Disney World Rides And Attractions

Disney World Rides And Attractions

Disney World Rides: A trip to Disney World is a notable thrill for kids and families. But creating a game plan to ease maximum fun for all can be less than thrilling for parents. This age-oriented guide to the best tours at Disney World will help you map a interesting, fun-filled vacation for all ages.

Per CNBC, Disneyland cost $17 million to build when it opened in 1955, comparable to around $163 million in 2019. But one of the original Disney park’s most beloved attractions cost approximately that much to build: Pirates of the Caribbean.

 Disney World Rides And Attractions

Rides At Disney World

Known more for its charm, whimsy, and cuddly intelligence than for white-knuckle thrill rides, Walt Disney World nevertheless offers some exciting, scream-worthy coasters, and other attractions. And the most breathtaking ride (as well as the ninth most thrilling ride) isn’t even at one of the four theme parks. Use this guide to demonstrate which rides are best for your thrill level—each one below is ranked on a thrill scale of 0-10, with 0 meaning “wimpy” and 10 meaning “yikes!”

At 120 feet and with speeds up to 60 mph, Summit Plummet is one of the world’s tallest, durablest water slides. Even though it is not a roller coaster and not even at one of the theme parks, this ride is, arguably, the single most sensational attractiveness at Disney World. Even the heartiest thrill-seekers will test their mettle on Blizzard Beach’s speed slide. Interestingly, Summitt Plummet may be Disney World’s most thrilling ride, but it’s not the most sensational water park attraction in the area.

  • Thrill scale: 9. Insane height and momentum for a water slide.
  • Height requirement: 48 inches
  • Location: Blizzard Beach Water Park
  • Thrill scale: Up to 7.5. The numerous G-forces can be unnerving; the simulated liftoff and flight are very realistic; the capsule is quite confining.
  • Height requirement: 44 inches
  • Location: Future World in Epcot

Best Rides At Disney World

Best Rides At Disney World

According to author Kendra Trahan’s book “Disneyland Detective: An Independent Guide to Discovering Disney’s Legend,” New Orleans Square, the area of Disneyland that houses the classic dark ride among swashbuckling pirates cost around $15 million, so that the ride itself could be built underground.

Pirates of the Caribbean also happens to be the last Disneyland ride that Walt Disney himself oversaw — he died in December 1966, and the attraction opened three months later, per Disneyland News.

Though Walt Disney certainly had his hand in plans for the parks on both coasts, according to Disneyland News, he only personally designed one attraction at the Anaheim park: Tom Sawyer Island, which takes guests into the trails, caves, and waterways said to have been traveled by Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn themselves.

The attraction opened on June 16, 1956, nearly a year after Disneyland’s opening on July 17, 1955.

The classic steel coaster in Disneyland’s Fantasyland area houses a hidden secret at the very top: a basketball court.

Although you won’t find any NBA players secretly shooting hoops up there, the Disney Channel program Walt Disney World Inside Out, which ran from 1994 to 1997, confirmed that there was in fact a basketball court smaller than a regulation half-court inside the attraction, which served as a resting space for climbers that used to periodically scale down the side of the Matterhorn mountain.

According to a Disney cast member interviewed on the show, Walt Disney himself wanted to put “the strangest thing” he could in that empty space, asking ride operators and mountain climbers what they’d like to see there. After noting they wanted to play basketball, a hoop was installed — but there isn’t confirmation that it still exists to this day.

Walt Disney World Rides

Okay, ranking posts are a bit silly. A ride ranking post is incredibly silly. Nonetheless, in this post I set out to rank the rides at Walt Disney World! There are some objective factors that play into my rankings—including ride length, ride capacity, and FastPass+ availability. But for the most part, this is a subjective matter.

The ride list I’m using is the Parkeology list without Wildlife Express at Animal Kingdom (a seasonal transport to Rafiki’s Planet Watch) and with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, the new ride in in Star Wars Land (actually Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge) opens. That leaves me with 50 rides to rank. We’ll next be updating around March 4, when Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens.

Disney World Magic Kingdom Rides

This list is broken down into four groups. We start the ranking with Walt Disney World rides I’d be totally fine with Disney getting rid of. Then we move on to the rides that aren’t pulling their weight. I’d ride these one last time, but I think they should probably be replaced.

At #35, we take a turn to the positive. These are rides I’ll ride if I can find time for them. I don’t want them gone, but I’m also not rushing to get on them. Then we close with the “must-ride” attractions at Walt Disney World and the iconic rides—the rides that stand above the rest.

If you’re interested in other rankings, check out our rankings of the Disney parks around the world and our rankings of the iconic castles of the Disney parks. We have a shorter list ranking the roller coasters of Walt Disney World, too.

We’ve also got a Walt Disney World ride construction and event calendar if you’d like to see more of what’s coming to the resort to shaking up the future rankings!

If you’re interested in reading more about rides from a planning perspective, we’ve got the following guides:

  • Guide to the Rides of Magic Kingdom

  • Guide to the Rides of Hollywood Studios

  • Guide to the Rides of Epcot

  • Guide to the Rides of Animal Kingdom

Finally, we don’t cover the water parks here. The water parks do have stellar attractions, and we recommend you read more about the rides of Blizzard Beach and the rides of Typhoon Lagoon.

How many rides are in Disney World?

46 rides

There were 46 rides running at Walt Disney World. Was it possible to hit them all — Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and the juggernaut Magic Kingdom — in a single day?

How many rides are at Walt Disney World in Florida?

It seemed like a real Mickey Mouse idea, but two men were actually able to go on every ride at Disney World in one day. Shane Lindsay and Ted Tamburo rode all 46 rides at all four parks at Disney World on Nov. 7 in a dizzying 17-hour span that required the two men in their 40s to run a total of 22 miles.

What rides are in Walt Disney World?

  1. Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. Courtesy of Disney.
  2. Haunted Mansion. Courtesy of Disney. …
  3. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Remi BENALI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images. …
  4. Soarin’ Around The World. Courtesy of Disney. …
  5. Space Mountain. …
  6. Toy Story Mania! …
  7. Splash Mountain. …
  8. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. …