Armchair Imagineering: The Legend Of Sleeping Beauty

[PrincePhillipFan]

I've seen this around on several other Disney sites, but I thought it would be fun to bring here and keep ongoing discussions. Basically, post your ideas that you have for a unique attraction that you'd like to see at one of the Disney parks. With the possible idea of Snow White closing its doors at WDW (I pray though that it doesn't as it's my favorite ride in Fantasyland), I still think that a Sleeping Beauty dark ride is an envitable and needed fit into the area. My ideal attraction would follow:

The Legend Of Sleeping Beauty
(Dark Ride)

Outside
The exterior of the attraction is very reminiscent of the style of King Stefan's castle in miniature form (ala Snow White's Scary Adventures at DL). A spiraling tower stands at the entrance, with stained glass windows surrounding the top. At nighttime, the lights within illuminate the silhouette of a sleeping Aurora in her bedchambers.

Queue/ Loading Area
The queue winds its way through the castle corridors, with medieval tapestries and suits of armor lining the walls. The distant sounds of the snoring nobility and gentry can be heard off in the distance, accompanied by an occasional evil chuckle of Maleficent.
The loading area resembles Stefan's great hall, as the two vacant thrones of Stefan and his queen are behind the vehicle track. Between them, is a long illustrious tapestry hanging overheard. Maleficent stands menacingly at the top of it, with Aurora in the middle surrounded by her forest friends and the good fairies. At the bottom, Phillip is engaged in an epic battle between himself and the dragon. The vehicles that will escort guests may either resemble a carriage, or a miniature Maleficent dragon.
(Music Loop: "Hail To The Princess Aurora" - Instrumental
"The Gifts Of Beauty And Song" - Instrumental
"A Cottage In The Woods"
"I Wonder" - Instrumental
"Once Upon A Dream" - Instrumental
"A Fairy Tale Come True"
"Awakening"

Forest
After passing through the doors, guests find themselves immersed in the setting of the forest. From off in the distance, the sound of Briar Rose's aria can be heard, accompanied by the sounds of birds twittering. Winding through the trees, guests discover the princess in the open glen, singing along with her animal friends. Phillip is seated upon his steed Samson across from her, gazing lovingly at the princess. Passing between the two, the vehicles round a corner behind the trees and find the woodcutter's cottage ahead of them and entering inside.
(Music: "Bluebird")

Woodcutter's Cottage
Inside the cottage, everything is almost floating magically through the air. Fauna is busy at the table preparing the cake, as the ingredients dance around her, with the spoon stirring on its own and the milk pouring into the bowl. The vehicles turn to the left and pass directly underneath a sash flying magically above them in the air that extends down over to the dress in the center of the room. From one end, Fauna stubbornly shouts pink, while on the opposite end of the track, Merryweather shouts "Blue!" and points her wand in its direction. The dress and the flying sash's colors coordinate to the fairies' commands. Passing through the midst of the argument, the vehicle exits out the rear door of the cottage.
(Music: "Magical House Cleaning")

Courtyard
Guests now find themselves outside in the courtyard of King Stefan's castle for a few brief seconds. The sun is setting off in the distance, giving the courtyard a very shadowy and foreboding feel to the area. The vehicles whirl around and enter through an imposing door.
(Music: "Aurora's Return")

Dressing Room/ Hallway
Guests enter Aurora's dressing room within the castle. The entire room is cast in dark shadows as a few candles provide dim lighting. The familiar "Aurora" calling can be heard (from the soundtrack "Maleficent's Evil Spell"), as the vehicle creeps towards the large fireplace in the center of the room. As it reaches the fireplace, the soprano wailing "Aurora!" grows louder, and in the darkness of the fireplace, the bright yellow eyes of Maleficent and the glowing green orb appear in a flash. Shuddering away from the startling scare, guests exit the room through a stone arch into the accompanying hallway. Everything is covered in a sickly green light, as the voices of the fairies crying out "Don't touch anything!" are faintly heard.
(Music: "Maleficent's Evil Spell")

Tower
Leaving the short hallway, guests are now in the tower of the castle. Aurora is slowly leaning toward the gleaming spinning wheel, as Maleficent is barely visible in the shadows. "Touch the spindle. Touch it I say!" With the command, Aurora leans forward and pricks her finger on the spindle. The entire room goes dark with Maleficent's hideous laughter ringing in the air.
(Music: "Maleficent's Evil Spell")

Castle Hallways
The vehicle rounds a corner and finds them for a brief moment within the grand banquet hall of the castle. All members of the royal court are passed out about the room, as the three fairies fly overhead. Guests turn a corner once again down another hallway, with this one slowly deteriorating before their eyes. Stately polished stone slowly turns to sickly green crumbling rocks, foretelling guests that they are now entering Maleficent's forbidden mountain. Lightning flashes outside in the distance through the narrow windows as they continue onward. From a crumbling hole in the wall, one of Maleficent's goons pops out with a loud, startling shriek. The vehicle swerves away from it in fear, only to have another one of the henchman pop out from behind another wall.
(Music: "Sleeping Beauty" - Instrumental)

Throne Room
Guests turn around once more, now finding themselves in the grand throne room of Forbidden Mountain. Phillip is standing there before them, tied up in thick ropes and a gag, struggling to break free from the binds of the goons who are holding him. Maleficent's other henchmen surround the captured prince, sneering and cackling at him victoriously. From the balcony overhead, Maleficent sneers down at the captured Phillip, stroking Diablo perched upon her finger. She laughs wickedly at the prince's predicament, before guests exit the room under her balcony.
(Music: "Forbidden Mountain" - Baccahanal Dance Music)

Forest Of Thorns
Guests now enter the raging finale of the attraction, as they wind their way through the forest of black thorns. The entire place is ablaze in the glow of the intense flames, with the fairies, now in miniature form, ushering guests to quickly hurry. Rounding a corner through the gnarled branches, guests get a full on glimpse of Phillip battling an enormous Maleficent dragon atop the rocky precipice. She snaps her jaws in his direction venomously, before he wields his sword and swings it towards her chest. The vehicle at this point descends under the cliff, as the room resonates with Maleficent's deathly cry.
(Music: "Battle With The Forces Of Evil")

Awakening/ Happy Ending
Emerging from the darkness, the vehicles arrive in the highest tower of the castle just in time to witness Phillip bestowing True Love's Kiss upon the sleeping princess. Guests exit this happy scene, now facing themselves in front of a large storybook. A projection of Phillip and Aurora waltz happily through the bright pink clouds, as the dueling colors of the princess's dress continue to change. To the happy strains of "Once Upon A Dream," the vehicles exit the scene and return once again to the load area.
(Music: "Finale" - Instrumental)

[avonleastories95]

Sounds very good, PrincePhillipFan! I would definitely ride it! I also think Bambi would make a very nice Dark Ride as well.

[Escapay]

Awesome descriptions, Howard.



albert

[Wonderlicious]

It's funny, because I once came up with a plan for a Sleeping Beauty dark-ride that was quite similar to that. Here's my version:

*The exterior for my version was actually based on the fairies' cottage, and featured a recap of the story up until the sixteenth birthday of the princess.

*The first scene that we'd see would be the fairies preparing the party, complete with colour-changing dresses and brooms that sweep for themselves.

*We would then go out into the woods, see Briar Rose dancing with the animals as Prince Philip looks on, only to see a wicked crow looking on from a branch...we'd turn a corner and see the castle, and night appears to fall, thunder rumbles, and then it seems we're moving away and before we know it, it's Maleficent! She has kidnapped Prince Philip and her goons attack us and take us to her castle in the Forbidden Mountains.

*We next see Aurora prick her finger in a projected image appearing as an apparition in the middle of a bonfire that the demons dance around in Maleficent's court. Next we go to the dungeons, where the fairies rescue Prince Philip. We pass through the coridors of the dungeon, where every turn seems a dead end with nothing but Maleficent or one of her guards in the way. Eventually, it appears as though they are going to pour hot molten liquid over us, but we manage to escape, with the fairies turning it into a rainbow.

*Eventually, we reach the area near the castle, where a maze of thorns has sprouted mysteriously. We can hear the evil cackles of Maleficent through it, when she suddenly appears and transforms into a monstrous, fire-breathing dragon. One breath of fire, and the maze of thorns becomes ablaze. The temperature rises significantly, and it seems as though we won't make it. But we soon come to see Prince Philip flinging the Sword of Truth at the dragon, causing it to perish in its own fiery destruction. It then turns black for a few seconds...

*...but we reappear unscathed into the courtyard of the legendary Sleeping Beauty Castle, where everybody is asleep. We then pass into the chamber of Princess Aurora, just watching her as she awakens from true love's kiss. As the carts wait for unloading, we see an animated wall mural of Aurora and Philip dancing in the clouds, with the message "...and they lived happily ever after" written in bold medieval font.

I think one could sum up that yours seems to focus on retelling the story of the film and representing the regal majesty, while mine concentrates simply on the terror of being chased by Maleficent, much how the current Snow White ride is essentially really more like the Wicked Witch ride. I think that the exterior you have is a bit more intriguing. The fairies' cottage isn't nearly as iconic a structure as, say, the Dwarfs' cottage, so it would perhaps be more fitting to have a more regal, tower like façade. Considering that Snow White's Adventures looks to be closing at WDW, I think that a dark-ride based on Sleeping Beauty (or any decent film for that matter) would be a worthy replacement. There will now be a kiddie-coaster based around the Seven Dwarfs' mine, so Snow White will still be represented, and the current plans for the Snow White's Adventures building being used as a meet-and-greet arena seems cheap, especially since there's enough space to put it some place else (Skyway station, anyone?).

I like the sound of these Armchair Imagineering threads. Watch how I may just steal this concept.

[avonleastories95]

^ I am also going to start an Armchair Imagineering about a dark ride based on a certain Disney movie made in 1941. If it is all right with PrincePhillipFan, of course! I really loved hearing your descriptions of your Sleeping Beauty dark ride.

[DisneyJedi]

I like PrincePhillipFan's idea!

[PrincePhillipFan]

Thanks for the comments everyone! Glad you liked it

And Wondy, I love your idea for a ride! I always adored the original Snow White's Adventures (even though it scared the hell out of me when I was little), so I always love Disney attractions where it takes a look at the darker side of things. I would love to see Disney create more spooky oriented dark rides.