Castle Courtyard
Attractions
Cinderella's Magical Journey
Cinderella's Magical Journey takes guests into Cinderella's story - from beginning to Happily Ever After ending. Inspired by traditional Fantasyland dark rides, the attraction is a slower-paced ride retelling the story of the film, complete with magical effects.
Ride System
The attraction uses a typical dark ride ride system. The vehicles, though shaped very similarly to Omnimovers, lack the ability to turn from side to side, and are dispatched in groups in order to ensure proper scene timing. When loading, the fairy godmother voices the safety spiel, explaining that she has enchanted these pumpkins to carry you on your enchanted journey.
Pumpkin-themed ride vehicle
Attraction Synopsis
Queue/Loading Area
The queue, while rather plain, is gently themed to the interior of Prince Charming's castle. Banners and posters on the walls declare the Prince's hosting of a ball in order to find a suitable wife. On the wall behind the loading zone is a large mural depicting Prince Charming and Cinderella in front of Prince Charming's castle (a castle that may look familiar to guests who have been to the Magic Kingdom.)
As guests round the corner from the loading zone, they see Cinderella in her house, doing her extra chores while her mice friends work on her dress. Cinderella is whistling a simple tune while working, apparently lost in thought and excited for the ball.
Turning another corner, guests find themselves in the next scene. Here Drizella and Anastasia are in a tug-of-war with Cinderella's dress, destroying it as they do so. Cinderella weeps while watching them, as her stepmother cruelly says, "Oh well, it looks like you won't be joining us as the ball after all."
The pumpkins pass into the next show room (one of the largest and most effects-heavy in the attraction) and appear to be outside in the dark. Cinderella's Fairy Godmother has appeared, and with a wave of her wand and some fiber-optic sparkles transforms Cinderella's tattered dress and slippers, replacing them with brand new, sparkling blue versions. This is accomplished via pre-mapped projections and lighting effects, and is one of the most entrancing effects in the attraction.
The Fairy Godmother turns around, and with another wave of her wand transforms a pumpkin into a carriage (part projection, part first-ever inflatable expanding set piece), the mice into horses (projections on the wall backdrop), and Major the horse and Bruno the dog into a coachman and footman, respectively.
As guests leave the scene, the Fairy Godmother can be heard behind them warning Cinderella that the spell will break at midnight! Cinderella's coach passes guests' pumpkin ride vehicles (via a wall projection nestled behind some tree set pieces) as Cinderella makes her way to the ball.
As guests continue, large gates swing open ahead of them and they find themselves in Prince Charming's castle. Cinderella and the Prince dance across the ballroom on one side of the guests, while Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters jealously watch on the other. Two other animatronic couples also dance around the scene, and others are seen via wall projection.
Our ride pumpkins leave the castle as the clock chimes midnight to see Cinderella frantically running down the steps, as the Prince stoops and picks up the glass slipper she accidentally left behind. (Cinderella running away is a screen effect, while the prince is an animatronic.)
In the final scene, guests see Prince Charming fitting the slipper onto Cinderella's foot and discovering that she is the one he has been looking for. As guests' ride vehicles return to the loading zone, romantic music plays, and a banner above guests' heads reads "And they lived happily ever after..."