Rank the Classic-Style DL Dark Rides

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
  1. Alice in Wonderland
  2. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
  3. Peter Pan’s Flight
  4. Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
  5. Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
  6. Snow White’s Scary Adventures
  7. Pooh

Snow White would be higher if it only had an ending. Pooh’s the only one I wouldn’t mind seeing replaced.

Mr. Toad remains an amazing, enduring example of how much fun the right Imagineers can create in a tiny space with a low budget and a bunch of plywood. It’d be my #1 pick if Alice in Wonderland wasn’t such an overall excellent, nearly-perfect ride.
 

Schneewittchen

Well-Known Member
  1. Alice
  2. Snow White
  3. Peter Pan
  4. Pinocchio
  5. Toad
  6. Pooh
  7. Roger Rabbit
This is too hard.... I know Alice is #1, 2 - 5 are all a close second to me. With all of these options, now maybe you understand why MK rarely meets my expectations.

Take away a perfectly good dark ride and replace it with a 60 minute minute wait to meet stupid princesses. :banghead:
 

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
  1. Pan- experiential storytelling at it's finest. Distills the childlike admiration and wonder from the film, and somehow makes every rider feel like they haven't grown up.
  2. Alice- a good example of distilling the best elements from the film into a dark ride.
  3. Toad- the best example of taking creative liberties and telling a different story than the film.
  4. Pinocchio- better than Snow White only because it has a more complete story
  5. Snow White- great ride, just a poor ending.
  6. Roger Rabbit- not sure I consider it to be a classic style dark ride, it's a touch bigger in scope- but it doesn't evoke a love and admiration for classic Disney like the others do.
  7. Pooh- a corporate, generic, soulless ride that doesn't evoke any kind of emotional response from the rider.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
If we re counting Roger as a classic DL dark ride....

1. Alice- The indoor/ outdoor thing. The glorious ficus tree, outdoor theming/ landscaping, ride length, best ride vehicle at DL. Climbing up and down terrain really makes an attraction come to life. I don’t think enough people talk about that. Love what they did with the projections, except for the video of the white rabbit which is more of a video than a projection.

2. Roger - FL dark ride on steroids, Amazing Queue, one of my favorite movies of all time.

3. Toad - It’s Toad. Could be interchangeable with Roger depending on my mood. Love the train tracks effect and pace of the ride.

4. Pan- used to have this one higher up until I rode all of the FL dark rides in one day. The nursery, London scene and Neverland scenes are great even though they screwed up London with neon paint for the 60th. The rest of the ride Is meh. Although I appreciate what they did in a tight space.

5. Snow White- Enjoy the pace/ romp through the dark Forrest and some of the cool effects. The ride knows what it is and doesn’t try to do too much like have an ending.

6. Pinocchio - Sum is less than all its parts for me. Love the opening and ending scenes. Enjoy the classic Monstro and all of the wonderful music from Pinocchio but the ride has a mostly depressing tone for me.

7. Pooh- I don’t hate Pooh but it’s the worst on the list. Really like the Q and enjoy the Sherman Bros tunes. Not a fan of the Heffalumps scene or anything that comes after. The Blustery day scene is cool and I enjoy the ride vehicles. The opposite of Pinocchio, I leave the ride with a pleasant feeling.
 
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SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
It gets an emotional response from me: Anger and sadness. For this we lost the Country Bears.

What's interesting to me is that lack of popularity for the Bears is the frequent reason cited for their removal- which makes sense, but Pooh has never been popular either.

When these classic attractions get taken out, but then get failed and or no replacements (Peoplemover, Skyway)- or replacements that are worse artistically and also not necessarily popular, it makes it hurt that much more.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
What's interesting to me is that lack of popularity for the Bears is the frequent reason cited for their removal- which makes sense, but Pooh has never been popular either.

When these classic attractions get taken out, but then get failed and or no replacements (Peoplemover, Skyway)- or replacements that are worse artistically and also not necessarily popular, it makes it hurt that much more.
DL Pooh is in a horrible location. The WDW version is basically the same ride and gets long lines most of the day.
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What's interesting to me is that lack of popularity for the Bears is the frequent reason cited for their removal- which makes sense, but Pooh has never been popular either.
But the reason the Bears appeared to lack popularity was because it had two theaters and an incredibly high capacity, so there was never a line and seldom a completely full show. If it had been one theater, as at WDW, things might have gone differently. WDW lost the Mickey Mouse Review for a similar reason: The pre-show area (stupidly) held far fewer guests than the theater, so the theater never ran to a full audience and gave the impression to management that it wasn't popular. D'oh!
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pinocchio - Sum is less than all its parts for me. Love the opening and ending scenes. Enjoy the classic Monstro and all of the wonderful music from Pinocchio but the ride has a mostly depressing tone for me.
I really like the Pinocchio ride, but you're right; it does have a very downbeat, depressing atmosphere that starts right at the boarding platform... and I have no real idea why. The music's happy... The mural isn't particularly sad... maybe it's the big, cavernous space and all the dark blue tones. It's kind of weird, actually... :D
 

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
DL Pooh is in a horrible location. The WDW version is basically the same ride and gets long lines most of the day.

Uh, the location is just fine. We didn't give the bears the "It's just a bad location" excuse.

Pooh is right next to an incredibly popular meet and greet (featuring Pooh) and guests are forced to walk past it when exiting one of the most popular attractions in the park.

Disneyland has enough repeat visitors, and crowds, and now with the app making wait times for the entire resort available anywhere- where things are located is becoming far less important. Pooh isn't some hidden ride that no one knows it's there. Everyone knows it's there, they just choose to not ride it.

But luckily, the "bad location" excuse to justify a bad ride will be going out the window once Galaxy's Edge opens drastically increasing the foot traffic in that area.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
I really like the Pinocchio ride, but you're right; it does have a very downbeat, depressing atmosphere that starts right at the boarding platform... and I have no real idea why. The music's happy... The mural isn't particularly sad... maybe it's the big, cavernous space and all the dark blue tones. It's kind of weird, actually... :D

I think it captures the feeling of the movie pretty well. Not to say the movie is depressing but it is kind of dark. If you think about it, Pinocchio is darker than both the Haunted Mansion and TOT.
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I think it captures the feeling of the movie pretty well. Not to say the movie is depressing but it is kind of dark. If you think about it, Pinocchio is darker than both the Haunted Mansion and TOT.
The movie certainly is dark; five major villains including murderers, kidnappers, a slave trader and one who just swallows everything whole.. and not one of them is brought to any kind of justice. At the end, they're all still out there in the world looking for their next victim. But there's a singing cricket, so yay? :D
 

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I don't understand the long line for Pan. Is the ride THAT great? I think it is a nice attraction but not worth 45 minutes of my time.
It really does have a unique, "magical" feeling all its own. And it's pure fun from start to finish. The ridiculous lines are a combination of popularity and terrible, terrible capacity.
 

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