Alice In Wonderland's New Safety Railings Rock!

Just kidding. Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland dark ride has been in operation since 1958 (with an extended closure for remodeling in the early '80s) and--as far as I know--no one's ever fallen off the outdoor section of track. But recently, as most fans know by now, a visiting OSHA inspector mentioned in passing that the elevated track could pose a problem, and Disney voluntarily shut the ride for a quick safety fix.

A few days ago, the constructions tarps came down, and...good grief.



Okay, that image used to link to a very funny video of various reactions to the new look. It has since been removed by the auteur.

My favorite comment came from the Hatter: "You have lice. Alice spells A-LICE, so we're fumigating your ride!"

Awesome.

Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time favorite Disneyland rides. And a lot of that was due to how incredibly cool and whimsical the outside of the ride used to look. And, as a child, I loved the thrill of the way the caterpillars used to go a bit over the edge of the leaf path just before they turned, giving the illusion of danger. Now...well...


Video by Hydrotrippin

I love that the background music in the above video is Dee and Dum's How'd Ye Do song.

Okay, in all fairness, it could have been much, much worse. So I'd like to point out a few things I actually like about the safety rails:

1) They're temporary. The plan, apparently, is to close the ride in the near future for a much more involved permanent solution which will, hopefully, look a lot better.

2) They tried. Really, at least they made an effort to add some appropriately themed decor to the thing.

3) The darker loading area adds a bit of mystery.

4) As seen in the second video, I do like the darker exit from the ride building. That works. That bit of the ride has always been a sort of dead area. It's not until the vehicles reach the new safety flooring that things start to look gross.

5) It doesn't hurt the ride's interior one tiny bit.

6) It's temporary.

7) At least the ride's open.

8) It's temporary.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the permanent solution will be creative, surprising, and...just maybe...be an opportunity to improve the ride's outdoor descent.

I vote for a big drop and a loop.