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A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train



By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

SEVEN DWARFS MINE TRAIN

By Jim Korkis

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opened at the Magic Kingdom on May 28, 2014 as the centerpiece of the New Fantasyland expansion. It is a steel roller coaster designed to resemble handmade wooden mine carts that sway and tip back and forth as they wind their way through the landscape of the world of Snow White at up to thirty miles per hour.

Jim Korkis on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train from yourfirstvisit.netThe innovative, patented ride system was designed by Disney Imagineering and manufactured by Vekoma to take the place of Snow White’s Scary Adventures dark ride that closed on May 31, 2012.

Unlike that attraction, this version tells the story through the perspective of the dwarfs with Snow White only making a short cameo experience in the cottage at the end of the attraction. Outside the cottage, the Old Hag Wicked Witch peers menancingly through a window watching Snow White and the dwarfs happily dancing inside.

It was designed as a family friendly experience with tame 31-foot and 41-foot drops, no upside-down turns, and the elimination of the familiar clacking sound that usually signals an upcoming massive drop during its span of roughly 2,000 linear feet of track.

The rustic looking ride vehicles are mounted in cradle-like pivots and sway independently as they swing around the track with each twist and turn. During its journey, the cars rock to the left and right, but the G-forces go right down through the seat making it a smooth ride.

The journey winds its way through the countryside and then into the mine where the dwarfs are working and singing. The fabricated rocks were put together in six foot pieces that precisely correspond to the film.

The dwarfs are a new generation of audio-animatronics figures. The faces contain an internal rear projection system that enables Disney to better replicate the faces and expressions more realistically.

The jewels seen throughout the mine come in four different sizes and six different colors: red, green, amber, purple, blue and clear.

Next to Doc’s workstation is a carved wooden clock with the figures of two miners striking an anvil that’s an exact replica of the one seen in the film and also signals the start of the song Heigh-Ho.

The shadows of the dwarfs marching homeward were painstakingly rotoscoped (traced from the original film footage frame by frame) from the movie.

At the top of the second lift, guests can clearly see Maurice’s Cottage and Beast’s Castle. Then as the track drops, the mine cart passes under a trestle and loops around the mountain crossing. At the foot of the mountain, the train goes back to cross a pool at the bottom of a waterfall.

The ride ends at the famous cottage in the woods. The cottage’s exterior is a meticulously detailed representation from the actual film, right down to the wisteria vine and the birdhouse at the front door.

The film was carefully studied to get just the right color combinations for the roof shingles, the slope of the roof’s eaves, the shape of the lanterns and the etched woodland creatures that decorate the house’s architecture. The walkway features impressions left by forest creatures, acorns and sticks.

Scattered throughout the attraction are at least 450 props, including picks, shovels, barrels and hoists. There are even places where the dwarfs have carved their names into the wood.

The figures of Grumpy, Doc, Bashful, Sleepy, and Happy, seen in the cottage near the end of the attraction, originally appeared in Snow White’s Scary Adventures. The two vultures perched on the jib crane near the mine entrance originally appeared in that attraction as well.

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Thanks, Jim! My review of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is here. And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.
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1 comment

1 Anthony { 01.27.17 at 12:03 pm }

Nice insights! Thanks.

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