Best Disney International Rides We Need in America

Expansion fever has swept across Disney fandom.

The people in charge of Disney’s legendary theme parks have sworn that they’re ready to enter the building phase.

Disney has filed the paperwork to invest $60 billion in improving its Experiences division.

More than $40 billion of that money will go directly toward the parks themselves, and I have a few ideas about what we need.

Here are seven of the best international Disney rides we need in America.

Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey

For many years, American Disney fans gazed jealously at international theme parks.

We saw Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Tron Lightcycle Power Run, and we wanted them.

Over time, two of those rides arrived at Walt Disney World, while the other provided the infrastructure for two popular attractions.

When you ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, you’re using the trackless tech from Pooh’s Hunny Hunt.

Disney listens carefully to its fans, and it knows what we want. So, it tries to deliver those experiences when possible.

Sometimes, we get what we want, as we did with the Tron coaster. In other instances, Disney gives us what we need instead.

I love the characters of Hundred Acre Wood, but Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance are objectively better rides.

Then, we have examples like Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey, which is the de facto sequel/replacement for Frozen Ever After.

EPCOT won’t ever add this attraction due to the similarity between the two…but Disneyland probably will.

At that point, Disneyland will host the superior attraction. Here’s a ride video if you don’t believe me.

That’s a longer, better ride, and the special effect at the 2:15 mark is a showstopper.

Imagineers figured out where Frozen Ever After had room for improvement, and they checked every box. It’s an impressive evolution.

Disney has hinted that Disneyland Resort will gain a Frozen themed area as part of DisneylandForward.

So, this one strikes me as (almost) a given.

Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast

One of the oddities of Disney theme parks involves the selection of attractions. Timing is everything.

Economics and momentum drive decision-making more than anything else.

During the Disney Renaissance, no films were more important to Disney than Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Where is the American Disney ride for either of those movies? It’s a mystery why we have neither.

Sure, we’ve got Enchanted Tales with Belle and Festival of the Lion King, but those aren’t rides. We didn’t get a Beauty and the Beast ride until 2020!

Even then, few people noticed it because it opened at Tokyo Disneyland during a pandemic.

As you can tell from the video, this attraction perfectly encapsulates not just the story but also the vibe of Beauty and the Beast.

We NEED this in America…and sooner rather than later!

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Here’s a fun fact about Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea.

Theme park analysts describe it as a slot car dark ride, a premise that should sound familiar to you.

That’s the same technology driving Radiator Springs Racers and Test Track.

So, we’ve technically already got two different American versions of this arcane ride concept.

Ordinarily, that would probably rule out another American attraction using this tech.

However, the sea recently parted to allow this possibility. I say this because EPCOT is currently rebooting Test Track.

In a matter of weeks, the attraction will close for good, at least in its current iteration.

Then, Imagineers will create what they’re describing as Test Track 3.0.

While I think that ride will still employ slot car mechanics, nothing is a given yet.

Should Disney change Test Track significantly, it would open the door for another Walt Disney World slot car dark ride.

As you can tell from the Cars, Test Track, and Journey to the Center of the Earth themes, this premise translates easily.

We could get anything from Inside Out to the Shang-Chi bus chase with this tech, and it’d work seamlessly.

Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek!

While Disney is spending big on park improvements, it could go ahead and fix one of the glaring oversights at Disney California Adventure.

After Superstar Limo bombed, Disney quickly retooled the ride as Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

This dark ride perfectly retells the story of how Boo came into the lives of our heroes. It’s a charming, sweet story we all love.

However, a few years later, Tokyo Disneyland took the same premise and elevated it, a recurring theme with this list.

Here’s Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek.

Yes, that’s a flashlight game that provides guests with more control over the actions of the various monsters.

You can hear the squeals of delight from the children in this video, which speaks volumes. It’s just plain fun to do.

This version of the attraction opened 15 years ago. Disney could have evolved this technology dramatically since then.

A simple redesign of the existing ride structure would breathe new life into Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, reinventing it for a new generation of kids.

Frankly, this needs to happen.

Mystic Manor

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Lanzisero, the former Imagineer whose creative vision drives Mystic Manor.

Lanzisero faced the challenging task of creating a Haunted Mansion attraction that wasn’t quite so spooky.

The idea wouldn’t have translated well in Hong Kong, which made it a non-starter.

Instead, Disney reinvented the premise with this delightful story brimming with Chinese mythological lore.

The sense of humor and whimsy from Haunted Mansion carry over, though, and it’s more of a thrill ride as well.

No, we’re not talking about Expedition Everest here, but things go awry throughout the journey.

So, you’ll face some challenges that definitely never arise during a Doom Buggy ride.

As such, I fully believe a Mystic Manor ride could stand on its own at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World.

In fact, I could see this ride premise as the backbone for an Encanto experience.

We’d be swapping out Mystic Manor with Casita, the sentient house. That sounds similar enough, right?

Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure

Early reviews of the Peter Pan ride at Fantasy Springs have proven mixed, but that’s misleading.

The people on the fence regarding the attraction are ones watching the ride video linked above.

Conversely, I’ve watched livestreams of people having tears in their eyes as they depart this ride.

You’re missing the point by judging Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure based on a 2D viewing. It’s a fully formed 3D ride experience!

Overall, the story works like an inverse story to Peter Pan’s Flight. You start at Never Land and work your way back to England.

Along the way, you encounter the most immersive digital sequences and settings in Disney history.

The Imagineers’ love for Peter Pan, Walt Disney’s favorite, shines through all the show elements.

After a moment, the line blurs between what’s real and artificial during this ride experience.

You can think of Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure as a kindred spirit to Avatar Flight of Passage (AFoP), only it expands the premise.

You’re not just looking at a digital screen the whole time.

In that regard, Disney has taken the best ideas from Na’vi River Journey and AFoP and joined them into something new and better.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure

Here’s an excellent example of a ride that we probably won’t ever get in the United States.

Disney changed one part of Pirates of the Caribbean a few years ago, and a loud percentage of the fandom absolutely revolted.

Should Disney try to reboot the attraction entirely, it’d face a mutiny, which would be thematic but problematic.

Instead, what we’re discussing here is similar to Pooh’s Hunny Hunt and the slot car dark rides.

Disney could employ some of the underlying technology from the underwater scenes to create a fully immersive experience.

Personally, I think this would work extraordinarily well with Avatar, Indiana Jones, or various Marvel stories.

Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival

I suspect you’re getting the point about how highly I think of the new Fantasy Springs expansion.

The unusual nature of Disney’s agreement with the Oriental Land Company (OLC) guarantees a higher standard of attraction.

The OLC must build something that pleases fans but also passes Disney’s high standards. That’s written in the contract.

In the case of Tangled, the OLC doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, as Imagineers have no need.

Like with Beauty and the Beast, Tangled’s story stands on its own. So, this attraction simply shows the highlights.

First, we witness Rapunzel singing in her tower, and then we encounter all the familiar faces from the story.

Ultimately, the ride builds toward the lantern scene, and it’s perfect.

I’m a Disney loyalist, and I feel strongly that Disney should just add a dark ride for its best films.

There’s no need to be fancy here. We’re all visiting to celebrate the stories.

Tangled qualifies as one of the best of the 21^st century and deserves an attraction like this.

Similarly, American Disney fans should get to experience this ride at Disneyland and/or Walt Disney World.

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Feature Photo: Disney