Disneyland renovated its Snow White ride and removed everything fun about it

Farewell, traumatic memories of the Snow White ride.
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On Monday, Disneyland gave fans a sneak peek at its renovated Snow White ride — and lovers of its surprisingly dark tone will be disappointed to see the changes.

The ride, located in Fantasyland beyond the castle gates, is one of Disneyland's oldest attractions. It debuted with the park on opening day 1955 as Snow White and Her Adventures. Like other Fantasyland rides, it was light on references to its protagonist, as designers wanted guests to feel like they were the titular character. This, of course, was confusing to adults and kids alike so the ride eventually did introduce a figure of Snow White herself.

In the early 1980s, Disneyland did a full revamp of Fantasyland and gave Snow White a more adult edge. Renamed Snow White's Scary Adventures, the ride's plot revolved around the Evil Queen and the exterior was made to look like her castle lair. Guests journeyed through the spooky woods and were surprised by the queen popping out and cackling.

The new version is blandly renamed Snow White's Enchanted Wish and, if the promotional video is any indication, most of the "scary" elements have been lightened up:

First of all, I recognize that the ride is indeed "fixed" for generations of future children. No longer will they be traumatized by a fairy tale ride that is way too dark (literally and figuratively) for toddlers. Those who were scarred will soon wear it as a badge of honor and use it as evidence that kids these days are too soft, however.

There are lots of added effects which do look very slick. The Seven Dwarfs' jewel mine twinkles with LED lights. There are also laser projections which, depending on if you're an old school Disneyland purist or not, will either liven up the ride or detract from its vintage elements.

But seemingly gone are all the things that made the attraction quirky, weird and different. A video of the exterior shows no trace of the golden apple, which in-the-know Disneyland fans would urge friends to touch, prompting the queen's disembodied, harrowing laughter. The highlight of the queue, a window down into the witch's lair complete with skeletons, potions and more, is now an ordinary little nook with Snow White's clothes and books.

The promo video doesn't include any scenes of the Evil Witch, so it's not clear if her terrifying figure has been scrubbed from the redo. But based on Disney's messaging and the ride's name change, it's at least fairly likely her role has been minimized. Even her castle has been repainted in tamer colors.

"We took the opportunity this time to repaint all the exterior in warmer pinks and gold colors and a cheerier blue to make it look happier," said Executive Creative Director of Walt Disney Imagineering Kim Irvine.

The other major change is the ride's ending, once my favorite Disneyland gag to pull on friends. I'd jokingly warn them the ride ends abruptly, but no one was fully prepared for how abrupt it really was. Its final scene used to be the Evil Queen screaming as she plunged to her death (yes, really), immediately before the doors swung open and riders disembarked in front of a mural of Snow White and Prince Charming.

Instead, the ride will now have a full scene with the prince kissing Snow White into wakefulness. It looks nice, but it's not nearly as funny as the confusing feeling of walking out of your ride vehicle wondering if Disney ran out of money at the last moment.

Guests won't know the full extent of Snow White's changes until Disneyland reopens, likely sometime next year.

Until then, hopefully the Imagineers don't have their eyes on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride across the way. Long may its inappropriate hit-by-a-train-and-sent-to-Hell scene reign.