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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 |
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Flik the ant from the 1998 Disney-Pixar film, A Bug’s Life, has another show for you. You’ll be entertained—but you can also expect some pro-bug propoganda. |
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Where do you find these bugs? They’re at Bountiful Valley Farm. Apparently, this farm doesn’t use too many pesticides. |
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Photo by Tony “WisebearAZ” Moore, 2001 Bug’s Life Theater with the Bountiful Valley Farm mural |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 Flick the ant, as tall as a human—or is the human the size of an ant? |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 FASTPASS for It’s Tough to Be a Bug! |
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You could get a FASTPASS, but there’s really no reason for that. If you return after Radiator Springs Racers opens in 2012, you’ll find that the FASTPASS station has been converted to handle FASTPASS for that very popular attraction. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2004 Really no need for FASTPASS |
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Photo by Tony “WisebearAZ” Moore, 2001 Original warning sign |
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Head down the winding path to toward the underground ant world. Soon you’ll be in an ant tunnel. |
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Five photos by Allen Huffman, 2002 In the tradition of ”Burma Shave“ |
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Photo by Tony “WisebearAZ” Moore, 2001 Going down into the dirt |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Ant tunnel to the theater lobby |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 Posters for two of the featured players |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Arriving at the Bug’s Life Theater |
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The ants have created a theater lobby and a cavernous theater down here. Listen to the lobby music, with songs such as “Hello Dung Lovers,” a version of “Hello Young Lovers” from The King and I, performed by buzzing and chirping insects. As you’re listening (and possibly becoming quite annoyed by all the buzzing), enjoy the posters down here too. Grab your Bug-Eyes, which is what they call the 3-D glasses here. Yes, it’s a 3-D movie. But there are also animatronics and in-theater effects. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2009 Theater lobby wall |
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Apparently, the bugs at the Bug’s Life Theater have a long history of putting on Broadway—or “Bugs-way”—shows. There are posters in the lobby for shows the bugs have produced, including My Fair Ladybug, Web Side Story, and A Cockroach Line. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 Broadway show poster, bug versions |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 Plays by Tennessee Williams, bug versions |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2002 “The Greatest Cast of Characters in the Bug World” |
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A poster on a leaf gives a sneak preview of some things you can expect in the show. Why is the leaf so big? It isn’t. You’re just that small. You’re the size of a bug. The theater doors open. Long rows of seating extend across the whole theater. The cast member want you to scoot all the way to other side, which is great if there’s a full house, but really unnecessary when most of the theater is empty. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 The show is about to begin |
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After the show begins, animatronic Flik appears above the screen! He speaks: “Welcome to our show! You know, we’ve been doing this act for over three hundred million years. And with bugs making up more than 80 percent of the animal world, we’re the biggest cast of them all. Still, you guys just don’t seem to see us, so that’s why we gave you those special Bug-Eyes. Go ahead, put them on. Neat, huh? Now you’re all honorary bugs. So, on with the show.” |
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Photo at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (not Disney California Adventure) by Werner Weiss, 2019 Animatronic Hopper |
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The show packs a lot into nine minutes. It begins with demonstrations of fun facts, such as survival techniques—including what a stick bug does (with in-theater effects). Things get scary when Hopper appears. Noticing the Flik’s human audience, Hopper declares, ”they’re our biggest enemies,“ and presents evidence of what humans do to bugs. Watch our for the hornets and the black widow spiders! The show ends with happy finale. The lyrics include great lines like this:
“And if all bugs were wiped off the face of the planet, After the show, the announcer asks you to take your small grubs by their grubby little hands. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 Time to exit |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 “Return Bug-Eyes Here” |
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Do you have a greater appreciation for bugs now? Probably not. |
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It’s Tough to Be a Bug! was an opening day (February 8, 2001) attraction at Disney’s California Adventure. It was the second Disney park with this show. The Bug’s Life Theater was located in Bountiful Valley Farm, a section within the park’s Golden State district. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2018 At Disney’s Animal Kingdom |
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Around three years earlier, more than two thousand miles to the east, It’s Tough to Be a Bug! was an opening day (April 22, 1998) attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida. It continues to run at the Tree of Life Theater, located below the park’s icon. In 2002, Bountiful Valley Farm became A Bug’s Land. The mural on the Bug’s Life Theater changed, but the attraction inside remained the same. |
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Concept art only © 2020 Disney Concept Art for Avengers Campus |
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It’s Tough to Be a Bug! at Disney California Adventure closed permanently March 19, 2018, along with the rest of A Bug’s Land. Construction walls went up for Avengers Campus. The park’s new Marvel-themed land would also include Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, which had opened May 27, 2017, replacing The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Avengers Campus was originally set to open July 18, 2020, but the date changed to June 4, 2021, because of the long closure of the Disneyland Resort’s theme parks during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you look at the concept artwork for Avengers Campus, the top of one of the buildings will look familiar. The arch-roofed “box”s which had been the Bug’s Life Theater building is now WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. It’s Tough to Be a Bug! was about insects, but featured spiders and spider webs too. So think of it as going from spiders to Spider-Man. |
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© 2021 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated April 29, 2021 |
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