Once Upon a Time Adventure

Once Upon a Time Adventure is a walkthrough attraction at the newest Disney theme park Shanghai Disneyland.

Guests enter the attraction, which is housed in the Enchanted Storybook Castle - the centrepiece of Shanghai Disneyland, through a typical castle-themed queue line - all pillars and arches and chandeliers.  This leads through to a small atrium, decorated with wood panelling and ornate floor and doors.

This then leads to a room with a large book and a short audio visual display (which is in Chinese so I have no idea what was said.).  Guests then proceed up a long staircase (it's at least 60 odd steps - I'm assuming their is a lift option for disabled visitors).  The staircase has carvings of different princesses adorning the left side - Rapunzel, Snow, Cinderella etc.  At the top, guests pass through another short queue line into a passageway which reveals different scenes from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The first is Snow White at the well.  The well is a physical prop but a clever use of screen projection allows an animated Snow White to appear beside the well to sing her opening song 'I'm Wishing' (again, in Chinese).  Snow is an updated 3D animation and looks slightly caricatured but it is a lovely sequence.  Sparkles of magic help guide the guests to the next scene with storybooks (I presume) filling in the story gaps.  Next is a wooded area where a rabbit, deer and birds scamper around.  After this, guests find themselves around the Queen's cauldron and the Queen herself appears to give various commands and threats before turning into the Witch.  A poisoned apple is dipped ready to finish off Snow White.

Moving on, guests find themselves in the dwarf's cottage where they can see Snow at the window encouraging her animal friends to help wash the dishes.  Clever screen technology again inserts the animals into the physical scene.  Snow is then approached by the Witch with the poisoned apple.

Next time we see Snow, she is laid out in her glass coffin with the Prince ready to kiss her.  She awakes and then she and the Prince disappear into a sparkly mist and the whole area becomes a starfield with a heart animated in mid air.

Guests then leave the attraction through a few passages and around a small courtyard with hedges and a fountain at its centre.  These areas are a little drab and it seems to take quite a while to actually get out of the castle but it's probably unavoidable depending on how the attraction has been integrated into the castle itself.

Unusually, the seven dwarfs themselves seem to be completely absent from the attraction.

Walkthrough attractions are a bit of a double-edged sword.  On the one hand they allow guests to linger a little at each section rather than being zoomed through at the mercy of a ride vehicle.  A problem I have with dark rides is that as soon as you've just about absorbed one scene you're whizzing on to the next and there is very little time to appreciate what you are seeing.

However, the problem with walkthroughs, as some of the videos on Youtube attest to, is that you often can't see everything because of all the other people standing around and in front you.  In a ride, you are the only eyes looking at a scene at any one time (more or less) whereas in a walkthrough you may be at the back of a large group and not be able to properly see every nuance of the attraction.

Once Upon a Time Adventure is the newest Snow White themed attraction to be built at a Disney theme park, although I understand that, as of 2020, some of the Scary Adventure dark rides have gone or are undergoing minor refurbishments.  It will be interesting to see what happens on those rides.