, until he runs out of acid and leaves, saying that he will be back. Flik reappears and hopes the audience isn't allergic to acid. The next act Flik introduces is a stinkbug named Claire de Room, who walks onto the stage. The acorn weevils place a flower as a target; the Weevil re-enters the scene and crashes into the flower, causing it to move towards the audience. Claire then passes gas, which affects and disgusts both Weevil and the audience (which triggers hidden smell cannons in the theatre).

An explosion is heard in audio-animatronic form as Hopper the grasshopper appears. He orders a stag beetle to chase Flik off the stage, and four wasps hold up an advertisement flyer for "Knock 'em Dead" exterminators. The wasps turn over the ad and use it as a makeshift movie screen to show movie clips from old monster movies featuring giant bugs ("Earth vs the Spider", "Beginning of the End" and "Empire of the Ants"). Hopper wants to make humans experience the same "medicine," and a giant fly swatter attempts to flatten the audience. After Hopper discovers the audience is still alive, he declares war on them. The screen goes black as a hand appears with a can of bug spray and sprays it at the guest (which triggers a hidden fog machine above the screen). Hornets sting the audience (which triggers a small piece of rubber tubing that pokes each guest's back), and several black widow spiders go up and down, trying to capture and scare the audience. Now, on screen, Hopper boasts nothing can stop him, but a chameleon appears and tries to eat him, making Hopper flee.

Flik reappears and says that he forgot to mention the reptile's not caring that it's tough to be a bug, which segues into the finale. Bees, dung beetles (The Dung Brothers), dragonflies and other bugs sing about how insects help humans and about how "it's tough to be a bug". Weevil returns, holding a mouldy cupcake and the bugs chase him. The butterflies come back to form a curtain, and Flik reappears in audio-animatronic form from the ceiling to wrap the show. After the theatre is lit up again, the announcer requests the guests to remain seated so the beetles, maggots, and cockroaches may exit safely. The bugs start to talk all at once as they leave (which triggers hidden rubber wheels to roll at the bottom of the seats). The announcer then tells the audience to gather their belongings and take their "small grubs" by their "grubby little hands" as they exit.

Cast

The cast includes:[2]

Music

The attraction's titular theme song was written by George Wilkins and Kevin Rafferty and is included in the disc "Theme Park Classics" of the Disney Classics compilation box set. The show's score was composed and conducted by Bruce Broughton, while much of the queue music was arranged by Wilkins. The queue features parodies or renditions of songs from famous Broadway shows using bug sounds.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Glover, Erin (March 20, 2018). "Avengers and Other Super Heroes to Assemble in New Themed Areas at Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland". Disney Parks Blog.
  2. ^ a b "It's Tough to Be a Bug". IMDb. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  3. ^ Malloy, Betsy (2002). The Everything Family Guide to the Disneyland Resort. Adams Media. p. 170. ISBN 9781605502410. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  4. ^ Writtenberry, Lauren (September 9, 2023). "NEWS: 'Zootopia' Is Coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom". AllEars.net.
  5. ^ Sklar, Martin (2013). Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney's Magic Kingdoms. Disney Book Group. ISBN 9781423184522. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  6. ^ Joseph Kleiman (March 27, 2013). "It's Tough to be a Bust: The Rhythm and Hues Bankruptcy". Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  7. ^ "It's Tough to be a Bug". Magically Digital. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
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