As long-time Disney and Universal fans know all too well, even the most beloved rides don’t last forever. In fact, Imagineering afficianados may have already scoured our collection of Lost Legends – the definitive, full stories of forgotten fan favorites and closed classics from around the globe.
Those stories are evidence that, time and time again, sometimes attractions simply disappear. … Or do they? Over their decades of experience removing rides that guests have come to know and love, designers have gotten pretty good at leaving behind hints. Today, we’ll take a look at some of our favorite hidden “Easter egg” hints of forgotten rides scattered around Disney and Universal Parks inside the rides that replaced them… These clever remnants are like mini-memorials to the beloved rides of yesteryear… if you know where to look.
1. Salvaged shipwrecks
Tribute to: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1971 – 1998)
Found in: Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid (2012 – Today)
Location: Magic Kingdom
Given the blockbuster focus of modern Imagineering projects today, it might be unbelievable that one of Walt Disney World’s headlining attractions for decades was based on one of Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires adventure novels (and its 1954 film adaptation). Yet that Lost Legend: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is still remembered today as one of Magic Kingdom’s most classic attractions. The ride cleverly recast Disneyland’s Tomorrowland-set Submarine Voyage as a fantasy journey aboard Captain Nemo’s iconic Nautilus, culminating in a climactic encounter with a menacing giant squid.
The two submarine rides, however, were infamously expensive to operate relative to their low capacity, and both took up massive plots of land in their respective parks. That lead to both closing in the late ‘90s (victims of Disney’s infamous cost-cutting era). Though Disneyland’s was eventually revived (by way of Finding Nemo), Florida’s was eventually filled in and covered in favor of a Winnie the Pooh playground (to complement to nearby dark ride).
It took some time, but in 2012 the former 20,000 Leagues parcel was finally reappropriated into something equally grand: Magic Kingdom’s Wizarding-World-flavored New Fantasyland. There, a “neighborhood” dedicated to The Little Mermaid replaced much of the former lagoon, and observant visitors will notice that the weathervane atop the cartographer’s shop in Prince Eric’s seaside village is… yep… a giant squid.
It’s appropriate that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was replaced by Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid, an equally-aquatic dark ride through Ariel’s story. The elaborate queue carries guests behind churning, crystal-clear waterfalls and into wave-carved caverns scattered with the wreckage of ships that have smashed against the rocks.
There, among the ruins of sailing ships, one rock formation is shaped with an unexpected silhouette – the iconic profile of the Nautilus designed by Disney Legend Harper Goff! It’s an appropriately seaside memorial to the sunken ship (which really was sunk… just off the coast of Disney Cruise Line’s Castaway Cay).
2. A duel of magical creatures
Tribute to: Dueling Dragons (1999 – 2017)
Found in: Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (2019 – Today)
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure
When Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, the dazzling new park was meant to show that Universal could meet (and even exceed) Disney’s standards, crafting new, immersive, cinematic worlds beyond the beige soundstages of a “studio.” The park’s claim to fame was being “The World’s Most Technologically Advanced Theme Park,” a title earned in part thanks to a handful of cutting edge attractions with a high tech twist. One was Dueling Dragons, made up of two separate but interlocked inverted roller coasters that, when weighed and paced precisely, would appear to “duel” in a perfectly choreographed dance of near-miss moments.
In 2010, the Merlinwood neighborhood of the park’s Lost Continent was overtaken by the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Dueling Dragons was absorbed into the Potter mythos, renamed Dragon Challenge, and lightly re-themed to align with the Goblet of Fire’s Triwizard Tournament. Admittedly, the looping, bare, steel roller coasters didn’t make much sense looming over the otherwise brick-for-brick recreation of Hogsmeade, but how could Universal justify getting rid of a headlining coaster that must’ve cost $40 million or more?
During the summer of 2011, two serious accidents related to loose items and the ride’s “dueling” nature caused Universal to officially end the coasters’ battle for good, leaving the dragons to “chase” each other instead. Removing the ride’s signature gimmick didn’t help its popularity, and in 2017, the Dragons’ finally fell.
Much more appropriate for the Wizarding World, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure opened on the enormous plot of land in 2019, inviting guests along for a Care of Magical Creatures class gone awry. The elaborate queue through an old abbey on the edge of the Forbidden Forest includes Hagrid’s secret dragon-hatching nursery… and a mural of a fire and ice dragon at war as an ad for Hogwarts’ Dueling Club.
3. Arendelle animals
Tribute to: Maelstrom (1988 – 2014)
Found in: Frozen Ever After (2016 – Today)
Location: Epcot
When the Lost Legend: Maelstrom opened in 1988, it was billed as EPCOT Center’s first thrill ride. A “high seas adventure” through the legends, history, and industry of Norway, the travelogue attraction was an oddity thanks to the sponsoring country’s request that the ride contain “‘Vikings, a fishing village, polar bears, a fjord, an oil rig, and maybe a troll or two.” Despite the somewhat cheesy results, Maelstrom became a cult classic beloved by fans for its unrestrained weirdness – a rare remnant of “classic” EPCOT Center style.
In 2014, the ride was Frozen over thanks to Disney’s unstoppable franchise. A first major crack in the dam that had kept characters out of World Showcase, fans rallied against the controversial cartoon takeover, especially since technically, Frozen is set in the kingdom of Arendelle, which is certainly based on Scandanavian style, stories, and traditions, but not exactly realistic enough for the grounded “World Showcase.”
Though fans protested, the truth is that the resulting ride is, in its own right, a Modern Marvel: Frozen Ever After. Re-using Maelstrom’s ride system and layout, it manages to even include a fishing village, a fjord, and trolls! However, the ride’s finale now drops guests into the frigid bay of Arendelle rather than an oil rig. And it’s there that guests will find an Easter egg recalling Maelstrom: a group of North Atlantic puffins watching the kingdom’s fireworks from across the river, each reclaimed from the old attraction’s snowy fjord.
4. Handing over the deed
Tribute to: Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (1971 – 1998)
Found in: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1999 – Today)
Location: Magic Kingdom
For a generation of Disney Parks fans, the Lost Legend: Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is one of the defining dark rides of Fantasyland. And why not? Disneyland’s version is a rare opening day original, running since 1955 (with a facelift halfway through)! When the ride debuted alongside Magic Kingdom in 1971, it was even doubled in size with two separate tracks through the zany trip through the English countryside. It seems like Mr. Toad was a timeless ride that would last forever. But in the late ‘90s, a push for plush changed everything.
Eager to infuse merchandise-friendly characters throughout the parks, executives tasked Imagineers with developing attractions for the lucrative Winnie the Pooh, who (alongside his friends Piglet and Tigger) had returned to pop culture prevalence. Mr. Toad’s double-sized foundation in Florida’s Fantasyland offered enough room for a dark ride and an accompanying gift shop. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh opened in 1999.
Eagle-eyed guests will still spot a cameo of Mr. Toad, though. He can be seen in the ride’s second scene – Owl’s House – in a framed portrait on the wall, handing over the property deed to Owl. A second reference to the ride can be found in the Haunted Mansion’s pet cemetery, where a rusted statue of Mr. Toad doubles as a tombstone for both a beloved pet toad… and a beloved dark ride.
Mr. Toad wasn’t the only Disney classic to close in favor of Pooh… Read on…
5. Stuffed but not forgotten
Tribute to: Country Bear Jamboree (1972 – 2001)
Found in: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (2002 – Today)
Location: Disneyland
The story of the legendary Country Bears may not be the story you think. In fact, the Audio Animatronic hoedown wasn’t originally intended for a Disney Park at all – a tale we told in a standalone Modern Marvels: Country Bear Jamboree feature. But once it did make its debut at Magic Kingdom’s opening, the popular attraction was quickly copied back to Disneyland (where its capacity was doubled) – the first attraction to be cloned from Florida to California.
In the late ‘90s, the double-sized Country Bear Playhouse in Disneyland’s Critter Country proved too valuable a plot of land to ignore, and the merchandise-friendly citizens of the Hundred Acre Wood took up residence in a West Coast version of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Unfortunately, Disneyland’s version of the ride is brief and quite unimpressive – a product of the famous cost-cutting of the era.
In any case, guests can catch a charming call-out to the former inhabitants just after exiting the “Heffalumps and Woozles” dream sequence by turning around and looking at the wall overhead. There, the stuffed heads of the Country Bear’s narrators, Buff the bison, Max the deer, and Melvin the moose are mounted like hunting trophies in the dark. Don’t worry, it’s not a gruesome and violent end for the animals… after all, they were mounted like trophies even during the show’s run, and talked and sang anyway.
Though both Walt Disney World and Disneyland both ended up with Winnie the Pooh rides (and their associated gift shops), Imagineers managed to save both Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Country Bear Jamboree… even if they only exist on opposite coasts. Speaking of Pooh and friends…
6. Temple of the Forgotten Lot
Tribute to: The Eeyore parking lot (1955 – 1994)
Found in: Indiana Jones Adventure (1995 – Today)
Location: Disneyland
Believe it or not, there was a time when Disneyland’s only neighbor was its own massive, blacktop parking lot. Through the years, regions of the parking lot were marked and denoted by character names and numbers as a helpful way for guests to remember their car’s location at the end of a long day. One premium piece of parking real estate was the Eeyore lot, located just west of Disneyland’s entrance… A very lucky place to snag a spot.
But in 1995, Disneyland received perhaps its biggest E-Ticket yet. A pinnacle of Michael Eisner’s fabled “Ride the Movies” era, the Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure took up residence in the park. Er… outside of the park. Naturally, the tiny, land-locked park encircled by the Disneyland Railroad didn’t have any room for the massive soundstage the ride takes place in, so like many Disneyland favorites, the enormous showbuilding is actually located outside the park’s protective earthen “berm”… on the former Eeyore parking lot!
Famously, queuing guests can spot an old “Eeyore” sign salvaged from the parking lot high in the scaffolds in the vaulted altar pre-show room, above and behind the rattling projector playing the preshow. While most guests are observing the three ancient tablets foretelling the three Gifts of Mara or studying the 1930s newsreels of recounting the temple’s legends, eagle-eyed fans (or at least, those who ask a Cast Member to use their handy flashlights) can see Eeyore presiding over it all. Though Eeyore’s section was repurposed in 1994, the rest of Disneyland’s parking lot followed soon after…
7. Celebrity Detection Agency
Tribute to: Superstar Limo (2001 – 2002)
Found in: Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue (2005 – Today)
Location: Disney California Adventure
The rest of Disneyland’s parking lot parked its last car in January 1998. The enormous rectangular plot would be repurposed as a new second theme park nestled up against Disneyland. Unfortunately for guests, that second park was the Declassified Disaster: Disney’s California Adventure. When the park opened in 2001, it was instantly derided by Disneyland’s local (and vocal) fans. And why not? One of three terribly underbuilt and creatively starved parks built in the era, it was short on rides, lacked immersion, and was happy to spoof modern California with a “brash, MTV attitude.”
Symptomatic of the park’s issues was its only dark ride – itself a Declassified Disaster: Superstar Limo. The dark ride carried guests through day-glo, exaggerated, comic stylized scenes depicting Los Angeles’ neighborhoods, packed with in-jokes, 1990s pop culture references, and caricatured figures of “C-List” stars like Regis Philbin, Whoopi Goldberg, and Joan Rivers. Most memorable were figures of Drew Carey (flicking out a handful of tourist maps to the homes of the stars) and a kicking Jackie Chan.
The ill-fated attraction closed only a year after the park opened. California Adventure was better off with no dark ride than with Superstar Limo. In 2005, an effort to undo the cost-cutting of the past repurposed the ride as a journey through the story of Monsters Inc. – a cute enough aside in a park that had far too little for families. On the new ride, the limos became taxis through Monstropolis. As in the film, Boo’s visit signals the arrival of the Child Detection Agency, with CDA agents clad in their familiar yellow haz-mat suits. Cleverly, those suits are really concealing the re-use of Superstar Limo’s “celebrities,” made most obvious when one flicks out a handful of “WANTED” posters while another is permanently frozen mid-kick.
8. Supercharged
Tribute to: Earthquake (1990 – 2007) and Disaster (2008 – 2015)
Found in: Fast & Furious: Supercharged (2018 – Today)
Location: Universal Studios Florida
When Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990, it offered a number of larger-than-life, massively-scaled attractions that had been plucked and expanded from creature feature encounters on Hollywood’s tram-led Studio Tour. Earthquake invited guests into a multi-part special effects experience culminating in a “harrowing” journey into a San Francisco subway where special effects brought to life a devastating earthquake.
By the early 2000s, the self-serious display wasn’t just showing its age; it was also out-of-sync with real effects, which had mostly gone digital. The answer was a smart swap to Disaster!: A Major Motion Picture Starring You, a tongue-in-cheek update recruiting guests as “stars” in a fake Dwayne Johnson film called “Mutha Nature.” The finale subway earthquake became a chance for all the extras (that’s us) to pile in and make our mark in the outrageously over-the-top, cheesy special effects action flick, with a “movie trailer” inserting the humorous footage amid pre-filmed clips.
Disaster finally bit the dust in 2015, but Dwayne Johnson didn’t leave the building. Instead, the tradition of copying and expanding Hollywood Studio Tour segments into full-fledged attractions continued with Fast & Furious: Supercharged.
Just before boarding the ride’s infamous “party buses,” guests pass by an office with three increasingly more modern power switches. The initials and dates on each refer to the openings of Earthquake, Disaster!, and Fast & Furious, with the former two attractions switched “off” and Fast & Furious “on.” If only it were that easy… After all, Fast & Furious has been the subject of scathing reviews from both fans and the general public, and might not be “on” for much longer.
9. Microscopes in space
Tribute to: Adventure Thru Inner Space (1967 – 1985)
Found in: Star Tours (1987 – Today)
Location: Disneyland
When Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland opened in 1967, it was a radical redesign that cemented the land’s most definitive form: a Space Age inspired utopia of white spires, upswept roofs, and gentle curves supporting a “World on the Move” brought to life by swirling rockets, churning subs, kinetic sculptures, and the Lost Legend: The Peoplemover. But even then, the land’s highlight was the Lost Legend: Adventure Thru Inner Space.
The first ever ride to use Disney’s fabled Omnimover ride system, Adventure Thru Inner Space invited guests into a curving queue leading to the base of the Mighty Monsanto Microscope where a chain of Omnimovers would advance into the microscope’s base… then appear to emerge out of the other end barely an inch tall. It was a brilliant and iconic set-up for one of Disney’s first rides that “shrink” guests to an infinitesimally small stature to view the inner structures of atoms.
Eventually, Inner Space was replaced by the original STAR TOURS… but its DNA lived on. In fact, one of the most recognizable parts of Inner Space – its curving queue – remained in place for Star Tours, merely swapping the Microscope for the parked StarSpeeder upon which C-3PO is running diagnostics. Meanwhile, on the ride, the Mighty Microscope was snuck into the ride film just as guests crashed out of the space port… It was even added to one of the three endings in the upgraded Star Tours: The Adventures Continue three decades later!
It’s interesting to consider that the Mighty Microscope’s “cameo” appearance (and the iconic curving queue) were exported to subsequent installations of Star Tours and its successor as they spread to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. That means that, although Adventure Thru Inner Space ever only existed at Disneyland, its “DNA” lives on not just in California, but in Florida, Japan, and France as well! And speaking of Star Tours…
10. Career-changing Droid
Tribute to: Star Tours (1989 – 2010)
Found in: Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (2011 – Today) and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (2019 – Today)
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
In the pantheon of classic Disney attractions, the original STAR TOURS is truly legendary. It’s remembered as the ride that changed Disney Parks forever, birthing the Age of the Simulator and the “Ride the Movies” era in one, and proving that Disneyland could grow and adapt to changing pop culture, even if it meant showcasing characters and stories that were not Disney stories!
It also introduced one of the most beloved “original” parks characters ever, R-3X, a hapless pilot Droid (an in-cabin Audio-Animatronics figure voiced by Paul Ruebens of “Pee-Wee Herman” fame) who’s “still getting used to his programming.” With “Captain Rex” at the controls for his first ever solo flight, our routine trip to Endor became a mad dash through the galaxy aboard the Lost Legend: Star Tours. Beginning in 2010, the four Star Tours clones around the world (California, Florida, Tokyo, and Paris) were upgraded to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, bringing 3D, 4K visuals and a randomizer capable of sending riders to different planets for different character encounters each time.
The “new” Star Tours, however, was narratively a prequel to the original taking place years before. Since we’d been aboard Captain Rex’s first flight in a Starspeeder 3000, he couldn’t possibly be aboard the Starspeeder 1000 of the prequel ride.
Though Imagineering snagged a worthy replacement (C-3PO!), fans still loved and missed Rex… Thankfully, he made a cameo even in the updated version, where Rex can be found sparking and sputtering garbled lines (of his Star Tours dialogue!) in the Starport’s Droid Customs, packaged and awaiting return to a manufacturer for reprogramming.
Apparently, the reprogramming worked. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened, it presented yet another slice of time within the Star Wars story set a few decades after Star Tours and on the remote, impoverished planet of Batuu. There, in Oga’s Cantina bar, DJ R-3X is an attraction unto himself, playing remixed and reimagined music that’s a much needed injection of Star Wars sounds in the otherwise grounded land.
11. The golden monkey
Tribute to: Kongfrontation (1990 – 2003)
Found in: Revenge of the Mummy (2004 – Today)
Location: Universal Studios Florida
Like Earthquake, another of Universal Studios Florida’s headlining attractions was the Lost Legend: Kongfrontation. Expanding on the single scene along Hollywood Studio Tour, the Floridian version had guests climb aboard Roosevelt Island aerial trams in an evacuation of New York. Naturally, the raging ape intervened in elaborate (and harrowing) encounters. Kongfrontation felt like a timeless, evergreen classic… but with Universal’s (and recently, Disney’s) constant push to include blockbuster properties at any cost, no ride really lasts forever.
Kong was quelled in 2003. The record-breaking showbuilding the ride had taken place in was large enough for something equally ambitious: the Modern Marvel: Revenge of the Mummy. The incredible dark ride / coaster combo has (perhaps surprisingly) outlasted the classic it replaced by several years and become a fan favorite in its own right. Of course, as one of the first of Universal’s classics to be replaced, nostalgia was high when Kong breathed his last banana breath.
As a last testament to the building’s original occupant, riders who glance around the ride’s Treasure Chamber full of glisteng golden chamber of piles treasures and gems might notice a golden statue of Kong beating his chest. The monkey’s momento is barely a foot tall, so look toward the front of the room on the left. (In Hollywood, the treasure room contains an even harder to spot golden E.T. since the ride there replaced E.T. Adventure.)
12. Tarzan’s tunes
Tribute to: Swiss Family Treehouse (1962 – 1999)
Found in: Tarzan’s Treehouse (1999 – Today)
Location: Disneyland
An absolute staple of Adventurelands around the globe, the Swiss Family Treehouse walkthrough attractions are gentle, classic, and beloved attractions. It’s probably likely that, between California, Florida, Japan, and France, more people have climbed through the Robinson family’s salvaged shipwreck treehouse than have seen the 1960 Disney film that it’s based on.
In the mid-’90s, the infamous character infusion that spread through Disney Parks struck again. Imagineers recount that Disneyland’s tree was in need of major repairs that it was unlikely to receive without a marketable overlay. Thankfully, 1999’s Tarzan began with a late-1800s Victorian British couple becoming shipwrecked and turning the remains into a treehouse.
Voila! After a brief closure, the treehouse opened anew as Tarzan’s Treehouse, gaining a British flag, some static figures of Tarzan, Jane, and the leopard Sabor, and the musical cues of Phil Collins’ recognizable score.
Fans of the Swiss Family can still find at least one direct reference to the treehouse’s original inhabitants: in the walkthrough’s final stop – the outdoor research lab of Professor Porter – a phonograph plays the iconic “Swisskapolka” tune from the original. (When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, it featured Tarzan’s Treehouse from day one, but the original Swiss Family lives on in Orlando, Tokyo, and Paris, where the “Swisskapolka” is more than just a cameo.)
13. An accidental artifact
Tribute to: Poseidon’s Fury (1999 – 2001)
Found in: Poseidon’s Fury (2001 – Today)
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure
Another of Islands of Adventure’s technological marvels, Poseidon’s Fury opened in 1999 in the brand new park’s mythological Lost Continent. Even then, the attraction’s most memorable feature may have been its exterior: a towering, crumbling temple reigned over by a fallen statue of the sinister, serpentine god Poseidon. Inside, a narrated walkthrough led by an old man named “The Keeper” carried guests deep into the ruins and, ultimately, to Atlantis where the evil merman god battled his righteous brother Zeus in a climactic special effects extravaganza.
Despite being one of the park’s most marketed features pre-opening, guests were confused and underwhelmed by Poseidon’s Fury, leading to its quick closure after just a few years. We chronicled the convoluted tale of the mythical mess in Declassified Disasters: Poseidon’s Fury, but essentially, a prominent attraction designer hastily and inexpensively reimagined the attraction. Controversially, Poseidon became the good guy, battling an evil high priest. Both were recast as human actors rather than the CGI characters of old, while existing special effects were repurposed to serve a new story.
While it probably wasn’t Universal’s intention to pay homage to the original version of the attraction, possibly the largest Easter egg in any theme park is that fallen statue of Poseidon himself – the same one whose arm and Trident serve as the area’s entry gate. Poseidon’s stone head resides in a spring nearby… and it’s the short-lived, long-forgotten, animated, evil CGI merman, not the heroic, bearded Poseidon who now inhabits the attraction within. Oops!
14. The warehouse prison powerplant hotel
Tribute to: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (2004 – 2017)
Found in: Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! (2017 – Today)
Location: Disney California Adventure
When rumors arose in 2016 that Disney was considering overlaying Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy superhero team onto California Adventure’s existing Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, it seemed like a rumor so outrageous, it must’ve been a prank. How could that “irreverent” sci-fi superhero team and their ‘60s and ‘70s soundtrack ever overtake the art deco Hollywood Tower Hotel and its timeless Californian legend, seemingly custom-made for a park celebrating stories of the Golden State? But just after New Year in 2017, the E-Ticket classic gained its own Lost Legend: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror feature.
The replacement, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! will probably always be a controversial ride. Within, guests tour through the intergalactic museum of the enigmatic “Collector” (briefly introduced in the 2014 film) who has amassed oddities and organisms from across the cosmos. Many of the most recognizable are iconic weapons or plot macguffins from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Elsewhere, several of the museum’s artifacts will be familiar to Imagineering fans (like the original Abominable Snowman from the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and even Figment from the Lost Legend: Journey into Imagination).
But for those who wish they could extend their stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, the Collector’s own office (successor to the Hotel’s library) contains a hidden reference to the Twilight Zone ride: a regal “HTH” luggage tag, and an iconic red Bellhop hat in a display case. Can it just be canon that the Collector overtook the Hollywood Tower Hotel, stripped out its insides, repurposed its rooms as cells, and bolted satellite dishes to the exterior? It would probably make more sense than the current non-explanation for why a “warehouse prison power plant” looms over a 1920s Buena Vista Street!
15. Skyway attack!
Tribute to: The Skyway
Found in: Matterhorn Bobsleds
Location: Disneyland
Opened in 1956, Disneyland’s Lost Legend: The Skyway wasn’t just a convenient way to float between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland; it was a cutting-edge transportation system imagined as a utopian solution to moving people. Just a few years after its debut, a massive expansion to the park added three attractions at once, each grand enough to warrant the introduction of a new, expensive, and limited voucher to ride: an E-Ticket. And while the Skyway could glide alongside the Monorail and over the Submarine Voyage, the third – the Matterhorn Bobsleds – stood right in its way.
Disney’s imaginative solution? To have the Skyway float right through the mountain’s dark, cavernous interior! In 1978 – coinciding with the Matterhorn’s “move” to Fantasyland – its hollow insides were filled with icy caves… home to the reclusive and mysterious Abominable Snowman. Though Skyway riders would never see the mountain guardian, they could hear his howls as they drifted through the glittering caverns within.
The Skyway closed in 1994 and the “holes” in the Matterhorn were filled. But in a 2015 refurbishment for the park’s 60th anniversary, new scenes were added to the Matterhorn. Today, bobsled riders careen through a cavern apparently being used by the yeti to hoarde a stash of items he’s collected from the mountain’s climbers… including a full Skyway bucket, mangled and torn right from the cable all those years ago!
16. Shrunken head singalongs
Tribute to: Jaws (1990 – 2012)
Found in: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley (2010 – Today)
Location: Universal Studios Florida
Yet another of Universal’s classic creature feature rides to end its run, Jaws was a true fan favorite; a demented take on Disney’s Jungle Cruise with authentically nerve-wracking moments waiting for an Audio Animatronic shark to erupt from the still waters of Amity. Naturally, it, too, earned it own Lost Legends: Jaws feature. Of course, also like the Jungle Cruise, Jaws took up a relatively large plot of land – and in a part of the park that lent itself to a sought-after expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Today, the space Jaws once occupied manages to fit Universal Studios’ London area with Kings Cross Station, as well as Diagon Alley. Between the two, there are many references to Jaws like a telescope in Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment (said to be made of material salvaged from the queue) or a shark’s jawbone in the Apothecary window.
However, our favorites are the more overt references. In the window of London’s record shop is a vinyl called “Here’s to Swimmin’ with Bow-Legged Women” by The Quint Twins (a reference to the toast between Quint and Chief Brody in Jaws) and the famous shrunken heads in Knockturn Alley… Awakened with a spell, they just might sing “Show Me the Way to go Home,” a song memorably sung by Brody, Quint, and Hooper while (unbeknownst to them) the shark is ramming their boat.
