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Credit: DisneyEarly this morning, Walt Disney World officially grand opened the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride with a small ceremony and ribbon cutting.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs joined Magic Kingdom vice president Phil Holmes and Orlando Magic players Tobias Harris (left) and Victor Oladipo (right) to officially open the new attraction.
Video: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train grand opening & official first ride at Walt Disney World
Seven pairs of adults and kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida also joined the and Orlando Magic players to officially become the first guests aboard Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Earlier this month, Walt Disney World also officially dedicated the new ride in a short ceremony.
Video: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train dedication
Opening day brought big crowds, with the attraction’s wait time quickly jumping to three hours, though shortly after the opening the wait time dropped to 120 minutes, settling down to 60 minutes within a couple hours of the park being open. FastPass+ is also steadily being used by guests to skip the line.
Now the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is fully open, finishing a project that began four years ago. Take a complete tour of the attraction, including a ride through the mine, in the video below.
Video: FULL Seven Dwarfs Mine Train experience with multi-angle POV ride, queue, characters and more
The opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train completes the multi-year New Fantasyland project, the biggest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom. The area also includes the Be Our Guest restaurant, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure dark ride, Gaston’s Tavern, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Princess Fairytale Hall, and Storybook Circus.
New Fantasyland – in its final form – was first detailed in January 2011. Prior to that, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train wasn’t even part of the expansion, instead featuring elaborate meet-and-greet homes for several of Disney’s Princesses. But Imagineers ultimately decided the expansion needed a bigger impact and went back to their roller coaster idea.
Snow White’s Scary Adventures was removed, directly replaced by Princess Fairytale Hall, leaving the Dwarfs’ story to be told in the new ride, which offers far more thrills and advanced technologies than the classic attraction.
Click here for a closer look at the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Walt Disney World.