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

[mickEblu]

Sounds lame.

Hey it ll be the 1-5 year olds 7th favorite ride in Fantasyland so there’s that. Seems like there is much more to lose than gain by this move. You lose something that has a niche/ character and gain what? It still won’t have long lines as little kids don’t even know who Snow White is. So in the end we ll have 4 more kids who will ride it now because the other version was too scary. Splash Mountain is offensive. Snow White is scary. Let’s just homogenize everything at this point.

 

[Disneylover152]

"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. ❤

Looking at the timeframe of this project (original refurb was supposed to be done mid-May), they only had 4.5 months for this, which is the same length as the 2014 Alice refurb and a little shorter than the 2015 Peter Pan refurb. I find it hard to believe they are doing anything more than some new final scenes and a refresh of the rest attraction.

But maybe this is just me being hopeful.

 

[Brer Panther]

Soooooooo, it goes right from "the Hag creating the apple" to "Snow White gets kissed by the Prince"? That strikes me as cutting out a good chunk of the story. They can't even add a scene of the Hag offering Snow White the apple?

Hey, you guys still have Toad and Pinnochio (the latter of which I always found to be the most disturbing dark ride).

Oh, they're so gonna change the ending of Mr. Toad at some point (if not replace the ride altogether). If Splash Mountain existing is too offensive for the park, no way they're gonna keep allowing a ride to end with everyone going to that dark firey place. Mark my words, it's gonna happen. Where a judge once sentenced you to jail, you will soon see Elsa singing either "Let It Go" or "Into the Unknown". I would not be surprised.

 

[SplashGhost]

If they remove all the scary elements, the ride will be pointless and boring. It doesn't surprise me that Disney would do this though. It does seem like those changes mentioned by swge would take more time than a few months. However, they did manage to do Mission: Breakout in a similar amount of time, and those changes were even larger. Then again, it took 6 months for the Incredicoaster when most of the changes could have been done in a few weeks, so who knows with Disney.

At this point, I rather they just close the entire park for good instead of desecrating my beloved Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Sounds like a big mess. It was sad when WDW lost Snow White, unfortunate to hear the rumors of Disneyland's being heavily watered down. I'm not even one that thinks Snow White has to be 100% terrifying like the 1971 WDW version, I like some brighter happy scenes as well. A proper "ending" would have been welcome. But this sounds like it's going way too far.

The annoying thing is that the version in Paris already had a proper ending that they could have just copied for the Cali version (the faces for Snow and the Prince aren't very good, but that's easily fixed). I bring this version up because as far as I can tell (from google maps measurement anyways), the show buildings seem to be identical in size. The interior track/scene layout is also the same. Only difference is some slight variation in decor/effects or rearrangement of props in certain rooms. IF the Cali building is in fact the same size as Paris, then theoretically it should have been possible to implement Paris' ending into Cali's prior to the unload (even if it required some minor modification to that area). Wouldn't have sacrificed any of the previous scenes either. Shame they didn't opt for that instead of what they supposedly went with.

 

[mickEblu]

Sounds like a big mess. It was sad when WDW lost Snow White, unfortunate to hear the rumors of Disneyland's being heavily watered down. I'm not even one that thinks Snow White has to be 100% terrifying like the 1971 WDW version, I like some brighter happy scenes as well. A proper "ending" would have been welcome. But this sounds like it's going way too far.

The annoying thing is that the version in Paris already had a proper ending that they could have just copied for the Cali version (the faces for Snow and the Prince aren't very good, but that's easily fixed). I bring this version up because as far as I can tell (from google maps measurement anyways), the show buildings seem to be identical in size. The interior track/scene layout is also the same. Only difference is some slight variation in decor/effects or rearrangement of props in certain rooms. IF the Cali building is in fact the same size as Paris, then theoretically it should have been possible to implement Paris' ending into Cali's prior to the unload (even if it required some minor modification to that area). Wouldn't have sacrificed any of the previous scenes either. Shame they didn't opt for that instead of what they supposedly went with.

Wish they would have went with the new redhead that Paris’ POTC has too instead of the ones we got stateside. The foreign parks continue to do everything better of late.

 

[BayouShack]

Sounds like a big mess. It was sad when WDW lost Snow White, unfortunate to hear the rumors of Disneyland's being heavily watered down. I'm not even one that thinks Snow White has to be 100% terrifying like the 1971 WDW version, I like some brighter happy scenes as well. A proper "ending" would have been welcome. But this sounds like it's going way too far.

The annoying thing is that the version in Paris already had a proper ending that they could have just copied for the Cali version (the faces for Snow and the Prince aren't very good, but that's easily fixed). I bring this version up because as far as I can tell (from google maps measurement anyways), the show buildings seem to be identical in size. The interior track/scene layout is also the same. Only difference is some slight variation in decor/effects or rearrangement of props in certain rooms. IF the Cali building is in fact the same size as Paris, then theoretically it should have been possible to implement Paris' ending into Cali's prior to the unload (even if it required some minor modification to that area). Wouldn't have sacrificed any of the previous scenes either. Shame they didn't opt for that instead of what they supposedly went with.

I’m not saying there isn’t room for that in the DLR version, but the DLP version has 3 row cars instead of 2 rows. I’d imagine that means everything needed to be scaled up a little to accommodate a bigger turn radius.

 

[Kram Sacul]

Completely redone show scenes, toned down scariness... My expectations are below dinosaur bones at this point.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I’m not saying there isn’t room for that in the DLR version, but the DLP version has 3 row cars instead of 2 rows. I’d imagine that means everything needed to be scaled up a little to accommodate a bigger turn radius.

According to Google Maps, the ride buildings (not including queues, just the parts the track travels through including load/unload) are exactly the same size. Both 6500 square feet. The track follows the same path and both share the same scenes. If the map measurements are accurate, it doesn't seem like a whole lot could have been done to the scenery scale.

One small difference seems to be that the cliff scene uses a slightly "shorter" room at Paris. The witch and crash doors below her are pulled farther back from the dwarfs at Cali. So it looks like there's a couple extra feet of track in the final happy ending room (it's just due to the witch and crash doors being positioned differently). If the ending required this extra space, I'm sure they could just rearrange the cliff scene as they did at Paris.

One thing that might pose an issue however is ceiling clearance. The ceiling is much lower at Cali after the final crash doors and would need to be raised to fit some of the scenery. Not sure if there would be issues with that.

 

[BayouShack]

According to Google Maps, the ride buildings (not including queues, just the parts the track travels through including load/unload) are exactly the same size. Both 6500 square feet. The track follows the same path and both share the same scenes. If the map measurements are accurate, it doesn't seem like a whole lot could have been done to the scenery scale.

One small difference seems to be that the cliff scene uses a slightly "shorter" room at Paris. The witch and crash doors below her are pulled farther back from the dwarfs at Cali. So it looks like there's a couple extra feet of track in the final happy ending room (it's just due to the witch and crash doors being positioned differently). If the ending required this extra space, I'm sure they could just rearrange the cliff scene as they did at Paris.

One thing that might pose an issue however is ceiling clearance. The ceiling is much lower at Cali after the final crash doors and would need to be raised to fit some of the scenery. Not sure if there would be issues with that.

Nice research. So it seems nothing is stopping DL from installing three row cars to increase captivity... and by extension, Pinocchio too. The legacy of Project Stardust.

 

[Disneylover152]

Nice research. So it seems nothing is stopping DL from installing three row cars to increase captivity... and by extension, Pinocchio too. The legacy of Project Stardust.

I don't think Snow White needs 3 rows though. I don't recall ever seeing the wait above like 15 minutes.

 

[Brer Oswald]

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)

On the stairs in the cottage maybe?

 

[mharrington]

On the stairs in the cottage maybe?

That's the one place where Snow White is in the whole ride. Ironically, in the original 1971 version of the WDW ride, the dwarfs do make their sole appearance in the ride on the stairs of their cottage:

It is based on the scene in the movie where they suspect a monster is in their bedroom, not realizing at first that it's only Snow White, but given the context of this ride, it could be inferred that this time it really is a monster. It's dark and gloomy in the cottage and snippets of dialogue can be heard here. For example, Doc says, "It's bubble! I mean trouble!", and Grumpy adds, "I warned ya!"

 

[Brer Oswald]

That's the one place where Snow White is in the whole ride. Ironically, in the original 1971 version of the WDW ride, the dwarfs do make their sole appearance in the ride on the stairs of their cottage:

It is based on the scene in the movie where they suspect a monster is in their bedroom, not realizing at first that it's only Snow White, but given the context of this ride, it could be inferred that this time it really is a monster. It's dark and gloomy in the cottage and snippets of dialogue can be heard here. For example, Doc says, "It's bubble! I mean trouble!", and Grumpy adds, "I warned ya!"

Yep. Same figures. And they make more sense in that location, story wise.

 

[chadwpalm]

These two jinxed this entire thing from the start. Ban them.

I totally forgot I wrote that. I forget a lot of things lately, so that's no surprise.

 

[swge]

On the stairs in the cottage maybe?

If I had to guess, I wouldn't say the cottage.. as the dwarfs are already seen playing instruments in that room. I would maybe guess the track switch as you approach the Queens castle doors where the vultures are... but then again, that doesn't even make sense w the story of the movie.. I haven't watched Snow in forever but I don't ever remember the dwarfs approaching the Queen's castle.... My source said they're keeping the dwarfs which makes sense as they're original figures but I don't see where else they could possibly go....

 

[Brer Oswald]

If I had to guess, I wouldn't say the cottage.. as the dwarfs are already seen playing instruments in that room. I would maybe guess the track switch as you approach the Queens castle doors where the vultures are... but then again, that doesn't even make sense w the story of the movie.. I haven't watched Snow in forever but I don't ever remember the dwarfs approaching the Queen's castle.... My source said they're keeping the dwarfs which makes sense as they're original figures but I don't see where else they could possibly go....

The only reason I guessed the Cottage is because that’s where the figures are supposed to come from. In the film, the walk up the stairs with their candles.

 

[swge]

Soooooooo, it goes right from "the Hag creating the apple" to "Snow White gets kissed by the Prince"? That strikes me as cutting out a good chunk of the story. They can't even add a scene of the Hag offering Snow White the apple?


Oh, they're so gonna change the ending of Mr. Toad at some point (if not replace the ride altogether). If Splash Mountain existing is too offensive for the park, no way they're gonna keep allowing a ride to end with everyone going to that dark firey place. Mark my words, it's gonna happen. Where a judge once sentenced you to jail, you will soon see Elsa singing either "Let It Go" or "Into the Unknown". I would not be surprised.

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.

 

[swge]

The only reason I guessed the Cottage is because that’s where the figures are supposed to come from. In the film, the walk up the stairs with their candles.

You're correct and I believe that the same figures were also actually used on the staircase in other versions of the attraction at different parks.

 

[Brer Oswald]

You're correct and I believe that the same figures were also actually used on the staircase in other versions of the attraction at different parks.

Yes they were.