Night At The Museum

Facade:

Across the street from the Central Park, it’s the American Museum of Natural History. Enticing guests with it’s French style arch and grand statue of Theodore Roosevelt on horseback. There’s two large banners under the circular emblems on the building advertising the exhibit showcasing newly discovered tablets of Apep. In the center, there’s a banner advertising the name of the ride, Night at the Museum.

Preshow:

Guests are rounded up into a pre show area where there’s a model of a town in the Old West and a large city in the Roman Empire. There’s a television in front of the display case giving various facts about these two civilizations. After everyone is settled in, the display comes to life. At first lights turn on, fitting music for each is heard, and it seems as if the tiny sized citizens are just going to have a normal day.

That is until an explosion is seen on the boundary centered between the two civilizations (which is just a picket fence). All hell breaks loose. Cannons and catapults are brought out and start firing at their foe’s city. Buildings start falling down or even bursting into flames. A train full of dynamite goes towards the Roman colosseum to attempt to destroy the Roman culture, but instead of exploding once it enters the colosseum it comes out the other side derailed.

Once both cities are in total disrepair, Octavius and Jedediah charge at each other ready for the ultimate duel! But, Octavius stops and wonders out loud why they’re doing this. Jedediah simply replies by saying he doesn’t know either in a confused tone of voice. They see us and welcome us to the museum, saying that we must be the new security guards that Larry was looking for. They casually mention that ever since the new tablet arrived that it feels like there’s chaos in the air-- but it’s probably nothing. But just in case...

The video on the screen at the front of the exhibit switches from a closer view to Octavius and Jedediah to four miniature people boarding a smaller prototype of the vehicles we’ll be riding later on. Both leaders give the usual straightforward safety instructions while the miniatures show what not to do with gags sprinkled through (Such as a cowboy grabbing the keys from a cardboard monkey and immediately getting it stolen back from a sock puppet monkey due to him putting his hands outside the vehicles). Once the safety video is over Octavius and Jedediah wish us good luck and good luck to themselves on reconstructing their village.

Guests exit the preshow room and go into one of the museum’s hallways.

Ride Sequence

The American Museum of Natural History’s exhibits are mostly housed in rectangular rooms (much like an actual museum). When the vehicles come into a new scene, guests get to see the still exhibits. But within a few seconds, the magical light and sound (that first emanates from the Tablet of Apep) turns the artifacts alive (like the musical mystic dust in Mystic Manor).

As the Securi-cles depart the loading dock, guests are brought into the Ancient Egypt Exhibit before a statue of Apep and the Tablet of Apep. Apep comes to life and explains that his Tablet is going to change not only the museum but the world. The other items in the Exhibit--Pharaoh Ahkmenrah, Anubis (Egyptian god of the afterlife) and the Great Sphinx of Gaza model--each take steps towards the Securi-cles. Sarcophagi rattle and pounding from their insides is heard and the sarcophagi even begin to open up as the Securi-cles leave back out of the exhibit.

The Securi-cles next come to some of the Museum’s other ancient artifacts. The Easter Island head comes to life and commands, “Hey Dum-dum! You give me gum-gum!” The Jade Lion begins to stir, and the Terracotta soldiers start marching.

Guests head to the American History Hall, which is full of soldier mannequins. The various mannequins are from different wars--the War for Independence, the Civil War, World War I, and World War 2. The battle comes to life, and they are all firing bullets over the heads of the guests at something that cannot be seen.

In the next room, guests see that it's Atilla the Hun who has invaded the American History Room and the bullets are deflecting off him. The sound effects indicate it's not bouncing off his steel armor, but his stomach (which is only covered with his regular clothing).This new room has the Lewis and Clark Diorama (although it is different from the one in the movie). When the characters are awakened, Lewis and Clark begin to discuss things on a river shore while Sacajawea takes an interest in the guests. On a plain above the river, small buffalo begin to gallop across.

The Securi-cles make their way to the Hall of African Mammals. Dexter, the Capuchin monkey, comes to life and steals some museum keys that he finds lying about. The other animals--including lions, cheetahs, leopards, African elephants, rhinoceroses, ostriches, snakes, and warthogs--make this exhibit a zoo without cages! The animals make their particular noises, step out of their dioramas, and begin to charge the vehicles, which quickly turn around and speed up to get away.

Next, the Securi-cles come to the The Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. The blue whale is quite visible, and when it comes to life, it sprays some water towards the guests. Other items in the exhibit include a coral reef, a sperm whale, a giant squid, walrus, a whale shark, and a dolphin and tuna diorama. The water unleashed from their dioramas pushes the vehicles out of this exhibit.

The final exhibit is the Ice Age. In the first room, guests see cavemen when fire was first discovered as well as a wooly mammoth. When the cavemen begin to move, the fire becomes real. The cavemen then spread the fire to the rest of the exhibit forcing the guests to move into the Dinosaur room. In the Dinosaur room, guests find Rexy the T-Rex at the center. The other dinosaurs—Trixie the triceratops, a smilodon, and a pteranodon—first come to life. Finally, Rexy the T-Rex wakes up and begins to follow after the ride vehicles, which speed up to avoid him.

In the next scene, guests are outside the Museum at Central Park’s ice skating rink. All of the characters and animals from the Museum seem a bit out of place (although Attila and the cavemen do not seem to mind the ice too much). Surprisingly, the citizens of New York seem to be enjoying themselves with the alive exhibits. Maybe this tablet of chaos wasn't such a bad thing after all if it's allowing the exhibits to have fun for once! After a few spins on the ice in the guest's Securi-cles, Rexy breaks a hole open into the Museum, which the Securi-cles follow.

A final scene shows an exhibit hall that has been damaged by all of the characters previously seen. At the end, guests listen to Larry give guests a snarky statement on how they did their job as security guards (in a similar fashion to Indy at the Indiana Jones Adventure ride). At the unloading station, there are three docks for the Securi-cles to unload. Gathering their personal items, guests leave the ride and exit out of the ride space back into Central Park (after a trip through the museum's gift store).