A visit to Walt Disney World is an inimitable experience for newcomers. You can savor scores of new attractions, restaurants and stores during a weeklong visit. For those theme park tourists who have attended many times before, however, it’s a different challenge. These guests have a staple of rides that they’ve experienced many times over the years, but they’re still not bored by the attractions.
To the contrary, Disney’s practice of plussing ensures that all park attractions stay relatively fresh. Even Orlando residents can find something new each time they ride one of their favorites. But which ones are the best for return engagements? Here’s one person’s opinion of the Walt Disney World attractions with the greatest repeat value.
7. Test Track
Image: DisneyWhile I limited the inclusions to two, the truth is that any Walt Disney World attraction with gaming elements is worthy of this list. Rides like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin have tremendous replay value for reasons I’ll discuss later in the article. Similarly, ride queues such as at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train have actual games and other interactive elements you can play, presuming that you don’t get in the FastPass+ line.
Test Track is slightly better than two choices, though. Its gaming element extends into the ride. You’re not playing a shooter game or lining up jewels. Instead, you’re designing a vehicle before you board the ride cart. The look and style of the theoretical “car” is entirely up to you. The performance of said vehicle goes hand-in-hand with your design choices. You control how well it handles and how fast it goes. During the ride, you see how your decisions impact the various tests on the track. Plus, we’re talking about one of the top five thrill rides at Walt Disney World. So, it’s always good for an adrenaline rush.
6. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Image: DisneyRide randomness plays a huge part in my love of certain attractions. I wish that all major rides included some element of surprise. I understand that Imagineers face unique difficulties in implementing multiplicity, making my desire somewhat impractical. For this reason, I give huge bonus points to the attractions that have that hidden element of surprise.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is a wonderful example. It has divergent elevator shaft trajectories. When you choose to go left or right in the line queue, you’re accidentally narrowing your potential flight path. It’s unavoidable, of course, but veteran riders know which shafts deliver the best, the longest, and the most stomach-turning rides. And that’s something I love about this attraction.
Imagineers know about this behavior and make their own modifications to add new, exciting elements. For example, in recent years, Disney introduced mannequins of the people trapped in the elevator. During your flight, you may notice disturbing shadows or maybe even the ghosts themselves as you bounce up and down. It’s a modest touch yet the perfect one to enhance the attraction’s replay value.
5. Star Tours
Image: DisneyThe original version of Star Tours was 100 percent George Lucas-approved. Disney pitched him the idea, and he loved it immediately, requiring no further enticement. The first iteration quickly grew stale, though. When Imagineers pitched Star Tours – The Adventure Continues, they had a bold plan to improve the underlying quality of the attraction. They wanted to add randomness to the ride.
Each segment of Star Tours varies every time. You may encounter Storm Troopers or Darth Vader at the start, you may receive a message from Poe Dameron or BB-8, and your chase scene may come from Star Wars: The Force Awakens or The Empire Strikes Back. These are just examples, as dozens of different permutations are available.
Image: DisneyAlso, Disney’s modified the attraction in recent years to account for the new films in Star Wars canon. At the moment, the ride skews heavily toward segments from Episodes VII and VIII, but park planners can change whenever they like. You literally never know what you’ll get when you take a ride on Star Tours, which is more than enough to justify placement on this list.
4. Toy Story Mania!
Image: DisneyThe inclusion of Toy Story Mania! is primarily due to its gaming factor. Each time you board the ride, you’re competing with the person sitting right beside you as well as the duo sitting behind you in your coaster cart. You’re also battling the highest scores for the hour and the day, meaning that you have ample opportunities for bragging rights.
The ride tracks are also different for each of the three potential lines. And each of these ride tracks leads to different carnival games, meaning that you have different skills to hone every time you play. Some people are better at the ring toss part of the carnival games while others can pop balloons so well that you’ll wonder if they hate children. You could ride Toy Story Mania! 50 times and still lack mastery of every competition. For this reason, I wish that Disney would gamify many of their existing attractions. Such a move immediately boosts the repeat value of each ride.
3. Splash Mountain
Image: DisneyThe longest attractions at Walt Disney World are oftentimes great for riding again and again. When you’re on your first visit, you face a time constraint that limits your ability and/or desire to ride a 10+ minute attraction multiple times. That’s regrettable but understandable.
When you come to the parks a lot, target some of these attractions for repeated viewings. You’ll appreciate precisely how much detail Imagineers can pack into an extended ride. Splash Mountain is the ultimate example of this, because the various sets are so lush and rich in detail. Many of the best gags are ones you won’t notice during your first few rides because they’re off in the background, accentuating the main story rather than distracting away from it.
Image: DisneySplash Mountain is also a wonderful repeat ride for other reasons. The obvious one is that it’s a joyous ride experience that puts everyone in a great mood. Similarly, the variable amount of drenching adds another layer of entertainment to the proceedings. Some riders even know how to manipulate the boat to get strangers soaked!
There’s even a final, controllable aspect to the proceedings. The great Splash Mountain picture is a time-honored tradition. It inspires some of the most creative Disney guests to go to great lengths to capture the perfect image. Newly married couples board the ride in their wedding gowns and tuxes, videogame fans carry their favorite consoles on the ride, and some folks even, well, you know. It didn’t get the nickname of Flash Mountain by accident. All of these chaos factors make each ride potentially unforgettable.
2. Jungle Cruise
I don’t even have to type out the explanation here. You already know the why of it. More than any other ride, Jungle Cruise is dependent on its Skipper to entertain you. When you have a bad Skipper – and these unfortunately do exist – you’ll question why you waited in line. It’s like the world’s worst 10-minute celebrity roast.
When you have a great Skipper, however, you’ll never want to get off the boat. You’ll laugh from start to finish, all the while admiring how much the cast member can do with the decades-old Jungle Cruise script. And the bar is raised pretty high in this category. The late Robin Williams (!) was once a Skipper. Just imagine how hysterical those rides must have been!
1.Kilimanjaro Safaris
Image: DisneyWhen we talk about rides with the greatest repeat value, the honest evaluation is that everything else at Walt Disney World is competing for second place. No matter how much Disney gamifies its rides or gives cast members the ability to perform improvisation, nature’s got them beat.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a high level of uncontrollable characters. They’re not technically cast members. Instead, they’re the residents of the park. Even cast members don’t spend 24/7 at Animal Kingdom, but its animals do. The safari experience is impossible to replicate since the animal behavior is so unpredictable. No matter what the cast members do to cajole the animals to hang out in certain places at set times, the lions are going to do what they want. That’s the law of the jungle, and Kilimanjaro Safaris bows to it just the same as the (delicious) elk do.
Image: DisneyAt Kilimanjaro Safaris, you’re watching something almost impossible outside of Animal Kingdom. You’re seeing some mortal enemies frolic in the same general vicinity. On the savannah, one of them would eat the other, but they’re best buddies at Disney…or at the very least frenemies stuck living together kind of like the cast of MTV’s The Real World. It makes for quite the show, and there’s never a rerun. More than any other attraction at Walt Disney World, Kilimanjaro Safaris has the best repeat value.
