News Disneyland to give Snow White’s Scary Adventures dark ride a major facelift in 2020

[mickEblu]

Difference of opinion, I guess, but I hardly think the new iteration is soulless. With Scary Adventures I felt merely whelmed at the end, and I'd only ride it when I had time to kill; the golden age chorale at the end of Enchanted Wish is peak Disney, and I find myself riding it far more often to hear that rendition again.

Yeah the ending is great and love the new mine scene and new effects with the witch in the dungeon. The old version was a more cohesive experience but I think I look more forward to seeing the scenes I mentioned above than I did riding the old version. With that said I rarely ever rode it before and I rarely ever ride it now. The biggest crime is the bedroom they crammed into the dungeon in the queue and just the outdoor queue/ facade in general.

Being that the FL dark rides are extremely tiny And there’s really only so much you can expect from that experience, I’ve come to realize what I want from them is to feel something. The chorale ending makes me feel something. I never felt anything on the old ride. Certainly didn’t feel scared. I’m probably not the target audience though and I think their is more than enough still in there to scare the kids and keep it from being the Little Mermaid over at DCA.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Have you not ridden it? Or do you just like complaining?

Yes, and I did not think it was very good.

 

[mharrington]

I love the Pinocchio attraction

Is it really shutting down? I hope not!

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Is it really shutting down? I hope not!

No one said it was?

 

[waltography]

The old version of Snow White was downright embarrassing. It was old, tired, and confusing. The plot, if there even was one, was not at all clear to the average rider.

The new version goes through each step in the actual plot of the Snow White film and resolves with the happy ending it sorely needed. The update took Snow White from the bottom of my list to the top. Alice and Snow White are now my two favorites. I hope they can do Pinocchio the same justice soon.

I actually disagree the ride goes through a book report of the film. I do think all good rides go through the contours of a story (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement) without necessarily spelling out the story, and I think Enchanted Wish does a good job of doing that in an impressionistic manner within its distinct sequences (cottage, mine, dungeon, chase, kiss).

It's why I think Enchanted Wish works where Little Mermaid fails miserably - the former isn't afraid to sit in the darkness for a bit (the dungeon + chase is more than enough I think), making the finale all the more satisfying. (Enchanted Wish is also multiple factors below the budget of the other too, which is all the more disheartening.)

 

[MagicCarpetRoundTheWorld]

I had my first visit to Disneyland in many years preceding Halloween of last week.

I was excited initially by this revamp but walked away feeling ehhhhhh- each time.

Some nice effects, but the cold digital effects don't work well with the warm analog effects. The colors of the outside building were awful as well.

UnImagineering by WDI. The great undoing in my opinion. I think it's a much lesser attraction than it once was but with much greater technology instead of heart, storytelling and lightening in a bottle that WED once captured.

 

[Professortango1]

The old version of Snow White was downright embarrassing. It was old, tired, and confusing. The plot, if there even was one, was not at all clear to the average rider.

The new version goes through each step in the actual plot of the Snow White film and resolves with the happy ending it sorely needed. The update took Snow White from the bottom of my list to the top. Alice and Snow White are now my two favorites. I hope they can do Pinocchio the same justice soon.

The monster chasing us being killed isn't a happy ending??? And I am very worried for Pinocchio and Toad. Those are my #2 and #3 Fantasyland darkrides. Snow used to be a great example of how Disney excelled at creating rides. Modern Disney is tied too heavily to book report rides and the rides lacking an identity of their own. We see this with new Snow White, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc.

 

[Professortango1]

I love the Pinocchio attraction

Same! It has a great feeling of running away from home as a kid and then realizing you want nothing more than to get back there. It perfectly plays on the themes of the movie without just retelling the story beat per beat.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Is it really shutting down? I hope not!

No, it's safe. I just cannot abide by the Pinocchio slander

 

[mharrington]

If you ask me, the most prominent appeal of the Snow White dark ride is that it's always been "the scary one." Ideally, you should be getting lost in a series of cold, atmospheric places; winding through gruesome dungeon corridors populated by tortured skeletons, weaving through a gnarled mess of grasping branches and horrid, monstrous forms in the forest, and venturing through dark, claustrophobic mineshafts about to cave in. And of course, you're escaping the grasp of the mad, bloodthirsty Witch the whole time. It's an incredibly effective way of putting riders into the role of Snow White herself, as well as making for a highly immersive and fun experience.

As long as you have your Peter Pans and your small worlds and a general whimsical atmosphere in Fantasyland, then there's nothing wrong whatsoever with Snow White being a light horror attraction. The only problem is that you can't market that kind of attraction as "Snow White" at all, because that genuinely is misleading. If WDW's 1971 Snow White ride had been called something like "Escape from the Wicked Witch," and had been given appropriate queue theming, we could very well have the pleasure of riding that garish nightmare of an attraction to this day.

But remember, no one ever figured out that you were supposed to be Snow White. They kept wondering where she was. This was one reason for the Fantasyland overhaul of 1983, to add Snow White and the other protagonists into their rides.

 

[Brer Panther]

But remember, no one ever figured out that you were supposed to be Snow White. They kept wondering where she was. This was one reason for the Fantasyland overhaul of 1983, to add Snow White and the other protagonists into their rides.

I think the "you are the character" approach was kind of a bad idea. When you make a ride based on a beloved animated movie, people expect to see the main character in it. The ride should still have us as an active participant in the story as opposed to just standing off to the sidelines a la Journey of the Little Mermaid and the new Beauty and the Beast ride, but we don't have to actually be in the main character's shoes.

 

[mickEblu]

I think the "you are the character" approach was kind of a bad idea. When you make a ride based on a beloved animated movie, people expect to see the main character in it. The ride should still have us as an active participant in the story as opposed to just standing off to the sidelines a la Journey of the Little Mermaid and the new Beauty and the Beast ride, but we don't have to actually be in the main character's shoes.

I agree with the sentiment but I think “active participant” is the wrong choice of words. That makes me think of stuff like putting our hands up to be scanned in the GOTG queue. I know what you mean though. Make us feel like we re in the world of said character/ movie as opposed to watching it all unfold like a movie. So much of that is literally just the ride path. Imagine in Mermaid if you went through some of the scenes instead of just around them? Obviously the omnimover kind of limits what you can do in this regard which is why it was a bad choice… except when I want a high capacity ride at DCA that I can get on 2 minutes. Then it was a good choice.

 

[waltography]

I agree with the sentiment but I think “active participant” is the wrong choice of words. That makes me think of stuff like putting our hands up to be scanned in the GOTG queue. I know what you mean though. Make us feel like we re in the world of said character/ movie as opposed to watching it all unfold like a movie. So much of that is literally just the ride path. Imagine in Mermaid if you went through some of the scenes instead of just around them? Obviously the omnimover kind of limits what you can do in this regard which is why it was a bad choice… except when I want a high capacity ride at DCA that I can get on 2 minutes. Then it was a good choice.

Less "active participant" and more "engaged witnesses," I think. It's the difference between feeling like a burden on Smuggler's Run versus being totally in the moment but not being the moment in Star Tours.

 

[mickEblu]

That’s a good way to put it. Not sure I’ve ever heard those two words together. Engaged Witness. But that works!

I wonder if the imagineers knew when they were building the Little Mermaid ride that it would unanimously become the poster child of what not to do for a dark ride among Disney parks super fans everywhere?

 

[Brer Panther]

At least Little Mermaid features the villain in ONE scene and has some of the characters acknowledge your presence. That's more than you can say for the Beauty and the Beast ride.

 

[CaptinEO]

That’s a good way to put it. Not sure I’ve ever heard those two words together. Engaged Witness. But that works!

I wonder if the imagineers knew when they were building the Little Mermaid ride that it would unanimously become the poster child of what not to do for a dark ride among Disney parks super fans everywhere?

Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, and Winnie the Pooh are all really boring rides.

I think Superstar Limo is the poster child for what not do for a dark ride.

I'd also say that Nemo Submarines and "The Sea With Nemo and Friends" are the worst dark rides I've personally been on.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, and Winnie the Pooh are all really boring rides.

I think Superstar Limo is the poster child for what not do for a dark ride.

I'd also say that Nemo Submarines and "The Sea With Nemo and Friends" are the worst dark rides I've personally been on.

Have you been on Antarctica at Sea World?

 

[mickEblu]

Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, and Winnie the Pooh are all really boring rides.

I think Superstar Limo is the poster child for what not do for a dark ride.

I'd also say that Nemo Submarines and "The Sea With Nemo and Friends" are the worst dark rides I've personally been on.

Yeah but Superstar Limo was so bad that people don’t even talk about it with any sort of constructive criticism. It’s not really in the psyche of fans as “what not to do” as it was just this weird anomaly that we laugh it or even say that it was “so bad it’s good.”

Nemo is AWFUL. I’d rather ride Mermaid 10x in a row before riding Nemo once even if it was a walk on. But- they were retheming the Submarine Voyage and because of its unique ride system in generalI wouldn’t call it a poster child of what not to do for a dark ride.

 

[Dear Prudence]

NOT adults complaining about rides targeted towards small children not meeting their standards.

 

[CaptinEO]

Yeah but Superstar Limo was so bad that people don’t even talk about it with any sort of constructive criticism. It’s not really in the psyche of fans as “what not to do” as it was just this weird anomaly that we laugh it or even say that it was “so bad it’s good.”

Nemo is AWFUL. I’d rather ride Mermaid 10x in a row before riding Nemo once even if it was a walk on. But- they were retheming the Submarine Voyage and because of its unique ride system in generalI wouldn’t call it a poster child of what not to do for a dark ride.

I think you are agreeing with me that these rides are terrible. I think they do way more wrong than Mermaid which is just an average boring ride. The Nemo ones are such a slog and terrible in every way.

If I was a Disney designer I'd point to those Nemo rides as what not to do.