Very early concept illustration for Snow White's Adventures, which I'm sure everyone here has seen before:
I'm bringing this up because I find it interesting how this early concept is actually more similar to the later interpretations of the Snow White ride than what was actually made in 1955, with a greater focus on the cheerier aspects of the film, a happy ending, fully dimensional scenery, and Snow White herself appearing in several scenes.
This version of the ride would have required much more time, space, and budget than what was provided, which leads me to believe that the unique characteristics of the 1955 and 1971 rides—the much more pronounced emphasis on the scary aspects of the story and the idea that riders themselves are meant to assume the role of Snow White—were born from those limitations.
Working with ultraviolet fluorescents and small, boxy corridors, it was much more feasible to portray dark, claustrophobic locales such as the castle and the mine than the spacious forest glade and the stunning ending scene. It was also much more feasible to include only a small number of animated figures—all of which are either shrouded in darkness or otherwise subject to dim ultraviolet lighting conditions that hide their imperfections—than to sculpt a large ensemble of figures that would often be subject to much brighter lighting conditions which would have exposed their cruder qualities and made them less believable.
So, while I will personally always prefer those first two or three versions of the ride, there's certainly something to be said for how the later, happier versions of Snow White's Adventures are ultimately closer to the original, unrestricted vision of the ride than the earlier, unabashedly scary versions.
