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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 |
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A “scary” ride at a theme park is usually a roller coaster or other thrill ride. “Scary” suggests unnerving heights, speedy turns, and adrenaline-inducing drops. |
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Snow White’s Scary Adventures is a different kind of “scary” ride. It has dark, eerie spaces. Even the trees want to do you harm, or so it seems. |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2016 Foreboding exterior |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2008 Eerie architectural details |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013 Warning! |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 Ominous display in the queue |
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Photo by Werner Weiss, 2017 Mine cars lined up for boarding |
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When you get to the front of the queue, take a seat in a mine car. If you’re traveling with young children, have you warned them that the ride is scary, but it’s all make-believe and nothing bad will happen to them? Don’t worry about the whole ride being scary. It begins with charming scenes in the dwarfs’ cottage with Snow White on the stairs and the dwarfs making music. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Snow White on the stairs |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Musician dwarfs |
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But then things become scarier. There’s a forest where the trees have hideous faces and their branches are trying to grab you. The Evil Queen has a sinister lair where she transforms into a witch. The dwarfs’ mine is oppressive. The witch tries to poison you with an apple. Hey, you were warned that this is a scary ride. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Evil Queen’s reflection in a mirror |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Revealing the witch |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Cauldron where the witch concocts her poison |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2017 Seven Dwarfs seeing the witch is trying to kill them |
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In the final scene, the witch is trying to roll a boulder to crush the dwarfs. Then the doors open, and there’s daylight. You’re safe! |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2015 “And they lived happily ever after.” |
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A huge book has the words “And they lived happily ever after.” It seems like an abrupt end to the story. How did we get from the witch trying to murder the dwarfs to these words? Where’s Snow White? Where’s the prince? There’s an answer to these questions. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2015 Happy mural |
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When you get to the unload area, you’ll be inclined to look to the left because that’s where you’ll exit. You should look to the right first. A mural shows the happy couple, the dwarfs, and forest friends. Consider this to be the show scene that finishes the story |
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Snow White’s Scary Adventures opened at Disneyland on May 25, 1983. It was part of the park’s New Fantasyland project, which refreshed the original core of Fantasyland with European architecture, enhanced attractions, a brand new attraction (Pinocchio’s Daring Journey), and better guest flow. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 “Class of ’55” plaque for The Happiest Homecoming On Earth, 2005 |
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Snow White’s Scary Adventures was a new version of a ride that had been part of Disneyland Park since opening day, 1955. It’s not surprising that Walt Disney included a ride based on his first feature-length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which brought him critical and financial success. The attraction’s original sign read Snow White and Her Adventures, but Disneyland maps and guides called it Snow White Adventures or Snow White’s Adventures. Disneyland nomenclature was rather loose during the park’s early decades. |
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© 1975 Disney Item 4 on the Fantasyland Map in the Summer 1975 Disneyland Guide |
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The adjective scary showed up in Summer 1975 in the free Disneyland Guide booklets that guests received at the park entrance. Had the full name of the attraction become Snow White’s Adventures (Scary)? Not really. Elsewhere in the same booklet, it was Snow White’s Adventures, with “(scary)” only after the description of the ride. In early 1982, the original Snow White ride closed. Its façade was removed and the show building was gutted. |
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Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005 Evil Queen peering down at park guests |
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The following year, on May 25, 1983, Snow White’s Scary Adventures opened. This new and improved version of the ride wasn’t any scarier than the previous version, but it now had architecture and a name that warned parents that young children might be frightened. After a run of almost 37 years, Snow White’s Scary Adventures closed January 6, 2020. Once again, there was a extended closure to “reimagine” the ride with new show scenes and a new attraction name. Snow White’s Enchanted Wish opened April 27, 2021. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2021 Brighter exterior and friendlier architectural details |
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When Snow White’s Enchanted Wish was about to open, Disney announced a long list of changes that guests would find in the reopened ride: |
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Publicity photos showed happy, colorful enhancements to the ride’s show scenes. Did this mean the ride was no longer scary? Nope. The Evil Queen still rotates from the mirror to reveal that she has become a witch. It was a great scene in the previous version and remains a great scene now. |
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Photo by Christian Thompson, Disneyland Resort © Disney Snow White now with the dwarfs, not on the stairs |
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Photo by Christian Thompson, Disneyland Resort © Disney Dopey grinning from a jewel-filled mine cart |
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Photo by Christian Thompson, Disneyland Resort © Disney Glittering jewels |
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Photo by Christian Thompson, Disneyland Resort © Disney Antidote to the poisoned apple: “Love’s first kiss” |
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The former abrupt ending was replaced by a scene of the prince awakening Snow White from the consequences of the poisoned apple by kissing her—just as in the 1937 movie. Only in 2020, people were quick to point out that this is clearly a non-consensual act on the part of the prince, considering that Snow White was unconscious. |
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Photo by Chris Bales, 2022 New big book |
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There’s still a huge book after the doors open. Only now the phrase “and they lived happily ever after” has been relegated to the left page, while the right page makes a reference to the current attraction name. Yes. Snow White’s dream has come true. Perhaps Snow White dreamed her consent to be kissed by the prince. |
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© 2024 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks Updated April 12, 2024 |
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