Seven Disney Rides We Miss
Every year, Disney theme parks get better as Imagineers introduce new attractions and improve old ones.
In 2023 alone, we’ll experience Tron Lightcycle Power Run, Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana, and the West Coast version of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Photo: The Points Guy
While we look forward to all three, we sometimes feel nostalgic about attractions we’ve lost.
Here are seven Disney rides we miss.
Body Wars
Did you know that Star Tours wasn’t the first motion simulation ride at Walt Disney World?
Body Wars, the pride of the Wonders of Life pavilion, debuted two months before the East Coast version of Star Tours.
Photo: Magicalkingdoms.com
The Star Tours at Disney had opened in 1987, so it was still the first motion simulator in the world, just not in Orlando.
Instead, Disney completed Body Wars first. And if you never got to ride it, you’re likely watching that video with some amazement.
Photo Credit: Yesterland.com
Yes, that Rory Gilmore’s Headmaster at Chilton playing the Mission Commander. And yes! That’s Tim Matheson as the Captain.
Disney nailed the casting for Body Wars, and the ride exemplified infotainment excellence as well.
Photo Credit: Yesterland.com
Guests shrunk down so that they could enter the human body and learn about its inner workings.
The script seems a bit dated now, but the idea of using the brain to power the vessel’s escape still sounds brilliant more than 30 years later.
Photo Credit: Yesterland.com
Body Wars exemplifies a lost era of EPCOT where Imagineers made learning fun.
Ellen’s Energy Adventure
Similarly, Ellen’s Energy Adventure explored the meaning, history, and value of fossil fuels in the silliest way possible.
Ellen DeGeneres went on Jeopardy! And absolutely bombed. Jamie Lee Curtis was beating her up worse than Michael Myers right up until Ellen called in a ringer.
Bill Nye the Science Guy transported the game show contestant millions of years into the past so that she would better understand our reliance on fossil fuels.
By the time Ellen had ended her adventure, she was able to wipe the floor with Jamie Lee Curtis in Jeopardy!
Ellen’s Energy Adventure had to die so that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind could live, but we all still miss it dearly. It was the calmest ride at EPCOT.
The Great Movie Ride
When Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened, the new park represented a joint venture of Disney and MGM.
The latter studio owned a vast catalog of beloved film titles, ones that made even Disney jealous.
So, the two parties came together to create an attraction to celebrate all things cinema. And it was perfect.
The Great Movie Ride combined massive throughput with the joys of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Photo: Josh Hallett
Movies like Mary Poppins, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Wizard of Oz appeared prominently in this glorious tribute to storytelling.
During the earliest days of Hollywood Studios, only two attractions kept it running.
(Scott Miller, photographer)
Eventually, only The Great Movie Ride remained, but Disney sadly chose to repurpose the space a few years ago.
While we all love Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, we also miss the attraction it replaced, The Great Movie Ride.
Photo: https://anormaldisasterphotography.wordpress.com/tag/the-great-movie-ride/
Why, a gangster hasn’t accosted me in more than five years!
Horizons
The Walt Disney World we miss included any number of ambitious attractions, some of which survived in new forms.
For example, The Living Seas remains as The Seas with Nemo & Friends.
Photo (Disney)
Alas, some attractions suffered a different fate. For example, when Horizons opened on EPCOT’s first anniversary, it included all the essential elements of Future World.
Guests could find aspects of anatomy, communication, energy, and transportation. It even included elements of the land and sea.
In short, if Disney distilled the entirety of 1980s EPCOT into a single attraction, it would have been Horizons.
Disney envisioned the attraction as the spiritual successor to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. That plan proved too ambitious, though.
The ride mechanics of Horizons proved challenging to maintain. Technical issues abounded, and its appeal diminished.
Out of everything we’re discussing today, Horizons has probably the easiest choice for cancellation. It only lasted 16 glorious years.
Journey into Imagination
Speaking of the early days of EPCOT, I’ll die on the hill that Journey into Imagination never should have been changed.
Disney has updated the ride concept twice since then. Each one failed to capture the whimsy and optimism of the original.
Photo: DVC Shop
In fact, Figment plays the role of a troll in the current version of Journey into Imagination with Figment. He relentlessly torments a scientist.
That’s vastly different from the intent of the original, which embraced the creative process in all its many forms.
Bring back the Dreamfinder, Disney!
Skyway to Fantasyland/Tomorrowland
Walt Disney World finally features gondolas in the sky again!
The Disney Skyliner transports guests to several official Disney resorts and theme parks, but that doesn’t help people already at the parks.
Photo: RetroWdw
Magic Kingdom’s Skyway to Fantasyland/Tomorrowland provided a rare service at the parks.
Guests could combine an attraction and a stress reducer all at once. These in-park gondolas carried guests to a different part of Magic Kingdom.
Photo: Disney
The flights revealed a view of the park that nobody has enjoyed since the Skyway closed. In the process, people saved themselves the aggravation of additional walking.
Out of everything listed here, I may miss the Skyway the most since it was so unique and charming. Plus, it offered substantial utility.
Photo: Yesterland.com
Imagine if you could travel via Skyway from the entrance at Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Pandora – The World of Avatar or Conservation Station. You’d totally do that, wouldn’t you?
The Studio Backlot Tour
Universal Studios claims something that Disney cannot. One of its attractions dates back to 1915!
Back in the day (of our great great grandparents), Universal fans could sit in the stands and watch Universal Studios film shoots.
Photo: USH
By 1964, Universal had codified the idea into what we now know as the World-Famous Studio Tour.
When Hollywood Studios opened, Disney borrowed the idea for the Studio Backlot Tour.
This massive undertaking highlighted the perils of stunts by showing some impressive water sequences.
Photo: Visit the USA
Also, people drove through several filming locations, as a tour guide explained the historical significance of the various sections.
Along with The Great Movie Ride, the Studio Backlot Tour counted as the park’s anchor attraction for many years.
Photo: Disney Wiki
Alas, in the YouTube era, it became less impressive to watch while quite expensive to operate.
In 2014, Disney killed it to create room for what would become Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land.
Photo: Yesterland
I understand the decision but miss this experience. Hollywood Studios without a tram tour just feels wrong.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
Feature: Disney
