Posted by Mike and Chris Pettey Updated on May 4, 2021
Category: Disney vs. Disney
Tags: Disney vs. Disney Disneyland Disneyland Paris Snow White Tokyo Disneyland

Snow White dark rides travel through a loose re-telling of the Disney 1937 Animated Classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The rides can be found at three of the six Disney Resorts across the globe. We’ve ridden every version in person.

Major Similarities & Differences

You can watch fantastic videos of all versions of the attraction online, so we won’t spend time re-hashing the details of each experience. Instead, we will just point out the major similarities and differences we feel are worth calling out:

The California and Paris versions follow an extremely similar ride path. The Tokyo version follows a completely different route and the scenes are in a different order.
The Paris version has three rows per ride vehicle, while the Tokyo and California versions have only two rows per ride vehicle.
All three versions of this ride go by a different name: Snow White’s Enchanted Wish (California), Snow White’s Adventures (Tokyo), and Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Paris). This is one of the few rides in the Paris park that consistently goes by its French name.

The Tokyo version contains what seems to be a very abrupt ending, with the Witch attempting to push over a boulder. The concept is that the Witch successfully pushed the boulder onto your vehicle, and you “died”, thus ending the ride. This is how the California version originally ended before a lightning effect was later added.
The California version was previously named Snow White’s Scary Adventures, and followed a very similar storyline to the Paris version. In 2021, the ride was updated with new scenes and effects, and renamed Snow White’s Enchanted Wish, although the ride path remains the same.

The Rankings (from least favorite to favorite)

3. Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains – Disneyland Paris (Paris)

The Paris version is the most recently constructed incarnation of this attraction, and it definitely shows. First up, the ride vehicles have an extra, third row, which ups the capacity – never a bad thing. The order of the ride scenes almost identically matches that found in California, but things have definitely been improved upon here with newer, more impressive visuals. The forest scene has scarier, more convincing tree monsters, and the ride culminates with an actual cohesive happy ending – where the witch is not only hit by a bolt of lightning, but Snow White, her Prince, and the Seven Dwarves all bid you a fond farewell in a fantastic closing scene. It absolutely feels more “Disney” than Tokyo by today’s standards, with everyone living “happily ever after”. There’s nothing to really gripe about with this version, though it plays things a bit too safe, and doesn’t take the old-school risks that you’ll find in Tokyo, nor does it contain any upgraded special effects like you’ll find in California. As a result, the Paris version of the Snow White dark ride is by far Disney’s most conventional. But there’s nothing to really set it apart from the pack, and that makes this the weakest of the Snow White attractions in the world.

2. Snow White’s Adventures – Tokyo Disneyland (Tokyo)

The Snow White attraction was always supposed to be a frightening attraction. Just look up the California original or the now extinct Florida version. And while California has toned theirs down significantly over the years, and the Paris offering was tamer from the start, Tokyo’s is the version that retains almost all of its dark and scary tone. After a fun start, during which your vehicle winds its way through a brief “outside” forest scene, the ride heads straight into the Witch’s castle, and impending doom. There’s very little happiness from that point: the witch is creepier, the monsters are scarier….even the mine scene is peppered with spooky music and effects. It all culminates with the original, untouched ending of the attraction where the Witch actually wins by pushing her boulder onto your vehicle. Suddenly that “abrupt” ending makes a lot more sense – you as riders have “died”. Dark? Absolutely. But so much more unexpected and entertaining – and truly frightening for a Disney attraction. The Tokyo resort is not known for making many updates to their attractions, and they’ve done little to change Snow White’s Adventures from its original iteration. Despite not having the word “scary” in its title, it is the scariest – and the second best – Snow White dark ride in the world.

1. Snow White's Enchanted Wish – Disneyland (California)

If there’s one thing that we’ve consistently praised about the Disneyland Resort, it’s the ability to pack a lot into seemingly impossibly small spaces. Snow White’s Enchanted Wish is no exception. Here, Imagineers took the existing footprint and track from the previous “Snow White’s Scary Adventures” attraction, and completely reimagined the experience from start to finish. Several key moments were retained, including the iconic witch’s transformation scene. But gone is the overly-lengthy trip through the dungeon and forest that seemed to take up far too much of the ride time. In its place is a completely cohesive re-telling of the classic tale, complete with a proper “Happily Ever After” ending. Special effects were added and enhanced in virtually every scene, producing a few wow moments that bring this classic up to modern standards. The result is something truly unique and special, proving once again what Disney’s Imagineers can do with an attraction when given the proper resources. Rather than removing or replacing the old version, they delivered what is arguably one of the best reimaginings of a dark ride to date, with a good balance of both “scary” and “magical”. Although it may be the shortest version of Snow White, it’s definitely the most impressive, and clearly sets itself apart from the other two. And that’s all more than enough to secure the top spot on our list, as the best Snow White dark ride on the planet.

Written by Mike and Chris Pettey

YOUR THOUGHTS?

Agree or disagree with our rankings? Have you experienced any of these attractions – either in person, or virtually via the internet? Are you excited about the changes coming to the California version? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Disney Vs. Disney: Ranking Every Snow White Dark Ride