I don’t know about you, but I visit Disney theme parks A LOT. Friends joke that I go far too much, but I drown out their complaints with my happiness. After all, I know something that they don’t. Many of Disney’s best attractions aren’t ones to experience once and then forget about. To the contrary, Disney’s Finest provide a compelling reason to ride over and over again. Here are the Disney attractions with the best repeat value.
Any character interaction
Image: DisneyAll of the other attractions that I list here are rides, but I’d be remiss if I failed to point out the obvious. Many of the best moments during a Disney theme park visit involve costumed cast members.
Whether you prefer a Disney Princess, a pirate named Jack (or Redd), or an anthropomorphic mouse, any Disney character interaction is potentially unforgettable. Just off my head, I cycled through half a dozen memorable instances wherein a character made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe.
Yes, I’m asthmatic, so that’s not difficult, but I really regret that I didn’t record the time that Pluto stole my cellphone. He started taking pictures of my party as we tried to retrieve the phone, and then he stuck it on his giant nose, out of reach of my tiny wife’s grasp.
Obviously, I couldn’t record it all because he had my camera. It’s one of the greatest “you had to be there” moments of my life, though. Literally any character interaction comes with that possibility. It doesn’t have to be your encounter, either. While watching others in line in front of you, you’ll frequently witness similarly magical exchanges. Character interactions are genuinely the best of Disney.
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Image: DisneyWith regards to rides, many of the ones with the best repeat value feature some sort of randomization. In most instances, Imagineers hardwire the variability into the programming. In other situations, circumstances prevent predictable behavior.
Kilimanjaro Safaris falls into the latter category. After all, the most significant achievement at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is that beasts roam the lands at all hours of the day. While the zoologists on staff can entice these animals to congregate in specific locations, natural instinct is also a factor.
Sometimes, a creature doesn’t care about eating. It wants to play or fight or…get frisky. On Kilimanjaro Safaris, anything goes, and that chaos factor is what I love about it. Some trips are predictable and uneventful. Other times, you’ll watch a smaller creature chase a larger one for a half a mile. I promise you that the mental image will stay with you for years afterward.
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Image: DisneyHow well do you know your friends? I’m sure that your first instinct was to say that you know them almost as well as you know yourself. But have you ever pulled off a heist with them? Until you commit a crime with a friend, you’ll never truly understand how they tick, how well they hold up under pressure.
That’s what I love about Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. You’re entering the cockpit of the fastest starship in the galaxy, and you’re going in search of Coaxium…Coaxium that isn’t yours. You need to trust that every member of your crew is reliable. Otherwise, Hondo Ohnaka, a powerful criminal, may send some nefarious individuals to, *ahem*, settle you.
Alternately, you could find yourself in a Suicide Squad scenario. You’ll get thrust into the cockpit alongside a bunch of strangers, all of whom are forced to do a job with you. Since you don’t know them, the cockpit becomes a chaotic exercise as anonymous individuals work together to earn Ohnaka’s gratitude.
Simply stated, you never know what will happen when you board the Millennium Falcon. And that’s why the experience is sublime.
Splash Mountain
Image: DisneyA few attractions are random by design. While Omnimover rides control all aspects of the experience, most boat rides are off the rails, so to speak. Sure, they have a guided path that prevents the boat from wandering into unwelcome regions, but the motion of the vessel remains unpredictable.
In the case of Splash Mountain, you know that you will eventually splash down the mountain. You just don’t know whether you will get soaked or not. A lot of independent factors come into play, especially the weight distribution of the people on the boat and your location at the time. This element of mystery has kept the euphoria of Splash Mountain alive for generations now, and it will continue for the foreseeable future, too.
Star Tours
Image: DisneyOut of the attractions listed here, Star Tours is the one with a design explicitly intended to maximize repeat value. Imagineers compartmentalized the ride experience into four main sections, and each one is variable.
At the start of Star Tours, you could encounter any of four different Star Wars villains such as Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, or Storm Troopers. Next, you’ll travel to some random location like Hoth or Jakku. Afterward, a trusted Star Wars character will act as an emissary, relaying information about safety coordinates at one of four designations. You’ll travel to that place and attempt to survive the most reckless star tour ever.
In theory, Star Tours includes 384 possible ride experiences at the time of publication. Practically, the number is lower, as you’ll encounter a maximum of six unique segments for each part of the story. Still, you never quite know what will happen next, and it’s entertaining to speculate on what will come next. Plus, Disney updates the ride each time a new Star Wars movie comes out, guaranteeing that it’s always fresh and current.
Test Track
Image: DisneyThis entry applies more to the pre-ride experience than Test Track itself. The combined dark ride/roller coaster is an engaging experience on its own, but building your own vehicle is where the action is.
Guests who have FastPasses or wait in the regular line queue for Test Track eventually enter a room that simulates ride design. It’s unavailable to Single Rider guests, though, a reason why I rarely choose that option. I love designing a monstrous-looking car that seems road-unfriendly.
The menu screen for Test Track allows the user to select one of several main body designs like sports car or SUV. Then, you can stretch or tighten it to ridiculous proportions. Afterward, you’ll choose a handful of design aesthetics and eventually pick ways to improve the power or fuel efficiency of your new ride. That’s a joke, of course. Nobody ever chooses fuel efficiency over power.
Building a Test Track vehicle thrills me each time, and I take pride in the fact that none of my cars ever look the same. Each of them is its own scientific abomination, unworthy of the light of day. I work hard to build ugly, powerful super-cars. And I love that the attraction lets me do this.
Toy Story Mania!
Image: DisneyI could have just as easily selected Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin here, as the rationale is identical. Disney has added gaming elements to a couple of its attractions to make them more like the carnival games of yore. The results are scintillating, as the addictive nature of these attractions has sustained their appeal for many years now.
Toy Story Mania! embraces the carnival game aspect the most, as the ride is little more than a series of 4-D challenges that mimic classics like the ring toss and dart throw. The difference is that you pull the cord on a controller to perform the requisite action. It’s an almost hypnotic bit of immersion, as the ride is over before you know it.
At the end, everyone compares scores to prove who the best is at popping balloons and other challenges. On Buzz Lightyear, the competition involves shooting laser beams to retrieve intergalactic batteries, but the underlying appeal is the same. You get to best your friends in a friendly Disney game. Who wouldn’t love that?
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Image: DisneyThe final Disney ride with terrific repeat value is Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. And the explanation here is simple. Imagineers have randomized this attraction in a straightforward but profound way.
Once you enter the elevator shaft at the top of the Hollywood Tower Hotel, you have no idea what will happen next. You expect to drop weightlessly for a period of time, except that you have no idea how long it will happen. You’re not even sure that you’ll go down, as up is a possibility, too.
You’ll spend a few moments in breathless anticipation, anxiously trying to predict what happens next. No matter what it is, your body simply cannot prepare for it, and the elevator’s bouncing will keep you guessing for several intoxicating moments. You’ll never know which way the elevator will bounce or for how long.
The late Rod Serling builds a mystery the instant you enter his library, and the solution to this puzzle never reveals itself until the very end, leaving you breathless and giddy. There’s a reason why many consider Twilight Zone Tower of Terror one of the greatest theme park attractions ever. It embraces the chaos of unpredictability.
