One thing I do remember is that the big "challange" of the 80's was to get the apple that the witch holds from the Snow White ride. You had to be the first one on the ride of the night to get it, before some other punkers snatched it! The apples were just a fake plastic apples painted with black light reactive paint. How do I know that you ask?...I think I will keep that one a secret! ;) Apples plural. ;)
MY FAVORITE RIDE
I loved the snowflakes on this ride, they always amazed me as a kid, and they dropped the temperature to below freezing when you went thru the snowflake scene! The scary part was the HUGE eye looking at you, I would always close my eyes really tight during that part!
The attraction was designed to simulate humans shrinking to a size smaller than an atom (the "inner space"). As riders waited for their journey into the atom, they were able to see other riders entering one end of the Mighty Microscope. The other end of the Mighty Microscope had a glass tube in which miniaturized riders could be seen moving across. The microscope was aimed at a panel beyond which snow could be seen falling.
Upon boarding their 'Atommobiles', riders were greeted by the voice of an unseen scientist (Paul Frees) who explained, "I am the first person to make this fabulous journey. Suspended in the timelessness of inner space are the thoughtwaves of my first impressions. They will be our only source of contact once you have passed beyond the limits of normal Mag-ni-fi-ca-tion."
The Atommobile entered the Mighty Microscope and began to shake back and forth as the riders entered the darkness. As their vision returned, the riders saw giant snowflakes all around them, some still spinning as they fell. As they continued to shrink, the narrator exclaimed, "I am passing beyond the magnification limits of even the most powerful microscopes. These are snowflakes — and yet they seem to grow larger and larger. Or can I be shrinking — shrinking beyond the smallness of a tiny snowflake crystal? Indeed, I am becoming smaller and smaller!"
The snowflakes took on a crystalline form, eventually becoming large enough to cover the entire field of the riders' vision. Approaching the walls of ice crystals, the voice of the unseen scientist marveled, "These tiny bits of snowflake crystal tower above me — like an enormous wall of ice. Can I penetrate this gigantic prism? And yet, this wall of ice only seems smooth and solid. From this tiny viewpoint, I can see that nothing is solid, no matter how it appears." Indeed, it then became obvious to the Atommobile riders that the ice crystals were not solid, but a lattice-like structure that they pass through. "And still I continue to shrink! hat compelling force draws me into this mysterious darkness--can this be the threshold of inner space?"
Next, we encountered a matrix of spheres appearing in columns and rows of infinite length. "What are these strange spheres?" asked the narrator. "Have I reached the universe of the molecule? Yes, these are water molecules — H2O. They vibrate in such an orderly pattern because this is water frozen into the solid state of matter."
As we continued to shrink, the molecules became larger, and took on a peculiar Mickey Mouse shape. "These fuzzy spheres must be the atoms that make up the molecule — two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom. And I see that it's the orbiting electrons that give the atom its fuzzy appearance. And still I continue to shrink."
The scientist wondered, "Is it possible that I can enter the atom itself?" As the atommobile entered the atom, a storm of lights flashed past on all sides at impossible speeds. "Electrons are dashing about me — like so many fiery comets! Can I possibly survive?"
Suddenly the frenzy of the electrons passed, and the rider found him or herself in a large, empty space, surrounded in the distance by a sphere of slow-moving lights. "I have pierced the wall of the Oxygen atom," says the Narrator. "I am so infinitely small now that I can see millions of orbiting electrons. They appear like the Milky Way of our own solar system. This vast realm, THIS is the infinite universe within a tiny speck of snowflake crystal."
A large pulsating red ball could then be seen inside the atom. "And there is the nucleus of the atom! Do I dare explore the vastness of ITS inner space? No, I dare not go on. I must return to the realm of the molecule, before I go on shrinking...forever!"
The riders then began the return journey to full size, but were soon greeted with the sight of water molecules swirling rapidly. At first the scientist was confused: "Ah, how strange! The molecules are so active now! They have become fluid — freed from their frozen state. That can only mean that the snowflake is melting!" Around us we saw molecules moving faster as their temperature increased. The molecules were depicted in green and yellow, with occasional star-shaped flashes representing evaporation.
"Yes, the snowflake has melted," intoned a scientist's voice (also (Paul Frees)), "But there is no cause for alarm. You are back on visual, and returning to your normal size." The riders could see evidence of the scientist's monitoring as they passed under a large microscope through which they can see his giant eye.
Having returned to normal size, the riders disembarked and passed by displays of Monsanto's advances in material science before exiting the attraction building.
MY FAVORITE ATTRACTION
I knew all the words to the songs in the Tiki room. As a matter of fact my parents just drug up a cassette tape recording of me singing along at one of the visits to Disneyland from when I was 5.
MY FAVORITE PARADE
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