Snow White's Scary Adventures

Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. Located in Fantasyland, it is one of the few remaining attractions that was operational on Disneyland's opening day in 1955. It also existed at the Magic Kingdom, but closed on May 31, 2012.

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, the guests were Snow White. Few people understood this concept and some wondered why Snow White herself was not featured in the ride. Some footage of the original version would be part of the 1962 film 40 Pounds of Trouble, which featured a lengthy sequence set inside Disneyland.

During 1983, all of the Fantasyland dark rides were expanded and 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 façade 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 (and sometimes managed) 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.

The Magic Kingdom's original version of this ride also put the guests in the role of the story's main character (Snow White). Around Christmas of 1994, a less-frightening version of the ride took its place and appearances by Snow White were also added. The redesigned ride took some cues from the Disneyland Paris version, including increasing the capacity of each ride vehicle from four to six passengers.

The Magic Kingdom version closed for good on May 31, 2012 to make way for Princess Fairytale Hall.

Disneyland
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 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..." The background of the boarding area is a forest setting dominated by the Dwarfs' cottage.

The mine cart ride vehicles resemble the beds of the Seven Dwarfs, but are officially considered "minecarts," and feature the names of each dwarf on the front of them, much like their beds in the film. After guests board the vehicles, they enter the Dwarfs' cottage. Here, the music and yodeling from "The Silly Song" can be heard. Guests pass Snow White and some of her animal friends climbing the stairs to the cottage's second floor. The guests then move past the Dwarfs, who are performing "The Silly Song". Happy is on bass, Grumpy is on organ, Bashful is on accordion, Doc is on mandolin and Sleepy is on fiddle. Dopey is standing on Sneezy's shoulders.

When guests leave the cottage, they pass by the Queen and her pet raven, peering through one of the cottage windows as the Queen divulges her plans to get rid of Snow White. They then enter the Dwarfs' diamond mine, which is full of jewels of many colors.

Guests then pass under a branch with two vultures perched on it. A false path leads guests to believe they are entering a cave, but the vehicle turns toward a different path and enter the Queen's castle. There, they see the Queen as she stands before her Magic Mirror with her 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 hag 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.

The guests continue on to the castle's dungeon, laden with skeletons, who warn guests to turn back. Nearby, the Witch is in her laboratory, where she is creating a poisoned apple for Snow White. She heads for the Dwarfs' cottage in a small boat, bumping into the guests on her way out.

The 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 echo of the Witch's cackle is heard throughout the forest scene, implying that she is chasing the guests. The guests then turn toward the Dwarfs' cottage. The door opens to reveal the Witch, who offers the guests the apple, bribing the guests by saying phrases such as "Just one bite!" and "Taste the apple!" (the apple was originally a physical object, but Grad Night guests made it tradition to swipe the apple, so it became an optical illusion in the 1983 rehab). 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 and guests below. However, a strike of lightning causes her to tumble to her death; her scream is heard as guests exit to the unload area.

Arriving at the unload area, guests pass a giant book featuring a silhouette of Snow White and her Prince with his horse as they walk away towards a castle. The words at the bottom of this picture read "And they lived happily ever after." The unload area also features a mural depicting Snow White, the Prince, the Dwarfs and the forest animals bidding the guests farewell. The guests then disembark from the ride vehicles and exit back out into Fantasyland.

Magic Kingdom
The original Walt Disney World version of the ride in 1971 was very different and inarguably much scarier. The witches were much more realistic than their animated counterparts. There were also seven witch figures in this version, while there were only six in the second version. The queue was similar to Tokyo's current queue. It featured the Dwarfs' mine and their house was visible in the distance. Guests began by entering the castle in a scene very much like the 1994 version; however, there was no Snow White cleaning. Upon entering, the guests saw a mirror, but not the magic one. The Queen transformed into the Witch and disappeared until a raven began to shriek. It was reacting to the witch, who was then seen at the cauldron around the corner. The riders "crashed" through the dungeon walls and escaped through the dark forest, bumping into the witch on her boat along the way. Soon, the guests arrived at the Dwarfs' cottage to see the animals peering in at them. They passed the Dwarfs (in their only appearance) walking up the stairs to the wall perpendicular to their room to investigate a scary shadow floating on the wall, which was initially intended to be assumed to be the witch; however, she was seen literally right around the corner, meaning that the shadow was a ghost, as the Dwarfs had guessed. On the way out, the Witch was waiting at a window with the apple, sliding into view on the top half of the door similar to in the movie. Riders would again escape into the forest, where the Witch would come out from behind a tree and offer you the apple for a fourth time. The final scene was the diamond mines, where the Witch appeared on top of the door to the mine, tipping over one of the wooden support beams; by this point she had given up on using the apple. A mine cart, pushed by the witch, would run out of control and nearly hit you. Her final appearance was on top of the door to the vault, prying an enormous jewel from the rocky outcrop and onto the riders. Riders would then enter a room full of flashing cartoon strobe lights, with the witch's cackling still in their ears, echoing like a skipping record. The guests would then crash through the wall to return to the boarding area. This version followed the film least accurately of all of the versions.

In 1994, the Disney World attraction was completely redesigned to be similar to the upgraded Disneyland version, but in a different order and with a few new scenes, as well as one scene being omitted. Guests board by a mural depicting the cast of Snow White and begin their ride in the Queen's courtyard where Snow White is seen working outside. The Queen is watching her (and the guests) from her window. Inside the castle, the scene is similar to the Disneyland version (with the Queen turning into the Witch and working at her cauldron), although the Magic Mirror has been added. The ride continues into the forest and then into the Dwarfs' Cottage, where Snow White stands on the stairs. In a new scene, the riders pass the Witch giving Snow White the apple, then emerge from the cottage to see her gloating that she is fairest in the land. From there, guests went through the forest, where flashing strobe lights revealed that the witch was in the forest with them. Guests ride through the mines where Bashful and Sneezey call to them to stop the Witch. After the scene where the Witch tries to drop a rock on the guests, there is a new, happy ending with the Prince waking Snow White amidst the cheering Dwarfs. Dopey is seen above the bridge, on leaving, waving to all the passengers. Guests then travel through the open doors under the bridge and disembark. Ironically, this version followed the film most accurately out of all of the versions, but was the replacement for the least movie-accurate version.

On May 31, 2012, the attraction closed and was replaced by Princess Fairytale Hall as part of a major expansion of that park's Fantasyland.

When the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened in 2014, many of the Dwarf and animal figures from the Silly Song scene were recycled for use in the new ride, as were the two vultures.

Disneyland Park, Paris
Disneyland Paris' ride is basically the same as the current Disneyland version. The only real difference is a happy ending similar to Disney World's. However, in this variation, instead of passing the Prince waking up Snow White and then Dopey on an arch, all the Dwarfs, the Prince and Snow White are on an arch, with Snow White sitting on the Prince's horse and waving the guests goodbye. On the left side of the guests, the Prince's castle is seen above the clouds. The ride is also called Blanche Neige et les Sept Nains, which is French for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".

Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland represents a mix of all the other versions. It begins in the castle where the Queen transforms into the Witch, moving on to the dungeon and passing her on her boat. After going through the forest, guests enter the cottage and see the Dwarfs singing, with Snow White watching from the stairs. Exiting the cottage, guests find the Witch outside waiting for them, then enter the mines. They approach the cottage again to find the Witch is once again waiting. The ride ends like Disneyland's version, with the Dwarfs and Witch on the cliff.

Voices

 * Snow White: Adriana Caselotti/Mary Kay Bergman/Carolyn Gardner/Melissa Disney/Katherine Von Till
 * Happy: Jack Wagner
 * Dopey: Mel Blanc/Jimmy MacDonald
 * Grumpy: Hal Smith/Corey Burton
 * Sleepy: Hal Smith/Bill Farmer
 * Sneezy: Will Ryan/Bob Joles
 * Doc: Jack Wagner