Just around the corner from Mr. Toad is the Alice dark ride. Even though it is tucked away, the lines for this attraction can be fairly long. The styling of the vehicles are my favorite, as they capture the fanciful animation style of Disney so well. Once your eyes adjust to the shift in light, you'll be able to see that you are descending down...down...down into the rabbit hole.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are on hand to greet you.
Perhaps the White Rabbit is showing shock that your fast pass for Star Tours has just expired?
Before you know it, you are exploring the world of Tulgey Wood, with the music of "All in the Golden Afternoon" piped in for effect.
Lost? The Cheshire Cat is on hand to guide you.
I've never seen a cat so happy.
Obviously paying no attention to the warning signage:
Horticulture fans can enjoy the Royal Rose Garden:
"Improving" Mother Nature:
The Red Queen seems most agreeable to me; wonder where she gets her bad rep from?
Finally showing her true colors:
After a brief assault on the eyes by exiting to the bright sunlight outside, your Caterpillar is suddenly back in the dark and the Cheshire Cat is there to help you adjust:
And then it's party time, with The Mad Hatter as your host!
This cake is really a blast...literally!
On the other side of the Carrousel is Pinocchio, the "newest" dark ride in Fantasyland. Things start out happily enough, with a jolly puppet show.
Then the door opens to the dark world of Stromboli, the evil puppet master.
Jiminy Cricket arrives just in time to get Pinocchio out of this particular mess:
Pinocchio hasn't learned his lesson though, and is tricked by Honest John and Gideon into going to Pleasure Island:
Looks like a fun place to me!
That is, until Lampwick transforms into a donkey.
This is probably my favorite scene in the attraction, as it's the most dynamic, with Monstro zooming up from the depths of the ocean.
The Blue Fairy sets everything right though:
Geppetto and Pinocchio (with Figaro the cat in the lower left-hand corner) enjoy a happy reunion:
Don't forget Cleo the fish:
Lots of details in Geppetto's Toy Shop as your car whips around to the exit:
Be sure to come back tomorrow for the conclusion of my Fantasyland dark ride series. See more vintage & current Disneyland Fantasyland photos on my Fantasyland web page.
Again, these are amazingly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like how the eastern wing of the Fantasyland courtyard complex houses dark rides all based on stories from England; Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Alice in Wonderland. I wonder if they were grouped that way on purpose. And then there's King Arthur in the center.
I look forward to Snow White's Scary Adventures tomorrow.
Beautiful photos! I understand that the Alice figure, March Hare and Mad Hatter from the 1984 Alice In Wonderland were forgotton backup figures in storge at WED intended as back-ups for WDW's Mickey Mouse Revue!
ReplyDeleteALICE -- How I wish that the Mad Hatter in the final scene actually looked like the character in the animated feature. Sigh ...
ReplyDeleteSnowWhite -- Dave, that "damn hologram" apple is not a hologram. It is a real image floating in space caused by the reflection of light (from an apple hiding behind the witch) courtesy of a huge convex mirror that fills the room behind the doorway and witch. I have a photo of this mirror but I am so impressed that you managed to get a photo of the apple floating in space. I'll bet your camera was at "kid height". I wonder how many times you had to ride through to catch that brief image. I am impressed.
Dr. Nick, Physics Prof and Disney-phile.
P.S. If you have seen the image of a "coin that isn't there" in a novelty or science shop you have seen the physics that the Dis-folk used -- yes, you only need one mirror.
Pinocchio's Daring Journey ride features child slavery and animal abuse.
ReplyDeleteTo Davelandblog I have been on Pinocchio's Daring Journey ride and I'm very uncomfortable with the depiction of child abuse, slavery and animal abuse especially with the 2 donkey boys in cages.
I'm waiting for the day Pinocchio's Daring Journey ride gets rethemed. I want to see the removal of 2 donkey boys in cages.
Also, if the Pinocchio's Daring Journey ride is going to be rethemed, it should be rethemed to Kingdom Hearts called Soras Daring Journey where they feature Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Yen Sid and where Sora goes on a journey to fight Xemnas and fights the Dream Eaters to rescue Pinocchio and save Geppetto. It would feature places like Pranksters Paradise, Traverse Town. Also, the people on the ride could shoot at balloons and dream eaters just like with Toy Story ride to add to the fun.
I'm waiting until Pinocchio's Daring Journey gets rethemed and soon because it needs to be rethemed and Kingdom Hearts is a very popular franchise which would be a perfect retheming for Disneyland ride.
Also, the current ride Pinocchio's Daring Journey in Disneyland is too dark and disturbing for the 2020s era especially for little kids and families since it was built in 1983 which is now considered outdated. Besides that, there are animal rights groups and the scene with 2 donkey boys in cages is too upsetting for people including me. I want to see the removal of the 2 donkey boys in cages since Disneyland wants to make rides more family friendly.
Crosswalker - You've got to be kidding.
ReplyDeleteNo Daveland unfortunately I'm not kidding, I don't think that showing 2 donkey boys in cages is appropriate for a family Disneyland ride anymore, there's also 2 Native American stereotype chief statues behind the Popcorn booth at Disneyland which I'm surprised is still around.
ReplyDeleteIs Pinocchio's Daring Journey going to get rethemed soon?
If the Disneyland ride is going to be rethemed, I think Pinocchio's Daring Journey needs to be rethemed to Pinocchio's Kingdom Hearts Ride based on the Square Enix game. I don't know what will happen to the ride.
Crosswalker: People who take images out of context in order to push their own personal uninformed preferences are inappropriate. Also - your blog post about the 70 year old that you think should retire from doing comic strips is ageist and VERY offensive to me. Your blog is extremely poorly written as well, and could use the assistance of someone who knows grammatical structure. Maybe someone from the "older generation" that you like to denigrate. Don't preach diversity and love when you can't practice it yourself.
ReplyDelete