1. THE VULTURES FROM SNOW WHITE’S SCARY ADVENTURES
As part of the new Fantasyland update at the Magic Kingdom, Disney installed a new roller coaster called the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This meant that the park no longer needed the other ride based on its first hit movie, so Snow White’s Scary Adventures had to go. Fans of the original can still catch a glimpse of some key figures from the old ride, however—the vultures from “Scary Adventures” are now perched in the sky right before your train car plunges down into a mine shaft.
After you’ve survived your tumultuous trek through the mine, watch for Snow White and the dwarfs celebrating in the cottage. The dwarf animatronics were also borrowed from the original ride. Imagineers also had one more trick up their sleeves for paying homage to previous attractions: the ride's weather vane is a squid, which is a little nod to the old 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride.
2. PICTURES OF MR. TOAD AND FRIENDS
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride came to an end at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando on September 7, 1998. Opting to capitalize on the popularity of Winnie the Pooh, or perhaps just feeling that Wind in the Willows characters were no longer in vogue, Disney decided to replace Toad, Badger, and Moley with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. If you sneak a quick glance behind you just after the ride starts, though, you’ll see an interesting set of framed pictures on the wall and floor: Toad handing the deed over to Owl and several other snaps of characters mingling.
3. TAXIDERMIED HEADS FROM COUNTRY BEAR JAMBOREE
Country Bears buffs may remember a talking trio of taxidermied heads named Melvin the Moose, Buff the Buffalo, and Max the Deer. They still chatter away at the Country Bear Jamboree attraction in the Magic Kingdom, but the Disneyland counterpart was replaced by the Winnie the Pooh ride in 2001. (Winnie the Pooh seems to just shove everyone aside.)
Although the Country Bears themselves got the ouster, Melvin, Buff, and Max stayed put. If you turn around after exiting the Heffalumps and Woozles scene in Disneyland’s Winnie the Pooh ride, you can still see the trio hanging out. Sadly, they no longer talk.
4. SKYWAY BUCKETS AT THE MATTERHORN
The Matterhorn at Disneyland went through a major overhaul in 2015, but that doesn’t mean that everything in the ride is new. In a scene Imagineers refer to as the “Hoard” scene, riders can see that the Abominable Snowman has collected things he’s found on the mountain over the years—including buckets from the Skyway that closed in 1994.
5. THE TOWN FROM THE RAINBOW CAVERNS MINE TRAIN
Long before Disneyland had Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, it was home to Rainbow Caverns Mine Train (also called Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland). After it opened in 1960, guests boarded miniature trains to take a tour of animatronic bears diving for fish, hawks protecting their nests, howling coyotes, and roaring falls. The novelty of the ride lost its luster sometime over the next 15 years or so, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened in its place in 1979—but parts of Rainbow Ridge, the Old West town featured in the original ride, are now part of the Big Thunder scenery. Though it went through a refurbishment in 2013, many of the original props and signs still remain.
