Why were the original Fantasyland dark rides so dark?

Clover Bailey

Clover Bailey

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I've gone on lots of threads that talk about the original versions of Fantasyland dark rides, but I always wondered why they were so dark and scary.

  • On Mr. Toad you nearly die lots of times before getting run over by a train and going to Hell
  • On Snow White, you were chased through the forest by the Witch before she crushes you with a diamond
  • In the DLR version of Peter Pan you're ship crashed after getting shot by Smee
  • On the Alice In Wonderland ride things popped out at you with loud noises including a laughing Cheshire Cat
Back then the rides were supposed to be from the main character's POV, but lots of these dark scenes weren't in the movie. Mr. Toad never died and went to Hell. Smee never shot down Peter Pan in cold blood.

I know back then the only dark rides were ghost trains, but why was it so hard to make a light-hearted ride?
 
marni1971

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Ranky64 said:
It's A Small World didn't open until the 60s. I'm talking about the opening day ones.
Click to expand...
Opening day Pan was dangerous in so many ways.

366183
 
D

Donfan

Active Member
When Disneyland first opened, many of the already existing amusement parks across the nation had dark rides that were similar to the ones developed for Disneyland. Those dark rides usually were scary. Walt seemed to want to show that you could build scary dark rides that were also whimsical and fun for kids as well as adults. Disney Corp. continued to carry that through by building fun and whimsical darks rides that included much more action such as Space Mountain and Rock 'N Roller Coaster. If you wanted non-scary rides at Disneyland, there were plenty of things like boats and trains and even live donkeys you could ride.

Also, by having rides inside dark buildings, you don't have to theme the interior of the building since no one can see it, which also saved a lot of effort and money for each ride.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
It was a different world back then. Back then amusement parks were built for fun. Part of the thrill of a park was to give a scare on some attractions. A good dark ride that provided a chill up the spine was welcomed. Parents didnt coddle their kids, they were able to decide what was appropriate for each child and if a kid was too shaken up, well they will get over it. No one cried to management that their kid was scarred for life and tried to shut something down. The Imagineers were creative and had more freedom and latitude to add things to an attraction to plus it/ make it better. Nothing said they had to follow a movie strictly to its original form, and Walt demanded more from them.
 
kap91

kap91

Well-Known Member
Disney movies themselves of that time period were a lot darker than people tend to remember them. Most of them have at least 1 throughly traumatizingly dark and scary scene. It was Disney's way of storytelling - that you needed something really dark to make the happy ending matter essentially.
 

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