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

[MerlinTheGoat]

I think only the 1971 WDW version ever had dwarfs on the stairs. This is an old promotional photo of the scene, gives a rough idea of what it looked like-

The entire cottage scene was extremely dark and spooky, nightmarish just like the rest of the ride. It's interesting that these dwarf figures ended up being used in the cliff finale for all of the other versions that opened after WDW's. I think they still fit very well on the cliffs (the staircase scene had major differences from the film too). The stairs in the other versions of the ride are much smaller by comparison. When they changed the lighting and removed the dwarfs and shadow in 1994, the room felt much too large and empty as a result.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

The transition between the old hag apple scene and the now happy forest also has me intrigued... I don't see how the transitions could work without them adding a wall/show doors to help separate the two different environments. I expect the new forest scene to have a lot of light and brightness to it.. I don't understand how they'll keep the light from polluting the previous dark dungeon scene.. I guess we will have to see to find out.

For others also worried about the scene transitions and how they'll make sense w the story, just remember that the audio for the whole attraction was also redone.. so that could help the story line in some respects?

Also I mentioned before, a scrim was seen in front of the added sleeping Snow White figure w the prince.. idk what the scrim will be used for but my ***prediction*** is that you'll approach a sleeping snow white figure and the back light shuts off to reveal a smooth seamless transition projected on the mesh of her being kissed and waking up... I could be completely wrong but I don't see the need to add a scrim if they don't plan to project anything onto it.... could be a cool effect if done right.

My guess would be that the scrim is there to create a surface for catching the rays of light and *·*·*Sparkly Magic™*·*·* seen in the concept art:

 

[brb1006]

Heck, Walt Disney World even created a sign warning guests (mainly parents) about The Witch after it was renovated in 1994 (it got removed in 2004).

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Little Jaden is so pleased to see Snow White and Prince Whoever in that Conceptual Artwork.

"Look, Jaden! It's Snow White! Yay!"
*clap clap clap*

 

[SplashGhost]

This is a masterpiece and the DL attraction should become a perfect replica of it. The best parts of Snow White are the scenes that feel like they belong in a horror movie, and those are the scenes that make for an exciting attraction.

I don't want a dark ride to be a book report, I want it to be evocative of the most exciting aspects of the source material. Nothing shows the decline of Disney quite like comparing the classic dark rides with garbage like the Monsters Inc and Little Mermaid rides.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

It has no songs, no dancing. It's perfect.

 

[brb1006]

It has no songs, no dancing. It's perfect.

Save for Snow White singing "I'm Wishing" during the ride's queue in the original version.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Heck, Walt Disney World even created a sign warning guests (mainly parents) about The Witch after it was renovated in 1994 (it got removed in 2004).

This sign still exists in Tokyo.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Warning: this ride features no dancing song scenes.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I'm not familiar with the Monsters Inc rides. But Mermaid's problem is not that it's a "book report" ride. It has ugly animatronics, recycled basic or static figures, bland badly painted scenery, poor projections, visible ride mechanics everwhere, no proper Ursula finale etc. There was a different version planned for Disneyland Paris in the early 90s from Tony Baxter. It was a book report ride too, but with much more interesting scenes. I have no doubt Baxter and his team would have done infinitely better.



I might get some backlash for this, but i'm actually not a diehard fan of 1971 Snow White. I understand why people liked it and think its 1994 refurb could have had more polish. But I think Cali and especially Paris are the best versions. The team of imagineers responsible for the 1983 Fantasyland overhaul had some incredible artists on their team regarding the painted flats and murals.

WDW's 94 refurb had some major flaws, but it also received a similar upgrade to the painted flats and walls. The entrance hall, throne room, cauldron and cliff areas were impressively detailed far beyond 71. The new load area mural was beautiful as well (not that the original load wasn't attractive, but I highly prefer 94's). I also liked the new "I'm wishing" scene they managed to fit behind the mural. The ending scenes were welcome too (though Paris has the better "farewell" scene IMO). It's a shame it had so many other issues. The dungeon was heavily abbreviated to unnecessarily extend the forest. They also removed the castle wall that previously hid the witch in the boat, replaced by an plain ugly black curtain. The cottage was also lazily redesigned, removing the dwarfs and shadow from the stairs but not doing much else to that room (your eyes were still drawn towards the now large empty staircase and landing due to how the scene was framed). The mine scene was the worst part, just a couple of turns through flat walls. Nicely painted flat walls, but horrible downgrade from the original. Could have been an A+ refurb had they fixed these issues and given it some extra polish. Still a very fun ride that I miss a lot.

Tokyo is also interesting, it's a mix of WDW 71 and DL 83. Besides the cottage, the ride has no music and takes many sounds from 71. It's loading area is an exact copy of 71. The first room also has a real mirror like 71, though the hallway is larger and has windows of a night sky. Witch transformation is mostly the same as 71 (meaning less detail than DL 83), but without the hallway with the night sky. Dungeon is similar to 83, including the detailed cauldron scene (71 had large spiders, a separate alcove with the raven and a falling shelf gag). Forest is virtually identical to 71, though painted with more detail. Cottage interior uses 83's happy version, except with fluorescent paint and dark light. It's the prettiest of the happy cottage scenes IMO. Outside the cottage is also like DL 83, except the Queen is already transformed and the vultures are at the mine entrance. The forest here is more detailed than 71 and uses 83's distant castle mural. Vultures appear before the mine like 71. The mine scene is much shorter than 71 but a bit longer than 83. Unlike 71, the witch doesn't chase you through the mine or drop a giant emerald. The ending follows DL 83, the witch offers an apple from inside the cottage and is chased up the cliff by the dwarfs. She drops a boulder on you and the ride abruptly ends.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The mermaid ride is boring, looks mostly like plastic, has awkward scenes where you can see other people on the ride and in turn be seen by others. It's horrendous. I give it a pass because it's for baby girls and they don't have many other things to do in DCA.

 

[MattFrees71]

This is a masterpiece and the DL attraction should become a perfect replica of it. The best parts of Snow White are the scenes that feel like they belong in a horror movie, and those are the scenes that make for an exciting attraction.

I don't want a dark ride to be a book report, I want it to be evocative of the most exciting aspects of the source material. Nothing shows the decline of Disney quite like comparing the classic dark rides with garbage like the Monsters Inc and Little Mermaid rides.

Tokyo Disneyland SWA's I think is the best one. Retains all the classic, scary parts while still having the dwarves singing in the cottage- which I think is fine as it is a classic scene from the film and really makes sense for them to be in there vs. MK's 1971's dark nightmare cottage.

 

[Brer Panther]

I might get some backlash for this, but i'm actually not a diehard fan of 1971 Snow White.

To be honest, I'm raising eyebrows at all the praise for a version of the ride that ended with the Witch succeeding in killing the riders as well.

Then again, one of the most popular dark rides on the site is one where the riders get hit by a train and go to Heck, so...

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

They're spookhouse rides.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Random question, I remember seeing on Twitter recently (a couple months ago? last year?) an upclose backstage photo of the "witch shadow" at the top of the stairs in this scene. Anyone have that? Dug around for a while and couldn't find it.

 

[swge]

More details to help clear a couple worries

The ride definitely now makes more sense and follows the movies ending scenes in chronological order

To help refresh your memory (as I just watched the film), here's the outline of the ending of the film compared to the outline of the new ride

FILM

• Queen transformation/apple dipping in cauldron
• Snow eats apple and a thunder storm starts
• Dwarfs chase the hag out of the cottage up a hill through the rainy forest/she dies
• Snow gets kissed and woken up in a happy forest
• Happily every after into the sunset

NEW RIDE

• Queen transformation
• Apple dipping in cauldron
• **Rainy forest w dwarfs climbing up a hill**
• Happy forest w snow getting kissed and woken up
• Happily every after into the sunset

So there is in fact an added transition between the hags layer and the happy forest. And the dwarfs on the cliff have been moved to this transition and will be seen on the side of the vehicle.

From what I've been told, they've basically split the spooky forest in half... half of it being dark then transitioning into the happy version just like the movie..

But there is a transition between the spooky layer and the rainy forest... a new scene has been added to where the hag on the boat once was. Apparently there is a new castle wall/magic mirror that I'm guessing will narrate something to help the transition even more...

After the new magic mirror, the rainy cliff w the now moved dwarfs appear, then a transition into the sweet green forest just like the movie..

Ferdinand and Snow on the bed are actually animated.. Snow can tilt her head and move her arm and Ferd can lean in for a kiss.

Some personal notes:
There are die hard fans on here that no matter what Disney does, will absolutely not tolerate any change at all..

A couple things to note for these people... the version of the ride you're so hardcore rooting for is not even close to the original version.. this ride has changed immensely throughout the years to help tell the story in better ways....

In my opinion, this version seems like the absolute best... Why? bc..

• It tells the story in the way the film that everybody knows does
• It's inclusive to children (who the ride is intended for in the first place)
• Adds Snow White to 2 additional scenes (now making 3 appearances) which has always been a problem... "where was Snow White??" a question that would be yelled out 479357350 times by guests boarding off
• They've added characters to dead scenes such as the mine which literally consisted of flat painted walls
• They've overall added more figures/characters/animals throughout the attraction along w new projection technology (which everybody loved from the Alice refurb)
• And for the diehards... they managed to preserve and keep the original wood carved dwarf figures and just move them to an area that made more sense...

Whether the 40 yr old men like it or not, the kids will absolutely adore this transformation and lets not forget that that's all that matters/Disney cares about

Good day

 

[TragicMike]

40 year old men and spending an afternoon crying over a theme park ride about a fairytale princess.

Name a better combo.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I want them to keep the entire scary forest because it's the best scene on the ride. The crude charming gators, the freaky trees with crude charming moving limbs, the crude charming bats on strings. It's all just so...crude and charming.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

To be honest, I'm raising eyebrows at all the praise for a version of the ride that ended with the Witch succeeding in killing the riders as well.

I agree. I remember this version of the ride from when I was kid (my first WDW visit was in 1975). Looking back at it now I'm not even sure why it had Snow White's name on it because it was 100% about her nemesis.