Snow White's Adventures
Disneyland California 1955-1982

General Survey & The Facade (Page 3)

Ride Description

KenNetti divides the original
Snow White's Adventures ride
into the following scenes:
Into the Diamond Mine
Endless Mineshaft (mural)
Dopey at the Vault Door
The Treasure Vault
The Dwarfs at Work
Dopey's Sign (Mine Exit)
The Glade & Animal Friends
The Dwarfs' Cottage (mural)
The Fork in the Road
The Vultures
Portcullis of the Evil Queen's Castle
The Dungeons
The Skeleton
Shadow of the Wicked Witch
Cobweb Archway (string effect)
Witch at the Cauldron
Behind the Pillar
Escape from the Castle
The Dark Forest
Return to the Cottage
Witch Offering the Apple
The Boulder Climax
A Dark Tunnel

The scenes and details as they were listed in the 1954 plan
published in the E-Ticket Magazine # 13 article:
D) Entrance to the Dwarfs' mine
E) Timbers in the mine tunnel
F) Mural of the endless mineshaft
G) Dopey opens the jewel vault door
H) Precious gems in the inner vault
I) Deeper in the mineshaft
J) The Dwarfs pickaxe by lantern light
K) "Beware the Witch" (sign)
L) Snow White's forest friends
M) Cottage or Castle ...which way?
N) Vultures overhead
O) Gates to Castle of the Queen
P) "Go Baaack... Go Baaack!"
Q) Shadow of the Wicked Witch
R) Bubbling brew/ poison apples
S) Lurking in the castle halls
T) Crash doors into darkness
U) The Magic Forest
V) A grasping evil tree
W) More grasping trees
X) Still more grasping trees
Y) Witch in cottage doorway
Z) Watch out ...the Witch!

The original 1955 Snow White's Adventures started with a visit to the Seven Dwarfs' Diamond Mine where "a-million diamonds" shone beautifully through the magic of fluorescent paints under the ultraviolet lighting. Passing beneath several doorways with timber beams, the vehicle reached an Endless Mineshaft - realized simply with an excellent mural. Dopey, the most memorable and recognizable of the little men, peeked from behind the treasure vault's huge door. After a short visit in the breathtaking Treasure Vault, the vehicle continued into the deepest corner of the Diamond Mine where the other Dwarfs worked by dim lantern light.

The original Dwarf figures may have seemed rather crude with their anatomical oddities (i.e. arms that seem twice the size of the legs). Movements of these three-dimensional figures were very simple; most of them followed the pattern of up-and-down, while at least one of them turned from side to side. Old Viewmaster reels of the 1960s Disneyland and other photo gems support the belief that the Dwarfs were repositioned when the 1959-1961 improvements were made. Some of these figures may have even been replaced with new ones.

Before our visit in the Mine was over, the delightful Dopey was seen again, this time pointing at a sign "Beware of the Witch". Exiting the Diamond Mine, our vehicle entered a brief but beautiful forest scene (The Glade & Animal Friends). Almost half of the ride experience was already behind.

Following immediately the cute and cuddly animals, the Dwarfs' Cottage was seen in a distance, in a forest clearing. The warm and inviting sight of the cottage was one of the most breathtaking little details of the entire ride; realized very simply through the magic of paint, illumination and some magnificently crafted cutout sets, the Dwarfs' Cottage mural could easily be seen as a predecessor of the Castle in the Moonlight mural in the remodeled 1983 Snow White's Scary Adventures.

The Dwarfs' Cottage mural was a turning point in the ride, featuring "The Fork in the Road". Signs pointed directions to the "Dwarfs Cottage" and to the "Witch's Castle". For some odd reason, our vehicle - representing Snow White's perspective - made the decision to continue towards the castle! This fork in the road can be seen definitely as the weakest point in the ride's ambitious aim (of the heroine's perspective) - and it may have inspired the 1971 Walt Disney World ride version's very different way of starting the ride inside the Evil Queen's castle - so that Snow White doesn't need to make any wrong turns during her adventure.

It seems that one of the teams producing the improvements for the Disneyland ride may have actually noticed the script blunder and tried to fix it by changing the signs. In an official publicity shot of the Dwarfs' Cottage mural the sign pointing to the cottage has the hilarious text "Witches [sic] Cottage" and the sign pointing towards the castle has the text "Dwarf(s) House". Contrary to the popular belief, the messed-up sign actually does make a point - that Snow White is forced to choose the direction towards the castle to reach the Dwarfs' Cottage (although the aficionados most certainly recognize the "Witches Cottage" as the home of the Dwarfs).

Regardless of the fun-fact sign, the cheerful atmosphere of the forest scene changed quite abruptly as the vehicle turned away from the path leading to the Dwarfs' Cottage. Among the dead vegetation of these scary woods, two gaunt vultures perched on a gnarled tree branch - and an ominous structure, Portcullis of the Evil Queen's Castle, emerged from the darkness. The Vultures have continued into each new version of the ride, although their appearance has changed into more cartoony direction over the decades.

Passing beneath the Portcullis of the Evil Queen's Castle - which was only a painted stationary cutout - the vehicle headed straight towards another open portcullis doorway, where a clear sign pointed the way "To Dwarfs' House". Without a warning the second portcullis came down with a crash, forcing the vehicle to turn left - deeper into the threatning darkness of the Evil Queen's castle. Never since this original Portcullis scene has there been anything as deliciously wicked in the Snow White dark rides - with the possible exception of a falling laboratory shelf in the 1971 Walt Disney World ride version. However, inside the remodeled 1983 Disneyland ride, the Drawbridge sequence with its huge opening doors seems to be a definite powerful relative of the original Portcullis creation of 1955.

The scary part of the adventure, that gobbled up rest of the ride, led the vehicle further into the deepest Dungeons of the Queen's castle. Eerie ambience enveloped grisly skeletons, still imprisoned in their cells. Ghostly voices echoing from the vaults adviced the intruders to "go baaack! go baaack!"

A particularly gruesome sight - a skeleton hanging on the back wall - stretched its neck and opened its jaws to the direction of the arriving vehicle. It is not certain, if this memorable skeleton was actually the only bony fellow in the original 1955-1982 Dungeons scene, but it appears to have been quite a faithful representation of one of the actual skeletons seen in the 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The dark ride footage in the movie "40 Pounds of Trouble" suggests also that this specific skeleton may have had red shining eyes in the skull's eyesockets. One can only imagine how shocking the skeleton may have looked like in the authentic, original darkness of the ride, gleaming in eerie slimy-green fluorescence.

The imprisoned skeletons remain an integral part of Disney's version of the fairytale. The later versions of the Dungeons scene hide some of the most deepest and darkest secrets of the "Fairest One Of All". (The darkest secrets are revealed on a separate page dedicated to these bony fellows).

Following immediately after the Dungeons scene, the vehicle faced a huge spider web in a dark archway. The silhouetted Shadow of the Wicked Witch emerged behind the web and moved across the wall. The shadow was previously believed to be an authentic gobo shadow effect (as the ones used in The Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan's Flight and several other Disney attractions) - but flash photos from the late 1960s reveal that the Witch's shadow was actually a cutout, throwing its own tiny shadows on the wall. In the late 1970's the foreground of the Shadow of the Wicked Witch scene was changed glowing in fire-orange, with a spider possibly flicking across the web as the vehicle passed the archway. The movement of the Witch's shadow was also changed; it didn't move across the wall anymore, but rocked up and down to the right, as if the Witch was dipping the apple in a cauldron.

As the vehicle continued its journey into another pitch-black archway, the guests sitting in the vehicle passed under a customary string gag (tickling the top of their heads) that has been included in countless other spook rides. (KenNetti calls this tiny segment of the ride as Cobweb Archway).

When finally seen in terrifying three dimensions in the next scene, Witch at the Cauldron, the old hag was poisoning an apple. The very first figures of the Wicked Witch didn't exactly resemble the original character in the 1937 movie - they were actually much scarier! In most photos her nose may seem like a sluggish banana glued on her face, the hood of her cloak drooping badly, and her entire posture very undramatic and odd - but all these details can be explained by poor black & white photography that hasn't done justice to the ride's dramatic lighting and the actual ride experience. For example, in the dark ride montage of the 1962 movie "40 Pounds of Trouble" the drooping hood of the Witch seems to get a proper explanation: as the vehicle approaches the Witch at the Cauldron scene, the hag is completely shrouded among shadows, but as her figure turns to face the glowing cauldron, she "appears" quite suddenly. Thus the drooping hood on the other side of her face must have been absolutely necessary, to hide her properly before the vehicle was close enough. But when one sees a black & white still photo of the very same Witch, the figure may seem only ridiculously undramatic.

The original "Cauldron Corner" decoration (in the Witch at the Cauldron scene) was unusually modest creation with very few details when compared to almost anything else in the same ride. But actually, who had time to look at the sets when there was a shockingly frightening old hag in the middle of the sets! However, at least in the 1970s till the 1983 remodeling of the entire attraction, the "Cauldron Corner" may have included something quite special: the bubbling brew of the cauldron may have been real water with green fluorescent dye. Some people claim that the very same dye is still used in the waters of the Splash Mountain attraction. (KenNetti points out, however, that the use of real water in a dark ride depending on electrical guide track has definite hazards). After many modifications, the Witch at the Cauldron scene - and the highly evolved Witch figure itself - became an inseparable part of all Snow White dark rides.

Before finding the way out of the Evil Queen's Castle, the daring adventurers in the vehicle came face to face with the ghastly Matriarch of Evil again - this time emerging from a dark corner, Behind a Pillar. (This scene, with the Witch appearing very suddenly and offering the deadly apple to us, may have developed later into the Witch on the Boat scene, first seen in the 1971 version in Walt Disney World). The continuity of these original 1955 castle sequences was definitely heightened by a little detail: in the Behind the Pillar scene the apple was oozing with the poison brew - and forming the famous skull image (from the 1937 movie) - as if the Witch would have scurried straightly from the cauldron to the next chamber! (It is worth of mentioning that in the 1983 remodeled version of the ride the apple doesn't ooze with the poison anymore and that the fruit is much smaller than the devilish, poison-oozing red delicious seen in the original ride).

The photo above is an enhanced version of the famous publicity shot of the Witch figure from the Behind the Pillar scene. The original photo was used in the 1960s Viewmaster reels of Disneyland. There is, however, some controversy whether this Witch is the original 1955 figure or one of the improved figures of 1959 or 1961. Nevertheless, this beautifully sculpted three-dimensional figure was truly the scariest of them all! Her deformed ugliness and gnarled, gaunt and surprisingly realistic features made her definitely much more shocking than any of her later smooth-skinned reincarnations. At least in the late 1960s her eyes were gleaming as devilishly red as in the repainted Witch sections of the queue mural. A less-ghoulish Witch figure has also been seen in the Behind the Pillar scene.

The narrow escape from the old hag's clutches - the Escape from the Castle - included "crash doors", although it is not believed that these doors would have been originally pushed by the vehicle, as in more primitive spook rides. The frightening adventure continued into The Dark Forest sequence (known by several names as the Magic/ Enchanted/ Haunted/ Evil/ Frightening Forest; KenNetti uses the Dark Forest title which was indicated in the beautiful poster of the 1983 remodeled Disneyland ride). Monstrous trees with gnarled faces, glowing eyes, gaping mouths and branches with talon-like clutches seemed to reach out to the vehicle from every direction. The 1955 Dark Forest creation - and especially its 1959 improved version - set such a high standard in strategic illumination of some extremely modest decorations, that the scene has been very difficult to top even in the later reincarnations.

The shocking escape ended with a Return to the Cottage, as the beautiful home of the Dwarfs emerged from the darkness. The dimensional life-size model of the house's front side is one of the few set-pieces that hasn't changed much in the California ride since the original 1955 Snow White's Adventures. (A similar set of the Dwarfs' Cottage can also be found in the climax scenes of the Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris versions, although the individual pieces contain also definite differences). Here, at the cottage, the Wicked Witch appeared in the doorway and offered the shiny red apple to us - for one last time. This was followed by the stormy climax on the steep cliffs where the Witch made her final appearance, trying to hurl a huge boulder onto the approaching vehicle, while cackling victoriously "Goodbye, dearie!" (with the voice of the very talented Ginny Tyler). The realization of the cliffs was impressively three-dimensional in a ride that used mostly cut-out sets. However, until the 1983 remodeling of the ride, no Dwarfs were seen cornering the Witch in this original Boulder Climax.

And no Happy Ending either. As the boulder was about to drop and the vehicle didn't have a visible escape route, a pair of crash doors (quite well-hidden amongst the cliff decoration) opened a path into a Dark Tunnel. The vehicle plunged into an almost complete darkness accompanied by the Witch's terrifying death scream - the original, authentic 1937 movie vocal by Lucille La Verne. (Unfortunately only the people who had seen the 1937 movie understood that the chilling scream indicated the Wicked Witch's plunge to her death). Another pair of crash doors inside the tunnel led the vehicle to the unloading area, where the most sharp-eared guests could actually hear the Witch's death scream! As there was no proper happy ending in the ride, the design team must have thought that surviving all the horrors of the 1955 original ride alive was a Happy Ending enough for the guests!

On the next page's "Secret Laboratory" we introduce the design & development team of the 1955 Snow White's Adventures more closely and also try to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the 1955-1982 Snow White's Adventures. Several legendary Disney voice actresses linked to the cackling Wicked Witch are presented in the "Treasure Vault".

Snow White's Adventures
Disneyland California 1955-1982

IMAGE GALLERY

The KenNetti Tribute for Snow White's Scary Adventures strives for presenting at least some of the essence of the actual enchantment and atmosphere found in the Snow White dark rides. This is why most of our exclusively enhanced & expanded photos are not as glaringly revealing as most dark ride images on the internet. We ask you to notice, however, that some of these expanded and/or enhanced photos may not show things (sets, lighting and character design) exactly like they appear / or have appeared in the rides.

Most images and photos are specially processed for this KenNetti appearance. Originals can be found at the websites of the image providers or copyright holders. Whenever a provider or copyright holder other than Disney has been indicated in these images and photos, the originals have been used by permission in this KenNetti Snow White's Scary Adventures Tribute. KenNetti doesn't always have the exact source of the original images and photos provided by several different people, so these originals are usually copyrighted to the providers of the images.

The Ride Interiors
The Endless Mineshaft (mural)
Dopey at the Vault Door
The Dwarfs at Work - Original
The Dwarfs at Work - Slightly Enhanced
The Dwarfs at Work - Alternate Poses
The Dwarfs at Work "Fantasy"
Dopey's Sign - Beware of the Witch
The Glade & Animal Friends
The Dwarfs' Cottage and the Fork in the Road
The "Witches Cottage" Delight
The Original Vultures
Portcullis of the Evil Queen's Castle
Portcullis (original, not enhanced)
Shadow of the Wicked Witch
Shadow (original, not enhanced)
The Witch at the Cauldron
Another Witch at the Cauldron
The Cauldron Witch "Fantasy"
The Dark Forest Trees
The Dark Forest Trees (slightly enhanced)
Return to the Cottage from the Dark Forest
Return to the "Witches Cottage"
The Boulder Climax

Very Scary Stuff
The Witch at the Cauldron Closeup
Behind the Pillar - The Ghastly Witch
Behind the Pillar (original, not enhanced)
The Dungeon Skeleton (1960s)
The Dungeon Skeleton Colour Combo

Specials
Snow White's Adventures - Original 1954 Plan

More original artwork of
Snow White's Adventures
(1954-1955) on next page's
Image Gallery!

Next Page

KenNetti Presents
SNOW WHITE'S SCARY ADVENTURES
T h e -T r i b u t e

Tribute Main Index

Research, analyse, text,
design and image processing
by Kenneth Sundberg

All original artwork © Disney

Other information & photo sources:
Jack E. Janzen: E-Ticket Magazine #13
Randy Bright: Disneyland - Inside Story (1987)
Richard Holliss & Brian Sibley: Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs & the Making of the Classic Film (1987/1994)
The Imagineers: Walt Disney Imagineering (1996)
The Imagineers: The Imagineering Field Guide to the
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World (2005)
Jeff Kurtti: Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends and
the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park (2008)
David Koenig: Mouse Tales (1994/2006)
David Koenig: More Mouse Tales (1999/2002)
David Koenig: Mouse Under Glass - Secrets of Disney
Animation and Theme Parks (1997/2001)
David Koenig: Realityland - True-Life Adventures
at Walt Disney World (2007)
Alain Littaye & Didier Ghez: Disneyland Paris
- From Sketch to Reality (2002)
Tim Hollis & Greg Ehrbar: Mouse Tracks
- The Story of Walt Disney Records (2006)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack CD (Walt Disney Records, 1993)
Steve Birnbaum: Walt Disney World - The Official Guide (1986)
Birnbaum's Disneyland - The Official Guide (1997)
Steve Birnbaum: Walt Disney World - The Official Guide (1991)
Ollie Johnston & Frank Thomas: The Disney Villain (1993)
Disney theme park guidebooks & maps
YouTube / Wikipedia.org / Answers.com
www.DoomBuggies.com message boards
Happy Hills Way Happy Hoppies Test & Travel Group
Dr Vanessa Toulmin, NFA Website, 1997: Fairground Shows
Nick Laister (www.joylandbooks.com)
Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts (www.dafe.org)
Laff in the Dark (www.laffinthedark.com)
www.MovieMusic.com messageboards
Kentsu Pictures Video Archives
and Kenneth Sundberg
_______________________________________

KenNetti is a totally non-commercial website by Kenneth Sundberg to pay tribute and to honour the work of the talented people behind some of the most wonderful things found on this planet. All the material is gathered here only to inform, to promote things that need to be noticed, and to entertain people all over the world. KenNetti and Kenneth Sundberg are not affiliated to any of the companies, theme parks, movies, people, ghosts or other things appearing on this site. No rights of reproduction have been granted to KenNetti or Kenneth Sundberg, except where indicated. If You feel that some image or material whatsoever should not appear on this site, please CONTACT Kenneth Sundberg so that we can quickly resolve the problem.