Disney's California Adventure's first major post-Grand Opening attraction, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!, is scheduled to officially open at the Disneyland Resort on September 14, 2001. With a completed show building and cast previews successfully finished, the attraction is currently performing in a soft-opening format for the park's guests to enjoy. I had a chance to be a part of the action twice on Sunday, September 2, and the following is an overview of what can be found within Soundstage 17 in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot.

Shoehorned between Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D and Superstar Limo, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! is based on the successful attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, which, in turn, is based on the successful television program that currently airs on Disney-owned ABC.

DCA's version of Millionaire is a FastPass attraction, meaning that guests can obtain a ticket that allows them to return to the attraction at a predetermined time without waiting in a standby line. Each show lasts about 30 minutes. While waiting in line to enter the attraction, a cast member will come around and ask trivia questions (from cards found in Parker Bros.' Trivial Pursuit game). A person in line who can answer the question asked (and one guest) get pre-admitted to the performance and actually sits at the kiosks where the 10 contestants battling to get into the Hot Seat on the television program sit on the set's floor. Besides being close to the action, there is no additional benefit to sitting in these seats over any of the other seats in the 650-seat auditorium regarding chances to make it to the Hot Seat.

After entering the show building, guests are seated in tiered rows of seats around a recreation of the stage used in the filming of the television set. The theater seems a pretty accurate reproduction of the New York set, complete with mood lighting, multiple cameras and stage decor. The seats are made of black plastic and fold down, somewhat like seats found at baseball stadiums. Attached to the seatback of the chair in front of each guest is a control pad with the letters "A," "B," "C," and "D," which you can use to play along with the action.

As the seating of guests nears its end, the "floor manager" goes through a script to make it seem as though they are preparing for the taping of the actual Millionaire show. Flowers are delivered onstage for Regis, which are then sent backstage. These flowers are supposed to help create the illusion that Mr. Philbin is really waiting backstage. A short film with Regis is projected on one of three large television screens positioned around the set in which he is shown ready to come out and host the show (the flowers that were just seen onstage are delivered to Regis on film). They briefly go through what to expect during the performance of the attraction, complete with a listing of the lifelines. Like the real show, the contestant has the opportunity to Ask the Audience or perform the Fifty-Fifty elimination of two potential answers. However, the third lifeline is Phone a Complete Stranger instead of Phone a Friend. A call will go out to the park, in which a guest will try to help the person in the Hot Seat with the answer. Regis jokes about this lifeline, "Talk about your weakest link." After worrying about how the show in New York is going to be taped if he is out here in California, he decides to fly back and let a local host -- referred to as "Regis: the next generation" -- perform the duties here at California Adventure.

The show starts with the Fastest Finger Question, which everyone in attendance tries to solve by putting the answers in order with the keypad in front of them. The seat number of the person who answers it correctly in the fastest time is listed on the large monitors and that person is invited to come sit in the Hot Seat and play the game. Instead of money, the person plays for points that can later be redeemed for exclusive merchandise. Unlike the show, there is a time limit for answering the questions.

The audience plays along with the Hot Seat contestant and if the person in the Hot Seat fails to answer a question correctly or chooses to walk away, the audience member with the highest score, based on correctness and speed, gets to fill the empty Hot Seat. The scores of everyone in attendance is reset and everyone plays anew.

For each question answered right, the contestant is awarded a pin. Additionally, a hat can be earned if the 1,000-point plateau is successfully reached and a polo shirt is awarded after the 32,000-point plateau is achieved. Persons answering the million-point question correctly will be flown with a guest to an actual taping of the Millionaire show in New York. The person in the Hot Seat can lose the pins earned if they incorrectly answer a question without securing the "guaranteed" plateaus.

My Thoughts

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