#34 - The Laugh Floor

Category: Shows
Category Rank: 2

Park: Magic Kingdom
Park Rank: 15

Our next item is truly an innovative attraction that you wish Disney would do more of, the interactive Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.  The Laugh Floor is essentially an improv comedy club featuring CGI projections of monsters on a screen and overlaying performers' voices as they interact with the audience.

The backstory for this attraction is that we humans are entering the monsters' world post-Monsters, Inc (the movie), where "scream power" has been replaced with "laugh power".  Before entering the theater, there is a short background movie that is pretty enjoyable to watch, featuring Mike Wazowski having a bit of banter with the giant slug Roz.  Once you enter the show room, you are treated to a little bit of situational humor, as a spotlight randomly selects audience members and highlights them with silly phrases like "Hides a third eye", "Is surrounded by monsters" (Kristen's designation), "Feels the need to get up and dance", and "Is treating the audience to churros".

Mike then comes out as the "monster of ceremonies" and introduces acts, while keeping an eye on the meter that gauges how much laughter we have made.  We cannot leave until the can is full, which always is luckily right on time, so the next audience can come in.

The show lasts 10 minutes in length and features 3 sets.  There will be a two-headed act that will do a sketch on weird geography facts (their name will be something like "Mac and Cheese" or "Sam and Ella").  Then, there will be a monster named Buddy Boil who will do a mind-reading exercise.  And finally, Mike's cousin Marty will come out and read jokes that audience members have texted in (we have had a couple featured on the show).  With each act, the show does a great job of interacting with the audience, reinforcing that this is a live and unpredictable show, and rolling with the punches that the audience provides.

Depending on how your feel about comedy shows, this could be one of your favorite attractions, like it was for us after our first visit.  Unfortunately, while it remains a live improv event, it relies on the same acts each time, and the jokes get recycled.  It is more fun for us at this point to see how the audience reacts then it is to see the act itself.

In this respect, it is like the Kilimanjaro Safaris; an item that could have easily qualified as a "thrill" attraction on your first visit, but one that slips into nostalgic attraction after a couple of visits.  We still will go to the attraction every time we are in the Kingdom, because it is a fun time and enjoyable to reminisce.  For our family, that puts this attraction right in the same spot in the list with the Safaris, slightly above the PeopleMover and the Tiki Room that haven't been must-see attractions, but below the other items in the Magic Kingdom coming up.  The show, being a newer one, hasn't had the time to build up the sense of nostalgia that Pirates of the Caribbean or Its' a Small World have.

We return to our Interactives/Memorabilia category for our next item.  This one is one of the more famous interactive activities within the World, becoming big at the turn of the century and remaining popular even today.  For us, there was one trip to the world where we were obsessed with it, but it has fallen a bit as we have gotten older.