If you’ve been a theme park fan long enough, one thing you’ve learned to deal with is change. It seems that attractions are always coming and going from Disney and Universal’s parks, and with both operators’ new unspoken commitment to featuring box office blockbusters and “hot” intellectual properties (sometimes at the expense of classics!), that tempo seems likely to only increase…
Which brings us to a hard truth: standing at the dawn of a new decade, we have to imagine that there are quite a few classics that won’t survive the 2020s. To guide us through this rundown of “endangered” attractions, we’ll use the same rising classification used on at-risk species:
- (1) Near threatened
- (2) Vulnerable
- (3) Endangered
- (4) Critically endangered
Maybe in a decade we’ll look back to see that all 13 of these “unlucky” attractions survived the chopping block! Or maybe, we’ll have 13 new stories to tell in our Lost Legends collection… Either way, our advice is that the next time you visit a Disney or Universal park, take special care to experience these endangered attractions that, very reasonably, may not be around come 2030… for better or worse, your next ride could be your last…
1. Journey into Imagination with Figment
Location: EPCOT | Status: (4) Critically endangered
In case you haven’t heard, EPCOT is on the move. After enduring decades of piecemeal changes representing a handful of different directions for the park (many at odds with one another), the latest reimagining of the park appears to be the most sweeping one yet. Reintroducing matching iconography and a reborn visual identity, the park’s return to its (retro-)modernist roots nonetheless relies on… you guessed it… characters.
After a slow leak of meet-and-greets, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Frozen, the floodgates have opened as Disney’s animated (and live action) classics pour through the pavilions. Strangely, one of the few pavilions Disney has not discussed during this total reimagining is Imagination. Since the pavilion dropped its Lost Legend: Journey into Imagination before the New Millennium, it’s been a sorry state. First its iconic characters Dreamfinder and Figment were booted for a depressing redesign, then the latter returned in annoying form for the pavilion’s current dark ride: a depressingly dull and unimaginative “tour” through the bland Imagination Institute labs that’s somehow outlasted the treasured classic!
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Everyone – including Imagineers – knows that the Imagination pavilion is in bad shape. The Epcot Experience preview center prominently features its glass pyramids in a stylized model of the park’s upcoming changes, but so far nothing’s official. Though a return to Dreamfinder and Figment would be preferred and the cast of Inside Out is often rumored, we’d offer that the Muppets might also make great hosts in a journey into imagination should the project need an intellectual property overlay… While fans don’t know what form it’ll take, it’s almost certain that the current ride won’t make it to 2030.
2. Poseidon’s Fury
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure | Status: (3) Endangered
When Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, it promised to redefine what Disney’s biggest competitor was capable of. Finally evolving beyond soundstage-littered “studio” parks, Islands of Adventure matched Disney’s storytelling blow-for-blow, inventing the idea of IP-dedicated lands bringing the literary worlds of Jurassic Park, Marvel comic books, Dr. Seuss stories, and the Sunday funnies to life. But one of the park’s most impressive lands was an original one – the Lost Legend: Lost Continent themed to the myths and legends of the ancient world.
Though most of the Lost Continent was absorbed into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in 2011, one attraction remains: the Declassified Disaster: Poseidon’s Fury. A walkthrough dark ride / special effects extravaganza, the attraction leads guests through the crumbling corridors of the ancient Temple of Poseidon in search of a legendary, sealed connection to the ocean and the lost Trident that can unlock it. Poseidon’s Fury contains two of the coolest practical effects ever, but… it’s a bit of a mess. The current show is actually a shoestring-budget redesign of a short-lived and incoherent first version of the attraction, but one that was clearly not meant to be a two-decade fix.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: If you ask us, Poseidon’s Fury isn’t quite sunk… it just needs a life preserver. We’d love to see the attraction given a proper budget for a rewrite! But this somewhat messy mythological show can’t be long for this world in its current state, especially because it’s the last “original” attraction left at Universal Orlando… and is allegedly eyed as prime real estate for a more attractive intellectual property, like Nintendo’s Zelda…
3. Rivers of Light
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom | Status: (3) Endangered
Fantasmic. World of Color. Happily Ever After. Illuminations. Harmonious. What is a Disney Park without a “nighttime spectacular” to end the day? For most of its life, Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened early in the morning, and closed early in the evening. After all, exploding fireworks and bellowing musical soundtracks would be downright alarming to the park’s main draw – its animals. But in 2017, the animals of Animal Kingdom gave up part of their starring spotlight to Pandora – The World of Avatar. The massive expansion invites guests as eco-tourists to the verdant moon of Pandora to stand beneath floating mountains amid bioluminescent jungles.
Naturally, the land’s ethereal nighttime glow became a motivation to stay after dark, meaning Animal Kingdom needed an influx of evening activities. From an artificial, perpetual sunset added to Kilimanjaro Safaris to the subtle projection-based Tree of Life Awakenings show, the park’s twilight offerings were meant to crescendo with Rivers of Light – an Asian-influenced, World-of-Color-scaled ceremony of floating barges, live performers, shadow puppets, fountains, water screens, and animal footage.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Somehow, Rivers of Light failed to float. The show’s headlining status was quickly revoked as its gargantuan, purpose-built, 5000-seat stadium on the Discovery River sat half empty at each performance. In a self-fulfilling prophecy, Disney responded to the poor reception by pulling the show’s live actors, which only lessened guest interest. In 2019, the show was retooled as Rivers of Light: We Are One, interspersing Disney songs and characters as a would-be panacea. If anything, reviews have worsened. While Disney may keep fiddling with this uneven show, we expect it’ll be replaced or removed entirely before the decade’s over.
4. Carousel of Progress
Location: Magic Kingdom | Status: (2) Vulnerable
Put your pitchforks away. We don’t want this Walt Disney classic to disappear. As a matter of fact, we celebrated the attraction in its own origin story, Modern Marvels: Carousel of Progress! This spectacular attraction has made its way from the New York World’s Fair, to Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland, and finally to the new Magic Kingdom, where it made its Floridian debut in 1975. The animatronic attraction tells the story of an American family and the ease and conveniences of life brought on by progress. In fact, Walt is known to have called the ride his personal favorite, declaring that it should “never cease operation.”
Except… it has. During Disney’s darker years in the early 2000s, Carousel was moved to the dreaded “seasonal” status (often a death knell for Disney Parks rides). Obviously it has rebounded since, but… well… The ride was initially meant to show four eras – 1900, 1920, 1940, and “today” (the 1960s), each a poetic 20 years apart. For better or worse, the final scene was updated in 1994, replacing the ‘60s with the “New Millennium” as viewed from the ‘90s. But of course, the “predictions” made in the ‘90s are yesterday’s headlines to us: clunky VR-headsets, flat screen video games, and appliances responding to voice command, with the family embarrassingly dressed in ‘90s garb!
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: The result is that the attraction needs more than a refurbishment; it needs another full-on facelift. But 1900, 1920, 1940, and 2020 would be… well… quite a jump. To our thinking, if Carousel of Progress is still around in 2030, it’ll need to have either returned to its 1900-1920-1940-1960 timeline as a nod to Space Age nostalgia, OR it’ll need reimagined with a new timeline… We argue that a 60-year interval presenting life in 1900-1960-2020-2080 would retain the ride’s spirit of optimism and innovation while also keeping it stylish and relevant in Tomorrowland.
5. Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Location: Epcot | Status: (4) Critically endangered
Remember the EPCOT Experience preview center we mentioned that featured a stylized model showcasing upcoming changes to the park? Every pavilion featured on that model has an associated project announced and underway except Imagination… and Mexico. So what could Disney have planned for the Mexican pavilion in World Showcase? This one’s a no-brainer. Pixar’s 2017 film Coco. The model even displays a large guitar (likely that of the film’s protagonist Miguel) resting against the pavilion’s iconic pyramid.
The idea of a fictitious Disney film taking up residence in the secular, cultural pavilions of World Showcase was once strictly verboten by Disney itself. But that dam broke when Frozen made its way into Norway, ousting the Lost Legend: Maelstrom. Since then, a tepid Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along became the de-facto film of the France pavilion alongside the Modern Marvel: Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, while Mary Poppins in en route to the United Kingdom pavilion. Undoubtedly, Disney would prefer every World Showcase pavilion to host an attraction themed to its nearest-appropriate Disney or Pixar character. We’ll see…
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: In the meantime, the arrival of Coco in Mexico is essentially Disney’s worst-kept secret. Without a doubt, it’ll overtake the Gran Fiesta Tour attraction (itself a character overlay of the pavilion’s original ride, El Rio Del Tiempo). Our only hope is that, like Frozen Ever After, the inevitable Coco attraction is a full, ambitious ride in its own right and not just an interspersing of Coco characters amid the ride’s existing scenes and screens.
6. Fast and Furious: Supercharged
Location: Universal Studios Florida | Status: (2) Vulnerable
In 2015, Universal Studios Hollywood premiered a new “grand finale” for their world famous tram-based Studio Tour. The “ride” begins with an awkward, cringe-inducing pre-show of bikini-clad women at a rave before the trams pull into a projection tunnel (oddly, the same technology featured earlier on the Studio Tour in a King Kong segment…) where a simulated high-speed chase through a very artificial-looking city ensues. The Studio Tour scene was universally panned by critics and casual guests alike…
So when it was announced that a Fast and Furious attraction was coming to Universal Studios Florida, fans briefly hoped it might be a pivot away from the simulator-based finale; perhaps a fast-paced, action-packed dark ride utilizing Test Track technology. Nope. Despite the awful reviews Hollywood’s Tour segment received, it was inexplicably copied-and-pasted to Florida as a standalone attraction with tram-shaped “party buses” as the ride vehicle.
Yes, Fast and Furious: Supercharged is bad. But the two good things to come of it?
- First is that insiders say Universal heard guests loud and clear and that Supercharged will be remembered as the definitive end of Universal’s maligned, screen-based mantra. (And indeed, every follow-up project so far from Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and Jurassic World: The Ride to Super Nintendo World keeps screens at a minimum.)
- Second, fans groaned about such a short-sighted decision, but the unspoken promise of Universal (and increasingly, Disney) attractions remains true here: it’s not worth debating if Fast and Furious is “timeless” or “evergreen” or if it’ll still be “relevant” in 20 years because no one – not even Universal – expects it to be around in 20 years! Its purpose isn’t to be timeless; it’s to bank on a box office boom while the IP is hot, and to simply swap the screens out for something fresh when the opportunity presents itself. Voila!
So frankly, we doubt Fast and Furious: Supercharged (or Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, for that matter) was ever intended to last more than a decade… but given the awful reception to the ride, it might not even make it close…
7. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Location: Magic Kingdom | Status: (3) Endangered
Magic Kingdom’s New Tomorrowland has been a world in flux. The land’s most recent floor-to-ceiling renovation was in 1994, intentionally attempting to downplay the Space Age, ‘70s style it had featured since opening. The hope was that a version of the land ignoring science and instead modeled after science fiction would be retro-timeless and never need updated again. Well… 25 years later, the sci-fi, pulp comic book accoutrements that adorned the Lost Legends: Alien Encounter and The Timekeeper make a whole lot less sense in a land filled exclusively with Lilo and Stitch, Toy Story, and Monsters Inc.
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor is not only a deathblow to the land’s once-ambitious sci-fi story, it’s… well… not a great attraction. Essentially an upsized edition of Turtle Talk with Crush, the show encourages guests to submit (family friendly) jokes to be read aloud by live, digitally-puppeted monsters improv’ing and riffing as they gather laughs to power Monstropolis. It’s fine. But it’s also not exactly an impressive attraction for the large amount of prominent real estate it takes up right at the entrance to Tomorrowland.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Any dreams of Disney replacing a character attraction with an original idea are pretty much out of the question. But with the Declassified Disaster: Stitch’s Great Escape vacating the showbuilding opposite, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor feels like it should be considered as available real estate, too… Magic Kingdom has always suffered for having two theater-based attractions flanking the entrance to Tomorrowland, so it would be great to see one (or both combined!) become something new. Our armchair Imagineering ideas? A trackless WALL-E dark ride through humanity’s future, an Ant-Man-narrated educational ride shrinking us to atomic level, or something fresh.
8. Muppet*Vision 3D
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios | Status: (3) Endangered
Though it breaks our hearts to imagine it, there may indeed be a time after Muppet*Vision. When this celebrational, Muppetational show debuted in 1991, it represented the final project worked on by beloved puppeteer, dreamer, and character-creator Jim Henson. Originally envisioned as part of a whole Possibilityland: Muppet Studios, the 3D film remained the only Muppets attraction, even when Disney finally purchased the characters outright in 2004. In fits and starts, Disney has moved on the Muppets IP both in popular culture and in the parks (including a much-loved, retired show in Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square and the upcoming Regal Eagle BBQ restaurant at Epcot).
But even thirty years later, Muppet*Vision remains the pre-eminent Muppet product in Disney Parks… The only permanent installation dedicated to the characters. And somehow, Muppet*Vision seems to have survived against all odds. The theater stands as a lone remnant of Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ Streets of America, precariously placed directly between Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Star Tours, in a “land” that was briefly, officially renamed Muppets Courtyard before becoming the generic Grand Ave. with its over-the-top Muppet-esque signage removed and replaced with a non-committal “Grand Arts Theater” marquee…
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Some fans say that Muppet*Vision simply needs a new, fresh show… But we hesitate to agree. After all, the current film is a living testament to Jim Henson’s work (and one of his last times puppeteering and voicing Kermit) and it’s darn near flawless with memorable, oft-repeated dialogue that’s pure-Muppet-perfection. We’d like to see Muppet*Vision lifted into the hallowed “untouchable classic” echelons alongside Enchanted Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree, but so much depends on Disney’s ability to keep these characters relevant. Maybe the successful Muppet Babies series on Disney Channel will produce a generation of kids who adore the Muppets once again! We certainly hope so…
9. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Autopia
Location: Disneyland | Status: (3) Endangered
Ever since Disneyland’s one-time plan for a timeless Possibilityland: Tomorrowland 2055 fell apart, the land has been in an abysmal state. First, it had to recuperate from the dingy, dark, gold-and-brown future brought on by the Declassified Disaster: The Rocket Rods and Tomorrowland ‘98. Since then, it’s been overtaken by cartoon characters. For the better part of a decade, rumors have swirled that Disney is this close to greenlighting the full, floor-to-ceiling, demolition-and-redesign kind of facelift the land needs, but an IP-powered project like Galaxy’s Edge, Pixar Pier, or Avengers Campus always seems to get first priority…
Given that earth is moving in Florida’s similarly-disastrous Tomorrowland, hopes are high that Disneyland’s version will soon go under the knife. When that happens, we’re likely to see a major change in the tiny park’s eastern corner. There, an absolutely gargantuan plot of land would be freed by removing (or relocating to Cars Land) the Autopia, which sits atop the massive, hidden showbuilding of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Add in the unused Carousel Theater next door (currently home to the abysmal Star Wars Launch Bay exhibit) and you’ve unlocked one of the few spots Disneyland can grow into – and enough room for at least two new E-Tickets in either Fantasyland or Tomorrowland.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: While fans would likely miss the Submarine Voyage and Autopia – two classics dating to Walt’s time – the fact remains that the low-capacity, high-cost rides have always felt on the chopping block, and it’s possible that they may not survive the Tomorrowland redesign that fans feel must be just over the horizon…
10. Rafiki’s Planet Watch
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom | Status: (4) Critically endangered
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is home to beautiful, photorealistic lands celebrating the inherent value of nature and its connection to the human story. From Harambe to Anandapur; Dinoland to Discovery Island; The Oasis to Pandora… Every inch of the park is immersive, lived-in, and lovingly crafted… except Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Accessed only via the Wildlife Express train from Africa (whose route intentionally reveals the real facilities behind Kilimanjaro Safaris), the remote visitor’s center is the only place where the park’s 90s origin is on display. It’s a children’s zoo exhibit of saturated colors, flat cutouts, outdated environmental messaging, windows into the park’s veterinary clinics, and a petting zoo.
Briefly shuttered in 2018, the center re-opened in 2019 offering an Animation Academy experience in its lobby, inviting guests to learn to draw Disney’s animal characters. But ultimately, Rafiki’s Planet Watch doesn’t have much reason to exist, and the curious choice of making it accessible only by train only leads to further disappointment given the low payoff.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Given that Disney Parks can’t seem to escape the influx of Disney and Pixar characters, some fans began rooting for Planet Watch to be replaced with a Cars Land-style recreation of Zootopia from the 2016 film. Guests’ first introduction to the animal-stylized city is even via a character arriving by train! Because Disney often likes to double dip on research and development costs by cloning attractions, the Blue Sky idea actually felt possible when Shanghai Disneyland announced a Zootopia land.
But the park’s creative lead, Joe Rohde, denies Zootopia as a possibility given that the film is merely using animals as proxies for distinctly-human problems. Even if it doesn’t become Zootopia, it’s hard for us to imagine Planet Watch lasting through the decade…
11. Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls
Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure | Status: (1) Near threatened
Yet another “endangered” attraction at Islands of Adventure resides across the park’s Great Sea from Poseidon’s Fury in Toon Lagoon. Based on the Rocky and Bullwinkle spin-off segment, this Splash Mountain-esque dark ride / flume ride combo follows the ever-inept Canadian Mountie on a rescue mission to save the perpetual damsel Nell from the sinister Snidely Whiplash. In the style of the musical melodrama, the ride is filled with sight gags, cyclorama backdrops, and puns.
Normally, we’d feel pretty secure in the future of Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. After all, rides at Islands of Adventure are – by design – much more permanent than their Studio park peers. Rather than being in swappable soundstages, Toon Lagoon’s rides are literally embedded in the park, making piecemeal swaps pretty difficult. And since Islands of Adventure is meant to highlight evergreen, timeless literary stories and not flavor-of-the-week films, that makes sense! But…
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Surely you’ve heard that in the ongoing battle of IPs, Universal recently scored an unimaginable coup: the global rights to build attractions based on Nintendo. While we know Nintendo is coming to the Epic Universe park in a big way (namely, Mario and Donkey Kong), there’s more to milk from this video game catalogue… As we mentioned, Zelda is often imagined as a replacement for the remains of the Lost Continent… but dare we say? Pokémon might be a compelling replacement for Toon Lagoon… While we love and value the park’s sincere attempt at timeless, literary sources, we have to admit that a full city plucked from Pokémon (including a Pokémon Center! A gym! Battling!) would be a compelling fit for Islands of Adventure while retaining intergenerational timelessness…
To be fair, Pokémon is barely even rumored for inclusion here, and if anything, would probably be a better fit replacing the dated, Woody Woodpecker-themed Kidzone at the Studio park next door… but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention a gut feeling that tells us Toon Lagoon might not be sacred ground, and may be up for reimagining in the future… Let’s just hope – for the park’s sake – it’s with something that fits Islands of Adventure’s big idea.
12. Storybook Land Canal Boats
Location: Disneyland | Status: (2) Vulnerable
The Storybook Land Canal Boats officially debuted at Disneyland a year after the park’s opening, in 1956. The tranquil attraction tours guests along a placid waterway lined with miniatures of famous settings (many from Walt’s time) with beautifully maintained topiaries and miniature gardens. Over the years, films of the Disney Renaissance like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin have been added, up to and including Tangled and Frozen. As on-ride narrators briefly describe the settings, guests can relax and enjoy the calm cruise.
The Storybook Land Canal Boats occupy the same space as the Casey Jr. Circus Train, both weaving through the serene hillsides behind the park’s Fantasyland. The trouble for Storybook Land is that the iconic attraction takes up quite a bit of land in the infamously landlocked park… and paired with the underutilized outdoor performance space adjacent, the Fantasyland Theater, the two occupy enough real estate to probably be up for grabs…
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: For many years, Disneyland fans have assumed that Toontown – a ‘90s land built at the height of Roger Rabbit’s popularity – would soon give way to future expansion. The real estate it occupies, for example, might be perfect for a Frozen-themed “New Fantasyland” expansion like the one in the works for Hong Kong Disneyland… But then, Disney announced that Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway would take up residence in Toontown in 2022, definitively decreeing that Toontown was here to stay. Our expectation is that a New Fantasyland-style sub-land themed to Frozen or Beauty and the Beast is probably still a possibility, just occupying the space currently housing Storybook Land and the Fantasyland Theater. We’ll see…
13. DINOSAUR
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom | Status: (1) Near threatened
Though the T. rex, triceratops, and their fellow non-avian dinosaurs are extinct, we’d say that Animal Kingdom’s prehistoric giants are merely threatened… The very idea that the park’s off-roading adventure through the final minutes of the Cretaceous might disappear could seem preposterous. After all, when Animal Kingdom opened less than 25 years ago, Dinoland, U.S.A. was seen as the park’s pop culture connection (given the then-recent success of Jurassic Park and the evergreen merchandising around dinosaurs), and its headlining ride, the Lost Legend: Countdown to Extinction, was one of just two anchor rides in the park… and its only dark ride!
Shortly after it opened, the ride was “toned down” and renamed to more smoothly connect to the 2000 film Dinosaur, but there’s no two ways about it: Dinoland’s dark ride is scary and intense, positioning riders in a steaming prehistoric jungle at night dodging meteor strikes, rumbling through the dark, and managing harrowing escapes from the truly-horrific carnotaurus. Yet the most problematic thing about Dinosaur might be what it’s not. Famously, the ride is a direct clone of Disneyland’s Modern Marvel: Indiana Jones Adventure – often considered one of the best modern dark rides on Earth.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN: Years ago, we at Theme Park Tourist were the first to publicly postulate that, with an (extensive) atmsopheric redress, Dinoland could transform into a South America section of Animal Kingdom (a good fit alongside its Asia and Africa lands), with Dinosaur’s showbuilding merely redecorated to become a lost South American temple! Of course, it was all armchair Imagineering… until Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012.
Though Disney hasn’t activated on their ownership of Indiana Jones quite like Pixar, Marvel, or Star Wars, a rumored fifth film in the Indy series is reportedly in pre-production… and increasingly, insiders are suggesting that Imagineers might have the same idea we do. It’s funny; we listed Indiana Jones Adventure among our 16 Disneyland Exclusives That Should Make Disney World Fans Jealous… but in reality, Disney World already has a clone of Indiana Jones Adventure… it’s just dressed as Dinosaur! Chances are, Dinosaur will survive the 2020s… but there’s always a chance your next tour of the Dino Institute will be your last…
Endangered?
Okay, so we may not have any ‘insider information’ to share. It’s not like we’re certain that any of these attractions are on the way out. But in the year 2010, would you have guessed that JAWS, The Great Movie Ride, Snow White’s Scary Adventures or California’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror wouldn’t survive the decade? The point is, you may not know what you’ve got till it’s gone. So treasure these 13 attractions – and the rest, too – because you just never know if you’ve already had your last ride on them…
