Storybook Land Canal Boats

Storybook Land Canal Boats is an attraction located at the Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris) theme parks. Passengers embark on a leisurely-paced outdoor boat ride through a winding canal featuring settings from Disney animated films recreated in miniature. The Disneyland version was one of the original attractions when the park opened on July 17, 1955, although the miniature buildings and landscaping were not added until the following year. The version in Disneyland Paris is named Le Pays des Contes de Fées and opened in the spring of 1994.

History

The ride's concept dates back to Walt Disney's plans for a "magical little park" across the street from his Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. This modestly scaled, never-built amusement park was to include a gravity flow canal boat ride among its attractions.

When plans for the much grander Disneyland were being made, there was to be a "Lilliputianland", inspired by Madurodam, a miniature city in the Netherlands that Disney once visited. However, the technology did not yet exist to create the miniature animated figures that were to inhabit the "Lilliputian" village, so the canal ride opened under the name Canal Boats of the World. It was intended to be a journey past miniature recreations of the great landmarks of the world, but time and money prevented its completion. The ride was plagued by other problems. The outboard motors were prone to overheating, often forcing the boats to be pulled by hand, and because the attraction opened with little landscaping, it earned the nickname among park executives as "The Mud Bank Ride".

After two months of operation, the Canal Boats closed while Storybook Land was constructed and the muddy banks were landscaped with miniature plants, including a bonsai tree planted by Walt Disney himself. The idea of having Monstro the whale consume the canal boats came from a never-implemented concept for a "Monstro the Whale" ride, in which small boats were to be swallowed by Monstro and then plunged down a watery path into a pond below.

The attraction reopened on June 16, 1956, under the new name Storybook Land Canal Boats. Over the years several scenes have been added to and removed from the attraction. Most notably, the Sultan’s Palace from Aladdin appeared where the miniature Toad Hall from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad had previously stood for a major refurbishment done in 1994. Toad Hall returned the following year in another location.

For the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in 2005, the Tinker Bell boat was painted gold and the lighthouse given a gold and maroon theme.

Beginning December 20, 2014, the attraction at Disneyland added the village of Arendelle from Disney's Frozen including Anna and Elsa's castle, Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post, and Elsa's ice palace. These additions replaced The Old Mill section. The three miniature windmills were put into storage by Walt Disney Imagineering.^[1]

Disneyland version

View of attraction from Casey Jr. Circus Train

Passengers enter the attraction through a chain queue that winds in front of the loading dock. A lighthouse at the queue's entrance was once a ticket booth from when Disneyland required tickets for riding individual attractions. Storybook Land canal boats originally required a "D" coupon.

The motor-driven boats are scaled-down replicas of Dutch, English, and French boats. All of the boats are named after female Disney characters except for Flower (retired), the male skunk from Bambi. Passengers are seated along the edges of the boat, facing inward, although children are sometimes permitted to ride on the front flat part of the boat. A costumed guide sits just above the passengers on the back of the boat, perched above the engine housing, and narrates the ride.

After departing from the dock, the boat passes through a short cave sculpted to look like Monstro, the whale that swallowed Pinocchio. Monstro is partially animated: his eye opens and closes, and periodically steam comes out of his blow hole.

The canals past the Monstro cave are landscaped with miniature trees and shrubs. Along the banks are small buildings representing the homes of characters from Disney animated films, although not all the locations were actually depicted in film. Many of these settings feature sound recordings of characters singing or working.

The miniature settings include:

• The pigs' homes from The Three Little Pigs
• An English village, with a church and the entrance to the White Rabbit's hole, from Alice in Wonderland
• London Park from Peter Pan
• The Sultan's palace from Aladdin
• The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin
• The dwarfs' cottage and mine from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The village from Cinderella, featuring a gold-spired castle
• Toad Hall from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• Village of Arendelle from Frozen, featuring Anna and Elsa's castle, Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, and Elsa's ice palace
• Cobblestone village with Geppetto's wood shop from Pinocchio
• Prince Eric's seaside castle from The Little Mermaid
• King Triton's underwater castle, partially hidden behind a waterfall, from The Little Mermaid

The boat then returns the passengers to the loading dock from which they boarded.

Because its entrance is located along the parks' parade route, the attraction closes approximately sixty minutes before any parades and reopens after the parade has passed. Due to time scheduling with Disneyland's new Paint The Night parade, the attraction does not open again once closed for the nights parades.

Names of the Canal Boats:

1. Alice

2. Ariel

3. Aurora

4. Belle

5. Cinderella

6. Daisy

7. Faline

8. Fauna

9. Flora

10. Merryweather

11. Snow White

12. Tinkerbell

13. Wendy

Paris version

Unlike the original in California, a guide does not accompany the riders. The boats here are guided by an underwater wire rather than being propelled by an on-board motor. Passengers enter their boats via a slowly revolving platform. The whole transport system was developed by Intamin (as a Tow boat ride). The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin midway through the voyage replaces the Disneyland version's Monstro cave. The boats also float past these settings, accompanied by music from the respective film and minimal dialogue:

• The dwarfs' mine and house from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The gingerbread house of Babes in the Woods
• Rapunzel's high tower with a braid coming out of it, from Tangled (originally a generic non-Disney Rapunzel until the Disney version was released)
• The Old Mill
• Prince Eric's seaside castle from The Little Mermaid
• The Greek temple and Mount Olympus from Fantasia
• Snow-covered landscapes from Peter and the Wolf
• The "Night on Bald Mountain" scene from Fantasia
• The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, which swallows the boats
• A scene from The Sword in the Stone
• Belle's village and the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast
• The Emerald City and the Witch's Castle from The Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz.

Technical

The canal contains 465,000 gallons of water, which flows via underground pipes to the moat around Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Jungle Cruise and to the Rivers of America, where it is pumped back to Storybook Land.

The attraction's 13 boats are powered by electric inboard motors. When not in use, they are stored in a boathouse hidden behind the waterfall containing Triton's Castle.

The houses in Storybook Land are fitted with six-inch doors and quarter-inch hinges that open and close, so the Disneyland electricians can change the lightbulbs.

Disneyland image gallery

See also

• List of current Disneyland attractions

References

• Bright, Randy (1987). Disneyland:Inside Story. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. pp. 43, 81, 116–17, 119, 128. ISBN 0-8109-0811-5. 

External links

• Disneyland :
  • Land Canal Boats at Disneyland.Disney.Go.com
  • Storybook Land Canal Boats at MousePlanet.com

• Disneyland Paris :
  • Le Pays des Contes de Fées at Photos Magiques