Morbid Endings To Dark Rides

[Robin Of Loxley]

I was thinking back about some of the (now extinct) storylines to Disney dark rides, and how, if you really think about it, they were downright sinister. Personally I found them fun & comical, and sometimes miss the morbid "sad" endings to rides rather than the expected happily ever after that we habitually see today.

The original Snow White's Scary Adventures comes to mind, with the twisted ending where the wicked queen wins by "crushing" Snow White (the rider) on the head with a giant diamond. The final scene was literally stars being seen as you are "knocked out" cold. That may sound gruesome on paper, but it made for a pretty interesting dark ride. Maybe too dark & scary for smaller children, so I can see why Disney decided it needed a change to the happily ever after of the newer version.

Then there's my personal favorite, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (R.I.P.), where, even though this is nowhere in the movie it represents, the ride storyline has passengers getting killed by a train & winding up in hell at the very end. No matter which track you rode on for this attraction, it always ended up with sudden death & a trip to see Satan. We always got a good laugh outta that.

Clearly today Disney could not get away with such morbid endings to attraction stories (even though Toad still remains, hell & all at DL, and the jury is still out on whether or not HM ends with a suicide jump or a homicidal push into the cemetery out of the attic window). But still though, to think about some of these attraction endings at a Disney park...that's pretty messed up stuff right there. Yet most of us get a good laugh outta the gags. In the tradition of dark rides...they're supposed to be , well, dark; story & all. But it's that moment when you realize: Did we just get killed by the wicked queen in that last ride??
Yes. Yes we did.

Are there any other classic Disney dark rides with twisted endings that I am missing or forgot to mention?

 

[xdan0920]

My worst dark ride was riding to my home resort on the monorail from Epcot. I was trapped in a near stuffed car and started to inhale the fumes from the unwashed. In a drastic attempt to breathe with some semblence of comfort I cupped my hands to make a flesh breathing apparatus but passed out from mild carbon monoxide poisoning. While my trousers became wrinked in this exchange, that was all that happened to my person. After this incident while at large at the World, I travel with my faithful man servent Perkins.

HAHAHAHAHA

 

[wm49rs]

My worst dark ride was riding to my home resort on the monorail from Epcot. I was trapped in a near stuffed car and started to inhale the fumes from the unwashed. In a drastic attempt to breathe with some semblence of comfort I cupped my hands to make a flesh breathing apparatus but passed out from mild carbon monoxide poisoning. While my trousers became wrinked in this exchange, that was all that happened to my person. After this incident while at large at the World, I travel with my faithful man servent Perkins.

Yeah....

 

[Robin Of Loxley]

Well this derailed in a hurry.

 

[Robin Of Loxley]

I'm sure most of you have seen this or ridden this before the refurb which changed it over to the happier ending. But in case anyone missed this version, here is the one I was referencing where the wicked queen wins in the end.

 

[danzkat]

I'm sure most of you have seen this or ridden this before the refurb which changed it over to the happier ending. But in case anyone missed this version, here is the one I was referencing where the wicked queen wins in the end.

I remember this version. I rode it in 1987 when I was 8 years old and I was freaking out the whole ride. I was still afraid of the ride when I went back in 1994 and 1997 but was happy that it had changed.

 

[cub21rak]

Never did the ride. Just watched the video and wow! Wdw and dl is supposed to be the happiest place in the world and they put a ride that can be considered scary to many kids? Yea I for sure wouldnt have taken my kids on it. Supposed to be a fun and happy day not a scary day.

 

[Jabbas]

That looks more like a haunted house

 

[FettFan]

Everyone is dead at the end of the Haunted Mansion.

After you encounter Constance in the attic, you then fall to your death throughout the window.

The night watchman who is standing right by the Doombuggies path? Yeah, there's a reason he's not paying attention to all the other ghosts. He can't see them.

But he CAN see YOU. He just watched you fall out of the attic window to your death and is now staring at your ghost moving past him to enter the cemetery.

That "Swinging Wake" that the Ghost Host had to tend to?

It was in your honor. You didn't even need to volunteer, because you INSISTED on lagging behind.

You're dead now....which is why the Hitchhiking ghosts can now play with you. Pulling your head off and all that jazz.
And it's why Little Leota reminds you that when you come back you need to have your Death Certificate.

 

[marni1971]

Phantom Manor has the fall a clear and deliberate fall backwards into a hole in the ground in a cemetery.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Never did the ride. Just watched the video and wow! Wdw and dl is supposed to be the happiest place in the world and they put a ride that can be considered scary to many kids? Yea I for sure wouldnt have taken my kids on it. Supposed to be a fun and happy day not a scary day.

WDW and DL are supposed to be happy places where all the families has adventures, together - funny ones, or magical ones, or scary ones. Magical times as you guide your kids through a full range of emotions, that you experience with them.

WDW is not a shiny plastic toddler palace where two year olds look at bright shiny colourful objects and the parents in turn look at their kids. That is the modern travesty variant.


Bring back Toad! That I may teach my kids what happens when you speed in traffic!

Edit: hmmm, that sounds harsh. The harshness is solely intended for Disney, that so unforgivably infantilised the MK!

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I was thinking back about some of the (now extinct) storylines to Disney dark rides, and how, if you really think about it, they were downright sinister. Personally I found them fun & comical, and sometimes miss the morbid "sad" endings to rides rather than the expected happily ever after that we habitually see today.

The original Snow White's Scary Adventures comes to mind, with the twisted ending where the wicked queen wins by "crushing" Snow White (the rider) on the head with a giant diamond. The final scene was literally stars being seen as you are "knocked out" cold. That may sound gruesome on paper, but it made for a pretty interesting dark ride. Maybe too dark & scary for smaller children, so I can see why Disney decided it needed a change to the happily ever after of the newer version.

Then there's my personal favorite, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (R.I.P.), where, even though this is nowhere in the movie it represents, the ride storyline has passengers getting killed by a train & winding up in hell at the very end. No matter which track you rode on for this attraction, it always ended up with sudden death & a trip to see Satan. We always got a good laugh outta that.

Clearly today Disney could not get away with such morbid endings to attraction stories (even though Toad still remains, hell & all at DL, and the jury is still out on whether or not HM ends with a suicide jump or a homicidal push into the cemetery out of the attic window). But still though, to think about some of these attraction endings at a Disney park...that's pretty messed up stuff right there. Yet most of us get a good laugh outta the gags. In the tradition of dark rides...they're supposed to be , well, dark; story & all. But it's that moment when you realize: Did we just get killed by the wicked queen in that last ride??
Yes. Yes we did.

Are there any other classic Disney dark rides with twisted endings that I am missing or forgot to mention?

Toad was one of my favs too! That train remains one the best special effects ever. So simple, so effective, so scary!


I have heard it argued that the witch is struck by lightning at the last moment, and you - Snow White - escape. It is both derivation and a departure from the movie. Movie Snow at that moment is in her coma. But the witch meets her similar fate.
I infinitely preferred Snow when you rode it as Snow White, instead of as a spectator. Entering and living her movie is better than watching the movie played out by static puppets. So much scarier, so much more appealing to your instincts and reflexes, so much more magical.

I would say that Pirates - pre rubbish movieoverlay - also ended in your beloved 'morbid' manner. It is unclear what the role of the rider is (participant? spectator? The actors do not break the fourth wall, so one is tempted to assume the latter). At any rate, Pirates functioned as a morality play. The crimes of the Pirates didn't pay off.
Whereas now, they do pay off. Jack is richly rewarded for his plunder and pillage.

So in the name of catering to impressionable kids, modern Disney now has its morality reversed. The criminal used to be punished for his crimes (Toad), but now is rewarded for them (Jack)! Talk about morbid! And some family values!

 

[cub21rak]

Well after fettfan comment I tought a little more into. And I see that there can be different experiences in a ride and its up to myself as a parent to determine if its an acceptable ride in my opinion for my child. Reading at first my kind went straight to "would I let my 2 y/o and 4 y/o ride that ride" and I wouldn't but I can see how at an older age it would be more manageable with them understanding it for what it is.

 

[Kurt Hauk]

I have some great memories of both of these rides as I visited often in my younger years. The best one is on MTWR. It was about 25 years ago. I was 13 and was at the Magic Kingdom with my sister and one of her friends. It was late enough that most of fantasy land was walk on to ride anything. We decided to ride MTWR and after the first time through I mentioned I saw one of those glowing necklaces in the tunnel where the train is going to hit you. The challenge was set. We decided we would all ride separate and try to grab it as we pass. After all of us attempted and failed twice I was determined to get it. Our third ride through I was the last of us to board the car. The tunnel approached and I stretched out really far and snatched it and then clunk, I hit my head on what I can only imagine was a steal beam of some sorts. Exiting the ride I ran to my sister and her friend with one hand rubbing my head and the other holding the glowing necklace up high. I then noticed both my sister and her friend were both rubbing their heads as they had both hit the same beam. Oh the memories...

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

Everyone is dead at the end of the Haunted Mansion.

After you encounter Constance in the attic, you then fall to your death throughout the window.

The night watchman who is standing right by the Doombuggies path? Yeah, there's a reason he's not paying attention to all the other ghosts. He can't see them.

But he CAN see YOU. He just watched you fall out of the attic window to your death and is now staring at your ghost moving past him to enter the cemetery.

That "Swinging Wake" that the Ghost Host had to tend to?

It was in your honor. You didn't even need to volunteer, because you INSISTED on lagging behind.

You're dead now....which is why the Hitchhiking ghosts can now play with you. Pulling your head off and all that jazz.
And it's why Little Leota reminds you that when you come back you need to have your Death Certificate.

Well said

 

[Allym146]

That's terrifying! I'm glad I never rode that, at any age. The wicked laugh got old after about the 30th time .

 

[xdan0920]

Pretty obvious why they had to toddler everything up though, is it not? Most people's heads are filled with water rather then brains. Delicate water at that. We need to be very careful to make everything appeal to the lowest common denominator, while making sure no one is offended or frightened.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

In a drastic attempt to breathe with some semblence of comfort I cupped my hands to make a flesh breathing apparatus but passed out from mild carbon monoxide poisoning. .

Nice.

Jimmy Thick- +1

 

[Robin Of Loxley]

I have heard it argued that the witch is struck by lightning at the last moment, and you - Snow White - escape.

Yeah in the newer version, she was struck by lightning, you could hear her scream and begin to fall backward as your car passed under safely to the 'happily ever after' scene. Also in the newer version she was trying to crush you with a boulder (like in the film) rather than a huge diamond as seen in the original ride. Only in the newer version, they kept the ending politically correct with passengers escaping happily. Both were good rides (imo), but I kinda miss the dark twist of the original attraction.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Never did the ride. Just watched the video and wow! Wdw and dl is supposed to be the happiest place in the world and they put a ride that can be considered scary to many kids? Yea I for sure wouldnt have taken my kids on it. Supposed to be a fun and happy day not a scary day.

Actually Disneyland is the Happiest Place on Earth. Magic Kingdom is the Most Magical Place on Earth.

I think you've missed the point of going to Disney parks. They're supposed to be for everyone, and that sometimes includes scary elements. Sure, Toad is scary, but it's a classic and should never be ripped out (too late for Magic Kingdom).