9. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Tokyo DisneySea)
Walt Disney’s 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a game-changer for the studio, and a major award-winner that helped Disney diversify into live action. It’s not surprising that the film (and the larger works of French author Jules Verne) have been a part of Disney Parks since (literally) day one, when a 20,000 Leagues walkthrough could be found in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Imagineers have made valiant attempts to include the steampunk-stylized world of Verne across parks in the past, but DisneySea is the place it all comes together.
Tokyo DisneySea’s 20,000 Leagues takes place in the lower level of the park’s Mysterious Island. Guests have to circle around a descending ramp to get to its waterside queue. From there, six riders load into “submarine pods” that look like they might make great survey vehicles dispatched from Nemo’s Nautilus. Two riders look through a large forward porthole, two look off the port bow, and two look off the starboard bow. Each pair is “armed” with a flashlight for exploring the depths.
The “secret” of Tokyo’s 20,000 Leagues is that despite appearances, it’s not really underwater at all. Rather, the enclosed vehicles are suspended from the ceiling, progressing through the showbuilding at a continuous speed. The illusion of being underwater is achieved through an ingenious Imagineering trick. The curved portholes guests gaze through are actually double-paned, with a thin layer of water between them. The water is “invisible” at load and unload, but when the subs “dive,” bubblers release air into the trapped water, giving the unmistakable impression that guests are indeed diving deep into the ocean.
The ride includes not just scenes remembered from Disney World’s Lost Legend: 20,000 Leagues: Submarine Voyage (like Coral Reefs, a Graveyard of Lost Ships, and an encounter with a Giant Squid) but a new fantasy finale that sees an underwater race of amphibious Atlanteans helpfully return our subs to the surface by harnessing the magic of crystals.
10. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye
Deep in the jungles of Disneyland’s Adventureland stands the lost temple of the forgotten god Mara, whose promise of supernatural gifts once drew followers from around the ancient world. The fable of Mara revolves around the temple’s Chamber of Destiny (where either earthly riches, future sight, or eternal youth are bestowed on travelers) and the seemingly simple challenge beyond: to avoid looking into the dark eyes of Mara. Now, guests arrive as 1930s would-be explorers eager to unlock Mara’s promises, even if it means risking the double-dealing deity’s wrath.
Premiering Disney’s EMV ride system – one of our Seven Modern Wonders of the Theme Park World – the Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure – Temple of the Forbidden Eye is one of the darkest, most cinematic, and most extravagant attractions of all time. It’s a unanimously-beloved “bucket list” ride; a crown jewel of the ambitious “Ride the Movies” era, and arguably, Disneyland’s signature attraction.
The ride begins in the Chamber of Destiny, where one of three doors unlocks. (A long-shuttered effect achieved the illusion of three ride paths physically, using a massive pivoting chamber. Today, riders always pass through the middle door, but projection effects scramble the “gift” while lighting, props, and projections adjust the Hall of Promise beyond – and Mara’s inevitable retraction of the assigned gift – to match.)
But much of Indiana Jones Adventure occurs in the legendary “Big Room” – a central chamber reigned over by a forty foot tall, eroded stone face of Mara, and a perilous suspension bridge dangling over a lava pit. Riders’ Jeeps duck into and out of caverns, triggering booby traps and being targeted by laser blasts from Mara’s flaming eye. It’s an absolutely insane, out-of-control, off-roading rally that’s big, loud, explosive, adventurous… and certainly, one of the best dark rides in the world.
Technically, Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure isn’t exactly one of a kind. After all, its layout is nearly identical to Animal Kingdom’s DINOSAUR (as seen in our HERE & THERE layout collection) and it has a sister ride at Tokyo DisneySea – Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull – that swaps South Asia for South America, fire for water, and Mara with a crystal skull. But the legend of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye makes the Disneyland original an undeniable masterwork of Imagineering.
11. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
If you asked guests exiting Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, they’d probably compare the brand new Star Wars ride to another, much older one: the Lost Legend: STAR TOURS. It’s true that both are screen-based simulators through the Star Wars universe, but on Smugglers Run, you’re not just on a “low budget airline” gone awry; you’re behind the controls of the fabled Millennium Falcon…! (Well, if you’re lucky.)
From a guest’s point of view, it begins in a pre-show, where riders are recruited to commandeer the iconic Millennium Falcon on a mission to steal precious coaxium from a First Order transport. They cross a “jet bridge” onto the parked Falcon where they’re organized into six-person crews (two pilots, two gunners, and two mechanics). When the time is right, the crew is led through the Falcon’s winding corridors and onto its iconic cockpit where the mission begins. When it concludes, guests exit back into the Falcon’s hallway, which – depending on guests’ performance – may be sparking and sizzling with blaster damage. Just like that, six people have taken the Falcon for a joyride while everyone else just sits and waits… right?
Of course, six riders at a time engaging in a five minute ride would leave Smugglers Run with the capacity equivalent of camel rides at the zoo. Which means that there’s some “Imagineering trickery” going on… Behind the scenes, it’s made possible by an ingeniously complex system that funnels guests down to increasingly more personal (but secretly more duplicated) experiences.
What’s actually happening is that one pre-show diverts guests into one of two separate but identical lounge-style waiting rooms. Those two waiting rooms each have two load corridors, leading to one of four totally independent ride systems. Each of those independent ride systems is comprised of not one, but seven individual, six-person pods attached to a motion base and wrapped in its own domed screen.
An entry door slides aside, as a new crew of six climbs into an empty pod. Once they’re situated and strapped in, the door slides shut and the turntable rotates all seven pods in unison. The “start-stop” rotation continues (undetectable by riders in the “show” phase) until the pod reaches the seventh position, aligning with an unload corridor (which looks like – but isn’t – the load corridor they entered through). That unload corridor is the one that adjusts its appearance to reflect guests performance as they head straight to a staircase that returns them to ground level to be funnel to the exit.
The system is ingenious. One preshow. Two waiting rooms. Four load corridors that lead to four turntables, each with seven pods. That means at that any given moment, Smugglers Run has four pods loading, four pods unloading, and 20 pods in various stages of the “show.” (If the load or unload process takes longer than expected, the system merely extends the “show” in the pre-unload position by having guests return to Batuu through a meteor field.) Just like that, Disney made an experience that feels intimate, but is still very high capacity.
That leaves just one layout-related issue: since the ride’s queue is made of ascending ramps up to the pre-show, guests who use wheelchairs can get to the Falcon without issue… but the turntable pods all empty into unload corridors that dead-end in stairs. So to make the ride accessible, each waiting area also connects to a pod that’s not on a turntable. That way, guests who need more time to load don’t halt the turntable’s rotation, and once they’re finished riding, they can exit to an elevator, returning them to ground level. Easy peasy!
12. Expedition Everest
It’s no surprise that the Modern Marvel: Expedition Everest is often regarded as the best “Disney Mountain.” Mixing the thrills of a roller coaster with the incredible realism and commitment to detail of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the ride feels like a masterclass in all that makes Disney Imagineering special.
After queuing in a Yeti Museum offering incontrovertible proof of the mythic mountain guardian’s existence, it’s no surprise what happens next: guests board a train bound for passage to the base of Everest. Unfortunately, it’s by way of a shortcut through the Forbidden Mountain of the Himalayas.
Everest is the dictionary definition of a custom coaster, sprawling and adapted to story beats. Riders first depart through terraced fields recalling the real farms of the Himalayan region. But as their train is drawn up through a temple perched on a rocky outcropping, all eyes are turned toward the candlelit murals of the Yeti reigning overhead, suggesting that a shortcut might not be worth the time saved.
The ride includes dead ends, switch tracks, and a finale encounter with a very big (and yes, very still) Audio-Animatronic Yeti.