This paper will attempt to analyze the dark ride, “Snow White’s Adventures” (originally titled “Snow White’s Scary Adventure”), in relation to Disney’s 1937 movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, in order to offer a proposal for a revised ride that succeeds in remaining faithful to the Disney movie to a considerable degree, while also conveying some of the moral lessons of the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale to the visitors. The main objective of the proposal is to offer a revised version of the ride that can replace the current versions in Disney’s parks. 

 “Snow White’s Scary Adventures” was one of the rides that were operational on the opening day of Disneyland in 1955. The ride was designed by Ken Anderson who had previously worked as one of the art directors for Disney’s 1937 feature. (1) The original version of the ride was considered too scary and inappropriate for younger children by their parents, who wrote letters of protest to Disney. In 1983, as part of a large overhaul of the entire Fantasyland, Disney revised the ride and offered a new version. Other versions of the ride have been made in Walt Disney World as well as other Disney parks around the world. The Walt Disney World version of the ride was revised in 1993 and was finally replaced by a non-dark ride named “Seven Dwarfs Mine Train”. (2) 

  In the original ride that was operational on Disneyland’s opening day, the visitors were supposed to play the role of Snow White herself and the ride did not include an appearance by Snow White. This became a source of confusion as few were able to understand the concept, which resulted in Disney receiving complaints about Snow White’s absence. (3) Consequently, Disney ensured that Snow White made at least an appearance in all of the revised versions of the ride. The ending of the ride was also altered and a happy ending, similar to the ending of the Disney movie, was added. The original Disney World ride ended with the implied death of the visitors as they were seemingly crushed by a boulder (or a jewel) pried off a cliff and onto the visitors by the witch. In the revised version, similar to the ending of Disney’s animated feature, the witch’s attempt fails thanks to the dwarfs and she falls to her death from the cliff.

Both Disney’s adaptation of the fairy tale as well as the ride have been criticized for their deviations from the fairy tale and their ineffectiveness. Eniko Stringham identifies the essential elements of the fairy tale that Disney neglects to include, or alters with diminishing results, in the 1937 movie. Stringham discusses the significance of the numbers three and seven in the fairy tale due to the tale’s Germanic origins. He points out the presence of the number three as in the three drops of blood (evoking menstruation), the three attempts of the witch to harm Snow White and the number of days during which Snow White remains dead until her resurrection by the prince. (4) While the omission of the number’s important role in the 1937 movie and the revised version of the ride serves to further limit and reduce the sexual themes of the fairy tale, a sexual symbol of a sort from the fairy tale and the movie was actually retained in the ride in the form of the vehicles that move the visitors through the ride. Bruno Bettelheim interprets Snow White’s acceptance of sleeping in a dwarf’s bed as a sign of Snow White’s sexual curiosity and desire that convince her of taking the risk to sleep in someone else’s bed, despite the knowledge that the person would return and would want to sleep in his bed. (5) The “sharing” of the bed is repeated in the ride as the vehicles that carry the visitors through the ride are designed to resemble the dwarfs’ bed and even display the name of one of the dwarfs in the front. 

Bettelheim suggests that” the readiness with which Snow White repeatedly permits herself to be tempted by the stepmother, despite the warnings of the dwarfs, suggest how close the stepmother's temptations are to Snow White's inner desires.” (6) The warnings given to the visitor at the beginning of the original version of the ride were a way of making the visitors (predominantly children) aware of their own inner desire to seek danger and transgression in the face of the warnings of their parents and against their own judgement. Removing the warnings, then, as pointed out by Suzanne Rahn, contributes to the draining of meaning that is evident in Disney’s treatment of the fairy tale. The removal of essential elements from the fairy tale that dealt with issues of sexuality and the transformation of Snow White from a “girl” into a “woman”, as well as deemphasizing the important role that Snow White’s decisions play in the fairy tale, also prevent the ride from being able to effectively replicate the effects of the fairy tale on children through a different form or medium. 

Disney adaptions of traditional fairy tales are so numerous and popular that at times, the scholarly analyses of the fairy tales is based more on Disney’s version of the tale than on older accounts such as Grimms’ Fairy Tales. (7) It is easy enough for Disney to retain the control of the narrative in its cinematic products, but that may prove to be a more difficult task in the physical reality of a ride, where the audiences/”guests” are able to interact with the environment and it is more likely to miss, or be able to ignore, certain elements. As seen in the video, the older version of the ride features more frequent and rapid appearances by the witch. It may not follow the order of the scenes as they appear in the 1937 movie, but it does evoke some of the themes of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales in the way it creates an illusion of choice for the visitors through the warnings given at the beginning of the ride. The revised version of the ride is a nostalgic tribute to the movie as it guides the visitors through a series of scenes from the movie and ends with a predictably happy ending. Another way in which Disney prevents the theft or appropriation of the narrative by the visitors is the addition of Snow White to the ride. The potential “displacement” of gender and the implication of its fluidity are avoided if the visitors are no longer expected to actually become Snow White herself. Although identification with the character still occurs when children hear or read the fairy tale – indeed that is necessary for any fairy tale to effectively convey its moral lessons to children – or when they watch the Disney movie, by removing the possibility of actually playing the role of Snow White in a three-dimensional reality, Disney also ensures that the ride will not address or in any way bring up issues of gender and sexuality which are central to the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Disney indeed retains control over the narrative and the effect of the ride on the visitors in the revised version by creating a ride that is more likely to be experienced in the way that is intended by Disney. Here, considering the experience of the ride in relation to de Certeau’s distinction between “place” and “space” would be helpful in thinking about the way the visitors think, or are supposed to think, about their own role in the ride. If as de Certeau states, “space is a practiced place” (8), then Disney effectively reduces the possibility of being able to creatively experience the ride in the revised version by guiding the visitors through a nostalgic tribute to the 1937 film. The predictability of the ride reduces the chances of the visitors to create their own narratives which are likely to differ from Disney’s own narrative, which after all is a highly altered version of the original fairy tale itself. In this regard, the inclusion of a happy ending also further ensures Disney’s control of the narrative and the ride’s interpretation by the visitors.

  The effect produced by the ride certainly varies between younger and older children or adults, and although the direct confrontations with the witch may be frightening for younger kids, the figure of the witch and the feeling of anticipation for the witch’s appearances may actually be the central appeal of the ride since it is the witch’s appearances that affect the visitors the most. Therefore, if we are to analyze the ride in relation to the fairy tale and its moral lessons, the witch’s role should not be reduced. The Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale evokes the themes of “the original sin, predestination and damnation” (9). Therefore, the appearances of the witch or other threats in the ride should be the result of the failure of the visitors to resist their temptations, distinguish between “good” and evil”, and correctly identify the honest and trustworthy. In this regard, the original ride was more effective since the visitors had to play the role of Snow White herself and warnings were given to the visitors as they proceeded through the ride.

      The original ride may have been different from the fairy tale in ways that indeed weakened or rendered some of its essential elements meaningless, but it was a more successful affective experience, even if contrary to Rahn’s claim, it did not strictly tell a “coherent story on its own terms.” (10) The problems with the current version of the ride that were discussed may be possible to rectify, but for Disney, the only way back is either to the original version of the ride or to the 1937 animated movie. The idea of creating a ride that not only tells the story of the fairy tale in a series of scenes, but also affects the children in a similar way that the fairy tale with its moral implications does is an interesting one and there can be a plethora of possibilities for experimenting with different forms and ways of working with the fairy tale through the use of technology and by creating a three-dimensional spaces that the visitors can experience. The current ride serves as a nostalgic tribute to Disney’s own movie; its own take on the fairy tale. As such, while it may be able to strengthen Disney’s hold over the treatment and presentation of fairy tales, the ride does not succeed as either a dark ride that generates strong affective responses or a vehicle for storytelling that puts emphasis on the educational aspects of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale to which it in fact owes its existence. Below, I will propose a new ride inspired by the fairy tale and the Disney feature that successfully conveys some of the fairy tale’s moral lessons to the audience in a similar manner, while also remaining entertaining and suitable for inclusion in a Disney park.  

The exterior: Different characters from the 1937 film are painted on the walls. The main mural shows Snow White, the witch's castle and the dwarfs, standing outside of their hut. 

The guests enter into a hub. There are three tracks/paths that lead to different locations. A large area must be dedicated to the ride, since there must be enough room for the three circular tracks to be constructed next to each other. Obviously, the shortest and quickest track to complete would be the first one, with the second and third tracks taking more time to finish. The approximate length of each ride is three minutes. It is not necessary for the rides to end at the same time, although that is a possibility considering that, as described below, there are moments when the vehicles would slow down or even come to a full stop, which could compensate for the shorter lengths of the first two tracks. 

The hub area should be quiet and rather eerie. Next to each entrance, there is a wooden sign that indicate the destination to which the guests would be taken. There are mural paintings above each entryway that depict the possible destinations. The first sign on the right reads: "To the castle". The queen/witch is depicted in the mural. She is standing in front of the mirror in her castle, but her figure is blocking her reflection in the mirror. Next to her there is a table with a plate on which three apples can be seen, although the queen/witch is not holding or indicating to the apples. The interior of the castle is shiny and neat, glamorous and luxurious.  

The sign next to the second entrance reads: "To the Hut". The seven dwarfs are painted in the mural standing outside of their hut. The environment around the hut is calm and soothing, with small, harmless animals visible around the dwarfs. 

The third destination is left in mystery. There is a sign with a question mark next to the entrance. In the mural above the entryway, there are a number of small eyes staring at the visitors, creating an image that resembles the scene from Disney’s 1937 movie. No other information is given. 

The hub must be relatively quiet so that the guests (children) would grasp the context and have a better sense of the seriousness of the decision that they are about to make. The guests are given 1 to 2 minutes to take their seats in the vehicles that are lined up on each track leading to the three entryways. Once everyone has taken their seats, the vehicles begin to move.  

Path 1: "To the Castle"

The guests are immediately greeted with the sight of a soothing and calm forest. The design can be similar to the current version of the ride (as seen in the video) but the area must be well-lit. There are a number artificial plants and trees, accompanied with a large painting that surrounds the guests on both sides. Gradually, the lights begin to dim. The sound effect, which up to that point consisted of birds singing and the sound of the movement of leaves on the trees, is replaced by the sound of a threatening gust of wind. The vehicle makes a sudden turn.. Out of nowhere, the guests find themselves approaching the entrance to the castle. There is a large gate through which the vehicle enters the castle. Inside the castle, the guests are initially led through a narrow hallway. Then, a wider area appears. The visitors are led through what resembles a dining room. A table is neatly prepared. The witch's voice is heard. She kindly, almost seductively, invites Snow White to join her so that she can comb her hair. The vehicle continues to move through the castle. A narrow corridor appears again, but this time there are skeletons placed on the either side of the vehicle. The witch's laughter is heard. It is not loud or overtly sinister, but rather strange and threatening considering the environment and the way her laughter echoes in the space. Finally, the vehicle enters a wide area again. Initially, there is total darkness and nothing can be seen. The vehicle slows down. There should also be a sudden decrease in the volume of the ambience. Suddenly the lights come up. The figure of the queen as she is standing in front of her mirror appears. Her reflection is seen on the mirror, but it is the reflection of the attractive queen. She turns around and reveals the frightening appearance of the witch. The witch is holding an apple. She loudly and threateningly asks Snow White to take a bite of the apple. Suddenly the vehicle's speed increases, as if to create the impression of someone fleeing the scene. The vehicle enters another narrow hallway. The voice of the witch is heard, telling Snow White to come back and try the apple. Just when it begins to feel like that the threat has been avoided, a hologram of the witch appears within a short distance of the vehicle. This creates the impression that the guests are being led straight into the witch and the poisoned apple. The lights suddenly go out. The vehicle continues to move forward in darkness for a few more seconds. Eventually, it makes another turn and the guests return to the hub. 

Path 2: "To the Hut" 

This path presumably takes the guests to the friendly dwarfs and their hut. The beginning of the ride is similar to Path 1. Instead of the Queen’s castle, the visitors arrive to the hut and are greeted by the dwarfs. The vehicle slows down in front of the hut, which is located in a short distance. The animatronics greet the visitors and their voices are friendly. Since the ride is based on Disney's 1937 movie, they dwarfs resemble the characters of the movie, but they do not behave differently. Much like the entrance to the castle, the vehicle enters the hut through a large entrance. The speed increases again. Once the vehicle is inside the hut, the dwarfs start singing, which indicates that they are leaving the hut to go back to work. Inside of the hut is clean and tidy, as if Snow White has already cleaned up the place with the help of the animals. As the vehicle travels a short distance inside the hut, the sound of a knock on the door is heard. The vehicle moves from the entrance towards the kitchen and the living room. The witch enters her head and upper-body inside the room from an open window and offers the guests the poisoned apple. The vehicle continues to move as the same thing is repeated again; this time through another window or opening. Finally, as the vehicle approaches a door - this door is supposed to be the entrance from which the vehicle entered the hut. Since it is not possible for the vehicle to turn around and exit from the same door, another entryway that resembles the previous one should be used at the other end of the hut - a hologram of the witch appears. She is offering the apple one last time to the guests. It is important that the figure’s appearance resemble the old peddler-woman who visits Snow White at the hut, and not the frightening witch as seen in the castle. The facial expression of the peddler-woman must convey a degree of vulnerability, but one that generates a feeling of confusion and suspicion as well. The circumstances and the way the peddler-woman “chases” the vehicle until she can directly confront the guests contribute to the atmosphere of the ride. However, before the vehicles can reach the doorway, the dwarfs return. This could be achieved by having the animatronics enter from one or both sides through the windows or another opening, which can remain invisible up to this point. The witch screams and disappears. The dwarfs then offer to accompany the guests outside. The vehicle finally exits the hut. Outside, the immediate area surrounding the hut is recreated. The area must be bright and well-lit to imply a sunny summer day. A bridge over a small pond allows the vehicle to proceed towards a large gate. The vehicle returns to the hub. 

Path 3: 

The vehicle moves toward the mysterious entrance. There is total darkness. After a few seconds, glowing pairs of eyes start to appear. They stare at the guests from either side of the corridor. Sounds coming from the jungle at night may be heard, but silence would work as effectively as well. As the vehicle slowly proceeds through the ride, a very dim light gradually illuminates the scenery. Trees, or rather shadows that resemble trees, begin to appear on both sides of the corridor. Suddenly the vehicle comes to a stop. A light show, in which the shadow of the Huntsman momentarily but repeatedly appears, begins. The hunter is carrying a weapon, the shadow of which can be seen every time his figure appears. However, once he seems ready to strike, he stops and his shadow disappears. This lasts for a few seconds before the vehicle starts to move again. The glowing eyes return. A dim light illuminates the scenery again. The trees can be seen, but this time they are anthropomorphised. Their gaping mouths begin to angrily open and close as the same glowing eyes appear next to them. The eyes may seem more frightening since they are placed next to the threatening "tree-creatures." The vehicle’s speed gradually increases to generate the impression that the guests are running away from the environment. After a few seconds, the speed decreases again and the trees disappear. Bursts of light appear on random spots on both sides. Images of the dwarfs and the hut, as well as the Queen and the castle begin to momentarily appear within the areas that are lit. After a moment of darkness, the brightness gradually increases. The scenery, identical to what appears at the beginning of paths 1 and 2, and accompanied with the same soundtrack, becomes visible. After a few seconds, animal animatronics come out from behind the trees and plants, revealing that the mysterious eyes seen previously belonged to friendly and harmless animals. The vehicle exits the ride through what seems to be the end of a path in the middle of the jungle and the guests return to the hub. 

The existence of a third path serves to create an alternative to the other two paths that can be chosen with the knowledge of the ride’s destination. The first path (“To the Castle”) may persuade the guests (children in particular) due to the allure of the castle’s environment and the anticipation of an encounter with the Queen/witch. Bettelheim points out that the reason Snow White readily lets herself be deceived by the queen is due to her own sexual curiosity and desire to take risks, despite the knowledge of potential threats. By deciding to embark on the first path, the guests give in to their own sense of curiosity and the desire to take risks despite the fact that, due to their familiarity with the movie or the fairy tale, they are aware of the true nature of the ride. The second ride "rewards" the guests for having decided to trust the dwarfs. It is the least scary of all the paths (barely a dark ride), and although there is a confrontation with the witch as she is attempting to convince the guests to try the apple, the expression of the witch, the sound effects and the lighting are not as threatening and frightening as in the first ride. Path 3 provides an alternative to the other rides whose experience is already to a certain degree anticipated by the guests. The guests are still "punished" for having decided to take a risk and trust the unknown, as opposed to the reliable and friendly dwarfs, but the ride has a happy ending. This is because while, initially, the guests are made to realize that it was a mistake to embark on a journey to an unknown destination, they were not fully aware of the consequences of their decision either. As such, the ride can be placed between the first and the second ride in terms of the way the guests are treated once they have made their decision. Once could certainly opt to swap rides 2 and 3, but that might be slightly too indicative of the ride's nature. Additionally, the significance of the number three is also alluded to due to the existence of three rides, and at least in the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, it is in her third attempt that the witch succeeds in poisoning Snow White. Therefore, associating the third path with a happy ending would go against the implications of the number in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. 

The way the apple is incorporated into the experience of the ride is important too. Since the climax of the first two rides is a direct confrontation with the witch and the visitors are actually guided towards the hologram of the witch as she is offering them the apple, there is a sense that the previous, incorrect, decision that the visitors have taken has guided them to what is now an unavoidable fate. The importance of the decision is emphasized by the restrictions in the way the guests are able to interact with different elements that compose the ride, such as the witch and the apple. No longer can the apple be taken home as a piece of souvenir, and it does not only appear in a manner to create jump-scares, rather, the witch and the poisoned apple await the guests as they approach their fate; the result of an earlier, wrong, decision that they took against their own better judgement and despite the warnings given to them before they embarked on the ride. The fact that the guests are able to choose their destination corrects the confusing absence of Snow White from the original ride. The guests recognize themselves as participants from the very beginning. They are able to select their own path, although they are not in control of the ride itself once they have selected their destination. 

As seen in the included media, the Prince does not play a crucial role in either version of the ride. In the revised version, he is seen next to Snow White and the dwarfs in a mural that appears once the vehicle exits the tunnel, but his inclusion is more of an afterthought and merely a nod to the movie. I decided to eliminate the Prince from the ride altogether since, unlike the witch, he is not essential to the effective communication of the moral lessons of the fairy tale to the guests. The removal of the Prince from the narrative of the ride was also motivated by feminist criticism of the role of the Prince in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, such as the different interpretations and analyses discussed by Vanessa Joozen in "Feminist Criticism and the Fairy Tale". (11). Similarly, the reduction, but not erasure, of the seductive role of the Queen enables the ride to evoke the sexual themes of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale while allowing for some degree of ambiguity and freedom for different interpretations. Certainly, one can conceive of a ride that directly addresses the fairy tale with little regard for the Disney movie; or, alternatively, a ride whose main purpose is to criticize Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale. However, the goal of this proposal is to offer an idea for a revised ride that can replace the existing versions at Disney parks. This necessitates the ride’s fitting in Disney's image and narrative, while also being able to recreate some aspects of the effects of the Brothers Grimm version of the tale on the audience. The proposed ride serves a pedagogical purpose which is similar to the morals of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale in terms of the way it rewards wise decisions and punishes the failure of the guests to restrain their curiosity and resists their temptations. However, the ride enables the visitors to not only choose their own path on a literal level, but also to negotiate and control the order in which they experience the consequences of their decisions. The guests can construct their own narrative by deciding to try the three paths in different orders. While this means that Disney’s firm hold over the construction and the interpretation of meaning will be weakened, the ability of the guests to construct their own experience does not entirely transform the intended meaning of the ride since the details of the ride, such as the details of the fairy tale, remain unchanged. The guests are still able to create their own subjective experience by approaching each ride differently and focusing on a particular element, but the use of visual and practical effects that resemble a cinematic experience (the images that appear inside bursts of light, the holograms) increase the likelihood of creating a ride that can retain a degree of coherency despite the relative freedom of the visitors in altering the structure of their experience.