Disney parks are family-friendly places of magic and whimsy. They are not, nor should they be, bastions of horror. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still find a good fright when you visit the Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World. Both have more than you might expect to find if you know where (and how) to look for them. From obvious spooky attractions to rides that can deliver unexpected dread for highly specific reasons, here are ten scary rides and attractions at Disney parks.
1. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The most obvious inclusion on this list is also the most correct. Hollywood Studios’ Tower of Terror is among Disney’s most perfectly themed attractions ever. Everything is perfect: the disquieting, atmospheric entrance, the Rod Serling pre-show, the sinister basement queue, the travel into the 5th dimension, and the drops in the dark. Everything about this ride is meant to scare you and it does. It’s why the original Tower of Terror is the pinnacle of Disney horror.
2. Haunted Mansion Pre-Show
The ride portion of the Haunted Mansion isn’t really that scary, but the pre-show features a genuinely frightening moment. In the Stretching Room the Ghost Host talks about trying to find a way out. He then mentions an easy option for anyone who would like to leave. It’s how he left this world: by hanging himself. We know because as lighting strikes he shows us his body dangling from the roof high above. It’s genuinely creepy and upsetting, especially for youngsters.
3. Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
If you’re afraid of roller coasters, all of Disney’s E-ticket thrill rides qualify as scary, but only Expedition Everest deserves a spot on this list because it is actually scary. Animal Kingdom’s beloved coaster sends you flying backwards in the dark as a mythical monster tears up the track. It’s meant to frighten and it does. And when Imagineers finally fix the ride’s giant broken Yeti animatronic it’s only going to be even scarier.
4. Pitch Black Space Mountain
For most people, the only thing genuinely scary about Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain is how much it hurts your back. (This is also true of Disneyland’s Matterhorn, which I also love.) But during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Disney turns off all the lights on the ride, sending you hurtling through the iconic attraction in total darkness. It rules. It’s also really freaking creepy as you get tossed around without knowing which way you’ll turn next.
5. Mission: SPACE
EPCOT is home to Mission: SPACE, a space shuttle simulator that uses a spinning centrifuge to recreate the speed and G-forces during a trip to outerspace. It’s so terrifying Walt Disney World had to split it in two. The Green half is less intense, but still too much for many. The Orange half is like being locked in a four-person coffin meant for two that Superman then throws at Mars. It’s a fast twisting nightmare. To give you an idea of what it’s like this ride inspired me to write about the time Cherry got trapped inside a refrigerator on Punky Brewster.
6 and 7. Blizzard Beach’s Summit Plummet and Chairlift
We’re leaving the theme parks and heading to a water park for this unexpected but absolutely appropriate double entry. Walt Disney World’s Blizzard Beach is home to the Summit Plummet, a 12-story, 360-foot-long straight drop slide that feels like it’s 9,000 feet tall when you’re standing at the top. It requires real guts to go down. It also requires real guts to reach the top via the water park’s ski lift. What’s scary about that? You know the feeling you can easily fall out of a ski lift? At a water park, you don’t have a bunch of snow below you to make you think you’d survive. And if you take the chairlift with a young child your heart will be in your throat the entire time.
8. Pixar Pal-A-Round (Swinging)
Open up Disneyland Resort’s website or app and you’ll see the Pixar Pal-A-Round serves as the symbol of Disney California Adventure’s symbol. What you won’t see is that the otherwise pleasant Ferris wheel is hiding a dark secret: it makes Sid’s room in Toy Story seem pleasant. If you opt for a swinging cabin you will experience a terror you didn’t know existed. Those belt-free cabins violently swing back and forth like they’re trying to launch you to the bottom of Paradise Bay faster than the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. It’s brutal. I know Disney veterans who cover the parks for a living who are too afraid to ride in one.
Don’t you worry. I have and will continue to mock them for this.
9. Goofy’s Sky School
No, seriously. Seriously. When is the last time you rode Goofy’s Sky School at DCA? The wild mouse coaster makes you feel like you’re going to topple over the side where you will fall to your death. (This video can’t fully capture the speed/whip of these turns.) And if you do it at night that sensation is even worse. What makes this extra scary is how unassuming it looks in its current form. (It was previously Mulholland Madness and theme to Mulholland Drive.) Goofy’s role in the ride, which doesn’t look intimidating in anyway, belies the horrors that await those who climb aboard this unexpected terror.
10. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Is this ride scary for adults? Not really/at all. But for youngsters who think they’re actually about to get hit by a train? Nothing terrified me more as a kid at Disney. It’s why Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is always and forever one of my favorites. It’s also easily the best Disney attraction where you die and go to Hell where you are judged for your sins, a concept that certainly qualifies as scary.
Honorable Mentions
Astro Orbiter – The elevator ride up to this elevated spinner at Magic Kingdom is scarier than the ride itself…until the end. When it slows to a stop it pulls some real G-forces that will leave you disoriented and unsttled.
(Getting Stuck On) “it’s a small world!” – I love this iconic ride, but being stuck listening to its song on a loop with no way of knowing when, or even if, it will ever end? That’s the third circle of actual Hell.
Mad Tea Party with a Maniac – Ever ride the Mad Tea Cups with a madman? If you have you know how horrifying it can be when they turn you roughly 800 mph. Also it’s me. I’m the madman.
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage – Are you claustrophobic? Germaphobic? Aquaphob? If you are all three this Disneyland ride will kill you.
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin – Disneyland recently made it so guests can’t spin their cars themselves. They had to because otherwise you walked off feeling like you got Dipped.
(Emirtus) Magic Kingdom’s ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter – This wonderful nightmare deserves a historical nod.
(Emirtus) Disneyland’s Snow White’s Scary Adventures – It was too pure for the modern world/scared the crap out of kids.
The post 10 Rides and Attractions at Disney Parks That Are Actually Scary appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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