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

[MisterPenguin]

Was it ever really stated by Walt, that he wanted it to be scary?

"Make it *scarier.* I want those little __________ to be _________ their pants." -Walt Disney

 

[Rich T]

...Maybe the new Snow White shakes up the narrative of what makes a strong FL dark ride.

If so, then The Emoji Movie shakes up the narrative of what makes a strong animated film.

 

[mickEblu]

The spookier elements (in the Orlando counterpart; I grew up on the East Coast) loomed large for me as a child, but even then I could tell it was a very chintzy ride (so much plywood and visible emergency exit doors) compared to the much more sophisticated scares of Haunted Mansion or Tower of Terror.

As an adult, like many others here, I find the chintzy quality charming and have real nostalgia for it. However, I find it hard to blame the general public for disagreeing and I can't begrudge Disney for wanting to upgrade the attraction. I'm open to a new interpretation of a Snow White dark ride. At least the ride still exists in Anaheim.

I have nostalgia for the chintzy stuff too but Snow of all the FL rides didn’t make me feel anything because it’s one note was “scary” and as an adult it didn’t do that for me. Also the lack of music is a big part of why I didn’t feel much. I feel something in Peter Pan from the bedroom through Neverland. Pinocchio has the great songs and Gepettos workshop. Alice is unique with indoor outdoor thing and has awesome ride vehicles. Toad is fun. But can’t say I ever felt much of anything on Snow White.

 

[Zorro 2.0]

After taking another look at the ride-through video, I noticed another issue. Look at the segment showing the impending death of the evil queen and listen to the accompanying music. The music is fine for the smooch and overall ending, but it doesn't go with the fall of the evil queen at all as it literally spikes the drama and tension we should be feeling at that point. Given the physical constraints I'm not sure if there's any type of reasonable fix to go there. Again, it reinforces the disjointed and haphazard ending of the attraction. Yes, it's beautiful and all that, but it's not exactly satisfying.

 

[Rich T]

Was it ever really stated by Walt, that he wanted it to be scary? It leaned on being scary because that was just what a amusement park style dark ride was back in the old days. Not really any different from Toad having almost nothing to do with the movie. The idea of the ride being "scary" also seems contradictory to the thing he DID say: that it needed to be a place where parents and children can have fun together. If a slow moving dark ride is too scary for kids, and boring for adults, who exactly is it meant to appeal to?

The story goes that Walt wanted a beautiful ride, a funny ride and a scary ride, which resulted in Pan, Toad and Snow White. That’s the story.

The DL ride was never, ever “Too scary for children” (That honor was owned by the gloriously twisted WDW Snow White 1.0). For some timid children at DL whose parents were too clueless to read the ride’s name or notice the queue’s hard-to-miss warning sign, sure. A good park provides a variety of experiences of varying intensity for kids to conquer when they’re ready. This current version is just another example of Disney’s recent Cream of Wheat, bubble-wrap, plush-sales-oriented approach to ride design.

 

[el_super]

Too scary for kids? I rode it as a kid a ton and loved it. I always see kids in line. Maybe its too scary for helicopter parents, but kids seem to enjoy the scary adventure.

Wasn't that the whole reason they had to add scary to the name of the attraction? Yeah, I get that some kids might have liked it, but complaints are complaints.

"Make it *scarier.* I want those little __________ to be _________ their pants." -Walt Disney

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

I have nostalgia for the chintzy stuff too but Snow of all the FL rides didn’t make me feel anything because it’s one note was “scary” and as an adult it didn’t do that for me. Also the lack of music is a big part of why I didn’t feel much. I feel something in Peter Pan from the bedroom through Neverland. Pinocchio has the great songs and Gepettos workshop. Alice is unique with indoor outdoor thing and has awesome ride vehicles. Toad is fun. But can’t say I ever felt much of anything on Snow White.

I bet this perspective is widespread. The wait times for the FL dark rides certainly seem to reflect it (in my experience Snow White is typically close to a walk-on). And if many kids are terrified by the attraction, then no demographic is really being satisfied, and it makes sense to adjust its tone as well as its tech.

 

[CaptinEO]

If you go on rides with little kids they get scared on anything. I had a relative crying on Little Mermaid. I don't think the content even matters on the rides as much as people think.

 

[Californian Elitist]

If you go on rides with little kids they get scared on anything. I had a relative crying on Little Mermaid. I don't think the content even matters on the rides as much as people think.

I met a child who had gone on exactly zero rides during the entire day at Disneyland. After we closed that night, we kept Pan open just for her and her family so she could at least get one ride in. We tried and failed. She started crying pretty much immediately.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

What a nice thing to do!

 

[CaptinEO]

I met a child who had gone on exactly zero rides during the entire day at Disneyland. After we closed that night, we kept Pan open just for her and her family so she could at least get one ride in. We tried and failed. She started crying pretty much immediately.

Oh no! The funny thing is everyone wants to bring children to Disneyland and thinks they'll have a great time.

I wouldn't even bother (if I did have kids) until they were at least 9 or 10. I also wouldnt stay more than half the day.

People see the commercials and get choked up thinking they are going to carry their 4 year old on their shoulder during fireworks and don't realize how unfamiliar and exhausting a themepark is for a young person.

Once it's passed about 1pm younger children are done throughout the parks and you can see tantrums everywhere.

 

[Brer Panther]

we kept Pan open just for her and her family so she could at least get one ride in. We tried and failed. She started crying pretty much immediately.

That's peculiar. Maybe she was afraid of heights or something?

 

[Californian Elitist]

That's peculiar. Maybe she was afraid of heights or something?

I think she was afraid of any kind of movement. I knelt to her level and told her it was okay and it wasn’t scary. I told her she would fly in a ship and see all the pretty lights. Nothing worked.

As stated previously, not all children are ready and equipped for theme parks. People definitely assume their kids will have a good time and that’s not always the case.

 

[Professortango1]

I think she was afraid of any kind of movement. I knelt to her level and told her it was okay and it wasn’t scary. I told her she would fly in a ship and see all the pretty lights. Nothing worked.

As stated previously, not all children are ready and equipped for theme parks. People definitely assume their kids will have a good time and that’s not always the case.

Certain kids are easily overwhelmed. Add to that a variety of factors such as how tired they are and tears can happen on any ride. I've seen kids cry on Small World. But then again, I want to cry on Small World too.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think there’s also the opposite problem. I’ve taken a few small children who were clearly picking up on their parents’ fears and concerns about them riding (be it that the content is scary or that they’ll fall out or whatever). Once you got them away from worried mom and dad they were fine.

I need to dig it up but there’s also a great quote from Walt in The Animated Man about children needing a good scare in response to criticism that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was too scary.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Was it ever really stated by Walt, that he wanted it to be scary? It leaned on being scary because that was just what a amusement park style dark ride was back in the old days. Not really any different from Toad having almost nothing to do with the movie. The idea of the ride being "scary" also seems contradictory to the thing he DID say: that it needed to be a place where parents and children can have fun together. If a slow moving dark ride is too scary for kids, and boring for adults, who exactly is it meant to appeal to?

Considering that 60% or so of the ride was based on the parts of the movie that were directly inspired by horror movies of the period, I'd say yes it was intentional. It's not like doing a Snow White Tunnel of Love would've been impossible to do in 1955.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I need to dig it up but there’s also a great quote from Walt in The Animated Man about children needing a good scare in response to criticism that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was too scary.

Since the 1930s, Walt Disney's Snow White (among several other of his later movies) has always had a reputation of scaring children.

Ironically, trying to make the ride or anything related to the movie (especially the Princess branded stuff) less scary also makes it less Disney than before.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

After taking another look at the ride-through video, I noticed another issue. Look at the segment showing the impending death of the evil queen and listen to the accompanying music. The music is fine for the smooch and overall ending, but it doesn't go with the fall of the evil queen at all as it literally spikes the drama and tension we should be feeling at that point.

I don't think that's actually the music for that scene, but a byproduct of having it so smooshed against the ending.

You have the Mirror Monitor, the cliff scene and the kiss all happening in a matter of seconds with a very loud chorus playing just around the corner. There's hardly any buffer when it comes to space or timing, even with the ride slowed down.

 

[Castle Cake Apologist]

What's up with Dopey, and why haven't they put the flowers back in his hand? It just looks really weird having him with an empty clenched fist. I remember the preview video said something about how impressed we would be by the interaction between the Dopey and Snow figures, but they aren't even facing each other half the time. Was there something originally planned here that didn't work out? The holding area at the end of Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train at WDW features a really cool animatronic of Dopey and Snow who hold hands and dance across the entire cottage, surely a smaller version of that could have been done here.

Also, anybody else notice they knocked out an entire wall in the cottage of the Dwarfs? I'm assuming this is because the room and track layout are designed to draw your attention to the staircase with the Snow White figure, but she isn't there anymore, so now it's just one big room.

Before:

Now:

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I think I just see the FL rides different than many here. They're spookhouse rides. They weren't exactly intended to tell the story, that much is obvious from riding them. Mr. Toad never had much of anything to do with the movie. You're just riding through the universe of the movies with various low-tech things along the trackway. I have sort of the opposite opinion of most here when I see high-tech things being added when it's mostly plywood and mannequins to begin with. I think that's charming!

Prior to The Haunted Mansion, Snow White basically was Disneyland's "Haunted House" ride - skeletons and all!

Now with the changes to it and Tower of Terror, DLR has lost two of its peak "spooky" rides, and that's a shame.