10. Peter Pan’s Flight

© Disney

Location: Disneyland Park (1955)
Position in TPT100: 16
Other: Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland 

An absolute classic among Disney’s dark rides, Peter Pan’s Flight remains perhaps the most well loved of the Fantasyland originals at each park is resides in. Unlike the rest of Fantasyland favorites in which guests board carts that pass through retellings of the film, Peter Pan’s Flight lets guests board flying pirate ships. These ships – suspended from an overhead track – fly out of the Darlings’ nursery room and over a miniature London in one of Disney’s most recognized attraction moments. After that, it’s a zip over Neverland and past Peter’s climactic battle with Hook before all it set right and the ships return to port.

9. Splash Mountain

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland Park (1989)
Position in TPT100: 13
Other: Magic Kingdom (TPT#18), Tokyo Disneyland

Everybody’s got a Laughin’ Place to go. Splash Mountain is certainly one of the largest dark rides in the world with its cast of 100 Audio-Animatronics (many borrowed from Disneyland’s shuttered America Sings show in Tomorrowland’s Carousel Theater) who sing, dance, and populate the Briar Patch at the base of Chickapin Hill, where Br’er Rabbit and his friends live and work. But Br’er Rabbit gets tired of chores and hears talk of the Laughin’ Place, where you never have to work or worry at all. So he packs up and sets off, leaving the Briar Patch behind. Of course, what he doesn’t know is that the dastardly Br’er Fox and dimwitted Br’er Bear are close behind, hoping to have rabbit stew for dinner.

Splash Mountain was Disney's attempt at a thrilling ride to draw in teens without sacrificing Disney storytelling. Duplicates were built in Florida and Japan in 1992, but Disneyland’s ranks highest on our list. No matter where you ride, Splash Mountain ends in a 50-foot climactic plunge into the soggy Briar Patch. Interestingly, the ride is based on Disney’s 1946 film Song of the South and its Uncle Remus stories. The film has never been released on home video (either as a VHS, DVD, or Blu-Ray) due to the film’s unclear time setting in terms of the American Civil War and the emancipation of the South’s slaves. That makes it undoubtedly one of the most elaborate rides in the world based on a film that very few people have seen!

8. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland Park (1995)
Position in TPT100: 9

Just imagine it: three locked doors. One leads to timeless youth and beauty; the second, to unlimited earthly riches; the third to visions of the future! Any who endure the pilgrimage to the ancient temple of Mara would be granted one of these three gifts. But there’s a catch: any who look into the dark and corroded Eyes of Mara would forfeit his gift and be cursed to the Gates of Doom! Of course, the off-roading journey through the so-called Temple of the Forbidden Eye is harrowing, slamming through forgotten chambers, creeping across ancient suspension bridges, narrowly avoiding bubbling lava pits, and racing to escape the flame-spewing Eye on the 40-foot tall face of the lost god.

Indiana Jones Adventure was a departure from Disney’s normal. It brought a dark (and legitimately creepy) story and setting to the otherwise fantasy-oriented Disneyland. Most strikingly, the ride’s Enhanced Motion Vehicles (EMV) were able to simulate rough terrain, sudden drops, and intense turns, bringing guests into the adventure as more than just an observer. Even two decades later, Temple of the Forbidden Eye is perhaps a pinnacle of Imagineering design and storytelling – a larger-than-life adventure with incredible effects and an Indy-sized rolling boulder.

7. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

© Marvel / Universal

Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure (1999)
Position in TPT100: 8
Other: Universal Studios Japan

When Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, it was distinctly of the 21st century. The park was proudly touted as “the most technologically advanced theme park on Earth,” and with Jurassic Park, Dueling Dragons, Poseidon’s Fury, and the Incredible Hulk coaster, few would disagree. However, it was almost entirely The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man that earned the park its title.

We still don’t have a succinct term for the ride type (though it’s time we get on it). Perhaps best described as a roving 3-D motion-simulator dark ride, the attraction places guests into SCOOP vehicles that physically move through a warehouse where practical effects and physical sets blend seamlessly into projected 3D screens that “squinch” in perspective with the moving audience. Bouncing, spinning, slamming, and darting around, the ride is thrilling from beginning to end. Its finale is a simulated 400-foot drop that achieves hyperrealism thanks to wind, lighting, practical sets, and a motion-base that actually moves the vehicle just a few inches. Spider-Man was duplicated at Universal Studios Japan, and the technology was re-used for Universal's own Transformers: The Ride 3D and at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Curse of DarKastle. Still, Spider-Man takes the cake for its limit-pushing innovation and fun.

6. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

© Universal

Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure (2010)
Position in TPT100: 6
Other: Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood

With a nearly perfect score keeping it out of the top 5 by microscopic measures, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey topped this list a year ago. As tends to happen, hype has diminished and a few nausea-induced negative reviews have leveled out its score to a respectable 4.85 / 5.00. Still, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a masterful example of technology pushing forward.

It’s more or less impossible to explain the mechanics behind the ride, but we’ll try: Make a fist. Pretend the four fingers you can see are four people. Now twist and rotate your wrist and your elbow, imagining all the positions those “riders” could face. They can flip, spin, lie flat, and rotate. Then imagine that your arm is removed at the shoulder and placed on a track, traveling through a building and interacting with screens and props. If you’ve concocted the idea of an out-of-control ride that seems impossible, you’re right.

While Forbidden Journey is infamously a bit of a grab-bag in the story department (as you endure random attacks from almost every bad guy in the Harry Potter universe within a matter of minutes), it’s a technological marvel and most fans’ first time seeing the wonders of the Wizarding World up close and personal.