Celestial Carousel

In the center of Chinatown is a merry-go-round built by the town's residents. Obviously merry-go-rounds have been done before. Lots and lots of times. However, this merry-go-round has a lot going for it to make it distinct from the other merry-go-rounds around the world.

The biggest differences between Celestial Carousel and other carousels are the mounts. As opposed to the usual ponies and chariots, each vehicle is an animal featured in the Chinese Zodiac - rats, oxen, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, goats, monkeys, roosters, dogs, and pigs. The snakes, in particular, serve as the "chariots" of this merry-go-round, their coils serving as a seat for those that can't or don't want to climb aboard the back of another animal.

As its name suggests, Celestial Carousel is themed lightly around outer space. The ride's main color scheme is dark blue, with the animals colored red and gold (the same colors as the Chinese flag) and detailed with intricate designs. Topping the attraction is a pagoda-esque roof, held up by oriental columns. At night, the ride is lit up by paper lanterns.

In total, the attraction has seventy-two animals (six of each animal on the Zodiac), allowing for high capacity. Celestial Carousel should be very popular with younger guests, due to its lack of a height requirement or anything that might scare or startle them, combined with its unique theming that helps it stand out from other merry-go-rounds.

The Monkey King

This boat ride attraction retells the story of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, in an exciting, engaging way.

Guests enter the building through an elaborately-themed facade and find themselves in a winding queue. (On less busy days, the queue can easily be made shorter and more direct.) The queue twists and turns through two elaborately-themed rooms, until eventually guests find themselves at the loading zone. They board their boat, and the experience begins.

A narrator provides the backstory for the attraction while the boat peacefully starts its journey. The guests then witness a monkey hatching out of a stone egg. After going down a 10 foot drop, they see the monkey wreaking havoc, and growing larger and larger with every bit of trouble he causes. They even have a close call with the monkey (now grown to giant size), who is about to stomp on a village, before suddenly plummeting down a 15-foot drop. Guests travel through an eerily still forest as suspense builds, before watching Xuanzang the wizard cast a spell to return the monkey to regular size. In the finale, guests experience a giant celebration around them, as they realize Xuanzang has made friends with the mischeivious, now normal sized, monkey. They then go up a lift hill and return to the loading zone.

Next, learn about Chinatown's dining

Go back to the Home Page

Go to Little Mexico