#this is a childhood nostalgia type game and it's my mission to force this onto everyone

[cas-fulleditmode]

i need people to pick up this game STAT. it's currently like 2 bucks on steam,

if you're a point & click DIVA such as i + love weird surrealist-type humor, i recommend it

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: The Best Walt Disney World Rides

Since I work at Walt Disney World, people often ask me what my favorite ride is. The thing is, I can’t pick one favorite, because I like different kinds of rides for different reasons!

So instead of attempting to rank them all in order to pick one favorite, I’m going to hold my own little theme park awards ceremony. I’ve divided the current forty-nine Walt Disney World rides into nine categories – now let’s see which rides win!

Best In-Park Transportation

This first category is an often-overlooked type of Disney Park attraction. While most rides drop you off right back where you started at their completion, these rides serve a purpose as in-park transportation. The Magic Kingdom has multiple rides like this, including the horse-drawn carriages on Main Street and the rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Disney’s Animal Kingdom also has the Wildlife Express train, which gives its passengers glimpses of the animal barns on their way to and from Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Call me a sucker for nostalgia, but for me, the best in-park transportation is the iconic Walt Disney World Railroad. This classic ride takes you on a scenic tour around the Magic Kingdom, with stops in Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Main Street. U.S.A. The four locomotives that travel this route are actual narrow-gauge steam trains, originally built in the early 1900s and restored for use today. Though at the time of writing the railroad is temporarily not operating, the train is still at the station for photo ops, and I eagerly await its return.

Best Carousel

When I say the word “carousel,” an image of wooden horses prancing in a circle likely comes to mind – like the Prince Charming Regal Carousel in the Magic Kingdom. But Walt Disney World features a much wider range of spinning attractions, from aerial carousels like Fantasyland’s Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Tomorrowland’s AstroOrbiter, and DinoLand U.S.A.’s TriceraTop Spin. I even consider high-speed spinners like the classic Mad Tea Party and the new Alien Swirling Saucers as a more thrilling type of carousel. For a moment I considered being clever and naming the Carousel of Progress show as my favorite carousel.

However, I must give Dumbo the Flying Elephant the honor of best carousel ride. It’s the Goldilocks of aerial carousels – not too high and not too low, not too skinny and not too wide, not too fast and not too slow. When I visited the Magic Kingdom as a child, flying with my mother on Dumbo was the perfect thrill and delight. Today, I find it a wonderfully relaxing flight, and so I still make a point of visiting Dumbo whenever I pass through Fantasyland.

Best Dark Ride

“Dark rides” are indoor attractions which carry you along a track and – in true Disney fashion – through a story. Whether you climb aboard a clamshell at Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, hop into a honey pot at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, or drive a Doom Buggy through the Haunted Mansion, you will encounter beloved characters and classic songs that you will never get out of your head. The Magic Kingdom isn’t the only park with dark rides – Epcot ferries you through time, the big blue ocean, and a quirky science lab via Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Journey Into Imagination respectively.

A star among these cherished attractions is Peter Pan’s Flight. The original version of this ride took its first guests to Never Land on Disneyland’s opening day, and it’s been a guest favorite ever since. Even though there are now five versions of this attraction around the world, and so many newer attractions competing for guests’ attention, it’s still nigh-on impossible to get a Fastpass for the one in Walt Disney World, and for good reason! The journey is chock-full of details for Peter Pan fans to discover, and it employs many simple tricks to bring the magic to life even for adults. The moment when your ship lifts off of the railing and takes to the sky gives me chills every time!

Best Game Ride

As I said at the start, I like different rides for different reasons. Therefore, I am taking two “dark rides” and setting them apart in their own category. Rather than carry you passively through a story, these “game rides” challenge you to take part in the adventure, hitting targets in a video-game-like setting. The classic example of a game ride is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland, in which you work to defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg.

But the game ride I much prefer is Toy Story Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare two rides with vastly different technological platforms, but I find the gameplay of Midway Mania much easier to learn than Space Ranger Spin’s, making it a less frustrating and more engaging time for someone like me who does not have a lot of experience with video games. For the more serious gamer, this ride also offers many opportunities to strategize with your copilot and rack up the big points! Not to mention that the breakneck speed and the catchy tunes always put a smile on my face.

Best Slow-Moving Boat Ride

Many Walt Disney World attractions involve stepping onto a boat and taking a trip down a gentle river. From the musical Gran Fiesta Tour and “it’s a small world,” to the educational Living with the Land, to the hilarious Jungle Cruise, these rides are a great option for anyone searching for an experience without a height requirement. If you want a little excitement with your boat rides, Pirates of the Caribbean and Frozen Ever After both throw a dark drop into the middle of the otherwise peaceful journey.

For some people, that thrill would put a ride at the top – but when I get on a Disney boat, I’m looking for relaxation. That’s why Na’vi River Journey is the best slow-moving boat ride in all of Walt Disney World. This calm voyage completely immerses you in the breathtaking bioluminescent rainforest of Pandora, complete with up-close encounters with the flora, fauna, and Na’vi who live there. If I could ride it around and around all day, I would!

Best Car Ride

While putting rides into categories, I came across a few which didn’t seem to fit into the other categories well. Then I realized that these attractions all take you for a ride on a car! The Tomorrowland Speedway lets you steer your own two-seat racecar, Epcot’s Test Track lets you design a vehicle and put it through testing, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Dinosaur takes you on a bumpy trip through the late Cretaceous, pursued by both carnivores and meteors.

My favorite Walt Disney World cars are the trucks at Kilimanjaro Safaris. This open-air guided tour through the African savanna lets you see and learn about the thirty-four species that live there. You come away with incredible pictures and a call to action to help protect the creatures with whom we share this planet! Best of all, every single journey on Kilimanjaro Safaris is unique – the animals call the shots, after all!

Best Drop Ride

Let’s now move into the realm of thrills! This first thrill-ride category is a small one, for those rides which are not a roller coaster but nonetheless feature a drop that will make you scream! Some of these drop rides are also water rides, like Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom and Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

I much prefer the objectively best example of a drop ride – the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! This spooky Hollywood Studios ride looms over Sunset Boulevard, daring you to enter. Now, historically, I am not a fan of scary rides. I was incredibly surprised to discover that I absolutely love Tower of Terror! The adrenaline rush makes me scream with delight more than fright as I fall faster than the speed of gravity. This attraction has something in common with Kilimanjaro Safaris as well, in that no two rides are the same! Will you go up first, or down? How many times will you rise before you fall for good? It’s impossible to know until you step aboard!

Best Roller Coaster

If you’re looking for a thrill, you can’t beat a roller coaster. Disney’s roller coasters beat the average amusement park coaster with their devotion to story and theming alongside the adrenaline rush! There’s a coaster for everyone, whether you prefer the rocky ride of Big Thunder Mountain or the smooth-swinging carts of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the eerie void of Space Mountain or the colors and lights of Slinky Dog Dash, the easy pace of Barnstormer or the zero-to-sixty loop-de-loop rush of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Though many new coasters have arisen over the years, my favorite remains Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. It’s my top example of how Disney tells a story entirely through your surroundings, starting in the queue and continuing all the way through the ride itself, as you first prepare for your voyage, next are warned about the legend of the Yeti, and finally come face to face with the creature. For the thrill-lover, it has multiple drops, including one that sends you backwards in total darkness!

Best Simulator

Simulators are experiential rides that use a combination of video screens and g-forces to bring the high-flying adventure to life all around you. And like I said at the start of this article, I love them all for different reasons. When I’m in the mood for a relaxing glide, I let Soarin’ carry me around the world. Other times, I’m in the mood for the realistic gravitational pull of Mission: SPACE as I live out my childhood dreams of being an astronaut. I’ve ridden Star Tours: The Adventure Continues countless times to get the different combinations of heroes, villains, and planets.

But I have to pick one to call the best, and that one is AVATAR: Flight of Passage. Once again the moon of Pandora hits you with full immersion as you ride on the back of a banshee. This ride is like all my daydreams of flying brought to life. It’s a gorgeous experience in every detail, from the wide, sweeping landscapes you soar above, to the subtle sensation of the banshee breathing between your legs. There’s a reason it’s still such a high-demand attraction two whole years after it opened! The first time I rode it, I ran outside with a huge grin on my face, already eager to get back in line.

Are there any great attractions you love that I forgot? What categories would you use to rate your favorite attractions? Is there truly one greatest Disney World attraction of them all? Reply, reblog, retweet, or comment with your thoughts!

All images in this article are from the Walt Disney World website.