Snow White's Scary Adventures

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 slightly 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 (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.

Walt Disney World'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 (Snow White). 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.

The Walt Disney World version closed on May 31, 2012 to make way for Princess Fairytale Hall, part of Disney's New Fantasyland Expansion. A new Snow White ride, themed to the mines in which the Seven Dwarfs mine jewels, is one of the main attractions of the expansion and is now open called Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

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 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. Here, the music and yodeling from "The Silly Song" can be heard. 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 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 hag—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 Hag 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 Hag, who offers the guests the apple. Guests turn towards a mountainside where the Dwarfs pursue the Queen. Nearby, the Queen 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.

The original version that opened in 1955 initially begun in the diamond mine, where the dwarves were seen digging for diamonds, later the riders would take a detour to the witch's castle.

Walt Disney World

The original version of the ride at Walt Disney World 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 Dwarves' 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 (still bumping into the Witch, who was on a boat). Soon, guests arrived in the Dwarfs' cottage to see the animals peering in at them. They then passed the Dwarfs (in their only appearance) 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 (similar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland in California) 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 Disney World 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 (and the guests) from her window. Inside the castle, the scene was similar to the Disneyland version (with the Queen turning into the Witch and working at the cauldron), although the Magic Mirror was added who said, "Alas! Snow White is the fairest one of all," to which the Queen (voiced by Louise Chamis) replied, "NEVER!" The ride continued into the forest where the Huntsman (a newly added character in this version, and voiced by Peter Renaday) 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 (Sleepy and Sneezy, led by Doc) 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.

As part of the New Fantasyland expansion of the Magic Kingdom, the attraction closed May 31, 2012. The figures of Doc, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful and Grumpy from the Cottage sequence in the 1994 ride were recycled for the final scene in the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attraction, along with the Audio-Animatronic Vultures, which are perched above the first lift of the mine train.

The former ride's gift shop, Seven Dwarfs' Mine, closed permanently on January 4, 2014. A construction wall has been put up against the entrance, and the two signs reading the title of the gift shop were removed, as well as other theming. It is currently unknown what this space will be used for, whether it may become a shop/photo purchasing spot for the new ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or if it will bid farewell to its Snow White theming and become something completely different.

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 the American versions at the time of the park's opening, although it is largely based on the pre-1994 Walt Disney World version. It begins in the castle where the Queen transforms into the Witch, moving on to the dungeon and passing her on boat. After going through the forest, guests enter the cottage and instead of seeing the dwarfs passing up the stairs seeing the shadow, the Seven Dwarfs are seen Doing The Dwarfs' Yodel song, with Snow White watching from the stairs (similar to the beginning in Disneyland and in Disneyland Paris). Exiting the cottage, guests find the Witch outside waiting for them, then enter the mines (mix in the Disneylands in California and Paris and Similar to the Pre-1994 version). 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.