REWIND: Spooky Stories

Now, Since this is our first episode of the new year, we are going to start out talking about Walt's first princess and her attraction that opened at Disneyland on July 17th, 1955, as Snow White and Her Adventures.

Although on all the printed material, it would just say Snow White's Adventures, but the sign said Snow White and Her Adventures.

So, Craig, is the Snow White attraction a must-do attraction for you when you're at Disneyland?

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

It's actually one that I do pretty frequently.

So I like to do a lot of early mornings and then late nights in Fantasyland, obviously.

Those are the two best times of day to experience the attractions.

And, you know, even then, sometimes in the afternoon, you can luck out and things won't be... too crazy at Pinocchio or Snow White.

I love Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Alice in Wonderland, but Alice in Wonderland, if you're not there first thing, the wait time jumps up for it immediately.

Mr. Toad, it seems like it gets to a point in the day where it hits that 20-minute wait, and it's always a 20-minute wait, and it never really falters from that until the end of the night.

But Again, Snow White has that consistency, just like Pinocchio, where it's almost always just kind of hovering around 15 minutes, or then it'll drop down to a 5, and maybe it'll be 25 or 30, but then it'll settle back to 10.

It seems like it's more accessible to get on, so I find myself doing it.

It's a must-do every trip, but I find myself doing it multiple times each trip.

And it's one of the few attractions at Disneyland that I've ever been evacuated off of.

So I got to walk through that track and take photos along the way.

Oh, very cool.

I always get evacuated on Pinocchio.

I don't know why.

That's my evacuation attraction.

Well, it's appropriate we begin with this attraction, not only because it is based on the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was Walt's first feature-length cartoon, and Snow White, his first princess, but this attraction is in the realm most closely identified with Walt.

And for most Disney fans, this realm is the most magical in the park because it's where Walt's imagination comes to life through the characters that helped to build his studio.

Now, the critical and financial success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs inspired Walt and his animators to create more films that are now regarded as classics.

And when Disneyland opened in 1955, the gothic tones and frightening themes of the film were recreated for the Snow White and her adventures attraction.

Now, when planning Fantasyland, Walt wanted the attractions to invoke three different moods, wonder, fun, and fear.

But I've also read that the moods were drama, humor, and beauty.