When Snow White's Scary Adventures was dismantled...

[Gabe1]

I still think they messed up with Storybook Circus by not adding another ride instead of the M&G. They could have used the same theme of Disney characters at circus performers, but made it a ride where your vehicle went past animatronics of said characters. Sort of like this Circus Disney attraction once considered for DL. That, I think, would have enhanced the circus area greatly and would have reduced the complaining about how the FLE has a lack of stuff to do.

Exactly, so many places dedicated to eat and buy stuff. If you don't want your preschooler to be soaked, if it is raining, or not ready for a coaster, storybook, for the wee ones mostly limits them to a minute spin on Dumbo.

For all the complaining about Uni, they built Seuss with a more than adequate amount of attractions for the wee ones, built on a level they can grasp and kid friendly loading. FLE was built in a time where there wasn't as many non school aged children traveling with parents, this has changed yet Disney has not caught up. Toad to Pooh worked well, but wee ones while able to ride really can't relate to small world or even Peter Pan. PP if genuinely meant for the young could be overhauled to excite the wee ones, as it stands now, not so much.

As grand as the carousel is and as an adult I can appreciate it, what wee one wouldn't love the choices of Caro-Seuss-el, it begs to be re-ridden and pick out a different character to sit upon. The new Under the Sea even requires some maturity to follow the sequence of events or all that is happening in the queue, not as wee one friendly as Pooh. Storybook and FLE was themed to make the area more palatable for adults. Storybook theme was obviously chosen so Disney could re-purpose those tents and create a new/used area on the cheap. All they really needed to genuinely replace was the splash area and another Dumbo.

Now we wait to see which guests will be drawn to Dwarf. FLE & FL do not blend with each other. They would have been better off just dedicating it as a whole new Princessland rather than modpodging the two.

 

[MKCP 1985]

Has anyone seen the new princesses meet and greet area?

It seems to me that we got lucky when Disney decided to build the 7 Dwarfs Mine Coaster instead of the Sleeping Beauty cottage, so I won't complain that the decision cost a less popular dark ride.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Has anyone seen the new princesses meet and greet area?

It seems to me that we got lucky when Disney decided to build the 7 Dwarfs Mine Coaster instead of the Sleeping Beauty cottage, so I won't complain that the decision cost a less popular dark ride.

Mwah, I don't know about that. Here's my list, in order of preference:

Classic Snow dark ride + 20K E-ticket
Classic Snow dark ride + 'cottage in the forest' m&g
Kiddie Snow coaster + 'empty hall' m&g

When Disney was heavily criticised for FLE being too girly and m&g heavy, they changed the plans. The m&g was removed and a dwarves coaster added. While almost hidden from sight simultaneously it was decided that in return SWSA attraction was to closed and replaced by a m&g.

It remains to be seen whether this was a good deal. I know I adore dark rides, but not kiddie coasters. What should've been done with the criticism, is keep SWSA, and replace the m&g with the dwarf coaster. This would've almost restored the number of FL rides FL once had. (That is, half of wat other FL's around the world have).

 

[HMF]

...was there a big outcry here? I would imagine so, even if the Mine Train attraction sounds cool.
I actually can't remember if I ever rode SWSA - I think for some reason I didn't. Not sure why not, though.
BTW, I just recently heard about Pooh's Playful Spot - man, DS4 would have loved that! Seems like they kind of razed some good stuff to "expand" Fantasyland (and of course dismantled 20K before that). Are they really expanding it, or just tearing down old stuff and building new stuff?

I tried to be as objective with this as possible. On the one hand I understand the need for a dedicated Meet & Greet for the Princesses even though its not my thing and I understand it will in essence be replaced by the Seven Dwarves Mine Train.
On the other hand I personally think it was a dumb idea to replace a ride with a Meet & Greet but if keeping SWSA meant that the Fantasyland Expansion would have even less substance than it does now, It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. I figured I should just accept it and not make too much of an issue of it here on the boards just not to seem ungrateful. I wish the circumstances were different more than anything but given the circumstances This is the best outcome we probably could have had. The real lesson of the "New Fantasyland" Fiasco is that several people in Team Disney Orlando should obviously not be in the job they are in.

 

[Belowthesurface]

You will feel empty once you walk into the Princess Fairytale Hall. Just think, almost the back half of the building is the break area for Entertainment.

 

[Belowthesurface]

Nobody should have sacrificed anything for this waste.

 

[tirian]

You can still ride a similar version of SWSA out in Disneyland, but unfortunately I think WDW's was the better ride.

The version at WDW was superior, despite the updated special effects in California.

 

[jkl2000]

My park geography isn't great, but could they have temoved the Tomorrowland Speedway and expanded Fantasyland that way?

 

[danlb_2000]

My park geography isn't great, but could they have temoved the Tomorrowland Speedway and expanded Fantasyland that way?

Yes, they could have. They actually did remove a small part of the track to build the new Dumbo queue tent.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The version at WDW was superior, despite the updated special effects in California.

Disagree, and both are inferior to Paris. If Disney was never going to improve the WDW version than I'm not really sad it's being replaced by the mine train. I did love riding it, but I can only defend it to a point.

The "classic" version closed 20 years ago. The 1994 one suffered from too many static set pieces and figures.

 

[jkl2000]

Yes, they could have. They actually did remove a small part of the track to build the new Dumbo queue tent.

Interesting - although my DS4 will probably love riding the Speedway this October, it seems like that ride was low hanging fruit as far as making room for expansion.

 

[pmaljr]

It was complete garbage to close that ride, especially when they own the county ...

 

[Bocabear]

Interesting - although my DS4 will probably love riding the Speedway this October, it seems like that ride was low hanging fruit as far as making room for expansion.

The thing is, they didnt need the SWSA building for the FLE Expansion... there is more than enough room for a meet and Greet in the area without sacrificing an existing ride...Snow White's ride should have had the updated projection effects as in California and they could have put the Princess Hug Zone in another spot.

 

[Magenta Panther]

I was never crazy about SWSA. It wasn't as charming as Peter Pan's Flight, and didn't really tell the story of Snow White very well IMO. I think I would have been a little upset at its removal, however, if we weren't getting the Mine Train. Snow White SHOULD be represented adequately in any Disney Park. That was the movie that started it all...

 

[doctornick]

The thing is, they didnt need the SWSA building for the FLE Expansion... there is more than enough room for a meet and Greet in the area without sacrificing an existing ride...Snow White's ride should have had the updated projection effects as in California and they could have put the Princess Hug Zone in another spot.

Yeah, my thing is that I wish they had done the Fairytale Hall somewhere else and kept SWSA as a ride. I totally understand having a princess M&G and doing it in the FL/castle area makes great thematic sense. Buth with the side of the FLE, it would have been nice if they could have carved out some other space for it and kept SWSA as a ride -- even if they wanted to not have two Snow White based rides, they could have changed SWSA to something themed to Tangled/Sleeping Beauty/Pinoccio in that space.

My personal thought is that they should have build Fairytale Hall in the location of the Fairtale Gardens. They could have built an indoor structure there and still kept backstage access to the SWSA/Pooh buildings. It would probabyl have been a somewhat smaller space than Fairytale Hall is replacing SWSA, but that area is large enough to house a M&G. If they wanted to keep the Fairytale Garden in some capacity, they could have moved it to the Hub, in front of the castle.

 

[kap91]

That's the one thing that has always annoyed me about WDW - for as far back as I can remember. While Disneyland - a park 3/4 the size - nearly always manages to squeeze in new attractions without removing what is already there, WDW and especially the Kingdom seem to feel the need to raze things in order to build new

 

[Lord Alfred]

I won't miss SWSA, and this is coming from someone who has ridden it many times over the past few decades starting as a child.

It was a very old and cheap looking dark ride,with lots of cutouts. The ride system was very noisy, and due to its design the ride had to stop very frequently for disabled guests to board, which kind of ruins the experience for those inside. The ride vehicles were cramped and downright painful for my knees (I am 6' 5"). From what I understand, the ride was also responsible for upsetting some of the more easily scared kids, despite the myriad warnings they posted. People must have assumed that since it is in Fantasyland that it is "safe". Despite all these complaints, I still rode it every time we visited due to nostalgia, and enjoyed it, but I can see where it makes sense to move on.

I love old attractions as much of the next person. When they close Carousel of Progress (and they will, eventually) I will be the first to shed a tear as I dearly love that attraction. However, I will not argue that it remain open, because I've seen the empty theater on busy days over and over, and I firmly believe that if Walt were still alive it would have already been closed and replaced with something else long ago. Sure, what we get in exchange sometimes disappoints, but I don't think Walk would have wanted "museum" attractions.