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Ending months of speculation, the rumor that may have been the worst-kept secret in Disneyland history was finally confirmed last week: A new bear is coming to live in the former Country Bear Playhouse, when The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction opens in April 2003.

Piglet shows off the new attraction sign.

Piglet and Pooh joined Imagineers Bruce Gordon and David Van Wyk last week, when the media got a sneak peek at the coming attraction. Or, at least the exterior of it -- the interior sets were not ready for close inspection. However, the construction walls were down, the queue area was open, and the first of 26 attraction vehicles sat on display. Nicknamed "Tumbly," the car resembles a modified beehive, still dripping honey. Perched on the back of the vehicle was a smiling blue Heffalump.

Pooh with the new ride vehicle.

The loading area is well-themed, down to the bees on the black-and-yellow-striped safety tape and the hive-shaped speakers. Even the operational areas are decorated: one console is located under a giant black umbrella, and "Rabbit" is carved into the wooden handle. The ride appears to take place inside a giant barn; the vehicles disappear into one large door, and reappear through another at the end of the ride.

Rabbit's umbrella shelters the ride console.

While the track was not open, Bruce Gordon, the producer of the new ride, provided a room-by-room description:

• The Blustery Day: The wind blows through the first portal, which is based on a story and a song of the same name, and there is the song called "The Blustery Day."
• The Floody Place: "As you go around the corner," Gordon said, "The wind brings the rain, so now you're in the Floody Place where 'the rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down' song plays, and we have all these special effects as the rain's coming down."
• Pooh's house: To get out of the rain, you enter Pooh's house. "Pooh is in his house. Pooh falls asleep, and now Pooh (is) having his dream about Heffalumps and Woozels, and about honey, and you hear Tigger warning Pooh 'beware of Heffalumps and Woozels, they steal honey."
• Heffalumps and Woozles: You then go through a scene with all the Heffalumps and Woozles. Gordon explained that the scenes are from the film.
• Honey Heaven: "Pooh sort of gets over the Heffalumps and winds up now in Honey Heaven," Gordon said. "So he's now just surrounded by nothing but honey. This is where Pooh wants to be. And then you hear his friends calling his name, 'Wake up Pooh, wake up, it's your birthday.' And you come around the corner and there's the big birthday party for Pooh, and then you leave the ride, through all the gifts that have been given to Pooh by his friends, which are of course, all big pots of honey. So it's all he wants, the honey."

In one door, and out the other.

"So it's kind of a perfect day. It's windy, then it rainy, you fall asleep and you wake up and it's your birthday. What more could you want from a day?" Gordon said. "Within that we got all the characters and all the songs and all the stories and all the scenes. So, it's pretty cool. We're very excited about it."

Clever beehive speakers.

Asked whether the ride is new for Disneyland, Gordon explained that it was based on the ride at Walt Disney World in Florida. "But just like all of our rides are unique from park to park, like Big Thunder in Florida is very different from Big Thunder here, everything we do, we don't just rubber stamp them, they all have their own identity." He explained that although the ride is basically the same as the one in Florida, there were subtle differences, including color schemes and the sequence of scenes.

"Both the Florida attraction and this attraction were put into existing buildings, so they designed their show to fit the existing building and then we modified it to fit this building," Gordon said. "So that means we shuffled some scenes around, we changed some stuff, color schemes, we did some stuff that's more compatible with Critter Country and Disneyland." He explained that the two rides have their own identity. "There's surprising differences in the parks. When you're in Fantasyland it's very much a different approach to color schemes and layouts than there is when you're in a rustic backwoods area like this."

The sign up close.

To dispel some common rumors, Gordon said that none of the elements from the original Country Bear Playhouse are being used in the new attraction. "We have Pooh in a balloon, which is located where Teddi Berra was. But it's not using any of the original mechanism. But it is in the same spot. So I guess it's using the steel that was in the ceiling to hold up Teddi Berra is holding up the balloon."

When asked if there were any other hidden Country Bear references in the ride, he laughed and said, "I keep getting asked that, and all I can say is that it wouldn't be an Imagineering attraction if there weren't hidden stuff in there. So, I would say yes, keep your eyes open."

The base of the ride vehicle.

Asked whether there had been any safety modifications made to this new vehicle, Gordon said, "It's a brand new vehicle, so it's been done to meet the current standards of all Disney rides." He explained that the skirt on the bottom of the vehicle is there to screen the mechanisms. "Because we have the bounce... we don't want you seeing all of the mechanisms," he said. "It's like the Indiana Jones ride has the same kind of thing." In addition, Gordon said they came up with 26 unique Pooh terms so that each vehicle could have its own name engraved on it.

Lasting about three and a half minutes long, the vehicle travels about three feet per second. Describing the ride as very gentle and sweet, he said, "The vehicle has this cool bounce... It actually goes back and forth and side to side at the same time, so you get this sort of floating bouncing feel to the ride. If you've been on the one in Florida, the Pooh vehicle in Florida has the same effect."

You never can escape the Heffalumps.

As with its neighboring Splash Mountain, the Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh is slated to get its own Fastpass. David Van Wyk said that the proximity of the new ride to Splash Mountain is a real advantage for families, with older teens enjoying Splash Mountain while the younger children can enjoy the new Pooh ride.

In addition to providing more variety for the whole family, Wyk said they saw the opportunity to put the new ride into the Country Bear Playhouse in order to draw more people to the area using a character that is popular among a wide audience. "Pooh has such a wide range of draw," Wyk said. "You've got the younger kids, but you've got adults as well that relate to the Pooh character. Everyone's got their own favorite Pooh character. And it's one of the reasons as well why the merchandising is so popular. You've got an appeal for the younger children, but you'll still see adults who will be in love with either Piglet or Eeyore."

Pooh Corner expansion.

Near the exit to the ride, one doorway to the Pooh Corner complex has been partially decorated with a giant tree. According to Van Wyk, the B'rer Bar and Teddi Berra's Arcade will be combined with the Pooh Corner store to create a larger retail space.

Asked whether Disney was confident in the outcome of the legal issues surrounding Winnie the Pooh, he replied, "Oh, yeah. Otherwise we wouldn't be here right now."

You can write Adrienne Vincent - Phoenix at avp@mouseplanet.com

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