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It’s been a while since I wrote a Top 5 post, and I’m excited about this one! I’m taking a look at my favourite Top 5 Unique Disney Parks Attractions, and my meaning of unique here is they’re only found in one Disney park. There may be other rides with similar technology, ride systems, or stories, but there are no duplicates of the attraction found anywhere around the world.
Two common reasons why I love each of these attractions are they’re super immersive, and they have fantastic musical scores. I didn’t list these two reasons under each individual attraction, except for listing a few famous composers who specifically worked on them.
Radiator Springs Racers: Disney California Adventure
Radiator Springs Racers opened with the rest of Cars Land on June 15, 2012. The entrance to this ride is at the back of the land near Stanley’s Oasis. In terms of acreage, this is the largest attraction at the Disneyland Resort covering six acres. The technology used is a later generation version of Test Track in Epcot, though with entirely different theming. I love the mixture of a fun dark ride with the thrill of racing through the cliffs of Ornament Valley. Guests board the cars, which come in eight different colours each with their own personality, at the Comfy Caverns Motor Court and set out for an adventure through Radiator Springs in Carburetor County. As the cars get ready to race, they will either receive a tire change at Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, or a fresh coat of paint at Ramone’s House of Body Art. After the epic race, guests end with a drive through Taillight Caverns.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle For the Sunken Treasure: Shanghai Disneyland
Despite a version of the classic Pirates of the Caribbean attraction being found at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland, the one at Shanghai Disneyland is definitely a different experience. It was an opening day attraction at Shanghai Disneyland on June 16, 2016 and is located in Treasure Cove. This boat ride features new technology which uses magnetic power to allow the boats to move in all directions, including sideways and backwards. Pirates of the Caribbean makes use of both screen technology and audio animatronics, and the visual effects were done by Lucasfilm’s ILM. Since this was the only Pirates ride to be built after the movies were made, it follows a storyline more similar to the theme of the movies than the original attraction. The story takes guests on a battle between the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl. After boarding at an abandoned Royal Navy fortress, the boats journey through mysterious places such as the Caves of Misfortune and the Graveyard of Lost Ships. There are quite a few nods to the original attraction, much to the delight of this major classic attractions fan, and there’s even a quick service restaurant located along the shore called Barbossa’s Bounty, a not-quite-as-fancy version of the Blue Bayou.
Mystic Manor: Hong Kong Disneyland
Described by some as Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of the Haunted Mansion, I think this ride is completely different and has its own unique experience, with only a few nods to the original Haunted Mansion. Mystic Manor opened with Mystic Point on May 17, 2013. The backstory is that Lord Henry Mystic rescued his pet monkey, Albert, from a spider web in the jungles and decided to stay there, building his home to house his large collection of artifacts and antiques. Guests have been invited to visit his manor to see all these treasures from around the world, but must not touch an enchanted music box. Albert the monkey touches the music box, which results in bringing all of the treasures to life. Mystic Manor uses a trackless ride system and features music by composer Danny Elfman (whose portrait can be seen in the queue.) Lord Mystic belonged to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (SEA); another attraction themed to this secret society is Tokyo DisneySea’s Tower of Terror. The showbuilding of the ride itself, built in the Queen Anne architecture style, was based on the now-demolished Bradbury Mansion which used to be in LA’s Bunker Hill.
Avatar Flight of Passage: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
The highly anticipated land of Pandora – the World of Avatar opened on May 27, 2017 which included the 3D flight simulator ride Avatar Flight of Passage. The entire land is based on the 2009 film created by James Cameron. You don’t need to be a fan of the film, or even have seen it, to enjoy the attraction. The attraction has an elaborate backstory as it’s set within the remains of a former Resources Development Administration facility where Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE) has reactivated the avatar program. Guests visit the ACE lab and are linked to an avatar before boarding their banshee to fly across the Valley of Mo’ara. ACE is trying to restore the banshee population after the mining company destroyed their habitat. Walt Disney Imagineering teamed up with Lightstorm Entertainment, a production company made by James Cameron, to create all new footage for the attraction.
Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage: Tokyo DisneySea
An original version of this attraction called Sindbad’s Seven Voyages opened with the rest of Tokyo DisneySea on September 4, 2001 in Arabian Coast. This version of the boat ride was much darker and scarier than what’s currently there and wasn’t very popular. The ride underwent some changes in 2007, including changing the name to Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage. The character of Sindbad now appears much younger and he was given an animal sidekick, Chandu the tiger. Chandu is my absolute favourite Disney parks character! He’s so adorable. Another favourite part of this attraction was the new song written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater called “Compass of Your Heart” which is featured all throughout the journey. The original attraction had music by Buddy Baker who’d been composing for Disney since the 1950s. Sindbad still goes on seven voyages and paintings in the queue preview where he’ll be travelling to including Mermaid Rocks, Rukh Island, and the Land of the Monkeys (which smells like bananas!)
Are any of these attractions your favourite? What other unique Disney parks attractions do you like?
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Love this list! The only one of these I’ve ridden is Flight of Passage, but this definitely made me want to visit all the parks around the world even more than I already did! 🙂
Love Flight of Passage and the rest of your list are bucket list attractions for me. Especially Mystic Manor and Shanghai’s Pirates.
Gosh this really makes me want to visit the international parks…like NOW! So fun… thanks for sharing!
Gosh this really makes me want to visit the international parks…like NOW! So fun… thanks for sharing!
When can we go????