Snow White to Close Thursday, May 31

[Pixiedustmaker]

HM Snow White Tribute?

They'll probably add some subtle tribute to Snow White at the Princess Meet & Greet which will replace the ride, but I wonder if a special tombstone would be added to HM, like the now famous Mr. Toad statue in the pet cemetery. If Snow White isn't represented in the Seven Dwarfs coaster, then it would sorta be like she moved to regions beyond.

Here's my epitaph:

Here's lies Snow White,
Walt's first animated feature got it right,
her Scary Adventures were quite neat,
now replaced with a meet & greet

 

[Californian Elitist]

I don't know that I buy that. Snow White was also asleep for the finale of the DL ride--she wasn't awake when the Evil Queen died. If it was truly from Snow White's perspective, it should go from the time she's offered the apple to when she wakes up.

Okay, you can't have a Snow White dark ride without the witch dying. That's an exception. And the ride does go from the time she's offered the apple to when she wakes up. The witch offers the guests apples at least twice and it ends with Snow White and the Prince riding off to their castle.

Have you been on the dark rides in Fantasyland at DL? Not all of them are exactly, to the T, like their film adaptations. Pan I guess is the only exception. They're all incorrect in some way or form but it's not that big a deal.

 

[DisneySaint]

For anyone interested - I just spoke to my Disney contacts today, and they are going to create a special moment for my son on the evening of the 31st at 7pm. Several cast members have expressed a desire to meet Ben at the ride and help him say goodbye and get a little closure before the ride goes away forever. There is also a possibility that Snow White herself might stop by, but that is by no means a certainty.

Thanks for the update - I had almost forgotten about your story. I'm so sad for Ben to lose something this close to him; it must be like losing a family member. I hope he's taking it ok.

 

[MissM]

Forgot to post this last week. Love's Mom snagged the "Floridian" section of the newspaper for me from Sunday, May 20th's paper. They did a big, full-color story on Snow White's Closing.

You can read the text of the article here: http://www.tampabay.com/features/tr...ite-ride-kids-lose-more-than-memories/1230639

Just thought you guys might be interested to see that.

 

[Communicore]

I've only been on this ride like 5 times or so but it's still sad to see it go.

 

[puntagordabob]

Farewell Snow White!!

Seems kind of crappy that they are destroying this spot for a ride... if they had covered the old track somehow to be uncovered later for a new dark ride (with modern tech) then this wouldnt be so hard to swallow...


At Disneyland where room is a serious premium: We can get an extra attraction here and over there.

At WDW where 40+ square miles of land makes room much less of an issue: We are adding this attraction over here so lets destroy/delete this one.

Seriously sometimes this makes me go "Huh?"

 

[captainkidd]

This is a very sad day for WDW. It really goes to show, the folks running the show at Disneyland know what the die-hards want. The folks in Orlando seem clueless.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Farewell Snow White!!

Seems kind of crappy that they are destroying this spot for a ride... if they had covered the old track somehow to be uncovered later for a new dark ride (with modern tech) then this wouldnt be so hard to swallow...


At Disneyland where room is a serious premium: We can get an extra attraction here and over there.

At WDW where 40+ square miles of land makes room much less of an issue: We are adding this attraction over here so lets destroy/delete this one.

Seriously sometimes this makes me go "Huh?"

100% agree.

How expensive would it be just to build an air conditioned building, like what they were going to put where the 7Dwarfs coaster is, somewhere else? There's tons of room.

With the B&B counter service restaurant opening, maybe they should have repurposed Village Haus into the Princess M&G, along with a smaller counter service area. The Village Haus in Disneyland is much inviting, while the one in MK is almost imposing and clunky looking.

The location of SWSA is also prime real estate in terms of being in the middle of Fantasyland, I can't see the whole space being used for a meet and greet, meaning some of it will probably be used just for storage or nothing at all.

How much would it cost to change SWSA into a B&B, or even Brave, dark ride?

 

[captainkidd]

How much would it cost to change SWSA into a B&B, or even Brave, dark ride?

I give it 2 hours before we get the experts in here chiming how great it is that Disney is doing this because Meet and Greets are so expensive for the company and how popular they are, etc. Not that I'm denying their popularity, but it's not something that we needed more of. The Magic Kingdom looks like an empty parking lot attraction wise next to Disneyland. Just a stupid move. I was OK with Toad being gutted, as they were at least putting another ride in. This move makes me so angry.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I give it 2 hours before we get the experts in here chiming how great it is that Disney is doing this because Meet and Greets are so expensive for the company and how popular they are, etc. Not that I'm denying their popularity, but it's not something that we needed more of. The Magic Kingdom looks like an empty parking lot attraction wise next to Disneyland. Just a stupid move. I was OK with Toad being gutted, as they were at least putting another ride in. This move makes me so angry.

I don't think it was ok that Toad was gutted either. For one thing, Toad was still incredible fun on its own, and was actually the technically superior version over Disneyland due to the dual track. But secondly, there was plenty of room to build a new show building for Pooh elsewhere. I don't see why we couldn't have both rides. Oh and not to mention how awesome Tokyo's Pooh is compared to WDW's...

I'm one of the people looking forward to the new coaster. At least I like the concept of it. But I'm not ok with losing precious ride space to a Meet and Greet when we could have gotten something special like a Sleeping Beauty dark ride or whatever...

 

[RSoxNo1]

I give it 2 hours before we get the experts in here chiming how great it is that Disney is doing this because Meet and Greets are so expensive for the company and how popular they are, etc. Not that I'm denying their popularity, but it's not something that we needed more of. The Magic Kingdom looks like an empty parking lot attraction wise next to Disneyland. Just a stupid move. I was OK with Toad being gutted, as they were at least putting another ride in. This move makes me so angry.

Given the time frame and what we've heard, I expect this meet and greet to be a substantial upgrade over something like Epcot's Character Spot. The rumors point to this meet and greet having something like pre-trip questionaires attached to your park ticket allowing for the princesses to know more about each guest that comes in for the meet and greet. It's planned Disney Magic but it could become very popular if done well.

 

[Lee]

The location of SWSA is also prime real estate in terms of being in the middle of Fantasyland, I can't see the whole space being used for a meet and greet, meaning some of it will probably be used just for storage or nothing at all.

Nope.
Based on the plans I've seen, the whole facility will be a large, multi-room M&G.

 

[marni1971]

Nope.
Based on the plans I've seen, the whole facility will be a large, multi-room M&G.

Indeed it will. I'd guess we've seen the same plans. Plans of a space that should remain an attraction. Considering FLE was drawn literally from Blue Sky, with many revisions, there should have been plenty of opportunities to incorporate something of this scale into the new area. Not including Rasullos scrapped greet Garden.

The result of starting a flawed project with no available B plan aside from a knee jerk reaction. If only Staggs had gotten more pull sooner.

 

[orky8]

Indeed it will. I'd guess we've seen the same plans. Plans of a space that should remain an attraction. Considering FLE was drawn literally from Blue Sky, with many revisions, there should have been plenty of opportunities to incorporate something of this scale into the new area. Not including Rasullos scrapped greet Garden.

The result of starting a flawed project with no available B plan aside from a knee jerk reaction. If only Staggs had gotten more pull sooner.

I dunno. Don't get me wrong - I'd prefer a ride/attraction to a M&G. But, right inside the castle does make sense from a thematic perspective on where to locate a princess M&G.

I hope its not really just a bland multi-room holidng pen, but also has some charm and magic whipped into it too.

 

[HM Spectre]

Sad to see it go, made sure to ride it a few times in March before it bit the big one. Dumping a classic for a M&G... argh.

 

[Clamman73]

So what times is the Seven Dwarfs heavy metal rock band with Grumpy on lead vocals playing in front of the boarded up ride tomorrow? 9, 1030, 1200 and 2:00?

 

[IanDLBZF]

I am very sad to see this attraction go. It will greatly be missed by all. Just like Mister Toad's Wild Ride (I have NEVER riden this at all) did in 1998. It's a good thing they paid tribute to that!

 

[BrightImagine]

Forgive me if this has been discussed but does anyone have any insight as to the timing of this closure?

First of all... the logic is that there should not be two rides about Snow in the same land. Fine, I understand. But why not wait until the Mine Train is close to completion? Why have a (long) period of time with 0 SW rides?

Secondly... there is already a space for the princesses in Town Square. Why is there an urgent need to move them to Fantasyland? What are the princesses making way for? Are the rest of the Fab 5/6 moving indoors?

And lastly... is there going to be room for more characters in the SW building? For example compared to having 3 princesses in Town Square, will there be more than 3? I have never seen a wait for Mickey and the princesses at Town Square, what with the fastpass and the cavernous queue space. But then I never go at peak times.

My family loves meet and greets and I am all for moving characters into air-conditioned space... I just don't understand the timing.

 

[bubbles1812]

Forgive me if this has been discussed but does anyone have any insight as to the timing of this closure?

First of all... the logic is that there should not be two rides about Snow in the same land. Fine, I understand. But why not wait until the Mine Train is close to completion? Why have a (long) period of time with 0 SW rides?

Secondly... there is already a space for the princesses in Town Square. Why is there an urgent need to move them to Fantasyland? What are the princesses making way for? Are the rest of the Fab 5/6 moving indoors?

And lastly... is there going to be room for more characters in the SW building? For example compared to having 3 princesses in Town Square, will there be more than 3? I have never seen a wait for Mickey and the princesses at Town Square, what with the fastpass and the cavernous queue space. But then I never go at peak times.

My family loves meet and greets and I am all for moving characters into air-conditioned space... I just don't understand the timing.

All this is me just speculating... but I assume Disney thought having the Princesses in Fantasyland makes more sense theme wise. Since they are all about fantasy and dreams. I would aguess there will be more than 3 princesses at the new Meet and Greet...or at least they'd better. The blueprints show multiple rooms. It looks pretty darn big. I would hope they'd move the Fab 5 indoors somewhere but where, I'm not entirely sure. This new building seems to be wholly dedicated to the princesses.

I have actually seen the meet and greets packed. Even when they were at the Toon Town Fair, there was a 45 minute wait for the princesses. I know this because I very grudgingly waited for them for the sake of a friend. Ahh the rides I could have gone on I love character greets but not enough to usually wait that long.

I'm assuming they figure they need to close now to start constructing as their projected time to completion still isn't til 2013. The mine cart ride won't even be open til 2014! It would have been nice if they had waited to close SWSA until the mine cart ride was close to completion and then finally close it to begin construction on Fairy Tale Hall. But the princesses are a huge money maker for Disney so...I'm guessing they would place more importance on that than one snow white ride that scares small children and isn't all that popular (I say this in comparison to say Peter Pan...imagine what would have happened if they had announced that ride was closing. Mass revolts )

 

[The Empress Lilly]

The first public plans for the FLE expansion featured an intact SW, plus M&G in the FLE.

There was public outcry over FLE: lack of rides, and it being too girlie. Disney responded by changing plans: add a SW coaster, close SW, move the M&G to SW.

In effect, they swapped a classic dark ride for a kiddie (family?) coaster. Blegh. But hey, at least it provides Disney with the opportunity to advertise the FLE as bringing two new rides!

SW, especially its first incarnation, provided more thrills and scary excitement than any kiddie coaster ever will, even if they do manage to get that swingin effect right. I remember riding Snow Whites Scary Adventures over and over, together with my sister, being absolutely terrified. We loved it!