| Snow White's Enchanted Wish | |
 | |
| Disneyland | |
| Land | Fantasyland |
| Opening date | July 17, 1955 |
| Closing date | January 7, 2020 |
| Guests per car | 4 |
| Ride duration | 1:51 minutes |
| Re-dedicated | May 23, 1983 |
| Replaced by | Snow White's Enchanted Wish |
Snow White's Enchanted Wish, formerly known as Snow White's Scary Adventures is a dark ride at the Disneyland Park, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. It also existed at the Magic Kingdom, but closed on May 31, 2012. 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, the first animated feature film produced by Walt Disney.
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. 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 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.
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 (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 version at Disneyland Paris, including increasing the ride capacity of each ride vehicle from four to six passengers.
Snow White's Scary Adventures permanently closed at the Magic Kingdom on May 31, 2012, as it is a side effect of the Fantasyland expansion in the park.
Attraction summary[]
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". Happy is on bass, Grumpy is on organ, Bashful is on accordion, Doc is on mandolin, Sleepy is on fiddle and Dopey is on Sneezy's shoulders.
When guests leave the cottage, they pass by the Queen who says "Those dwarves can't hide Snow White forever." and "Soon I'll be the 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 beautiful reflection saying, "Magic Mirror on the wall..." She then turns and faces the guests. They see that she has become a hideous, 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.
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. On December 21, 2020, the film's 83rd anniversary, Disney announced that the ride would be renamed , Snow White's Enchanted Wish and would include state-of-the-art audio and visual technology, including new music, LED black lighting, laser projections and a new animation system. The attraction renamed into Snow White's Enchanted Wish, and opened again on April 27, 2021.