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When it comes to Disney’s darker experiences, past attractions like Alien Encounter or even current ones like Temple of the Forbidden Eye often come to mind. But none of them even compare to Magic Kingdom’s original version of Snow White’s Adventures. So let’s explore the evolution of both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland’s original - also terrifying - versions of the iconic attraction. But fair warning: Yesterworld will not be responsible for any of the nightmares you may have.
(Opening sequence) --- (Disneyland opening TV special.)
WALT DISNEY Fantasyland is dedicated to the young and young at heart - to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams do come true.
MARK Our story begins with Disneyland’s grand opening, when the Sleeping Beauty Castle’s bridge was lowered for the first time and visitors could enter Fantasyland. Originally, Fantasyland had three dark ride attractions: Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan, and Snow White and Her Adventures.
(Costumed characters lead attending children to the ride.)
DWARFS AT THE PARK Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho Heigh-ho, heigh-ho To make your troubles go…
THE PRINCE Ah, come on in! Come on in. Come on here, kiddies. That’s it. Hi, nice to see you.
MARK Your journey began at the loading station, where a beautiful mural might have alluded to this being a happy experience. But looking closer, it was actually a warning of things to come. After boarding the vehicle designed as a mining cart, you went to the Seven Dwarfs’ mine to begin your adventure. Once inside, you’d travel through the mines leading to an endless tunnel and see Dopey holding the door open, leading into a vault. After seeing their precious gems and diving deeper into the mine, you’d come across the dwarfs hard at work, though the figures themselves featured very little movement. Before exiting the mine, Dopey was seen once more, and pointing to a sign reading, ‘Beware of the witch.’
You’d then enter the forest, and were surrounded by lovable animals as the dwarfs’ cottage came into view. But then you’d arrive at a fork in the road, with a sign showing the dwarfs’ house to the left and the witch’s castle to the right. You take a right toward the castle, which makes very little narrative sense, as you - the guest - are experiencing the attraction as Snow White. Traveling through a now darker forest, you come across the two vultures and try to head back toward the cottage, only for a gate to come crashing down.
You then enter the dungeons of the witch’s castle, featuring skeletons and other gruesome imagery. Deeper into the castle, you encounter a huge spider web and see a shadow of the witch move across the wall. Suddenly, the witch makes an appearance as she’s poisoning the apple, and then again from behind a beam just moments later.
You escape the castle, but then find yourself surrounded by horrific trees with glowing eyes. As you go back towards the dwarfs’ cottage, the witch makes another appearance with the poisoned apple. This leads to the finale, where the witch is trying to send a giant boulder to crash on you. Suddenly, a pair of crash doors open and you find yourself in complete darkness as you hear the witch fall to her demise.
The biggest complaint about this first version of Snow White was…where’s Snow White? Much like the absence of Peter Pan in his attraction, guests just didn’t understand that you were supposed to be experiencing the ride as the film’s protagonist. In this case, it was through the eyes of Snow White. But parents had another major complaint: the ride terrified children, so much so that Disney eventually put a sign out front with a warning, and even put the word ‘scary’ in brackets on the ride tickets.
However, if kids thought Disneyland’s version was scary, the ride’s second incarnation at the Magic Kingdom made it seem like an encounter with Winnie the Pooh. …Okay, bad example.
(Walt Disney World opening day special. Julie Andrews views the park from inside the monorail.)
ANDREWS Hello, everyone. I’m Julie Andrews, and I’m here at the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.
MARK When opening in 1971, Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland featured variations of the same dark rides found at Disneyland. This, of course, included Snow White’s Adventures. In the ride’s queue, you could admire a beautiful set piece and see the queen seem to open the curtains of a window as vehicles entered the castle. The journey begins as you circle around the wishing well, and you could hear Snow White sing in the background.
SNOW WHITE Tell me, wishing well Will my wish come true?
MARK Though at first it appears that you are heading for the dwarfs’ cottage, the vehicle makes a sudden U-turn towards the castle. Just before you enter, the curtains above open to reveal the queen watching you from the window. Inside the throne room and through a reflection, you see the back of the queen and heard her say, “Mirror, mirror on the wall…” And it’s here where you got a taste of the horrors to come.
(The queen turns around to reveal the Witch.)
WITCH I am the fairest one of all!
(A child on the ride is heard crying.)
MARK From there, you travel through the castle’s dungeon…but unlike Disneyland’s, though it’s difficult to see in the video, these opened their mouth and cried for help.
SKELETON Help me…
MARK Between the two skeletons were pairs of glowing eyes…and after passing by the witch’s crow, you came upon the witch poisoning the apple.
WITCH Would you like an apple, dearie? (cackle)
MARK The scene also featured a gag where the shelf seemed to crash on top of you with a loud shattering sound effect. You then came to a lake with a detailed castle set piece, though it often went unnoticed due to the lighting.
(Footage shows the witch popping out from behind a corner, then the cart running into a crocodile trying to get away.)
After getting over that horrifying moment, you then enter the dark forest. To say the trees were terrifying is an understatement, as they’d actually rotate in the direction of your vehicle and even lunge as you passed by, with the only audio being creepy wailing, screaming, and other disturbing sound effects.
(Another child on the ride is heard crying.)
You finally reach the cottage, but this isn’t the warm and cozy place you remember. Inside, the furniture and objects were given these glowing white eyes that seemed to cry out for help. You then come across adorable animals peeking through a window, but the horrified look on their faces alluded what’s to come. We then finally see the seven dwarfs reenacting a scene from the film…but with a horrifying twist. It’s not Snow White upstairs, but a demonic ghost that wailed and moved. As if that wasn’t scary enough, the witch suddenly popped out of the door, offering you another poisoned apple.
As you enter the forest, and without even a moment of relief, the witch again suddenly appeared with a terrifying cackle. You then enter the mines, only for the witch to appear again - this time, trying to cause the mine to collapse.
WITCH Enjoy your ride? (cackle)
MARK As you heard her laughing in the darkness, only moments later the witch sends a mine cart flying towards your vehicle. In the final scene, you entered a vault filled with glistening diamonds where the witch again attempts to crush you, only this time with a giant diamond.
WITCH Goodbye, dearie! (cackle)
(She apparently succeeds, as the next scene is nothing but yellow bursts, her laughter echoing in the distance. The ride then suddenly ends.)
MARK Now, as far as why this version was made so terrifying, it’s believed one of the attraction’s supervisors was Claude Coates. Coates had previously worked on another attraction: Disneyland’s The Haunted Mansion. During its development, he’d wanted to make the Haunted Mansion much darker, but this was eventually abandoned in favor of Marc Davis’ more lighthearted approach. With Snow White, many believed he wanted to create a truly spooky attraction, but at least Disney had the foresight to include a warning sign from the beginning.
Speaking of Disneyland, by this point a number of updates were made to its version of Snow White. The glowing eyes effect scene in Magic Kingdom’s version had actually been taken from an update made to Disneyland’s in 1959, and the ride vehicles were redesigned to fit a second row. It’s also believed that due to the narrative issue of going in the direction of the witch’s castle, the design was altered to make it seem like part of the witch’s plot. Other changes made were new mechanical figures, updated lighting effects, repainted sets, and changes made to audio recordings. Strangely, though, for a brief period in the 1970s, a static figure of Snow White appeared in the attraction only to seemingly disappear a short time later.
(New Fantasyland special.)
GIRL Fantasyland closed? It’s never been closed before! What’s happening, Mickey?!
MARK By the 1980s, it was time for an update to not just Snow White, but Fantasyland as a whole. But instead of simply updating Snow White, it was torn down and rebuilt from scratch, with the exception of some of the original track layout. And this new attraction would be a hybrid between the original version and the one at the Magic Kingdom.
PRINCE PHILLIP Open the Fantasyland castle, in the name of the children of the world!
MARK With the grand reopening of Fantasyland in 1983, the castle’s bridge was lowered for the second and last time in Disneyland’s history - and alongside the other updated rides and the debut of Pinocchio’s Daring Journey was Snow White’s Scary Adventures. The ride’s new façade now featured the Evil Queen peeking through the curtains of a window - which, of course, was borrowed from the Magic Kingdom’s version. And tired of complaints about ‘Where’s Snow White?’, Disney finally relented and included her in the opening scene. Many believe that Snow White is shown heading to bed, so the rest of the experience could still be from her point of view, perhaps through a dream.
Now, if you do count the opening as a sort of prelude, then the experience technically still opened with the Seven Dwarfs’ mine - and it’s here where the influences of Magic Kingdom’s version became clear, leading to a nearly identical transformation scene. The cauldron scene was given a nice update, but the more unique aspects of the dungeon were no more, and the skeletons were made to resemble its sister attraction. The boat scene was another direct influence, but the dark forest and the witch in the cottage were updates of the Disneyland original. The ride’s finale took the seven dwarfs from the nightmarish cottage of Magic Kingdom and put them on a reimagined cliff scene.
Though Disneyland’s version was given this major update, it wasn’t until 1994 that Magic Kingdom would receive one as well. More than likely, this was to coincide with Snow White’s first release on video that same year. But due to the financial disaster that was Euro Disney, the changes were far less drastic, with the main goal simply being to de-intensify the attraction. And in December of 1994, the attraction was reopened as ‘Snow White’s Scary Adventures.’
The loading area was given a new mural that also hid one of the first scenes. After passing by the wishing well and behind the mural, you’d find that Snow White herself was finally added the attraction. The queen was also moved to this new location, but was now a static scene without the moving curtains. Passing under where the queen once resided, you came to a new projection effect - and though the transformation scene remained mostly the same, this would be the first example of the witch’s new, less frightening voiceover. In the dungeon, the first skeleton remained, and in the place of the second was the witch’s new cauldron scene.
WITCH Love’s first kiss! (cackle)
MARK In place of the original cauldron scene were now cutouts of Snow White and the Huntsman, who warned her to run away.
(A ‘Public Service Announcement’ logo suddenly pops up, with timer to strobe effect below.)
KEVIN FROM DEFUNCTLAND Hey there. This is Kevin from Defunctland, stopping by for the quickest cameo ever to warn you that if you are sensitive to strobe lights, you should probably skip the next ten to fifteen seconds. Have a nice video.
(The video resumes.)
MARK This also included a pretty cool lighting effect.
(The effect simulates lightning.)
HUNTSMAN Quick, princess! Run away and never come back!
SNOW WHITE (screams)
HUNTSMAN Go!
MARK Into the forest, the witch’s appearance on the boat was modified to be less sudden and frightening. But sadly, the once stunning castle wall display was removed entirely. Further on, the once terrifying trees were also toned down to be less scary, and the eyes effects were updated as well.
But perhaps the most drastic change was to the dwarfs’ cottage, replacing the once nightmare-inducing interior with a scene based on the one at Disneyland. And while the animals were left untouched, the staircase no longer featured the dwarves or the demonic ghost. In place of the witch’s previously terrifying appearance was a new scene showing a non-moving Snow White taking the poisoned apple.
DOC It’s the quicked wi…the wicked qui… Come on, men!
MARK In this version, the dwarves could now be heard pursuing the witch, with another of her appearances toned down and made static…though in my opinion, it was made even more terrifying. Inside the seven dwarfs’ mine, it wasn’t just de-intensified - it was made quite empty and lackluster. The cheapness was made even more noticeable with the Bashful and Sneezy figures, who were simply repurposed from the original staircase scene.
In the climax, the remaining five of the original seven dwarfs could be seen on the cliffs in a scene that now resembled the one at Disneyland. But unlike Disneyland, the ride wasn’t over, as it now featured a new happy ending based on the scrapped idea from the 1955 original. The scene displayed new figures of Snow White and the Prince, along with an animatronic of Dopey waving goodbye.
Throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s, very few changes were made to either attraction beyond cosmetic updates, though Disneyland’s version did see a replacement of the witch’s physical apple with a hologram due to the riders always trying to grab it.
(D23 Expo 2009)
PRESENTER We are nearly doubling the size of Fantasyland to include more of your favorite princesses.
MARK Unfortunately, with the announcement of Magic Kingdom’s new Fantasyland expansion in 2009, this ultimately sealed the fate of Snow White’s Scary Adventures, as when the Seven Dwarfs Mine train was announced in 2011, within a year Disney confirmed that the original Snow White attraction would be permanently closed. And to the devastation of many fans, in its place would be a princess meet-and-greet.
Today, there are still three versions of Snow White at the various theme parks, with Tokyo Disneyland’s being the closest to the Magic Kingdom version. And with recent updates made to the Disneyland original, the attraction looks better than ever. At the very least, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train does pay tribute to its predecessor. On the first lift hill are the original vultures from the ride. In the end, in addition to some of the animals, five of the original dwarf animatronics can be seen in the cottage, with two from the staircase/cliff scene often on display.
So the next time someone tries to tell you that Alien Encounter is Disney’s most terrifying attraction, have them look up the original Snow White attractions that now belong in Yesterworld.