Amusement ride at Epcot
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
is a musical
dark boat ride
housed within the pyramid-shaped
Mexico Pavilion
, at the
Epcot
theme park at the
Walt Disney World Resort
in Florida. It was the first
World Showcase
attraction to feature Disney characters based on
an existing property
.
Norway
followed suit in 2014 when it closed its
Maelstrom
ride to make room for
Frozen Ever After
, which opened in 2016.
Synopsis
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The attraction begins with posters indicating that
the Three Caballeros
are to perform a concert tonight.
After boarding the boats, guests float around the
Mayan
pyramid
and volcano in the back of the pavilion's main room. Soon, guests enter a tunnel on the side of the pyramid, where
Panchito Pistoles
and
Jose Carioca
of The Three Caballeros introduce themselves, only to find out that
Donald Duck
, the third member of the group, has run off, prompting Panchito and Jose to set off on a frantic search for their missing friend. The next few scenes show Donald touring Mexico and Jose and Panchito on a magic
serape
(a sort of Mexican flying poncho) looking for him.
The next scene has characters similar to '
It's a Small World
' with dancing
animatronics
and a Donald Duck
pinata
. Once past this area, guests enter a
cave
, which features different scenes of live-action footage with the Caballeros. After leaving the cave, there are three panels featuring a
Mariachi
band in the first, some Mexican girls and Donald in the second and Panchito and Jose pulling Donald away from the girls in the third. From here, guests float into
Mexico City
, where
fireworks
are going off overhead and the Three Caballeros are finally performing their concert.
History
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The Gran Fiesta Tour replaced
El Rio del Tiempo
(The River of Time) boat ride that previously was at the Mexico Pavillion from 1982 to 2007.
Panchito, the leader of the trio, is the only Mexican character of the three, as Donald is typically portrayed as
American
while Jose is
Brazilian
.
The attraction's flume system and boats were manufactured by
Arrow Dynamics
, who also worked on other water-based dark rides for Disney such as
It's a Small World
and
Pirates of the Caribbean
.
Eric Goldberg
, best known for animating the
Genie
in
Aladdin
, directed the animation for the ride.
On December 4, 2015, animatronics of the Three Caballeros from the
Mickey Mouse Revue
were placed into the attraction's finale to replace projections of these characters.
Voice talent
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See also
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References
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External links
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World Celebration
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World Discovery
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World Nature
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World Showcase
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Annual events
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Future attractions
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Other
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Related
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