Storybook Land Canal Boats
Disneyland
Land	Fantasyland
Opening date	July 17, 1955

Le Pays des Contes de Fées
Disneyland Park (Paris)
Land	Fantasyland
Opening date	March 1994

Storybook Land Canal Boats is an attraction at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris (under the name of Le Pays des Contes de Fées). A leisurely boat ride, the attraction goes by a series of miniatures of locations from Disney films. The Casey Jr. Circus Train travels around the same location, providing a high ground perspective.

Disneyland version

The Disneyland version of the attraction features small motorboats with live Cast Member hosts narrating the journey. Departing directly from the docks, the boats enter Monstro the whale and continue on from there.

Miniature locations include:

• Pinocchio's cobblestone village with Geppetto's wood shop
• Toad Hall and Mole's house from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• The Old Mill
• The Sultan's Palace from Aladdin
• The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin
• London Park from Peter Pan
• The village from Cinderella, featuring a gold-spired castle
• The Dwarfs' cottage and mine from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• An English village, with a church and the entrance to the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland
• The pigs' houses and the Big Bad Wolf's cave from The Three Little Pigs
• Atlantica, partially hidden behind a waterfall, from The Little Mermaid
• Prince Eric's Castle from The Little Mermaid

Disneyland Paris version

Instead of being guided by cast members, the Disneyland Paris version of the attraction has no narration. The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin appears midway through the voyage instead of the Disneyland version's Monstro. It also is guided by underwater rails rather than live motors.

Locations include:

• The Dwarfs' cottage and mine from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The gingerbread house of Hansel and Gretel
• Rapunzel's high tower with a braid coming out of it (predating Tangled's release, though it has now been replaced with the film's version)
• The Old Mill
• Prince Eric's castle from The Little Mermaid
• The Greek temple and Mount Olympus from Fantasia
• Snow-covered landscapes from Peter and the Wolf
• The "Night on Bald Mountain" scene from Fantasia
• The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, which swallows the boats
• A scene from The Sword in the Stone
• Belle's village and the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast
• The Emerald City and the Witch's Castle from Return to Oz

History

The ride's concept dates back to Walt Disney's plans for a small park across the street from his Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. This modestly-scaled, never-built amusement park was to include a gravity flow canal boat ride among its attractions. When plans for the much grander Disneyland were being made, there was to be a "Lilliputianland", inspired by Madurodam, a miniature city in the Netherlands that Disney once visited. However, the technology did not yet exist for creating the miniature animated figures that were to inhabit the "Lilliputian" village, so the canal ride opened under the name Canal Boats of the World. It was intended to be a journey past miniature recreations of the great landmarks of the world, but time and money prevented its completion. The ride was plagued by other problems. The outboard motors were prone to overheating, often forcing the boats to be pulled by hand, and because the attraction opened with little landscaping, it earned the nickname among park executives as "The Mud Bank Ride". After only two months of operation, the Canal Boats closed on September 16, 1955 while Storybook Land was constructed and the muddy banks were landscaped with miniature plants, including a bonsai tree planted by Walt Disney himself. The idea of having Monstro the whale consume the canal boats came from a never-implemented concept for a "Monstro the Whale" ride, in which small boats were to be swallowed by Monstro and hurtled down a watery path into a pond below. The attraction was re-opened on June 16, 1956 under the new name Storybook Land Canal Boats. Over the years there have been many scenes added and removed from the attraction. Most notably, the Sultan’s Palace from Aladdin appeared where the miniature Toad Hall had previously stood for a major refurbishment done in 1994. However, Toad Hall returned the following year in another location. For the theme park's 50th Anniversary, the Tinkerbell boat was painted gold and the lighthouse given a gold and maroon theme.

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