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5. Cinderella Castle (Magic Kingdom)

From the ground:

Cinderella Castle from the ground

From above:

Cinderella Castle from above

It’s probably the single most enduring and iconic image of any of Florida’s theme parks: the view down Main Street, USA towards the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.

From the ground, thanks to the magic of forced perspective, the castle looks impressively large and is clearly the central icon of the entire park. But from above, it looks surprisingly tiny and insignificant.

4. The American Adventure (Epcot)

From the ground:

Image: Disney

From above:

American Adventure from above

Just like the Hall of Presidents, Epcot’s American Adventure contains an patriotic audio-animatronic show.

Hidden behind the colonial-style frontage is a huge building. The theatre itself is located on the second floor, allowing an enormously complicated array of scenes and stages to be rotated into view from below.

3. Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (Formerly The Great Movie Ride  at Disney's Hollywood Studios)

From the ground:

Great Movie Ride from the ground

From above:

Great Movie Ride from above

It’s long been a sore point for many fans of Disney’s Hollywood Studios that the park’s original icon, the Chinese Theatre façade for The Great Movie Ride, was hidden by the installation of an enormous Sorcerer’s Hat sculpture back in 2001 (and, man, looking at the image above it really is clear just how completely the hat snuffed out the view of the theatre).

With the hat now removed, the Chinese Theatre can shine once again. But as this aerial image shows, it’s very much just a façade – a massive soundstage-style building actually holds the ride’s sprawling sets.

2. Men in Black: Alien Attack (Universal Studios Florida)

From the ground:

Image: Disney

From above:

Men in Black from above

Opened in 2000, Men in Black: Alien Attack occupied a large unused space in Universal Studios Florida. In the movie, the Men in Black organization was kept secret from the general public. The ride’s designers, therefore, wanted it to be housed inside a “false” structure that would hide its true nature. They opted to house it inside a recreation of a 1964 World’s Fair pavilion, complete with the iconic flying saucers from the film, which had been “relocated” to Universal Studios Florida.

The pavilion conceals an enormous 80,000 square foot show building, which enabled dual-tracks to be installed to increase capacity.

1. Kilimanjaro Safaris (Disney's Animal Kingdom)

From the ground:

Kilimamjaro Safaris

From above:

Kilimanjaro Safaris from above

It’s a well-known fact that Animal Kingdom is the largest park theme park in Orlando, but thanks to creative layouts and forced perspective, you may never notice the difference in size between it and the other parks that much.

The park’s headline attraction, Kilimanjaro Safaris, sprawls across an area that is actually slightly larger than the entire Magic Kingdom. Whereas other rides trick you into believing they are larger than they really are, this is one attraction that may actually be even bigger than you perceive it to be.

 
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Comments

I had a serious laugh out loud at the auto "corrected" KINK dropped in front of Magic Kingdom. Oh my!

You'd swear those ride buildings are bigger when your in them!

The first picture of the Haunted Mansion from the ground is not the Walt Disney World version of the ride. I'm assuming that is the Disneyland version of the ride.

In reply to by Ryan (not verified)

LOL. The photo of the Haunted Mansion from the ground is from WDW.

In reply to by Ryan (not verified)

The picture of The Haunted Mansion is indeed Walt Disney World's version. The Disneyland version is a New Orleans style mansion and looks very different than WDW's

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