Snow White's Scary Adventures
Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride at the Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Park theme parks, and formerly at the Magic Kingdom. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955. The ride's story is based on Disney's 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, their first animated feature film.
The now-closed ride at the Magic Kingdom and the version at Tokyo Disneyland are named Snow White's Adventures, and the Disneyland Park version is called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The Disneyland version was originally known as Snow White and her Adventures before its redesign in 1983.
History
Snow White's Scary Adventures opened on Disneyland's opening day as Snow White and her Adventures. Imagineers had designed the ride so that guests felt like they were the main character of the story; in this case, guests were Snow White. Few people understood this concept, and some wondered why Snow White was not featured in the ride.During 1983, all of the Fantasyland dark rides were completely redesigned as part of a large overhaul of Fantasyland. This attraction and the other dark rides were modified to include the main characters of the films they represented. Today, Snow White appears once in the attraction. The present outdoor facade was made to resemble the Evil Queen's castle from the movie.
When the Witch offered guests the poisoned apple in one scene, guests frequently tried to steal the apple and bring it home as a souvenir. When Fantasyland was reopened in 1983, they solved the problem of the ever-missing poisoned apple by replacing it with an image of an apple projected by means of a parabolic mirror. Guests who reach out to steal the apple now find their hands passing through it.
Magic Kingdom's original version of this ride, like their early version of Peter Pan's Flight, also put the guests in the role of the story's main character. Around Christmas of 1994, a less frightening version of the ride took its place; an appearance by Snow White was also added. The redesigned ride took some cues from the version at Disneyland Paris, including increasing the ride capacity of each ride vehicle from four to six passengers.
On January 7, 2020, the attraction at Disneyland closed for an extended refurbishment. Walt Disney Imagineering will install new scenes as well as update the attraction's audio and visual technology. The attraction's exterior will also be refreshed to complement the nearby Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Attraction summary
Disneyland 1955-1982 version
For the original 1955 version of the attraction, titled Snow White and Her Adventures, it was intended for park guests to experience Snow White's story through her point of view, which is why she herself wasn't in her own attraction.After guests boarded their ride vehicles, they would begin their adventure by venturing the mine where the dwarfs dig for diamonds. At the mine's exit, Dopey could be seen pointing to a sign reading "BEWARE OF THE WITCH". After passing by a forest full of Snow White's animal friends, the guests would approach a fork in the road, with arrows pointing to the dwarfs' cottage or the Wicked Witch's Castle, the vehicles would turn in the direction of the castle, with two vultures ominously perched on a tree near it. At the castle entrance, the vehicles would begin to escape toward the direction of the cottage, only for a gate to fall down and trap the guests inside.
As the guests went through the castle halls, passing by skeletons moaning "Go baaack!", guests would see the Witch at her cauldron, preparing her poisoned apple. Then, after escaping the castle, the vehicles wind through a dark forest filled with living trees, before finally reaching the dwarfs' cottage, with the Witch standing in the doorway to offer the guests her apple. Finally, the vehicles would travel toward the entrance of a cave, with the Witch standing above it trying to move a boulder to crush the guests with. Upon entering the dark cave, the guests would hear the Witch meeting her demise before returning to the boarding area and exiting the attraction.
Disneyland 1983-2019
Guests enter the ride building through the Evil Queen's castle. Overlooking the entrance is a high window whose curtains are parted every few minutes by the Evil Queen. A metal, gold-colored apple is within reach of guests standing in the queue. Touching the apple causes the disembodied voice of the Queen to cackle menacingly. Guests wind their way through a dungeon inside the castle, passing by a book of poisons. The book reads, "One taste of the poisoned apple and the victim's eyes will close forever in the Sleeping Death." Like most of the dark rides, the boarding area is dominated by a large mural depicting characters from the movie.The ride vehicles resemble the beds of the Seven Dwarfs and feature the names of each dwarf, much like their beds in the film. When guests board the ride vehicles, they enter the Dwarfs' cottage first. Here, the music and yodeling from "The Silly Song" can be heard, while birds, chipmunks, and other forest creatures perform housekeeping tasks such as hanging a clothesline and washing the dishes. Guests pass Snow White followed by some of her animal friends climbing the stairs to the second floor of the cottage. The guests then move past the Dwarfs, who are performing "The Silly Song".
When guests leave the cottage, they pass by the Queen who says "Soon I'll be fairest in the land." They then enter the Dwarfs' diamond mine, which is full of jewels of many colors. Guests pass under a branch with two vultures perched on it and enter the Queen's castle. There, they see the Queen as she stands before her Magic Mirror with her back to the guests and beautiful reflection saying, "Magic Mirror on the wall..." She then turns and faces the guests. They see that she has become an ugly, green-eyed, toothless witch with a wart on her nose. "With this disguise, I'll fool them all!" she adds. This effect is achieved by two models—one queen and one witch—rotating on different sides of the 'mirror', which is actually a sheet of transparent glass. Projections and LED lights create the effect of cobwebs and electricity running through the walls. Guests continue to pass through the castle laden with skeletons. Nearby, the Witch is accompanied by a raven in a dungeon where she is creating a poisoned apple for Snow White. She heads for the Dwarfs' cottage in a small boat.
Guests wind their way through a menacing forest. Here, trees have ugly faces and branches like talons or grasping hands. Bats fly everywhere and logs resemble snapping crocodiles. The guests then turn toward the Seven Dwarfs' cottage. The door opens to reveal the Witch, who offers the guests the apple. Guests turn towards a mountainside where the Dwarfs pursue the Witch. Nearby, the Witch tries to roll a boulder down the mountain to crush the Dwarfs below. However, a strike of lightning causes her to tumble to her death; her scream is heard as guests exit the area.
Returning to the boarding and debarkation area, guests pass a giant book featuring a silhouette of Snow White and her Prince with his horse as they wander away towards a castle. The words at the bottom of this picture read, "And they lived happily ever after." The guests then disembark from the ride vehicles and return to Fantasyland.
The installation at Disneyland was manufactured by Arrow Development.
Magic Kingdom
The original version of the ride at Magic Kingdom in Florida which ran from 1971 to 1994 was very different, and arguably more frightening. Snow White was not seen at all, and the Dwarfs showed up only briefly in one scene. There were also seven witch figures in this version, whereas there were only six in the 1994 version. The queue was similar to Tokyo Disneyland's current queue. It featured the Dwarfs' mine, with their cottage visible in the distance. Guests began by entering the castle in a scene very much like the 1994 ride; however, there was no part where Snow White was seen cleaning. Instead, riders saw a side of the Dwarfs' cottage as "I'm Wishing" played in the background. Upon entering, with the queen watching in a nearby window, the guests saw a mirror, but not the magic one. The Queen still transformed into the Witch by saying, "Mirror Mirror on the wall, I am the fairest one of all!" and was still seen at the cauldron preparing the poisoned apple. The riders then "crashed" through the dungeon walls and escaped through the forest with the tree monsters and the crocodile logs. Soon, guests arrived in the Dwarfs' cottage to see the animals peering in at them. They then passed the Dwarfs walking up the stairs to their room to investigate a frightening shadow. The Witch was waiting in the doorway with the apple. Riders would then exit the cottage, back into the woods, and pass by two ominous vultures. The final scene was the diamond mine, where the Witch appeared several more times. Her final appearance was on top of a doorway, pushing an enormous jewel onto the riders. Riders would then enter a room full of flashing cartoon-like strobe lights with the Witch's cackling echoing in their ears. Guests then disembarked. Ginny Tyler did the voice of the Witch in this version, while Mel Blanc, Paul Frees, Hal Smith, Hans Conried and Dallas McKennon did the voices of the Dwarfs.On October 14, 1994, the Magic Kingdom attraction was closed in order to undergo a redesign in order to be similar to the Disneyland version, but in a different order with a few new scenes. The attraction re-opened on December 16, 1994 with a much lighter tone. Guests boarded the ride by a mural depicting the characters of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and began their ride in the Queen's courtyard where Snow White was seen working outside. The Queen watched her from her window. Inside the castle, the scene was similar to the Disneyland version, although the Magic Mirror was added who said, "Alas! Snow White is the fairest one of all," to which the Queen replied, "Never!" The ride continued into the forest where the Huntsman tells Snow White to run away and strobe lighting effects that resembled lightning lit up Snow White running through the tree monsters, and then into the Dwarfs' cottage where the "Dwarfs' Yodel Song" played. In a new scene, the riders then passed the Witch giving Snow White the apple, then emerged from the cottage as she gloated that she was the fairest one of all. From there, guests rode through the mine where the two of the Dwarfs called to them to stop the Witch. After the scene where the Witch tried to drop a rock on the dwarfs, there was a new ending with the Prince waking Snow White and then leading her away on his horse as two of the Dwarfs waved goodbye. Dopey was seen above the bridge, waving to all the passengers. Guests then traveled through the open doors under the bridge and disembarked.