Just like you eat first with your eyes, Disney understands that you “ride” an attraction in your mind before you ever board the ride cart. The building that houses the attraction is as important as what’s inside. When you see something majestic off in the distance, you get in the right mood for your upcoming experience. It’s why Imagineers have constructed some of the most spectacular architectural structures in the world. Here are the nine coolest Disney show buildings in the United States.
Indiana Jones Adventure
Image: DisneyThe newer attractions at Disney theme parks have an advantage over older ones. The explanation for why is that Imagineers can draw on the history of previous projects. They also know what’s been done before and feel the need to top everything that came before.
I’m baking this knowledge into the rankings, giving more deference to the older structures. They’ve had a deeper impact in most instances. As such, you won’t see anything from Pandora – The World of Avatar or Toy Story Land here. I also didn’t credit Radiator Springs Racers for the mountain visage surrounding it, which is why it narrowly misses nomination. And I’m primarily evaluating exteriors, the parts of the ride that you can see from across the park.
Indiana Jones Adventure merits selection due to its brilliantly thematic style. In the world of Indiana Jones, any ominous pyramid is the likely home to some dangerous curse and some long-forgotten treasure, too. Imagineers get this one right. The show building is an ominous structure, with a pair of snake statues posing in permanent hisses.
Despite the fact that the attraction is at Disneyland, Imagineers have disguised the facility by surrounding it with lush forest elements. You’ll feel the urge to swing a machete at the overgrowths. Then, you walk toward the dilapidated facility, one that wouldn’t pass Walt Disney’s standards due to its authenticity. He famously didn’t want Haunted Mansion to look ugly from a distance. Indiana Jones Adventure gets to slide since it adds to the mystique. All in all, it’s thematically perfect for one of Indy’s swashbuckling adventures.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Image: DisneySometimes, a show building doesn’t need size or scope to sell a premise. At Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Disney mimicked something familiar to set the appropriate tone for the ride. The exterior of this building looks a lot like a university, the stateliest of American architectural facilities.
The colorful brick walls and the family crest exemplify that sort of heritage mixed with privilege. The grandiose display of a three-dimensional Mr. Toad deftly sets the tone for the wild ride inside. The entire area is a stately manor, but Imagineers really only needed the space directly above the entrance to paint a perfect picture for theme park tourists.
Splash Mountain
Image: DisneyThe visual of Splash Mountain sells the entire concept. When you see that waterfall plunge off in the distance, you know what it means. You’re going to board a raft, and then you’re going to ride it downward on a wave of running water. At the end, you’re going to get very, very wet. Somehow, Disney promises an entire ride experience through a simple set of rocks, grass, and water. It’s an elegant exercise in minimalism and the best possibility marketing for the ultimate splash.
Haunted Mansion
Image: DisneyAs discussed, Disney had a much different plan for Haunted Mansion. Early workers at WED Enterprises pitched a disheveled mansion that would hint at horrors within. Uncle Walt would have no part of that idea. He’d spent a lot of money on the planned New Orleans Square expansion and wanted the first Disneyland expansion to look pristine.
Whereas Indiana Jones Adventure looks abandoned, Haunted Mansion is somehow inviting due to its gothic architecture. Imagineers studied famously spooky mansions across America, particularly the Shipley-Lydecker House in Baltimore and the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. The giant Doric columns are stately rather than scary, an intentional choice to entice guests to set aside their fears and enter the Haunted Mansion.
Space Mountain
Image: DisneyArguably the most famous building at Magic Kingdom is the one that houses Space Mountain. One of the first names for this attraction was Space Port. While the name didn’t hold, that premise is the basis for the structure. From a distance, it’s intended to resemble an interstellar travel destination, a landing spot for galactic explorers. And while I have no proof of this, as a kid, I always thought it looked like a spaceship capable of spinning out of its foundation and soaring into space, a nice touch for a quasi-futuristic facility.
The glossy metallic design blends perfectly with the Tomorrowland setting at Magic Kingdom. The facility is a recognizable part of the Walt Disney World skyline and a central part of Theme Park View rooms at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. While it’s not THE best show building in Orlando, it’s certainly one of the most memorable…and for the longest amount of time.
Expedition Everest
Image: DisneyThe “new” kid on the block at Walt Disney World, at least in this list, is Expedition Everest. Whereas I dinged Radiator Springs Racers for only partially using the available space of the surrounding mountains, this roller coaster takes guests up an artificial mountain. The instant they see the light at the top of the summit, it reveals its horrifying secret: the tracks are broken…and people are about to scream!
The implementation of the exterior, the Forbidden Mountain, as a foreboding element is fantastic on its own. The ride gets bonus points for the fact that it then reverses course and thrusts guests inside the darkened mountain interior. Sure, it’s the tallest man-made mountain that Disney’s ever constructed, but that’s not what makes it great. It’s standing on the shoulders of man-mountains that came before in that way. The aspect of Expedition Everest that differentiates it is that the mountain comes into play organically for the ride, too.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Image: DisneyI was tempted to choose Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – BREAKOUT! instead. After all, it’s all shiny and new. I just don’t think that it possesses the same cachet and stature as the original. The Hollywood Tower Hotel fits well on this list for reasons previously discussed. In a way, it’s the version of Haunted Mansion that Imagineers wanted, the one that Uncle Walt eschewed.
From a distance, this hotel is far from inviting. Instead, you’ll feel a sense of dread when you see it in the right light. On a rainy day, the ride building almost takes on a life of its own, somehow mimicking the gloomy weather. At night, it seems like the type of place that could swallow your soul, a vibe that is the antithesis of Disney…yet it feels right at home as the signature wienie at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As other former landmarks have vanished, Tower of Terror has sustained its status as THE building of import.
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Image: DisneyWhen I pitched this list, two show buildings immediately came to mind. One is the granddaddy of them all, the Matterhorn. While Disney has since built 17 other man-made mountains (and counting), nobody ever forgets their first. Way back in the 1950s, Walt Disney had the most ambitious of ideas for a new ride. It would become the first of its kind, a steel roller coaster that embodied the sensation of riding a bobsled down a mountain.
Only one problem existed. Disneyland lacked a mountain. Imagineers had to build one, and its presence on the skyline fundamentally altered the perception of the park. From that moment forward, fans would expect more of Disney. In a way, Matterhorn Bobsleds represented the first true plussing of the Happiest Place on Earth. On the day it debuted, it became the first E-ticket attraction (along with two others).
Park officials had to introduce an entirely new tier of ticket pricing to pay for their new mountain. Guests gladly ponied up since this new ride seemed like the future of theme park attractions. Even today, roughly 60 years later, it still feels special, primarily because it holds a sacred place in theme park lore. Matterhorn Bobsleds is no longer the best, but it will always be the first. Several of the other structures listed here wouldn’t exist without this man-made mountain serving as a proof of concept.
Spaceship Earth
Image: DisneyI mean, come on. There’s not a lot of debate about which Disney ride building is the most impressive. How many theme parks in the world can claim a geodesic sphere as a wienie? You can search this site for the term “geodesic sphere” to read our many, many fawning examinations of the greatest of this structure. In a way, I’m repeating myself by bringing any of these points up again.
To me, the most impressive part of Spaceship Earth is how Imagineers used the space. The exterior is visually stimulating in a rare and profound way. It’s legitimately one of the 100 coolest looking buildings in the world. It’s also customer-friendly, with a sublime design that prevents rain from dripping onto guests. Without that feature, no one would want to approach Spaceship Earth during a rain Florida day…and ALL Florida days are rainy. The building also seems to change color when light refracts against it at certain times of day or during specific weather conditions.
While the interior doesn’t specifically apply to its first-place ranking, I still feel that Imagineers deserve a great deal of credit for building a circular dark ride that spins inside this giant globe. When you’re in the darkness of Spaceship Earth the ride, you sometimes forget that you’re traveling up and down the walls of one of the greatest buildings ever assembled. Imagine if someone had turned one of the pyramids into a roller coaster. That’s the only logical equivalent to what Disney has down with Spaceship Earth.
All Disney buildings display tons of forethought and creativity. These nine are the best of the best, however, and Spaceship Earth elevates itself that much more above the rest.
