Welcome to the first stop aboard Magical Blogorail Orange. Enjoy the ride as we share with you the one thing we can’t believe we haven’t done as a Disney Blogger
We should probably call it D. A. A. – Disney Addicts Anony-mouse. But then, of course, we’d have to spend at few hours creating a cute logo with ears on the capital “D” and get feedback about the idea from a few Disney forums and check the Disney community on Twitter and…
Hi, my name is Wendy, and I’m a Disney Addict.
There are quite a few of us out there. You know who you are – spending hours planning your next trip to the parks, surfing Pinterest and DeviantArt for cute Disney pictures and party ideas, reading about Disney history in your spare time. You’re the one that everyone asks when they’re planning a trip because you know everything about the parks, the restaurants, and the resorts. You’re the one who frequents the message boards or writes a blog to keep the excitement alive between visits. And, oh, when you do get to visit a Disney park, you know what you want to do, and you take full advantage of your opportunities. Because you’ve researched it, and you’ve done it all before.
But this is Disney, and, much as fans may love it, it’s almost impossible to do it all. The Disney parks are a constantly changing tapestry of wonder and excitement, and in all of that magic, things get overlooked, put off until later, and even the greatest of Disney “pros” finds him or herself realizing, “oh my gosh, I’ve never actually done that?”
Those omissions, small though they may seem, are our “Disney shame.” We’re the addicts, the experts…except for that…
For me, the realization came with the news that Walt Disney World would be closing Snow White’s Scary Adventures on June 1 to make way for the expanded princess meet and greet area planned for the new Fantasyland. The replacement wasn’t news to me; my blog had reported on it when it was first announced, and I was far more interested in learning more about the new meet and greet than I was about the attraction closure.
But as stories began popping up across the internet and dominating my Twitter feed warning me that May 30 would be the last day to ride Snow White’s scary adventures, I realized something. I’ve never been on that ride. I’ve been on just about every ride in Walt Disney World from the Tower of Terror to the Primeval Whirl to It’s a Small World. Even if they weren’t rides that interested me or that I would do again, I can say I’ve ridden them and formed an opinion. But not Snow White…in fact, I couldn’t even swear as to just where the ride entrance is.
I love Disney princesses; that’s not the issue. And I certainly have no shame about riding “kid’s rides.” But somehow in the bustle of the day and the usual crush of Fantasyland, Snow White got overlooked.
Mirror, Mirror by Belldandies http://fav.me/de3rx0
The ride is a Disney classic by any definition of the term. An opening day dark ride at Disneyland in California in 1955, the attraction honored Disney’s groundbreaking 1937 animated classic – the film that proved animation could go beyond “cartoons” into a legitimate cinematic means of telling as story. When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, Snow White’s Scary Adventures was also featured in the new park.
On both coasts, the original design of the ride placed guests in the leading role – Snow White never appeared on the ride because you were Snow White. Guests didn’t get it. That detail, combined with a focus on a seriously scary witch, resulted in a re-do of the ride at both parks. The Walt Disney World version now features Snow White several times in the course of the ride along with an added happy ending replacing the rather ambiguous fate of riders in the original where a room of flashing lights followed the witch pushing a giant gemstone boulder onto the track below.
The entire ride is only 2 minutes 25 seconds in length, and most online sites (Yes, I’m a Disney addict, I know where the sites are…) report that lines for the attraction are usually short to nonexistent.
So how did I miss it? I’ll never know. As a child, I was one of those kids – I was terrified of the talking heads on the wall at the Country Bear Jamboree. I thought they were going to eat me…no, really, I kid you not. I never made it past the spider on the staircase at the Haunted Mansion. And we won’t even talk about the squid on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I’m quite sure my parents dodged Snow White because they knew better. Most modern reviewers label it as “scary for young children.” I would have been a basket case.
As an adult? I guess it was just never a priority. In soaking up the atmosphere and trying to avoid the crowds, the “classic” of Fantasyland got overlooked, and, to my shame, I’ve never ridden it.
But now…now I have motivation. I’ve admitted my addiction and my shame…I know the deadline to make amends. All I need to do is get to the Magic Kingdom before May 31 and all will be well. So I’d better get started; I have a lot of researching and forum reading to do if I’m going to be prepared for the trip…
Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Heidi’s Head
Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:
1st Stop ~ Your Highway in the Sky
2nd Stop ~ Focused on the Magic
3rd Stop ~ Heidi’s Head
4th Stop ~ Disney on Wheels
Final Stop ~ A Glass Slipper Vacation
