I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Disneyland. Although the weather was overcast, it was quite a pleasant day at Disneyland. Until I got to the Alice attraction.
Words cannot describe the horror of seeing this abomination in person. It is quite possibly the tackiest thing I've ever seen at the park.
The railings are clunky, the pasted on leaves look just that - pasted on. And the tarp, while it has a screen printed leaf motif, is still a tarp, in some places attached with visible zip ties.
I spoke with a well placed individual who described what the deal is. The deal is that an off duty OSHA guy made a comment that the ride should have railings for maintenance workers. Disneyland knee-jerked and put up these railings and platforms.
The railings and platforms were so heavy that they needed supporting structures. All of this was heinously ugly so they put up these tarps.
It gets worse. I fear this atrocity is permanent. The story is that Disneyland is not prepared to spend any money to make this look better, or rework the attraction in general to make it attractive and meet some sort of unofficial OSHA requirement that was not needed for the past 52 years. So for the foreseeable future, and possibly forever, Alice is going to look like this.
I have only two words for Disneyland: BAD SHOW.
9 comments:
I so hope you are wrong and this is just temporary; that's the only reason I didn't put a rant on my blog after I saw it in person.
@dave - I hope so too
I AM 53 YEARS OLD,AND MY INTRO
TO DISNEY-ALICE WAS THIS RIDE IN 1963-I PERSONALLY LIKED THE 1958
VERSION WITH THE UPSIDE DOWN ROOM AND MANY GAGS OF BEING SHRUNK IN SIZE-THIS THING NOW IS NOT AN IMPROVEMENT...
Thanks for the pics taken while riding down the leaf. I've seen the abomination in person and did a post about it back in August, but I had not actually been on the ride to see what it looked like from the top looking down. I just knew even without experiecing it that it would be hideous and your photos confirmed that.
I remember one summer a couple years ago when one of the "tulip-cut" boards in the Matterhorn queue was partially kicked out by some guest (exposing raw splintery wood) and it remained that way for months. Also about the same time, the flooring in the Buzz Lightyear queue was coming undone and they had it held down with electrical tape....again, for months. If they won't spend the money on something as simple as that (something that Walt Disney would have had repaired overnight)then I believe that they won't be in any hurry to do anything about the way that Alice looks. Unfortunately, they just don't care anymore. :-(
I'm going to be optimistic and hope that Tony Baxter, John Lasseter,and all good people still involved in Disneyland in any capacity will not allow this to go unfinished.
The thought of this once-spectacular-looking attraction remaining an eyesore is too sad to dwell on.
At least the ride is still running, and its interior is as awesome as ever.
Pity poor WDW Magic Kingdom: Its Snow White ride will be soon be ripped out for a princess meet & greet, leaving that park with two remaining classic dark rides. Hmmm...make that one classic and a so-so newcomer.
Arg! I've heard that it was all temporary, but yeesh it looks horrible now. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of how they could do railings that aren't intrusive and ugly, but can't think of anything. Which is why I am not an Imagineer.
NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!
Ghastly! Walt would go ape! Also bad news (if true) about WDW soon to be sans Snow White... Send the 'Boys' round to Tony Baxter's place at once!
Matt, this was 8 months ago now, any news of changes??
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