"Major facelift" is an understatement
This attraction
was completely reworked to reach its absolute greatest potential.
Think the classic original, Florida mine train, and Paris dark ride had a technologically advanced baby
I say
was bc the attraction is complete and is just undergoing animation/cycling tests at the moment. If testing continues to go well, it is expected to open with the park whenever that is....
The ride definitely got the Alice facelift, with new projections/lighting to add animation around the entire attraction such as birds etc.
But Disney also took this opportunity to completely rework the whole attraction experience... changing entire scenes from the ground up and even adding great additions to the already accepted and beloved scenes throughout.
Yes, the attraction will get re-branded most likely just taking "scary" out of the name.
But taking the scary out of this ride wasn't the only objective...
The dwarfs on the cliff have been moved to a different part of the attraction apparently (don't know if I believe that as I can't think of a single space that could fit all of them and still make sense w the story)
The mine scene has been completely redone w new jewels, sets, props, and dwarf figures including the iconic Dopey with his diamond eyes seen in mine train in Florida
the Queen transformation scene is still in but the dungeon after has been redone removing the gargoyles and potentially other props that were scarier than needed to be
the hag still remains with her apple behind the cauldron but her apple doesn't turn into a skull anymore and there will be added skull animations here apparently.
Everything after this has been completely redone
No more hag on her boat offering apples
No more scary forest
No scary hag surprise ending w the holographic hand
No scary rainy cliff w the hag death scene
You'll now enter a beautiful lush green forest with flowers, animals, and a sleeping Snow White figure being kissed by her Prince behind a scrim which I'm guessing will be used for projection animation
The finale will be Snow and Ferdinand waving goodbye on a cliff with woodland creatures wishing guests farewell (similar to Paris but less creepy)
While yes there will be lots of projections, they're only there to add animation onto already existing physical pieces. Nobody is getting replaced by flat screens so we can all return to our benches and relax again
However, while we are getting a lot of new characters, I personally believe that all the new additions won't be crazy audio animatronics but will be static figures..
Also the audio for the whole attraction has been redone and remastered
Written above aren't all of the additions implemented to the attraction but just the notable ones.. expect more nitty gritty details at a later time.
For reasons, this does not come from any source and should not be taken as fact. Just pure speculation. ❤