Alice in Wonderland - June 5, 2003 - Disneyland

Описание: Alice in Wonderland opened on June 14, 1958, along with the Sailing Ship Columbia. It was planned as an opening day walk-through attraction, but did not open until three years later. This Fantasyland dark ride is unique because it goes inside and outside. Guests ride in a patented, Claude Coats designed, two-row caterpillar through Alice’s vibrant Wonderland. This ride and the Mad Tea Party were based on the 1951 Disney animated film Alice in Wonderland. When New Fantasyland opened in 1983 Alice was late for a very important date again, and did not get an overhaul until 1984. The original 1950s flat board cut-outs were changed to 24 three-dimensional characters. An extra “Un-birthday” scene was also added. The 1984 version is shown in this home video. In 2010 the outside track was made wider with handrails to comply with OSHA safety regulations. In 2014 projection mapping was added to enhance the show scenes and the handrails were removed.

In this 2003 home video you will see…

Exterior. There is a caterpillar car traveling on the vine outside the ride. A pole with the Mad Hatter’s face on it points guests to the Mad Tea Party (right) or the Mad Tea Party (left). The arrows are his hands. This sign has since been removed, but it was funny since both attractions had a tea party. Outside of the Alice ride the Mad Tea Party is unloading. The cottage next to the tea party houses some of the ride mechanisms. Above the tea cups Japanese tea lanterns hang overhead. Next, Mark V Monorail Purple passes by and honks its horn to signal the turn around the Matterhorn. Up above a bobsled passes by on the mountain. There is a mushroom in front of the Alice ride with an “Alice in Wonderland” story book on top. This used to be an old Disneyland ticket booth, back when people bought ticket books to ride. Alice opened as a D ticket attraction.

Load. Our green caterpillar car pulls up, ready to take us to Wonderland. Bob Gurr told The “E” Ticket Magazine that the car frames came from Arrow Development and WED attached the caterpillar bodies to them. They have a one horsepower motor with a Spicer 44-2 rear axle. The track has a block zone anti-collision system, with a 48 volt guide rail. There are 16 caterpillars total.

Down the rabbit hole. We are on our way and travel into the show building. This is where the 1958 Upside-down room used to be. Original Alice voice, Kathryn Beaumont, recorded the vocals for the 1984 refurbishment. “My adventures in Wonderland began when I followed the White Rabbit…” We pass through various swirling household objects and a talking doorknob who opens the door for us. Next, we pass Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the White Rabbit outside his house, who is late. All of these characters were voiced by Corey Burton.

All in the Golden Afternoon. We journey through the garden of live flowers. They are singing “All in the Golden Afternoon.” The ride vehicles ascend to the second floor of the show building above Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The caterpillar asks, “Who are you?” and blows a ring of smoke at us. The flower’s colors are the exact ones from the film’s animation cells. Some of the dimensional figures came from WDW’s Mickey Mouse Review.

Tulgey Wood. There are a lot of signs pointing which way to go, and we head into the Tulgey Wood. This scene has weird objects like a pencil bird, an accordion owl, an eyeglass bird, horned shaped duck, and hammer birds hitting a nail. The Cheshire Cat, voiced by Tony Pope, is not all there, and pops up here and there.

Painting the Roses Red. In this scene you can hear the distinctive voice of Thurl Ravenscroft as the Ace of Clubs. Playing cards are marching around in front a mirror background singing “Painting the Roses Red”.

Queen of Hearts. The White Rabbit announces the Queen of Hearts, voiced by Tress MacNeille, who we pass by next (and the king). She is playing croquet with a flamingo racquet and a hedgehog ball. The 2014 update has a cool projection of the ball traveling along the wall in this scene. Obviously we didn’t follow rule 42: The Queen always wins, because she gets mad and yells, “Off with their heads!” Playing cards chase after us. We escape the Queen’s courtroom by pushing through doors with playing cards on them (now a different image).

Outside. We follow a vine down from the second floor back down to ground level. From up top we can see the monorail beam and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. We wind around back and forth.

Very Merry UnBirthday. We enter back inside on the first floor and the Cheshire Cat is there in the middle of a ring of clouds. The Mad Hatter is throwing a tea party. Him and the March Hare are singing “A Very Merry UnBirthday”. Tea pots and cups are on the left and the White Rabbit has a surprise UnBirthday cupcake with a sparkling fiber-optic dynamite candle on top. It blows up, I guess we die, and the ride is over. This scene now has some neat digital images in the 2014 update.