From Time to Time

When I went to the Disney World park "Magic Kindom", this was the ONLY thing cool! I'm into futureistic stuff and time machine-related stuff! I went there on March 1998. I said to myself "Oh please, Magic Kindom's gonna be boring" but then, I found time-keeper. This is one of the coolest Disney attractions!

Come along for a time-travelling journey with The Time Keeper and 9-Eye in this 1992 Walt Disney World attraction, at the Magic Kingdom!

I visited this attraction in March 1997, when I was 14, during my second trip to Walt Disney World. It was nearing park closing time, but my mom, brother, and I wanted to do something else, so my father watched one of those bands performing in the park while we hit this attraction.

As you enter the rather large theater (standing room only), you are greeted by the Time Keeper (voice of the great Robin Williams) and his sidekick, 9-Eye (voice of Rhea Perlman), a pesky robot that resembles a big electronic eyeball. Time Keeper sends 9-Eye back in time to different time periods, where she kidnaps Jules Verne, hears Mozart with his first composition, watches Leonardo da Vinci paint, careens down a mountain on a bobsled, and meets inventor H.G. Wells. 9-Eye brings Jules Verne (Jeremy Irons) back to the present. It's one action-packed and humorous adventure through time!

This was a surprisingly good attraction. My mom picked it, so my brother and I didn't know what to think, but we liked it the minute we found out Robin Williams was in it. What surprised me after we saw it was that 9-Eye was Rhea Perlman, who my mom recognized right away. Time Keeper resembled C3PO from "Star Wars" (one movie I can do without!), and the time-travelling experience was awesome! I didn't know it then, but now that I think about it, it was alot like being on a really cool episode of "Quantum Leap." I guess it's the whole time-travel element.

This was a great attraction, and I would definitely take the trip again! It was worth every minute!

I have seen this film many times as the Timekeeper attraction in New Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World.

Even though this attraction came about in the 1990s, it is very much a testament to the spirit of entertainment that Walt Disney created. It combines all of the elements that Walt was either a master of or created during his lifetime: Movies, story, music, engaging characters, Circelvision and Audio-Animatronics. The story itself is a dedication to great inventors and visionaries of history, using the characters of HG Wells and Jules Verne as the "stars" of the piece with visits to some other memorable visionaries of western civilization.

In one segment, there is a breathtaking view of New York City at night time. I was glad to see that shots of the World Trade Center towers were still seen in the film and not digitally removed....it obviously evoked the memory not only of a place now gone, but also the memory of the people who lost their lives in one of the darkest days in American history.

This is and was one of the best films ever produced for Disney. A unique plot, charismatic actors, amazing pictures and a beautiful, beautiful score (by Bruce Broughton). This could work as the advertising spot for the European Union. Displaying the most beautiful sights of Europe which just make you happy to live. Many film locations were in Austria: the green Palais in Vienna, the bob run in Tyrol, the car race course in Styria...

Unfortunately they ruined it for the American version by exchanging the music and adding the slightly annoying Robin Williams as the Timekeeper's voice. I hope they will bring it out on DVD...

After the tedium of queuing and occasionally doing something in Eurodisney (or whatever it calls itself now) - and I like theme parks - this was at first just an interesting short film, but the finale, with an aerial tour of France under Broughton's superb score, had me in tears and made up completely for every other indignity the park could throw at one. It's just magnificent.