Original Alice in Wonderland Ride

[Okee68]

The Toad and Cycil statue in the town square are also from WDW:
View attachment 524720

I'm actually surprised at how long the old facade with the 2D Toad picture at WDW. It was still there in 1991!


The small Toad statue (based on the one on Disneyland's facade) and the new sign must've come during the same refurb that added the DL version of the Merrily Song and the 2 row motorcars.
View attachment 524723

The two-seat cars replaced the originals in late 1993, the marquee was changed the same year, and the Disneyland version of the Merrily Song replaced the queue song in 1995 and the Toad Hall music in 1996.

 

[Okee68]

Here's an un-watermarked, lower-resolution version of that Peter Pan's Flight photo from earlier. This is from The "E" Ticket, so one of the corners is cut off by another photo. Just thought I would put this on the table.

 

[Okee68]

Every audio reel in the original Alice ride (27 in total), from what I've been able to determine:

Queue area - Title song from film (continuous loop)

Rabbit Hole - Alice narration #1

Upside-Down Room - Alice narration #2
Upside-Down Room - "I'm Late" sung by the White Rabbit (continuous loop)
Upside-Down Room - Either White Rabbit's trumpet or tea kettle squeal
Upside-Down Room - Crackling fire (continuous loop)

Oversized Room - Alice narration #3
Oversized Room - Cheshire Cat laugh (continuous loop)

Garden of Live Flowers - Alice narration #4
Garden of Live Flowers - All in the Golden Afternoon (continuous loop)
Garden of Live Flowers - Dandy-lion roar

Tulgey Wood - Alice narration #5
Tulgey Wood - Jabberwocky/T'was Brillig sung by Cheshire Cat (continuous loop)
Tulgey Wood - Accordion owl
Tulgey Wood - Horn ducks

Mad Tea Party - Alice narration #6
Mad Tea Party - Unbirthday Song (continuous loop)
Mad Tea Party - March Hare: "Move down! Move down! Move down!" (2X)
Mad Tea Party - Mad Hatter: "Move down! Move down! Move down!" (1X)
Mad Tea Party - Dormouse: "Move down, move down... Very, very rude indeed..."
Mad Tea Party - Tea pot smash

Crash Room - Cymbal crash and loud clamor
Crash Room - Alice narration #7
Crash Room - Screaming door #1
Crash Room - Screaming door #2
Crash Room - Screaming door #3
Crash Room - Screaming door #4

 

[Brer Panther]

Found this really odd piece of concept art for Peter Pan's Flight while searching for old Fantasyland footage:
View attachment 524701

Yeah, honestly glad they changed that. I'd be afraid of falling off the whole time.

 

[Clover Bailey]

Yeah, honestly glad they changed that. I'd be afraid of falling off the whole time.

I doubt it was anything more that a mere doodle when brainstorming ideas. It would've been next to impossible to implement a ride system like that, especially in the rush job that was opening day Disneyland.

 

[Clover Bailey]

I can't help but hope they would have moved the proposed Sleepy Hollow Ride over to the site where Pan was actually built - it would have been the perfect transition between Liberty Square and Fantasyland!

Honestly, I think they would've definitely done that. The Imagineers working on the Magic Kingdom prioritised immersion and how the different lands weaved into each other. Opening day Walt Disney World was a legit work of art.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Here's an un-watermarked, lower-resolution version of that Peter Pan's Flight photo from earlier. This is from The "E" Ticket, so one of the corners is cut off by another photo. Just thought I would put this on the table.

Far from a great restorative effort, but it's fun to take a look at these cleaned up a little:

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Found this really odd piece of concept art for Peter Pan's Flight while searching for old Fantasyland footage:
View attachment 524701

Where is this from? The style looks like a more contemporary drawing than any from before the opening of Disneyland - both in the linework and the materials. It almost looks like a proposal for a redo or a new version of PPF . . . which makes it even weirder, in my opinion.

Or maybe a Peter Pan Carousel?

I'd love to see more from wherever this came from!

 

[Brer Panther]

I recently read Rolly Crump's book It's Kind of a Cute Story, and at one point he mentions that he wanted to design a version of the Alice in Wonderland dark ride for the Magic Kingdom. He was gonna have teacups as the ride vehicles, sort of merge Alice in Wonderland with the Mad Tea Party. Alas, that didn't work out. Don't remember the exact reason.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Where is this from? The style looks like a more contemporary drawing than any from before the opening of Disneyland - both in the linework and the materials. It almost looks like a proposal for a redo or a new version of PPF . . . which makes it even weirder, in my opinion.

Or maybe a Peter Pan Carousel?

I'd love to see more from wherever this came from!

It's from this short segment on the beginnings of Disneyland from 1981's A Day at Disneyland:

They pass it off as one of the original concepts for PPF, but I can only really imagine it being a gag sketch if it is from that time period. Most of the concept art and pictures are very well know (including the badly placed Walt with Shirley Temple pic while Walt's talking about himself as a father lol), but there's this sketch of the Captain Hook's ship and Skull Rock that I don't think I've ever seen before:

It does make me question the validity of when that first Peter Pan sketch was made, since this shows Skull Rock which wasn't near the ship until 1960 in concept art that they imply is from pre-opening. But then again it's very possible Skull Rock was cut pre-opening for budget reasons, but once Disney had money to build it later on they did.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

It's from this short segment on the beginnings of Disneyland from 1981's A Day at Disneyland:

They pass it off as one of the original concepts for PPF, but I can only really imagine it being a gag sketch if it is from that time period. Most of the concept art and pictures are very well know (including the badly placed Walt with Shirley Temple pic while Walt's talking about himself as a father lol), but there's this sketch of the Captain Hook's ship and Skull Rock that I don't think I've ever seen before:
View attachment 524807

It does make me question the validity of when that first Peter Pan sketch was made, since this shows Skull Rock which wasn't near the ship until 1960 in concept art that they imply is from pre-opening. But then again it's very possible Skull Rock was cut pre-opening for budget reasons, but once Disney had money to build it later on they did.

Looking close, that sketch of Captain Hook's Ship looks like it's overlaid onto a construction photo of the real one that was out in Fantasyland. Perhaps that was something they did to help the finishing artists visualize how the product should look relative to the construction progress?

That Flying Pan pic would make much more sense as a piece created in the 80's than in the 50's. Maybe it was drawn up for this special based on an early idea that they didn't have art for? Or maybe it was a newer piece that simply got confused or an older one by the editor . . . or something.

Very strange. But for sure interesting to see! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Clover Bailey]

I recently read Rolly Crump's book It's Kind of a Cute Story, and at one point he mentions that he wanted to design a version of the Alice in Wonderland dark ride for the Magic Kingdom. He was gonna have teacups as the ride vehicles, sort of merge Alice in Wonderland with the Mad Tea Party. Alas, that didn't work out. Don't remember the exact reason.

When I was younger I had an idea for a ride exactly like this! It would be an Alice In Wonderland dark ride, more in the style of WDW's surreal Fantasyland dark rides, where the vehicles would be teacups that spinned around at different moments for both thrill and to showcase different scene elements.

 

[Clover Bailey]

Every sound effect in the original Alice ride (27 in total), from what I've been able to determine:

Queue area - Title song from film (continuous loop)

Rabbit Hole - Alice narration #1

Upside-Down Room - Alice narration #2
Upside-Down Room - "I'm Late" sung by the White Rabbit (continuous loop)
Upside-Down Room - Either White Rabbit's trumpet or tea kettle squeal
Upside-Down Room - Crackling fire (continuous loop)

Oversized Room - Alice narration #3
Oversized Room - Cheshire Cat laugh (continuous loop)

Garden of Live Flowers - Alice narration #4
Garden of Live Flowers - All in the Golden Afternoon (continuous loop)
Garden of Live Flowers - Dandy-lion roar

Tulgey Wood - Alice narration #5
Tulgey Wood - Jabberwocky/T'was Brillig sung by Cheshire Cat (continuous loop)
Tulgey Wood - Accordion owl
Tulgey Wood - Horn ducks

Mad Tea Party - Alice narration #6
Mad Tea Party - Unbirthday Song (continuous loop)
Mad Tea Party - March Hare: "Move down! Move down! Move down!" (2X)
Mad Tea Party - Mad Hatter: "Move down! Move down! Move down!" (1X)
Mad Tea Party - Dormouse: "Move down, move down... Very, very rude indeed..."
Mad Tea Party - Tea pot smash

Crash Room - Cymbal crash and loud clamor
Crash Room - Alice narration #7
Crash Room - Screaming door #1
Crash Room - Screaming door #2
Crash Room - Screaming door #3
Crash Room - Screaming door #4

Yeah there's a lot of inconsistencies with some of the sound effects. Like how do the Mad Hatter and March Hare sing the Unbirthday Song while simultaneously shouting "Move down!"? Also if that is the White Rabbit's trumpet, then that means he's blowing the trumpet while singing "I'm Late".

 

[Clover Bailey]

Also, I cleaned up an old layout I found of MK's Toad attraction in case anyone finds it useful:

 

[Okee68]

Yeah there's a lot of inconsistencies with some of the sound effects. Like how do the Mad Hatter and March Hare sing the Unbirthday Song while simultaneously shouting "Move down!"? Also if that is the White Rabbit's trumpet, then that means he's blowing the trumpet while singing "I'm Late".

I've written posts detailing both of those things on earlier pages in this thread. The Mad Tea Party audio problem seemed to have been a real issue, unless there was some crazy, convoluted loophole regarding the way the audio reels in that room functioned that I'm just not aware of. While you don't hear both the "move down" reels and the vocal half of the Unbirthday Song at the same time in the live recording, it definitely seems to be implied that it was a regular occurrence. The Unbirthday Song was almost certainly played on an endless loop, and there's almost no way that the Hatter and Hares' shouts of "Move down! Move down! Move down!" wouldn't have just activated indiscriminately regardless of whether or not the vocal section of the song was currently being played, as this is audio technology from 1958 we're dealing with here.

Ever since I discovered what the White Rabbit's trumpet actually sounded like upon hearing the live recording, I've had a hard time believing it was even a trumpet at all rather than a squeal from the tea kettle hanging in the fireplace. It sounds nothing like a trumpet (note that everything else in the ride sounded exactly as it was supposed to), and once again, it wouldn't have made any sense at all for the Imagineers to explicitly choose to have the White Rabbit blow his trumpet for a solid four seconds at the same time he's singing I'm Late.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I don’t think it’s impossible that the concept art of Peter Pan came from before the park opened. The style isn’t that drastic from the one of the time period.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

Here's another cleaned-up edit of an Alice photo @Okee68 posted:

 

[Okee68]

Here's another cleaned-up edit of an Alice photo @Okee68 posted:
View attachment 525185

This is the best-looking edit you've posted so far. Very nice work.

 

[Clover Bailey]

Also, I think that there might have been a repaint of both Cheshire Cats? While the quality of the images isn't great, look at these photos of the pop-downs from both versions of the Oversized Room scene: the first one has a much more curved smile with noticeable teeth gaps and larger pupils; notice how these features are emphasised on the otherwise flat face.

Then compare it to the second image, from a 1980 Fantasyland promo. The smile is a lot more straight with detailed shading around the cheekbones, and the pupils are a bit smaller. Tons of characters, Cheshire Cat included, got repaints, so there's pretty striking chance that the other Cheshire was updated too?

 

[Okee68]

Also, I think that there might have been a repaint of both Cheshire Cats? While the quality of the images isn't great, look at these photos of the pop-downs from both versions of the Oversized Room scene: the first one has a much more curved smile with noticeable teeth gaps and larger pupils; notice how these features are emphasised on the otherwise flat face.

Then compare it to the second image, from a 1980 Fantasyland promo. The smile is a lot more straight with detailed shading around the cheekbones, and the pupils are a bit smaller. Tons of characters, Cheshire Cat included, got repaints, so there's pretty striking chance that the other Cheshire was updated too?

View attachment 525226

In the late seventies, all the plywood flats in the Fantasyland dark rides were repainted with additional detailing and shading in an attempt to make them look a little less "crude"; this can also be observed in Mr. Toad and Snow White on the same 1980 Fantasyland souvenir film. In the case of the swing-down Cheshire Cat, however, the repainting only resulted in the flat looking more generic, as originally it appeared more or less like a silhouette, with very pronounced eyes and teeth against a dark head and body.

This very mild overhaul of the dark ride interiors kind of coincided with the new designs applied to Fantasyland's tournament tent facades around the same time. I don't know if many people are very aware of this, but the original, pre-redesign Fantasyland actually spent its last five or six years with a less tacky, less garish appearance overall, with slightly duller color palettes adorning the canvas awnings and realistic heraldic symbols replacing many of the original stripes and geometric patterns.