Alice in Wonderland Attraction in Disneyland

 

Curiouser and curiouser!

Did you know a Wonderland themed attraction can be found in every Fantasyland around the world? But only at Disneyland can guests find an Alice in Wonderland dark ride.

Board a caterpillar and follow Alice’s journey through Wonderland. First her adventures take guests down the rabbit hole where she meets the doorknob and then Tweedle Dee and TweedleDum. Next guests find the garden of flowers singing “All in the Golden Afternoon” followed by the Caterpillar asking “Who R U?” Soon guests are lost in Tulgey Wood where they meet the Cheshire Cat. The nearby hedge maze leads to the Queen of Hearts and her playing card guards. She demands to play croquet, but Rule 42 is the Queen always wins. When she yells “Off with their heads!” it’s time to escape down the caterpillar vine, which overlooks Fantasyland, and then back inside to celebrate an Unbirthday.

An Alice in Wonderland attraction was originally supposed to be part of Disneyland’s opening day line-up, but due to budget and time restraints, the dark ride did not open until three years later on June 14, 1958. Some original ideas included a fun house walkthrough attraction that featured gags inspired by the 1951 film.

When Disneyland opened, many of the studios employees moved from working on films to working on the park. There were a number of people who actually worked on both the Alice in Wonderland film and the attraction, including Ken Anderson, Mary Blair, John Hench, and Claude Coats who was the Show Designer. When the attraction first opened, guests were going to ride on playing cards, but Walt suggested caterpillar vehicles instead. Alice in Wonderland was Disneyland’s first attraction to span two levels, with the majority of the ride taking place above Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The original attraction had only two-dimensional cut-outs of the characters and had a much darker feel to it, similar to the other Fantasyland attractions at the time. These dark rides were all supposed to be from the main character’s point of view, so Alice herself did not appear throughout the attraction. The yellow mushroom near the queue still there today was originally a ticket booth back when Disneyland had separate tickets for each of their attractions.

In 1983, all of Fantasyland underwent some major refurbishments. Alice in Wonderland had so many changes that it ended up not reopening until a year after the rest of New Fantasyland. Under Tony Baxter’s supervision, some changes to Alice in Wonderland included adding the Unbirthday scene at the end (previously the caterpillars would just head back to the loading area after wandering down the vine), adding in Alice (one Audio-Animatronic came from the recently closed Mickey Mouse Revue at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom), the flowers were changed to match the exact colour scheme from the film done by Mary Blair, and the cut-outs were replaced three-dimensional characters. Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Alice in the film, was brought back to record new audio for the attraction. Kathryn also voiced Wendy in Peter Pan and was named a Disney Legend in 1998.

Another major change that happened in 1983 was relocating the Mad Tea Party (an opening day attraction) from its old location behind the castle near King Arthur Carrousel to beside Alice in Wonderland. Now there is an entire Wonderland area of Fantasyland which also includes the Mad Hatter shop, the White Rabbit’s cottage door, and a Tea Cup photo op.

In 2014, Alice in Wonderland again underwent a major refurbishment and new lighting and special effects were added, making this colourful attraction even more whimsical.

Here are the other Wonderland themed attractions found in the other Fantasylands:

• Mad Tea Party in Magic Kingdom
• Alice’s Tea Party in Tokyo Disneyland (bonus mention of the fabulous Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall quick service dining location)
• Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups and Alice’s Curious Labyrinth in Disneyland Paris
• Mad Hatter Tea Cups in Hong Kong Disneyland
• Alice in Wonderland Maze in Shanghai Disneyland

Do you like the Alice in Wonderland dark ride? Who is your favourite character from Wonderland?