Journey to the Center of the Earth is the second incarnation of three Test Track type rides that opened in 2001 at Tokyo DisneySea that is based on Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. The attraction uses much of the same features as the first incarnation of the high-speed giant slot car ride used in its first and third incarnation of this ride system. Original music for the ride was created by longtime Disney composer Buddy Baker.
Story
The volcano of Mysterious Island, Mount Prometheus, has become Captain Nemo's base. After traveling through its caverns and past several of Nemo's labs, guests board "Terravators" to the facility's base station one-half mile below. In this base station is a huge steam-powered bellows that pumps fresh air down from the surface, massive spring-pillars that hold the ceiling up to prevent cave-ins in case of earthquakes, and communication center which is currently giving warnings of increased seismic activity, but the scientist who mans it is currently away on a tea break. Riders then board steam-powered mine vehicles that travel through pre-drilled tunnels into the heart of the Earth. The ride begins through a cavern of colorful glowing crystals, before entering a giant Mushroom Forest, which is inhabited by strange insect and amphibian-like life forms. Before the car can proceed further, an earthquake causes a cave-in of the tunnel ahead, forcing the car off its planned route and down a side branch filled with giant egg-like sacks that appears to have been dug by a gigantic creature. The car emerges on the shore of the Subterranean Sea, and is nearly struck by a lightning from the electrified gas clouds. The finale comes when riders are forced into the fiery heart of an active volcano, where the riders come face-to-face with the giant, tyrannical centipede-like lava monster that has built a nest there, before escaping back to the surface on the wave of an eruption.
History
Journey to the Center of the Earth was originally planned as a free-fall type ride as part of Discovery Mountain, a former Disneyland Paris concept in place of. Since it was never built, this project reemerged in Tokyo DisneySea with new technology from Test Track, a thrill ride through a GM testing facility at that time. The score of the ride was composed by Buddy Baker, who was also responsible for the scores of rides such as Pirates of The Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.
