Snow White's Scary Adventures
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| Snow White's Scary Adventures | |
 |
|
| Locations, openings and status | |
| Disneyland July 17, 1955 | |
| Open | |
| Magic Kingdom October 1, 1971 | |
| Open | |
| Disneyland Park (Paris) April 12, 1992 | |
| Open |
Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride at the Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris theme parks. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955. The ride's story is based on Disney's animated film version of the classic story, its very first animated feature film.
Contents |
[edit] History
Snow White's Scary Adventures opened on Disneyland's opening day as Snow White's Adventures. The problem was that Imagineers had designed the ride so that guests felt like they were the main character of the story; in this case, guests were Snow White. Few people understood this and wondered why Snow White wasn't in the Snow White ride. During 1983, all of the Fantasyland dark rides were redesigned slightly, as part of the big Fantasyland overhaul, to include the main characters of the films the attractions represented, and this one was no exception. Thus Snow White is in the attraction today. Also, Tony Baxter, Senior Vice President of Creative Development at Walt Disney Imagineering, was so afraid of messing everything up that he asked for all dark rides to be 25% longer. In this way, he could claim that even if they were not better, they would at least be longer.
Walt Disney World's original take on this ride, unlike their version of Peter Pan, also suggested the guests be Snow White herself. But that version of the ride scared preschoolers. Around Christmas of 1994, a kinder, gentler version of the ride emerged, specifically aiming to reduce these complaints, as well as add the princess Snow White to make it fancier. Additionally, that version of the ride took some cues from the version at Disneyland Paris, including increasing the ride capacity of each ride vehicle from four to six passengers.
[edit] Walkthrough
[edit] Disneyland
Guests enter the ride building via the Evil Queen's castle, which looks rather dark and foreboding. Above the entrance to the ride, there is a window and pair of curtains behind it. Every now and then, the Queen parts the curtains and is in plain view of the guests. Next to the entrance door, there is a golden apple. Touch the apple and some bloodcurdling cackles are heard. The guests wind their way through a dungeon inside the castle, passing by a book of poisons. The book reads, "One taste of the poisoned apple and the victim's eyes will close forever in the Sleeping Death..." Like most of the dark rides, there is a mural. The beginning of the ride itself looks like the Dwarfs' cottage. Boarding the ride vehicle, the guests enter the Dwarfs' cottage, where they hear the music and yodeling of one of the film's songs, "The Silly Song". You pass Snow White, who is climbing the stairs to the second floor of the cottage, with some of her animal friends following. The guests then move past the Dwarfs, who are performing "The Silly Song". Doc is on mandolin, Grumpy is on organ, Happy is on accordion, Bashful is on guitar, Sleepy is on fiddle and Dopey is on Sneezy's shoulders. Leaving the cottage, the guests pass by the Queen who says, "Soon I'll be fairest in the land." They then enter the Dwarfs' diamond mine, which is full of jewels of many colors. They then pass under a branch with two vultures perched on it and then enter the Queen's castle. There, they see the Queen's back to them as she stands before her Magic Mirror with her beautiful reflection in it saying, "Magic Mirror on the wall..." Then she snaps around and sees the guests. They see that she has become an ugly, green-eyed, toothless witch with a wart on her nose. "With this disguise, I'll fool them all!" she adds. The guests then pass through the castle, ladened with skeletons. Nearby, the Witch and a raven are in a dungeon area. It seems she'll do anything to become fairest in the land, even if it means creating a poisoned apple for Snow White, which is precisely what she is doing. The guests then see the Witch in a small boat as she heads for the Dwarfs' cottage. Next the guests wend their through a menacing forest, whose trees have ugly faces and its branches look like talon-like hands ready to grab the helpless guests in the cars. Bats fly everywhere and logs look more like snapping crocodiles. The guests then turn towards the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs. The door opens and there's the Witch, who now wants to offer the guests the apple! The guests then turn towards a mountainside where the Dwarfs are hot on the Witch's trail. Nearby, the Witch is trying to roll a boulder down the side of the mountain and crush the pursuing Dwarfs below. But a strike of lightning causes her to tumble to her death. She screams as the guests leave the area. The guests then go back out into light and there's a giant book with a silhouettes of Snow White, her Prince and the Prince's horse as they wander away towards a castle. The words at the bottom of this picture reads, "And they lived happily ever after." The guests then disembark from the cars and leave.
[edit] Attraction Facts and Figures
- The ride vehicles are all mine cars, each one named after the Seven Dwarfs.
- The Dwarfs playing their respective instruments in the cottage scene are as follows: Doc on mandolin, Grumpy on organ (though his organ's pipes are rather unorthodox--they feature wood-carved animals that, among other activities, shove nuts in their mouths), Happy on accordion, Bashful on guitar, Sleepy on fiddle, and Dopey is on Sneezy's shoulders.
- In the scene when the Witch offers the guests the poisoned apple, guests consistently tried (and often succeeded) to steal the apple. When Fantasyland was reopened in 1983, they solved the problem of the ever-missing poisoned apple by replacing it with a hologram.
[edit] Disneyland
- Grand opening: July 17, 1955 (Opened with Disneyland Park)
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Maximum seating capacity: 4 per mine car
- Show length: 1:51
- Required ticket: "C"
- Ride system: Dark ride
[edit] Magic Kingdom
- Grand opening: October 1, 1971 (Opened with the Magic Kingdom)
- Re-dedication: December 1994
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Maximum seating capacity:
- 4 per mine car (1971-1994); 6 per mine car (1994-Present)
- Show length: Approx. 2:50
- Ride system: Dark ride
[edit] Tokyo Disneyland
- Grand opening: April 15, 1983 (Opened with Tokyo Disneyland)
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Maximum seating capacity: 4 per mine car
- Show length: 2:30
- Ride system: Dark ride
[edit] Disneyland Paris
- Grand opening: April 12, 1992 (Opened with Disneyland Paris)
- Alternate name: Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains
- Designer: Walt Disney Imagineering
- Maximum seating capacity: 6 per mine car
- Show length: Approx 2:00
- Ride system: Dark ride
