The Best Attractions at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

7. Jungle Cruise

When I originally ranked the best rides at the Magic Kingdom, I had two whole paragraphs about how parts of the Jungle Cruise were outdated and racist and needed to be changed. Disney finally removed the most questionable scenes from the ride last year, without losing either its evocation of an exotic 1930s adventure or its 1960s family-friendly corniness. It didn’t lose anything with the changes, and in fact has gained a great deal from them, primarily the ability to enjoy the ride without thinking “oh geez, that’s racist as heck” two or three times along the way. (Thankfully they didn’t add any overt references to the 2021 movie based on the ride, which was like if an AI was fed Indiana Jones and The African Queen and spat out 140 minutes of incoherent CGI with The Rock mugging all over it.)

The Jungle Cruise has seen many changes over the years, but conceptually the experience has remained largely unchanged since the early ‘60s, when jokes were originally added to the spiel at Disneyland. That’s the version that opened alongside the Magic Kingdom in 1971. I wouldn’t use the word “funny” to describe those jokes (although your five-year-old might disagree) but the entire package remains surprisingly charming. It’s a quaint glimpse into the past, at the kind of family-friendly entertainment that our parents might’ve enjoyed when they were young, and hopefully a ride that’ll never change too much.

6. Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

Here’s another classic Disney attraction in desperate need of an update. Walt Disney himself oversaw the creation of this Audio-Animatronic look at how technology changed the typical American home throughout the 20th century, which debuted as a pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair before relocating to Disneyland and then the Magic Kingdom. It’s not a ride, but a show inside a revolving theater. You sit and watch vignettes from four different time periods, starting with the 1900s and then moving ahead 20 years per scene. The fourth vignette was originally set in the ‘60s, when the attraction was built, but was updated five times between 1967 and 1993 to keep pace with recent technological developments. That final scene is now incredibly outdated, full of ‘90s fashion and a supposedly high-tech videogame that looks like something you’d play on a Sega 32X. The solution should be to add a permanent ‘80s or ‘90s vignette, and then end on a fifth scene that can be easily and cheaply updated every few years. Failing that, they should just revert it back to its original ‘60s state, and end it when the attraction was built. It’d be less about progress than a time capsule at that point, but it’s probably more practical than having to account for the ceaseless march of time.

You’re probably wondering why an entry so high on this list would start with a thorough summary of its problems. It’s only because they’re unmistakable to modern eyes. The quaintness and charm of the first three scenes smash hard against that ‘90s update, which is portrayed as the present by the narration. Even just updating that script to reflect that this final tableaux is decidedly out of date would be a nice improvement.

Here’s the thing, though: despite all that, the Carousel of Progress is still a beautiful summation of what Tomorrowland (and, later, EPCOT’s Future World) was intended to be. It’s a celebration of how technology has helped make our lives better. That might sound naive today, but at a time when tech companies try to disrupt society not to make life easier but simply to make money, it’s good to be reminded how beneficial technology can actually be, and how much it advanced our way of life in the 20th century. Also each vignette is a wonderfully designed diorama of the past, with classic Audio-Animatronics and great music from the Sherman Brothers. Disney himself supposedly considered this his all-time favorite attraction that his company ever developed, and it’s easy to see why: it was a technological marvel at the time, suffused with midcentury optimism and a “we can do anything” spirit right out of the Space Age. That’s all still here, even if the final scene is so outdated.

5. Pirates of the Caribbean

The Magic Kingdom version of Pirates is vastly inferior to the original in Disneyland. It’s a shortened version that was built in a hurry to meet demand after the park first opened in the early ‘70s, and was never actually supposed to exist in Disney World. It’s missing so much of what makes Disneyland’s so great. It doesn’t have the serene twilit opening behind the Blue Bayou restaurant, its Dead Man’s Cove is noticeably shorter, and the entire final scene in the village storehouse is gone. This is how great Pirates is, though, both in its concept and execution: despite missing all that, this diminished version still one of the best rides at the Magic Kingdom. Most of the ride’s iconic moments are here, from the fortress bombardment, to the (now changed) auction scene, to the three prisoners trying to coax the dog into giving them the key to their cell. If you don’t know what you’re missing (as I didn’t know until I was in my 30s), Magic Kingdom’s version of Pirates is amazing. And if you do, what’s here is still tremendous.

4. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is a joyous celebration that captures the spirit of New Orleans while continuing Tiana’s story from The Princess and the Frog, and is an ideal replacement for Splash Mountain, preserving its ride system and legacy of adorable animatronic critters while establishing a more immersive, more defined sense of time and place. It’s a welcome addition to the Magic Kingdom, and will no doubt be one of the most popular attractions there, especially on those blazing Orlando summer days. There are some technical issues that still need to be worked out, but when it’s running smoothly—as it was when I rode it at a recent media preview—it’s one of the best attractions at Disney World.

If your favorite part of Splash Mountain was getting wet and falling down a 50 foot drop, don’t worry: the ride system is the same. On a purely physical level it’s the same log flume ride it’s always been. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure elevates that experience with state-of-the-art animatronics that move, talk, and emote with a surprising level of realism; an exuberant new soundtrack that improves on Splash Mountain’s; and a firm commitment to celebrating the unique culture of New Orleans and the people who make it.

The music might not be as instantly familiar to older Disney fans as some of the songs from Splash Mountain, but it improves on the old ride by making the soundtrack the single most important part of its immersive environment. The music of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is the foundation for everything else, driving both the loose story and helping it conjure the joyous character of New Orleans. It uses a handful of songs from The Princess and the Frog, with highlights including “Dig a Little Deeper” and “Down in New Orleans,” and introduces a fine new song “Special Spice” during the celebratory final scene. One stretch of the ride is driven by a fantastic zydeco number that sounds like nothing else heard in a theme park ride before, and that really sells the illusion that you’re riding through the Louisiana bayou. Music is one of the most crucial aspects of a theme park ride, and can easily elevate a good experience into something genuinely great. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is more proof of that.

3. Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room

There are obviously some deep and legitimate problems with turning real-world human cultures into cartoons. I readily admit that. I also fall in love with the Enchanted Tiki Room more every time I visit it, purely for the unabashed, innocent schmaltz of the whole thing. If you want to feel blasted back to your grandparents’ time, just check out this show, in which a bunch of mechanical birds and wall decorations put on a show full of Borscht belt humor, bad stereotypes and cheesy songs. The first attraction to use Audio-Animatronics, it’s another timeless Disney classic, and one that will hopefully always have a home within the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. There’s also almost nothing better for giving your feet a break.

2. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

I’ve been riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for over 40 years—it was the first roller coaster I ever had the courage to ride—and yet I admire it more and more every time I ride it. It was always second to Space Mountain for me, both because I tend to like space stuff more than cowboy business, and because the darkened nature of Tomorrowland’s major ride makes it more thrilling. I would still rank a well-maintained Space Mountain above a well-maintained Big Thunder, but that gap is growing closer by the year. And it’s all because of the theme part of a theme park.

Space Mountain fits its theme perfectly, but so does Big Thunder. And Big Thunder is simply a far brighter and more active space, one that has to cram details into every corner and every part of the track. Big Thunder is a beautiful synthesis of aesthetics and practical design choices, from the way the mountains that the track weaves through seem to have been there long before the ride was built, to how there’s almost always a small detail or bit of visual storytelling to look at whenever the train isn’t roaring hard through a turn or speeding down a hill. Big Thunder turns a roller coaster into an almost likelike journey through a specific time and place, making it a masterpiece of theme park design. And as great as the Magic Kingdom version is, the one at Disneyland Paris is even better. It’s currently down for a long refurbishment, though, so maybe Orlando’s will catch up to France’s when it reopens.

1. Haunted Mansion

It pains me to say this, as a kid who grew up in Florida and feels a strong tie to Disney World, but Haunted Mansion is the only ride at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom where the Florida version is better—and just barely.

Florida’s gets the nod for a couple of reasons. First off, it has an interactive queue full of whimsical games and gadgets. This is deeply controversial among some Disney fans, of course—these additions are relatively new, and every single change Disney makes will upset somebody. They have the same darkly comic sensibility of many of the gags found inside the ride, though, and anything that gets guests to interact with their surroundings instead of their phones is a good idea, in my book.

Secondly, this Haunted Mansion features every part of the original (even the long-lost Hatbox Ghost), and more. The stormy hallway you walk through in Anaheim, with the framed portraits that turn demonic when lightning strikes, is incorporated into the ride itself, as is the library with the busts of the greatest ghost writers the literary world has ever known. There’s also an entirely original room that resembles an M.C. Escher print, with staircases winding in all directions, and spectral footprints that defy gravity.

The kicker, though, is that this version of the Haunted Mansion exists year-round. You will always hear the original Ghost Host, tour the original dinner party with the creepy organ music and dueling portraits, and wind up in the original graveyard as “Grim Grinning Ghosts” blasts through the room. Disneyland turns its unique spook show into a Nightmare Before Christmas tie-in for almost a full third of the year. As fun as that version is, it pales in comparison to the Disney original. (Seriously, if you only plan one visit to any Disney park in your entire life—basically, if you’re my wife’s family when she was young—do not go to Disneyland between September and January. You’ll miss out on the real Haunted Mansion experience, one of the most perfect pieces of art ever made by this company.)

Haunted Mansion is not just one of the best theme park rides ever designed, but a beloved piece of American pop culture, and even though it wasn’t the first, Magic Kingdom’s version of it is the best.

Editor-in-chief Garrett Martin writes about video games,  theme parks, pinball, travel, and more.  Find him on Bluesky.