Rides That Changed Disney Parks Forever
Disney theme parks are living, breathing things, and that’s by design.
On an infamous park day in the 1950s, Walt Disney himself bristled when he heard a guest dismiss the idea of experiencing an attraction.
In the nonchalant guest’s words, they’d already ridden it, so there was no need to waste one of their ride tickets on a repeat.
In that moment, Uncle Walt decided that all his beloved theme park attractions must change with the times to remain current.
That cynical guest unintentionally led to the creation of theme park plussing as a concept.
Throughout the years, some attractions have proven so unique that they reset expectations for a Disney theme park visit.
Here’s a small list of rides that changed Disney theme parks forever.
Autopia
There are two odd bits of Disneyland trivia that only theme park aficionados know.
One ride design and one brand drove the explosive growth of The Happiest Place on Earth during its first decade.
The brand is Davy Crockett, a wildly popular Disney miniseries in the 1950s.
You can think of this franchise as a combination of Encanto, Frozen, and Hannah Montana in terms of popularity.
Some of the attractions Disney quickly themed to Davy Crockett remain to this day, but even they wouldn’t have been enough to save Disneyland.
The park suffered from excessive hype after its first couple of years.
The Davy Crockett franchise and a different ride concept were the two things that kept Disneyland at the forefront of pop culture.
The ride was Autopia, which is why this very basic attraction remains at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom to this day.
While kids have largely outgrown the joy of driving a fake car around a track, it was the height of novelty in 1955.
Autopia proved so successful that Disney created three versions of it, including Junior Autopia and Midget Autopia.
The term Midget Autopia referred to the size of the track, which was minuscule.
Disney jammed it into the small footprint available because the other two Autopia rides couldn’t satisfy all the daily demand.
Think about the longest line you’ve ever seen for a theme park attraction.
Autopia was worse than that in the late 1950s.
Jungle Cruise
When Disneyland opened, entrepreneur Walt Disney loved the synergistic business concept that he would later define as the Disney Flywheel.
Disney wanted attractions to build awareness for the company’s films and television series… and vice versa.
One of the original concepts was a ride based on the True Life Adventures film series.
To enhance the entertainment value, Disney connected elements from a film it didn’t even own, The African Queen.
However, Walt envisioned Jungle Cruise as a straightforward Adventureland journey into unknown realms.
The jungle skippers at the time played the story straight, having no awareness of what it would become.
After a few years, these boat captains heard the cynical remarks from the Disneyland guests experiencing Jungle Cruise for the umpteenth time.
Some of them started to quip about the absurdity of the scenes.
And the rest was theme park history.
Jungle Cruise attendance surged as buzz grew about the caustic cruise skippers making fun of their ridiculous surroundings.
Rather than stick to the original plan, Disneyland officials heard the voice of the people and adjusted the script accordingly.
If Disney had been a stickler for authenticity on this one, we would have lost Jungle Cruise decades ago, as the original premise quickly dated itself.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Walt Disney technically didn’t live to witness the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean, yet he was acutely aware of how popular it would be.
During Uncle Walt’s final year, Imagineers would strap him into harnesses and have him experience the set pieces as guests would.
Pirates of the Caribbean had been in development for quite some time before its opening, but it became a way to pay tribute to Disney’s legacy after his death.
Imagineers created special effects so immersive that the local fire department once shut down the attraction due to the belief that the fire effects were real.
Pirates of the Caribbean wasn’t the first theme park dark ride by any stretch, but this attraction permanently linked Disney to the ride concept as its master.
To this day, when guests think of immersive storytelling and iconic Disney rides, Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the first on their list.
Space Mountain
I’d argue that the other two iconic rides most closely associated with Disney are “it’s a small world” and Space Mountain.
I could have easily added “it’s a small world” to this list, but I’d already included two boat rides.
Meanwhile, I excluded Matterhorn Bobsleds, which has a strong argument, in favor of the more recognizable brand.
To a certain extent, Space Mountain has defined Disney theme parks since its 1975 opening.
Imagineers famously planned this ride a decade before its opening.
They realized they’d need computer-controlled sensors for the experience, but computers in those days took up an entire room.
Disney waited on Moore’s Law to solve the problem for them.
Then, Imagineers unveiled what the media immediately hailed as the pinnacle of 20 years of theme park design.
Space Mountain was an indoor roller coaster that started the roller coaster wars.
An experience in sensory deprivation designed as a theme park attraction, Space Mountain deftly demonstrates the vast emptiness of outer space.
Riders whiz from one interstellar constellation to the next, rarely stopping to catch their breath.
A lasting tribute to the Space Race, Space Mountain instantly solidified Walt Disney World as the future of theme park creativity.
As its 50th anniversary approaches in 2025, its lingering impact is felt to this day.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
To this day, a complaint lingers about Disney theme parks.
Critics and Disney fans alike assail the company for rarely venturing outside the comfy confines of Disney IP.
Very few Disney attractions feature original concepts, and virtually none involve non-Disney brands.
You all know what the exception is.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios suffered a wobbly start, with the two media companies working on it, MGM and Disney, suing each other in court.
During its early days, the park lacked E-ticket attractions.
So, Imagineers took a daring approach at a time when they had little to lose.
They spoke with established celebrities like Stephen King and Mel Brooks, with a goal of building a spooky attraction based on a horror novel or possibly Young Frankenstein.
Eventually, Disney settled on The Twilight Zone as the ideal creepy concept, and we’re all the better for it.
This brand allowed Imagineers to celebrate any number of classic characters and stories in the attraction queue, and even featured the very dead Rod Serling as the narrator.
Disney actually hired a Serling impersonator to combine new dialogue with archival footage.
Then, Imagineers constructed the best drop tower ride ever, and even threw in entirely new technology, a moving elevator cart.
This thrill ride has ideal gothic elements.
Radiator Springs Racers
Unless you lived through it, you cannot imagine what a failure Disney California Adventure was during its early years.
Then-CEO Michael Eisner cut corners on the budget and crafted several decidedly non-Disney rides, at least one of which, Superstar Limo, didn’t last a year.
When Bob Iger took over as CEO, he recognized that Los Angeles viewed DCA as a joke.
To fix that, Iger authorized Radiator Springs, an entire themed land based on the shockingly popular Cars franchise.
Iger and his staff noticed that Cars merchandise moved better than any other brand at the time, and felt that Cars Land would help Disney DCA save face.
The company spent $1.1 billion building what some would argue its best-themed land.
The highlight is the slot car attraction, Radiator Springs Racers.
This ride used the same underlying design as EPCOT’s Test Track, but it was better because it had Lightning McQueen and Mater.
Disney expected kids to love it, but the shock was how much adults prioritized Radiator Springs Racer.
To this day, it usually requires the longest wait at the park, and to this day, when people think about DCA, Radiator Springs Racers springs to mind first.
Avatar Flight of Passage
Some of what I said about DCA applies to Disney’s Animal Kingdom as well.
Michael Eisner also cut the budget at Animal Kingdom, claiming that the promised attractions at the park would come later.
Well, it has been more than 25 years, yet Beastly Kingdom still isn’t a thing. Yes, I’m bitter.
During the 2010s, Disney decided to do something about Animal Kingdom.
They entered into an agreement with director James Cameron to bring his film Avatar to life as a themed land.
During the early days of social media, Disney absorbed an online drubbing over the many delays, but the proof is in the pudding.
Pandora – The World of Avatar instantly became the go-to place to visit at Animal Kingdom.
The highlight of this land is Avatar Flight of Passage, a Soarin’-like ride that elevates the experience.
This attraction plays out like a virtual reality exploration of Pandora.
It’s visually breathtaking, and many would argue that it’s still the best ride on the Disney World campus.
Avatar Flight of Passage redefined immersive storytelling on theme park attractions.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge wouldn’t have been possible if not for what Imagineers learned during the development of Pandora.
This is the legacy attraction for the current generation of immersive theme park design.
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