A story no one will believe, but it's true....!
I had just finished as single rider on the Matterhorn and was making my way through Fantasyland to meet up with my family, and was heading towards King Arthur's Carousel. Suddenly there she was! I spotted Alice. She was alone walking right towards me along the same path, between the Mad Hatter Teacups and the Mad Hatter Shop. She couldn't have been over 4'10" tall. I said, "hello Alice! May I have your autograph for my book?" She was more than willing and in her English accent began asking me questions about my mouse ears. I told her that I had made them with both her and her story in mind. She said "I do have a wonderful story don't I? That bow looks just like the floor I landed on when I fell down the rabbit hole." Handing my autograph book back to me she asked "have you been talking to the oysters?" "No, not today." I said. There was no one else around and I was anticipating a small crowd to form at any minute. She asked if I wanted to take a photo together? I said yes, please. But who to take our photo? I looked up and lo and behold, a man standing nearby, watching us as we chatted on the path. I asked if he would take our picture. Alice chatted with me for a little while longer and told me to enjoy my day. I thanked her and we parted ways. What a magical, intimate moment with one of my favorite Disney characters!! I will always cherish my chance meeting with Alice one early Disney morning, when she "happened" along my path. (Or visa versa) The Alice in Wonderland attraction is exclusive to Disneyland Park, Anaheim. Based on the 1951 Disney animated feature film Alice in Wonderland, the attraction official opened June 14, 1958. Alice was originally intended to be a walk through attraction set to open with the park, but due to limited time and resources, the project was abandoned. This concept eventually made its way to Disneyland Paris and is still there today. Like many of the other Fantasyland attractions, Alice was a dark ride that relied painted scenery and flat-board characters. It was also unique in that it had an outdoor portion that brought you out in the sun and down a vine to the ground and back inside for the final scenes.
In 1982, the attraction closed for renovations and reopened April 1984 as part of the New Fantasyland. The ride got an entirely new finale scene on the bottom floor before guests went to the unloading area. Most of the scenes of the attraction received upgrades to revamp its look and feel. In 2010 the attraction closed suddenly. The vine ramp was deemed unsafe and needed to have safety rails installed. Simple rails were installed as a quick fix, but lasted 4 years. In 2014, the current version was revealed. The temporary railing was replaced with a more asthetically pleasing vine design. The exterior received a facelift and the interior had many digital effects added. Today, Alice still sits in Fantasyland, taking guests on a wild ride down the rabbit hole into an crazy wonderland. This attraction is original and exclusive to Disneyland CA. Prior to the Caterpillar car, Imagineer Claude Coats had proposed a ride vehicle made out of the various playing card soldiers from the film, with the front-facing card donning a similar facial expression to what is worn by the aloof Caterpillar now. Walt Disney disapproved this concept, suggesting instead a vehicle modeled after the Caterpillar. Upon completing the design for the new Caterpillar car, Coats was informed by Disney's legal department that he needed to apply for a patent for the vehicle. Coats attempted to convince them that the patent belonged to Walt Disney, who had suggested the vehicle's design, though the department insisted that it was Coats who was ultimately responsible for the look of it, as he had actually drawn the car. Coats applied for the patent on May 8, 1959, and it was approved by the United States Patent Office on January 12, 1960. It is designated as patent #187,036 and had a term of 14 years. A few days after the patent was approved, the legal team returned to Coats and told him to sell his patent to them for $10, which he did. Coats' son, Alan Coats, still has the original patent paperwork in his possession. The original ending looped down, down, down until the end.
In the updated version, the vehicles leave the ride building's second floor and descend down a winding path on a giant vine past the ride queue, before heading to the final scene at the Mad Tea Party. After the Mad Hatter and March Hare sing "A Very Merry UnBirthday", Alice proclaims that it is her unbirthday too. The White Rabbit ducks as a giant unbirthday cake with a dynamite candle explodes and the ride vehicles exit to the unload area. |
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