Today, we travel back almost 20 years, to 2005. And with that, we travel to Hong Kong Disneyland and the mess of opening day. When the park first opened, for the most part there wasn’t much that couldn’t be experienced elsewhere, let alone any real showstoppers - that is, except for one attraction…
For the first five decades of Imagineering, dark ride adaptations of Disney’s classic animated films in Fantasyland tended to be mostly simple affairs. All that was deemed necessary for a long time were vehicles running on a busbar track, figures with limited or no animation, mostly plywood placemaking, and a smattering of additional effects here and there.
Imagineer Eddie Sotto would turn the concept on its head with Pooh’s Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland, a revolutionary trackless dark ride filled to the brim with full Audio-Animatronics, elaborate set design, and inventive special effects. Hong Kong Disneyland’s unsurprising standout among its opening day lineup would be another one of these “plussed” Fantasyland dark rides: Alice Down the Rabbit Hole.
This trackless take on Disneyland’s Alice in Wonderland dark ride is the park’s major new E-ticket. As we all know, Disney has a deal with the Oriental Land Company that says that any new ride they create has to go for many years being a Tokyo exclusive. The only way to circumvent such a clause would be to do something new with the system - and that’s just what Hong Kong Disneyland did here.
Alice Down the Rabbit Hole puts guests inside giant teacups and takes them into Lewis Carroll’s madcap world like never before. All the familiar scenes and characters are here: the disorienting Tulgey Wood, the Mad Hatter’s tea party, an encounter with that confusing Cheshire Cat, and a final confrontation with the Queen of Hearts. And ever since Opening Day, Alice Down the Rabbit Hole has been one of Hong Kong Disneyland’s most popular attractions. Like with Mystic Manor after it, Alice Down the Rabbit Hole helped usher in a golden age of trackless dark rides, leading in experiences like Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
The queue is almost all outdoors. Once you’re underneath the tracks of the Hong Kong Disneyland Railroad, you’ll find yourself in a quaint English country garden. Flowers are in bloom. Trees are tall. One can even see the Mad Hatter Tea Cups in full swing underneath a pastel canopy. The queue for Alice Down the Rabbit Hole begins immediately to your left as you enter. We stroll through the garden, passing by fields of daisies, bathing bluebirds, and even Alice’s pet cat, Dinah. Stone statues depict the various Wonderland characters we are about to meet: the Mad Hatter and March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and the Dodo. Gentle, orchestral arrangements of the various songs from the movie play on loop. The show building is cleverly disguised to resemble the hills and landscaping beyond, with tall trees and greenery all around; a perfect way to blend in with the looming mountains of Lantau Island.
Finally, you approach a thatched-roof building, meant to resemble the White Rabbit’s cottage. We enter through the front door and find ourselves in the grand foyer. Pictures and windows are all askew, and there’s a staircase leading up further into the house. Incidentally, that staircase serves as the start of an overflow queue for those particularly busy days. We go up those stairs, pass through the White Rabbit’s bedroom, then walk along a balcony heading back downstairs. But no matter how long or short your tour around the house is, it always ends up at the same place: the back door.
Heading back “outside”, we find ourselves in a forest at dawn, with the lush English countryside in the distance. This is really a mural which serves as the backdrop to the ride’s loading area, a callback to the murals found in nearly every traditional Fantasyland dark ride and therefore leaving first-time guests expecting another one of those.
Coming in down the dirt path is a parade of giant teacups. These teacups are like the ones that guests spin themselves silly in across the way, but unlike those teacups (or indeed a typical dark ride vehicle), they are powered by the same trackless LPS system that guides the Hunny Hunt honey pots around, and thus can move freely without the aid of a busbar or wheel - zipping forwards, zipping backwards, drifting sideways, and spinning wildly (or in confusion). The vehicles seat five guests, all of them facing forwards, as opposed to the centralized seating of the Mad Hatter Tea Cups. With all in, we pull down on the safety bar and away we go!
Part of the aforementioned mural is the entrance to the Rabbit Hole - one of its most dimensional aspects (like the Seven Dwarfs’ cottage that makes up part of the mural to Snow White’s Scary Adventures). Every 36 seconds, four teacups at a time move out of the station and into the darkness of the Rabbit Hole. We are off to Wonderland!
Rabbit footprints flash across the wall and ceiling, creating a spiral. The voice of the rabbit can be heard in the distance, with echoed exclamations of “I’m late! I’m late!” before fading. The spiral of footprints quickly morph into that of a strange room of confusing architecture and floating furniture. The guests continue their short descent down the rabbit hole before coming face to face with the Doorknob. Thankfully unlocked, the door opens as the Doorknob laughs cheerfully.
Passing through the now-opened door, guests find themselves in a sparsely-lit space, amongst a forest of impossibly high blades of grass. Before them stand a veritable bouquet of anthropomorphized flowers, who each appear to be doing small, separate vocal exercises. The flowers are as varied as they are beautiful. To the back, a trio of marigolds rehearse basslines, a small but enthusiastic grouping of violets stand to the side, and smaller groups of lilacs, lilies, and tulips all make up this Flower Chorus.
The teacups stop just before them just as they begin to quiet down, directed by their leader, the rose. She turns to and acknowledges the guests briefly before counting their song’s tempo leading the chorus in a beautiful rendition of “All in the Golden Afternoon”. As the flowers begin their song, the room suddenly brightens, revealing the full breadth of the garden clearing. To the side, a flower can be seen playing some hyacinths like bells. A pair of Bread and Butterflies sit peacefully on some fallen blades of grass, and the underside of some flowers can be seen towering over the landscape. The teacups do a quick spin before meandering off through the grass and straight into the center of Tulgey Wood.
Leaving the Flower Chorus behind, their voices fading into an orchestral rendition of their song, the teacups enter the Tulgey Wood. The Tulgey Wood is massive and labyrinthian. The teacups stop suddenly and surround a massive crooked tree adorned with a collection of differently-styled signs. “This Way”, “That Way”, “Yonder”, and “Hither” all point, confusingly, in different directions. After a brief pause, the teacups separate and speed off in different directions, further into the heart of Tulgey Wood.
As they navigate Tulgey Wood, the teacups will randomly visit one vignette. Closest to the sign tree, guests get their first proper glimpse at the White Rabbit, who looks at his pocket watch before hopping off into the forest. A pair of shrubs open for another teacup, which crashes directly into Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The pair chastise the guests before they turn their anger back towards each other as the teacups back away. The third option, the Caterpillar, is situated towards the center of the ride path. He sits atop a large mushroom and obsessively smokes a large hookah. He watches, unimpressed, in silence until a teacup approaches him. Annoyed at the sudden guest, he removes the hookah from his mouth and blows smoke towards guests before asking his famous question “Who ARE you?”
Just past the Caterpillar, the teacups reconvene at the entrance to a darker part of Tulgey Wood. As they move forward, a figure can be seen on an overhanging branch. Or, rather, part of a figure. Just a wide smile and glowing yellow eyes.
Guests pass under the strange creature on the branch and enter a deeper part of Tulgey Wood at night. The teacups pause. There’s no apparent way to continue. In the shadows, the same strange grin and glowing eyes appear, and with it a voice.
“Have you lost your way?”
Purple stripes begin to wrap around the smile as its figure begins to form: the Cheshire Cat! (NOTE: all of the Cheshire Cat effects are done with screens.)
“Are you still following that White Rabbit? I might have seen where he went. Maybe he went THAT way?”
As the Cheshire Cat says “THAT,” the teacups suddenly turn to the left.
“No, that can’t be right. Perhaps THIS way.”
The teacups suddenly turn to the right.
“No no no, that's still not right. HERE!”
The teacups begin to spin uncontrollably.
“Still not right. Oh, yes, that’s right. He went over there.”
A bush moves, revealing an opening. The Cheshire Cat continues as the teacups begin towards the newfound pathway.
“Oh please do be careful. The queen is known to lose her head easily.”
The Cheshire Cat laughs as his body begins to fade once more leaving only his mouth and eyes before they finally disappear as well.
Finally exiting Tulgey Wood, guests find themselves in a small grove of white rose trees. The teacups separate and wind between the trees, passing small groups of playing cards who are desperately trying to paint the roses red. One card is perched precariously on a wobbling ladder, others are stacked, and others still simply strain to reach the unpainted roses. They sing their songs as the teacups pass, leading to a few near misses.
Just past the rose trees, guests enter a clearing at the entrance to a hedge maze, which is situated below an opulent but odd-looking castle. Guests have finally caught up to the White Rabbit. Unfortunately, however, he’s not alone. Before him stands the Queen of Hearts, who looks none too pleased to have visitors to her castle grounds. Sharp-eyed guests may catch a glimpse of the Cheshire Cat who sits in a tree, away from the Queen and White Rabbit. He laughs to himself before disappearing (with a Pepper’s Ghost effect, similar to the Disneyland original). The teacups stop briefly, just long enough for the queen to lose her temper. Her face turns red as she raises her arms and screams “OFF WITH HER HEAD!” In the chaos, the teacups quickly dash into the hedge maze.
Speeding through the heart-shaped hedge gates of the mazes, the teacups first crash through a few sets of playing cards. Suddenly, guests enter the center of the maze, which has already been overrun with the Queen and her cards. The teacups separate once more, desperate to find an escape route. Dashing in all directions across the red and yellow-checkered floor, the teacups will, as they did in Tulgey Wood, run into a random assortment of characters and setpieces.
In a corner, the King of Hearts sits behind a tall judge’s bench. As guests approach he yells to call attention to them. In another corner, the Cheshire Cat can be seen calmly playing flamingo croquet. As the teacup approaches, he turns to guests: “Don’t lose your head. We’ve all long ago. We’re all mad here.” Another teacup has an unfortunate run-in with the Queen of Hearts herself, who leaps up from behind a hedge to scream at guests. The teacups reconvene and circle a large house of cards which the playing cards have constructed in the center of the room. As they circle, they get too close, causing the house to collapse, and causing the queen to get even angrier. The teacups zoom off into another part of the maze.
The teacups enter a small tunnel created by endlessly spinning arches of blacklit playing cards. The Queen of Hearts continues to scream, at guests, at the cards, at anyone she can, really. As they make their way further down the corridor, they begin to spin, disorienting guests further. As they reach the end of the corridor, guests will once more notice the giant face of the Cheshire Cat, who spins opposite the cards, his eyes and grin glowing yellow. The Cheshire Cat laughs, repeating the line “We’re all mad here! We’re all mad here!” The spinning stops as the teacups round a corner into complete darkness.
After a few seconds of reprieve, a light can be seen. A faint, flickering light, but a light nonetheless. Suddenly, a variety of lights strung above guests heads illuminate, giving a full view of the scene. Guests have now found themselves at the Mad Tea Party. The Mad Hatter sits at the head of the impossibly long table, his only guest seated next to him, the March Hare. Occasionally, the Dormouse can be seen peeking out from the tea party’s large centerpiece teapot. Behind the Mad Hatter is the source of that flickering light - a massive, three tiered, structurally unsound Unbirthday Cake, topped with a lit firework. As the flame slowly makes its way down the wick, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare joyously sing the Unbirthday Song as they messily pour each other some tea. Guests surround the Unbirthday cake, as guests watch the wick burn down even more. The teacups begin to move past the tea party as their song reaches its climax. As the Unbirthday Song reaches its peak, the wick finally burns down completely and the cake explodes with a massive bang, sending the smell of birthday cake throughout the room.
The teacups round another corner and drift into the unload area as an orchestral rendition of “In a World of My Own” plays.
Now while this attraction was next level and basically the only major anchor attraction on opening day, all good things must come to an end. Late in 2020, it was announced that Alice Down the Rabbit Hole would close early the following year, in favour of a slow New Fantasyland revitalization, starting with replacing the Alice Down the Rabbit Hole area with the World of Frozen opening in 2023, followed by minor attraction and IP updates, leading up to the 20th anniversary of the park in September 2005.
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