Listen – no one likes to see a Disney Parks ride close. Even if you ignore the tens of millions of beloved memories made on every square foot of Disney property, there’s the question of capacity. It’s generally agreed upon that Disney World’s parks need more rides, not fewer! But once in a while, we have to acknowledge that some rides could be worth the loss…
Don’t hate us, but today we’ve collected a few attractions that we think have just outlived their usefulness. It’s not that these rides need to be rethought or reimagined; they need to be removed. Seriously… Give us a chance to explain…
1. Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Don’t get us wrong – while small spinners and family flat rides might not have E-Ticket appeal and excitement, they are essential in Disney theme parks. Overall, we think Disney’s theme parks need more family flat rides, not fewer! But for this one, we’re willing to make an exception.
Magic Kingdom is unique in that Disney World’s “Castle Park” features four – yes, four – rides that are functionally identical, differentiated only by their decoration. Combined with the “doubled Dumbo” and the Astro Orbiter, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin are simply one spinner too many.
Opened in 2001, the ride is conspicuously set down right in the middle of Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland, turning what was a very nice Tiki Room-adjacent tropical plaza into a random Middle Eastern bazaar of cartoon-colorful fiberglass camels. It’s like if Disney put a “Flying Bison” carnival ride right in the middle of Frontierland.
It doesn’t fit. It isn’t worth it. And reportedly, the ride has been regularly encountering up to five hours of downtime a day, officially strengthening our belief that it’s time for this Adventureland ride to disappear for good. If Disney wanted to keep the capacity boost, then put a less conspicuous and cartoon-y Tropical Twirl in its place… and please let it be any flat ride except another “Dumbo.”
2. Beauty and the Beast – Live
Look – some classics are classics for a reason. No one would argue that Disney should close Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion just because they’ve been around a long time… But in the theme park world, stage shows rarely have long lifespans. That makes sense – shows tend to have less repeat appeal and narrower audiences than rides, and their format makes it easy and natural to swap out one show for another to keep offerings fresh.
For some reason, that hasn’t happened with Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Believe it or not, this show opened at the park the same day that the film debuted in theaters… November 22, 1991. Aside from when the “Theater of the Stars” was relocated from Hollywood Blvd. to the new Sunset Blvd. in 1994 and its closure during the pandemic, this show has been operating continuously for 32 years – longer than some of our readers have been alive!
Obviously, Beauty and the Beast is worthy of a permanent presence in Disney Parks (as evidenced by Magic Kingdom’s New Fantasyland and Tokyo Disneyland’s Beauty and the Beast dark ride)… but three decades later, the super-condensed retelling at Hollywood Studios in an open air theater feels outdated. Maybe this venue and the “Hyperion Theater” (hosting the Frozen Sing-Along) should switch contents, leaving the indoor, air conditioned, high-capacity theater for a full, Broadway-caliber Beauty and the Beast show (like Disney California Adventure’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular) while the “Theater of the Stars” hosts rotating sing-alongs of the newest Disney flicks.
3. Tomorrowland Speedway
For some reason, we’re sensing that the idea of closing the Tomorrowland Speedway might be the most controversial item on this list. We can totally understand why. Since 1971, generations of young people have forged the unthinkable memory of stepping behind the wheel of these roadsters and – for the first time in their lives – driving. Like, really driving a sputtering car on a blacktop road. That’s a whole lot of nostalgia to overcome!
But let’s be honest – the Tomorrowland Speedway has really lost its reason for being. At least Disneyland’s version of the ride (there called Autopia) lets guests drive through an elaborate park, over bridges, around roundabouts, along water, and even “off-road.”
Since Magic Kingdom’s version was built long after freeways were the stuff of Tomorrow(land), Florida’s ride is instead stylized as a NASCAR-esque speedway: basically, a four-lane blacktop “race” in a grassy field. And we know it’s useless to complain that the gas-guzzling race cars don’t fit in Tomorrowland (really, not much in Tomorrowland is about the future anymore), but it’s probably still worth saying that if the Speedway has to stick around, it should at least use electric cars.
The Speedway has also seen its layout shrink multiple times as the rest of Magic Kingdom has filled in around it – most recently, with the opening of TRON Lightcycle Run. Most fans expected that TRON would replace the Speedway entirely. Instead, it managed to survive a fourth downsizing. We get it. It adds capacity, and family “filler,” and lots of memories. But you have to wonder if TRON could’ve been scooted up into that spot with its canopy covering the walkway from Fantasyland.
4. Rafiki’s Planet Watch
When’s the last time you visited Rafiki’s Planet Watch? Have you even heard of it? Do you think most casual visitors to Walt Disney World have?
Of course, “Conservation Station” opened with the rest of Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 1998. (Its name was changed to Rafiki’s Planet Watch to drive interest around 2001.) But you can’t get there on foot. Instead, guests are required to take a train from the park’s Harambe Village, then trek through a short forest walk to arrive at Planet Watch, which is, for lack of a better way to explain it, a ’90s nature center as you might find at a Metro Park or zoo.
For those who made the trek, Planet Watch had some interesting little attractions… we’re talking windows into veterinary clinics with two-way radios to ask questions of experts; a gift shop; a petting zoo; meet-and-greets with Disney characters; interactive games and exhibits around conservation; even stages for animal encounter shows. But of course, the highly remote exhibit never stood out as a must-see, especially given how much effort it took to find it.
In 2018, it was announced that Planet Watch was set to close forever that October, leaving it as a backstage facility and ending the Wildlife Express train service. But the exhibit surprisingly re-opened in spring 2019. Most of its exhibits had been removed, and instead, the central lobby space of the outdated mini science center instead had roll-out TV monitors and meeting room chairs repurposed into an “Animation Experience” draw-along class.
You’d think COVID would’ve given Disney the “out” they needed to quietly kill Planet Watch (which must be incredibly expensive to operate relative to its draw and capacity), but nope. If you’ve got an hour to kill, you can still take a train to a walking path to a mostly-empty science center where you can take a drawing class and pet goats. It really begs the question, is it better than nothing? Or maybe more to the point, is it better than Zootopia? (Many fans say, “Yes!”)
