Disney fans know there are some AMAZING rides spread among the 12 parks across the world. Some, like Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, are found at several parks. But what about the unique rides that can only be found at one location in the entire world?
Hold on to your Mickey Mouse hats and prepare for the ride of your life...
1. Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park
Love to go fast? Like, Lightning McQueen-level speedy? Then this is the ride for you. The wait might be long, but it's worth it — you and five other racers hop into a car and spin around Radiator Springs before racing another car side-by-side. Hold on tight, because you hit speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. If life is a highway, you'll want it to be THIS highway.
Check out the wheels and take a spin on the ride here.
2. Frozen Ever After at Epcot
One of Disney Parks' newest attractions (it opened earlier this summer), Frozen Ever After brings to life Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and your other favorite characters in Epcot's Norway Pavilion. If you've visited Epcot before and ridden the now-defunct Maelstrom attraction, this ride will feel familiar — it uses the same boats and track from that ride, which it replaced. So if you're looking to chill out in sunny Florida, just let it go and give this ride a spin!
Check out the ride and chill out here.
3. Mission: Space at Epcot
There really is no other ride like Mission: Space in ANY of Disney's parks across the globe — it truly is out of this world. The ride takes you on a mission to space in a centrifuge-like contraption that hits 2.5Gs (aka two-and-a-half times Earth's gravity) and thankfully there are sick bags on the ride in case you get queasy. For those of you looking for a *slightly* tamer version of the ride, ride the Green Team version where you don't spin, but still get some special effects!
Check out the cosmic experience here.
4. Test Track at Epcot
Let's get the most important thing out of the way: Plan to go really, REALLY fast when you ride Test Track. At nearly 65 mph, no other Disney ride in the world can quite compare. The ride starts of easy enough — you're put into a vehicle to test out the car, with the final assessment being a speed trial where, you guessed it, you go FAST. Be sure to buckle up!
Click here to check out this high-speed spectacle.
5. Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom
The most expensive roller coaster in the world at the time it was built (costing over $100 million), Expedition Everest is both REALLY fast (achieving speeds of 50 mph) and REALLY tall (just under 200 feet tall) — not to mention the fact you encounter a FRICKIN' YETI...and go BACKWARDS at one point. So yeah, for you thrill-seekers out there, a visit to Florida's Animal Kingdom is most definitely in order!
Click here to check out the roller coaster without having to worry about any Yeti encounters.
6. Ratatouille: The Adventure at Walt Disney Studios Park in France
Obviously there is not better place to build a Ratatouille ride than the Disneyland Resort in France. Aside from perfectly recreating Remy's Paris, the ride is also deliciously clever in how it uses trackless technology, large sets, and 3D projections to help shrink you down to the size of a rat.
You can sample the whole ride here!
7. Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland
At first glance this ride might appear to be just another version of the Haunted Mansion, but it's actually one of the most spectacular rides Disney has ever built. The ride tells the tale of Lord Henry Mystic and his mischievous pet monkey, Albert, who after opening an enchanted music box, brings a collection of artifacts to life. The ride uses amazing animatronics, trackless vehicles, and score by Danny Elfman to completely transport you to another world.
You can explore the whole manor here.
8. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars at Hong Kong Disneyland
Big Grizzly Mountain is sort of like if you took Big Thunder Mountain and put it on Grizzly Peak from California Adventure in Anaheim. Like Expedition Everest, you travel backwards — BACKWARDS — during the ride, so this ride is NOT for the faint of heart. Oh, and did we mention you encounter bears — and not of the Winnie the Pooh variety!
Click here to experience the attraction without having to deal with pesky grizzly bears.
9. Pooh's Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland
OK, so you're probably thinking, Isn't there a Winnie-the-Pooh ride at every Disneyland park? Yes, almost every park has a version of this ride, but none of them TOP this one. What makes this so unique is the fact that the ride is trackless (it was actually the first attraction in the world to do so!) which allows it to move around in every direction. Also, unlike most dark rides, the interior is bright and designed to be completely immersive — allowing you to look in every direction.
Take an adventure through the Hundred Acre Wood and check out the whole ride here!
10. Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek! at Tokyo Disneyland
While there is a version of a Monsters, Inc. ride at Disney California Adventure, it's nothing compared to this one. Unlike the one in California (which is a basic dark ride), this one is really interactive. Riders play "flashlight tag," which is basically pointing a flashlight around and if you hit the right spots it triggers things to pop and light up.
You can check out how the whole “flashlight tag” works here!
11. Sindbad's Storybook Voyage at Tokyo DisneySea
Unlike a lot of the newer rides being built, Sindbad's Storybook Voyage is an original ride not based on an existing movie. While it's original, it does take many cues from It's a Small World with it's design, animatronics, and, yes, even its own theme song (which is composed by Alan Menken).
Click here if you want to set sail on this attraction.
12. Journey to the Center of the Earth at Tokyo DisneySea
Radiator Springs Racers and Test Track both have similar ride tracks (AKA you go really, really fast — 47 mph at the DisneySea attraction) but Journey to the Center of the Earth might be the wildest incarnation yet. Based on Jules Verne's novel of the same name, the ride (very quickly) takes you through magical worlds — all while you descend deeper into a VOLCANO. Anyone else wanna head to Tokyo DisneySea?
Click here to check out the ride without having to worry about any dangerous volcanoes.
13. TRON Lightcycle Power Run at Shanghai Disneyland
Don't let the mouthful of a name for this ride confuse you — this attraction is FAST, achieving speeds of over 60 mph, the fastest to date of ANY Disney roller coaster. One of the newest Disney rides (it opened in June of 2016), riders find themselves on motorcycle-like cars that they straddle and lean forward to grab handle bars. It's about the closest you can be to experiencing the Grid for yourself. Buckle up!
Click here to check out the ride without having to travel all the way to Shanghai.
14. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland
To experience the coolest Pirates ride at any theme park, you're going to have to travel all the way to China — but don't worry, the trip will be well worth the booty it costs to get there. Not only does this ride feature a completely different plot than other iterations of the ride in Disney Parks, it uses breathtaking technology to make you feel like you've beneath the fathoms (don't worry, you don't actually need to hold your breath).
Click here to travel beneath the depths and see what this attraction is like.