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    Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along

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Description And Comments

This is the third current Disney World attraction to tell the Beauty and the Beast story, along with the Magic Kingdom's Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction and Hollywood Studios’ Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage. It’s also the least good version, lacking the intimate charm of Enchanted Tales with Belle and the production values of Live on Stage.

Why, then, does this attraction exist? What Disney won’t tell you is that it desperately wants to use Epcot as a marketing and promotional tool for its movie and television franchises. In this case, Beauty was set in France and Epcot has a France pavilion. “Voilà”, Disney thought, probably translating that to “Synergy!” in their heads.

For this show, Disney’s script writers threw a small twist into the original Beauty story, presumably to entice people who’ve seen the other, better attractions to give this one a chance. That twist is that LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick during the film, was secretly working behind the scenes to being Belle and Beast together. Extra animation scenes were created to tell this (tiny) part of the story, and these scenes serve as glue between clips from the original movie.

Taking in the context of the original movie, this new idea of LeFou as matchmaker doesn’t add up. For one thing, LeFou is the one that tries to convince angry villagers that Belle’s father is crazy. It’s that assembled mob that Gaston leads to kill Beast. If Disney wants us to believe that LeFou was a genius and that attempted homicide was all part of his plan, they’re going to need a better script than this.

Sadly, Disney didn't even attempt to show this film on the full, 200-degree screen in this theater. The entire film plays on just one screen of the five that can be used.

Touring Tips

Pay attention to the show that is playing while in France; Beauty and the Beast only plays before 7 PM with Impressions de France showing after that.

This theater has comfortable seats and air-conditioning.

Special Comments

The Magic Kingdom's Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction and Hollywood Studios’ Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage are better versions of this story.

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