Contribute to the Top 50 Disney Parks Attractions List!

[MW1218]

Hi everyone! I'm running a little project to find the top 50 Disney attractions of all time as chosen by Disney park fans! If you'd like to contribute, just send me a list of your top 25, ranked from best backward. #1 votes get 25 points, #25 votes get 1 point, and so on! It's fun and easy! More information here: http://mattsdreamdestinations.blogspot. ... isney.html

Come on guys, we can do better than this "definitive" list - http://www.buzzfeed.com/juliapugachevsk ... sney-world

If you want to PM me a list here, that's great also! The more people respond the more definitive the list is. I'm looking to have all contributions by 4/18/2014. I hope to see your lists soon!

[Amy]

Hi everyone! I'm running a little project to find the top 50 Disney attractions of all time as chosen by Disney park fans! If you'd like to contribute, just send me a list of your top 25, ranked from best backward. #1 votes get 25 points, #25 votes get 1 point, and so on! It's fun and easy! More information here: http://mattsdreamdestinations.blogspot. ... isney.html

Come on guys, we can do better than this "definitive" list - http://www.buzzfeed.com/juliapugachevsk ... sney-world

If you want to PM me a list here, that's great also! The more people respond the more definitive the list is. I'm looking to have all contributions by 4/18/2014. I hope to see your lists soon!

Sounds like a fun project ~ I will put my list together and get it to you before the deadline Much more fun than comparing and picking out ACA health plans which is the other list making venture this weekend

[MW1218]

I'm dealing with a bunch of "friends of friends" who have somehow made it possible for Stitch's Great Escape to be on the list! I need real Disney fans to send me their lists so that we can have a true list for fans, by fans.

[Amy]

I'm dealing with a bunch of "friends of friends" who have somehow made it possible for Stitch's Great Escape to be on the list! I need real Disney fans to send me their lists so that we can have a true list for fans, by fans.

I can't believe anyone would have Stitch's Great Escape anywhere near a "top" of anything list! I must get busy on my list!!

[cy1229]

I'm dealing with a bunch of "friends of friends" who have somehow made it possible for Stitch's Great Escape to be on the list! I need real Disney fans to send me their lists so that we can have a true list for fans, by fans.

I can't believe anyone would have Stitch's Great Escape anywhere near a "top" of anything list! I must get busy on my list!!

At the top of the first things WDW should get rid of...

[Amy]

I'm dealing with a bunch of "friends of friends" who have somehow made it possible for Stitch's Great Escape to be on the list! I need real Disney fans to send me their lists so that we can have a true list for fans, by fans.

I can't believe anyone would have Stitch's Great Escape anywhere near a "top" of anything list! I must get busy on my list!!

At the top of the first things WDW should get rid of...

Ah, yes, that one I could get on board with

[elizabethswann]

I'm dealing with a bunch of "friends of friends" who have somehow made it possible for Stitch's Great Escape to be on the list! I need real Disney fans to send me their lists so that we can have a true list for fans, by fans.

I only rode that once in my life during my first visit to WDW in 2012 and that's the ONLY time I will ever ride it. It shouldn't be on any top 5/10/25/50 list.

[MW1218]

Last chance! I'll take any lists through tomorrow. Send one in, and I'll x-post the results to this forum. It'll be fun! You can email me at matt.weiland@gmail.com, or PM me here! Send a list!

[Amy]

Last chance! I'll take any lists through tomorrow. Send one in, and I'll x-post the results to this forum. It'll be fun! You can email me at matt.weiland@gmail.com, or PM me here! Send a list!

Just got mine done ~ it was a bit harder than I thought, and like with everything else I managed to procrastinate as long as I could
As I mentioned in the email, I was going to send a list that contained all the Stitch attractions, and anything else involving him. I can only imagine what your face would have looked like when you scrolled down that list!
I'm looking forward to the list that all the lists generate Have you had many submissions?

[MW1218]

Only about 15 or 16. I thought there'd be much more interest

[Amy]

Only about 15 or 16. I thought there'd be much more interest

That's too bad. Did you put it out there on Facebook as well? Or maybe Twitter?

[MW1218]

The first chunk of the countdown is up! http://mattsdreamdestinations.blogspot. ... 50-46.html

Here is the list (but the website has pictures and a little bit about each attraction).

#50 (tie) - Cinderella Castle (Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom)
1971 - Present

Cinderella Castle is the centerpiece of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and thought to be one of the most photographed structures in the world. The castle was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces, including Fontainebleau, Versailles, and the châteaux of Chenonceau, Pierrefonds, Chambord and Chaumont (France), as well as Castle Neuschwanstein, (Bavaria), and Alcázar of Segovia, Castile and León (Spain)

Cinderella Castle is more than 100 feet (30 m) taller than Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, with forced perspective being used to make the castle appear even larger than it is. Despite the appearance of bricks on the exterior of the building, the inner structure is constructed of six hundred tons of steel-braced frame construction, and a 10-inch-thick (250 mm) reinforced concrete wall encircles the structure to its full height...without a single brick in place.

#50 (tie) - The American Adventure (Walt Disney World, Epcot)
1982- Present

The American Adventure is the host pavilion of the World Showcase portion of Epcot, and is built around a 1000+-seat theater that presents a 28-minute production, mixing Audio-Animatronics and film to show the history of the United States from the arrival of the pilgrims to the present.

The hosts, Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin, narrate the history of the country, including periods like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 (representing American industrialization), and the Great Depression. The presentation culminates with a musical film montage representing famous moments and people in American history from post-World War II to the present.

#48 - The Country Bear Jamboree (WDW Magic Kingdom & Disneyland)
WDW: 1971 - Present, Disneyland: 1972 - 2001

The Country Bear Jamboree is a 15-minute long stage show featuring Audio-Animatronic bears playing country songs and telling jokes.

The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt Disney to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt assigned imagineer Marc Davis to the project, and Davis, together with Al Bertino, came up with many bear groups, including bear marching bands, bear mariachi bands, and Dixieland bears.

One day Davis was working on drawings of the characters in his office when Walt Disney walked in and saw the drawings and laughed because he loved the characters. On his way out, Disney turned to Marc Davis and said good-bye, which he was known never to say. That was the last time Davis saw Disney, who died a few days later on December 15, 1966.

While plans for the show progressed, plans for the ski resort did not. Instead, the Imagineers working on the project decided to place the show in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in time for its grand opening in 1971. Over the years, the show was retooled to feature a special holiday production, and a summer vacation version.

#47 - Studio Backlot Tour (WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios)
1989-Present

Also known as the Backlot Tour featuring Catastrophe Canyon, this attraction was the centerpiece of Disney-MGM Studios when it opened in 1989. When the park first opened, it featured a tram ride through the Streets of New York/Streets of America before the tram stopped in Catastrophe Canyon, where a stunt crew is "filming" a fiery crash of an oil tanker and subsequent flood that the tram is just in time to see.

Due to the popularity of the park, and need for more space, NY Street was removed from the tour and made into a public walkway within the first few years of operation. Today, the Streets of New York house one of Walt Disney World's most popular seasonal attractions, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights during the Christmas season.

Today, the attraction has a walkthrough component before guests board the trams, where a handful of guests are selected to act out a scene on a storm-ridden boat, but the tram portion has been significantly reduced to make room for the Lights! Motors! Action! Stunt Show and the previously mentioned walkways.

#46 - The Matterhorn Bobsleds
1959-Present

The Matterhorn Bobsleds is a roller coaster attraction running on the first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster ever constructed and is therefore thus an ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) Coaster Landmark.

Located on the border between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it employs forced perspective to seem more impressively large. Throughout the day, climbers dressed in Swiss mountain-climbing garb may be seen scaling the peak, often accompanied by Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

No joke, there is a basketball court inside the Matterhorn for the climbers to spend their downtime.

[MW1218]

http://mattsdreamdestinations.blogspot. ... 45-41.html

#45 - Alice in Wonderland - (Disneyland)
1958-Present

30 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #3 (Karen W.)

Alice in Wonderland is a dark ride in Fantasyland at Disneyland. Based on the animated Disney adaptation of the same name, the attraction resides next to a second ride, the Mad Tea Party, based on a scene in that same adaptation.

The presence of two rides based on the film is unusual in that Walt Disney said he regretted making it because it lacked a connection to the audience's hearts.

In 1983, the ride was updated as part of an overall refurbishment of Fantasyland, as the Upside-Down and Oversized Rooms were eliminated and the Mad Hatter's unbirthday scene was moved to the very end of the ride. A new narration track by Kathryn Beaumont, the original voice of Alice, was recorded. To create more unified theming in Fantasyland, the Mad Tea Party attraction was relocated at the rear of Fantasyland to a spot adjacent to the Alice in Wonderland ride that same year. The Alice in Wonderland attraction, however, did not reopen until 1984, one year after the rest of the new Fantasyland opened.

#44 - Walt Disney World Monorail - (WDW)
1971 - Present

31 total points
Appeared on 3 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #5 (Amy G.)

The Walt Disney World Monorail System is a public transit system in operation at the Walt Disney World Resort.

The resort currently operates twelve Mark VI monorail trains on three lines of service, the express monorail from the Ticket & Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom, the resort monorail, servicing Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the Magic Kingdom, and the Contemporary Resort, and the Epcot monorail, bringing guests to and from the Ticket & Transportation Center to Epcot.

The monorail system uses a set of pre-recorded announcements to instruct and entertain passengers. Prior to departure when the pilot closes the doors, an announcement asks guests to "Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor manténganse alejado de las puertas." The phrase, so popular that it was placed on a t-shirt, was recorded by Jack Wagner, who was known as "the Voice of Disneyland." In 1988 following the construction of the Grand Floridian Resort stop, Kevin Miles replaced Jack Wagner as the voiceover. Wagner can still be heard today as the "Please stand clear of the doors ..." phrase remains with his voice, partly because it is installed on a separate system.

#43 - The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (DL)/Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid - (WDW)

2011 (DL), 2012 (WDW) - Present

32 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #9 (Linda C.)

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (titled Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid in Walt Disney World) is a classic Disney dark ride based on the film The Little Mermaid, located in Paradise Pier at Disney California Adventure and in Fantasyland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

At Disney California Adventure, the ride building is modeled after a 20th-century aquarium. The Palace of Fine Arts replica that served as an entrance for Golden Dreams was kept as the entrance for the new attraction. The queue passes beneath a series of canopies and into the building itself. The loading area features a large, hand-painted mural depicting the story's major characters.

The Magic Kingdom attraction has a different exterior and queue, featuring Prince Eric's castle and the surrounding cliffs. Guests enter through an underground cavern at low tide, and part of the queue includes an interactive scavenger hunt with Scuttle. The mural in the loading area is also substantially different from the one at California Adventure.

#42 - Fantasmic! (WDW-Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea)

1992 (DL), 1998 (WDW), 2011 (TDS) - Present

32 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #9 (Linda C.)

Fantasmic! is a nighttime show at Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World and Tokyo DisneySea in Tokyo Disney Resort. The show features fireworks, live actors, water effects, pyrotechnics, music, several boats, decorated rafts and projections onto large mist screens featuring reworked Disney animation to tell the story of Sorcerer Mickey's imagination.

While the characters featured both onstage and in the films projected onto the water screens differ in the different productions, all three versions of the show feature a finale where Mickey faces a giant version of Maleficent in her dragon form, eventually using the power of his imagination to defeat her.

#41 - Illuminations: Reflections of Earth (WDW- Epcot)

1999 - Present

33 total points
Appeared on 2 (!!!) of 16 Lists. Top vote: #3 (Matt W.)

IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth is a nighttime show performed nightly in and over the World Showcase Lagoon in Epcot at Walt Disney World.

The show utilizes fireworks, pyrotechnics, laser lights, fountains, and fire to create a visual production of the story of humankind. The show premiered on October 1, 1999 as IllumiNations 2000: Reflections of Earth and was so successful that after the millennium celebration ended, the 2000 was dropped from the name and the show was continued.

The centerpiece of the show is the Earth Globe, a 350,000 pound globe housed on a barge. The world's first spherical video display system, the globe is wrapped in 15,600 LED clusters, each consisting of 12 light-emitting diodes. The Globe contains 258 FlashWorks mini strobe lights (43 per petal), is controlled by 6 computer processors and is considered to be the most complicated piece of show action equipment ever made by Disney.

This is way low for Illuminations, guys.

[Amy]

Neat ~ looking forward to the rest of the results. I love all the little fun facts and tidbits of info you are including

[MW1218]

#40-Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade (WDW Magic Kingdom)
1996-Present

33 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #6 (Mike W.)

Mickey's Boo To You Halloween Parade is a special parade shown during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World in September and October.

The holiday-themed parade features a pre-parade ride by the Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and floats with various Disney characters including Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger and friends in Halloween costumes, and a live-action version of the three hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion attraction.

There is also a recreation of the dancing ghosts ballroom scene from the Haunted Mansion, a Gravedigger dance complete with shovels and a float carrying various villains from Disney animated films.

#39- Goofy's Barnstormer/The Great Goofini - (WDW Magic Kingdom)
1996-Present

33 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #3 (Amanda G.)

The Barnstormer is a junior roller coaster located in the Storybook Circus section of the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Barnstormer featuring the Great Goofini is the successor to The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm which closed in February 2011 as part of the Fantasyland expansion currently in progress.

The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm appeared to be an airplane school taught by Goofy. The story behind this ride included guests flying in Goofy's homemade airplane as it swooped, twisted and turned. It then went full speed into a barn, wherethree Audio-Animatronic chickens from Epcot's former World of Motion attraction appeared. A Hidden Mickey formed by a jumble of wires could be found in the attraction's queue near the "popcorn plants".

#38- Goofy's Sky School/Mulholland Madness - (Disney's California Adventure)
2001-Present

34 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #8 (Bill H.)

Goofy's Sky School (formerly Mulholland Madness) is a steel wild mouse roller coaster at the Paradise Pier section of Disney California Adventure.

Walt Disney Imagineers have designed the updated theme (changed from Mulholland Madness in 2011) around the Disney animated cartoon "Goofy's Glider". Riders board a plane and navigate a crash course of flying which features sharp turns, steep drops and sudden stops. Goofy is pictured on billboards throughout the ride teaching guests the step-by-step process of flying a plane.

The attraction's original name came from the famed Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, California, named after the famed engineer William Mulholland. Within the first month of its operation, three accidents occurred on the ride causing it to be shut for a short period of time for repairs.

#37- The Enchanted Tiki Room (WDW's Magic Kingdom, Disneyland)
1963 (Disneyland), 1971 (WDW) -Present

36 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #5 (TMBG12.)

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, commonly referred to as the Enchanted Tiki Room or the Tiki Room, is an Audio Animatronic production located in Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

The attraction marked an important milestone for Walt Disney Imagineering, as it was the first show to feature Audio Animatronic characters, in this case, a group of birds and Tiki gods performing a tropical serenade.

So innovative was the technology by 1963 standards that an Audio-Animatronics talking "barker" bird (Juan, cousin of José, one of the four main birds in the show) once located near the walkway to beckon visitors inside, caused enormous traffic jams of visitors trying to catch a glimpse of it.

In 1998, the Walt Disney World version was refurbished into The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management, and introduced a storyline where Iago from Aladdin and Zazu from The Lion King purchased the Tiki Room. After a fire in the building, the attraction was returned to its original production in 2011, albeit edited to a shorter running time.

#36- Horizons (Epcot)
1983-1999

36 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #1 (Matt W.)

Horizons was a dark ride featuring the Omnimover technology, also seen in the Haunted Mansion, to take guests past show scenes depicting visions of the future on land, in sea and in colonies in outer space.

Horizons was the only attraction in "Future World" to showcase all of Epcot's "Future World" elements: communication, community interaction, energy, transportation, anatomy, physiology, and imagination, to depict how humans might live in the 21st century.

Horizons began with a section entitled "Looking Back at Tomorrow," showcasing visions of the future as perceived from the era of Jules Verne through the 1950s. The ride then moved past two immense OMNIMAX screens (groundbreaking technology at the time the ride was built), showing modern technologies and ideas that could be used to build the world of tomorrow. Afterward came the main part of the ride: visions of futuristic life in cities, deserts, undersea, and even in space. The only Disney attraction at the time with multiple endings, Horizons then allowed riders to select which path they wanted to take back to the FuturePort: from the space station Brava Centauri (depicting space colonization), from the desert farm of Mesa Verde (depicting arid-zone agriculture), or from the Sea Castle research base (depicting ocean colonization).

As the final part of the ride, guests in their "omnimover" would push a button to select amongst the three choices and would be presented with a 31-second video sequence. A film would then be displayed to riders in each individual car.

If you chose any option other than space you were lame.