Quick, what’s your favorite part of a theme park ride? Several answers likely jumped to mind, so let me ask another way. What are you most likely to remember years after the fact? The answer is the ride photograph that you took. It is a time capsule that freezes a single instant from the ride for posterity’s sake. You will look at that picture and smile wistfully, remembering fun times at a Disney theme park. Which attractions have the best ones, though? Let’s evaluate the best ride photos at Walt Disney World.
8. Frozen Ever After
A couple of the rides on this list share a commonality. The entire attraction builds to a seminal moment where the ride cart explodes down a set path. It’s like you’re heading toward oblivion at max speed. Then, the deviously hidden camera clicks, encapsulating your sensations of surprise and wonder in that moment.
Frozen Ever After’s high point isn’t the end of the ride in my opinion. It’s Elsa’s show-stopping performance of Let It Go that’s the centerpiece of Frozen Ever After. Seconds later, however, the path of the boat takes theme park tourists on a secondary journey.
You haphazardly slide down into open waters below. One moment, you’re admiring the giant snow monster and the little snow babies. Then, you’re wet and delighted as the Viking boat’s climactic plunge causes water to explode into the air. At some point between these two events, a camera sneakily takes your picture. The pictures that come from this sensation are tremendous.
7. Expedition Everest
The beauty of this ride photo is that Expedition Everest is such a disorienting experience. You go forward and then back, but you’re never quite sure where you are. That’s an intentional Imagineering trick. Disney uses darkness to confuse you and thereby increase the suspense of the ride.
The first time that you see the Yeti, your surprise is total. Moments later, you’re ready to escape the mountain and soar down its slope at breakneck speed. Immersed in darkness, you’re in the midst of a huge adrenaline surge. At that moment, the camera clicks. The look of intense excitement creates unforgettable images. Some guests look terrified while others seem thrilled. Both reactions are valid, and you might demonstrate each emotion if you ride it multiple times.
6. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
People talk about putting on their game faces. With Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, you have that rare opportunity to see what your game face looks like. When you’re trying to max your score you get so locked into the game that you forget that a camera is lurking in the area. It’s only you depart from the ride cart that you see how ridiculous that you looked in that moment. You may not even look in the direction of the camera at that moment, as the picture above demonstrates.
I presume that my wife is crushing my score as usual, and so I’m desperately searching for that one huge target that will help me clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. I can tell you that this did not happen, as I don’t think I’ve ever won a round of Space Ranger Spin. I love how locked in we both look in the photo, though. It’s impossible to fake that sort of deep focus.
5. Rock n Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Have you ever wondered how you will look in the face of extreme gravity? Rock ‘n Roller Coaster isn’t merely a roller coaster. It’s a morality tale about mankind’s struggle against the laws of physics. When you board this limousine and head onto the freeway, you’re feeling the blunt force trauma of sudden acceleration. Your face reflects this whiplash sensation violent velocity. And Disney has set up a camera there to capture your look as your hair floats behind your head, pushed back by a powerful force it cannot resist. A picture on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is the best way to see someone’s “WHOA!” face.
4. Slinky Dog Dash
Image: DisneyThe newest roller coaster at Walt Disney World also comes with the most adorable ride photo. Slinky Dog Dash presumes that guests are all toy-sized, shrunk down to appreciate the wonders of Toy Story Land. Since the coaster isn’t as fast as others on this list, it’s a calmer ride experience, meaning that you don’t look as thrilled, shocked, and/or confused as some of the other pictures listed here.
Instead, this photo op is memorable for its cuteness. On Slinky Dog Dash, your coaster cart looks like a section of the Slinky Dog. It’s divided cleanly at two people per section, and the action shot displays four people in total. The picture is fine on its own, but what elevates this photo op is the special touch. You can add a ride background that turns the imagery into a display of childish wonder. It features doodles and pictures of Disney characters. This subtle accompaniment elevates your ride photo into a conversation piece that all of your friends and family will adore.
3. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Everything about the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is ghoulish. The set designs, the ride structure, and every item in the building are malevolent in nature. The most devilish trick involves the camera, though.
The moment that your elevator rises to the top of the shaft, your ride cart detaches and moves along the floor. Cameras flash, presumably taking your picture…but they’re not. That first flash is deceptive, a devious ploy meant to confuse you.
The ride photo doesn’t come until later, when you’re bouncing up and down uncontrollably. It’s that precise moment when you feel helplessly out of control that Disney freezes the frame, capturing your face in that moment of complete vulnerability. Since you’re careening in the darkness through an abandoned elevator shaft, you have no way of preparing for the photograph, at least not the first few times. In this manner, the posted photos at the end of the ride reveal who the amateurs are versus the veterans. The latter group has learned the triggers for ride photos and poses. All the noobs can do is look terrified, a fitting response at this particular tower.
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror isn’t even done with you after you leave the tower! When you check your PhotoPass collection later, you’ll discover a haunting video display of your nightmarish journey into the Twilight Zone. It’s the final way that the ride torments you before you escape its clutches.
2. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
The other ride that comes with video is the crown jewel of Fantasyland. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train features a ride video with a much different tone. The music from the ride sets the tone as you re-live your interactions with the glorious Audio-Animatronic dwarfs. Halfway through the clip, the most famous song in Disney movie canon begins, and you witness a third person perspective of your time spent on the mine train.
The roller coaster’s ride photograph takes place at a more easily calculable time than most of the others listed here. It occurs just outside of the tunnel in a bright area. When you sit toward the front, you can see the camera from a distance. As such, you can pose for it more easily, even when you’re not a Disney veteran. Guests in the back are still in the tunnel, so it’s not as easy there, but you’ll be smiling so much from the ride at this moment that your picture will turn out amazing anyway.
1. Splash Mountain
This list features a sort of symmetry. It starts and ends the same way, with a boat splashing down into water. While Frozen Ever After is terrific in its own way, it can’t hold a candle to Splash Mountain, the ultimate in Disney ride photos.
Splash Mountain is what triggered or at least elevated the ride photo industry. Its infamous “Flash Mountain” pictures caused a stir. Even after Disney cleaned up Splash Mountain photography, removing any potential x-ratings, the media stir led to a hilarious outcome. Guests started to stage photographs, creating elaborate backstories that prove a picture truly is worth a thousand words.
In fact, the image above was purely organic. The complete strangers sitting behind us wanted to “do something,” and that’s what we all came up with on the fly. Sure, it’s not the greatest, but there’s a group of eight people from across the world united in that one moment. The next time you’re on the ride, make a new friend by taking an improvised ride photo! Then, you can all laugh together as you dry off and look at the various pictures, not just your own.
The greatness of Splash Mountain’s ride photos is such a certainty that virtually everyone reading this article knew what would win. Some of you probably skimmed down to the bottom to verify. A handful of Walt Disney World attractions create amazing on-ride photo ops. Some even have videos now. But nothing else can match the greatness of that perfect Splash Mountain picture.
