Ace Ventura was a meet-and-greet character at Hollywood Studios?

Many odd things have found their way into the theme park powerhouse that is Walt Disney World. Things like Winnie The Pooh “running for president”, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles having a stage show/meet and greet at Hollywood Studios, and covering the Magic Kingdom Castle in toilet paper to promote the Stich Encounter show that used to be at Tomorrowland.

Ace Ventura standing outside of this "office"

One of these odd occurrences was when Hollywood Studios, at the time called MGM Studios, added a stage show/meet and greet for none other than the frenetic Ace Ventura from the recent movies of the same name starring Jim Carrey. These movies were a big break-out moment for Jim Carrey who already had a following from his stand-up and regular appearance on the show “In Living Colour”. While on In Living Colour Jim played several crazy characters that surely helped Ace Ventura come to fruition.

In 1994 the first film title Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was released to theaters. The comedy mostly focuses around Ace Ventura, an eccentric and demented pet detective, attempting to learn the whereabouts of the recently kidnapped dolphin mascot for the Miami Dolphins, with the assistance of a reporter named Melissa Robinson played by Courtney Cox. The film was rated PG-13 and contained several scenes that are considered inappropriate for younger viewers. However, the film’s popularity would spawn a sequel that would increase the popularity of the character, further launching a cartoon series, toys, and a pc video game.

In 1995 to promote the new sequel named “When Nature Calls” Ace was given a stage show and a meet and greet. Not at Universal Studios where you’d expect to see a character like this, but actually at Walt Disney World’s own MGM Studios in Florida.

The show would begin with playing “Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens which was featured in the first Ace Ventura film during an um…. “romantic” moment between Ace and Melissa Robinson. A bit striking to imagine this song being used for the character at a Disney Park given the purpose the song is used for, but hey, goes along with the animal theme that Ace embodies.

Once the song has played an unnamed host appears and attempts to introduce Ace to the gathered audience, to which Ace does not respond. The host then asks the audience to call for Ace thus causing the character to emerge from a nearby rooftop. Ace then claims to be searching for a lost pet which turns out to be a giant spider that is the equivalent of a large toy spider with no moving parts outside forced wiggle. Antics ensue as Ace “replicates” tinker-bell flying and attempts to capture the spider including a moment where the spider gets caught in Ace’s zipper on his pants and it is then caught, and the gag is over.

He then repels down to the host and begins to banter and poke fun at the host character and the two prepare for Ace to do the meet and greet portion thus ending the show itself. Ace would then take pictures and even sign the Disney Parks signature book. I would love to find one of those books one day, were days Mickey and the gang signatures is a signature from Ace Ventura. Of all the promotions to hit the Disney Parks, to me, this is one of the s, strangest given the more adult nature of the Ace Ventura films. while the show is hokey with a lot of direct quote lines tossed in from the films, I can’t help but feel a little jealous of anyone who got to do this meet and greet. As a kid, Ace Ventura was one of my all-time favorite films and I even actively watched the cartoon show when it aired on Saturday mornings.

This is just one of the many weird promotions that have found their way into Walt Disney World and these don’t happen so much nowadays. This does make a fun conversation piece when it comes to Disney History. I hope you have enjoyed this step into the Weird World of Disney Parks with me and I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for any more fun moments like this. Below I’ll be putting a link to the video featuring this show and meet and greet. If you are interested in this give the video a look, I hear it was posted by the guy who plays Ace in the show being filmed which is awesome!

Below is a video of the Ace Ventura show that was featured at Disney's MGM Studios. This video was put up on youtube by the guy who was playing Ace in the show! Give it a view and a thumbs up to let Mr. McGeoch know we appreciate his performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yycrpoRigc