6. Sinbad's Seven Voyages

Location: Tokyo DisneySea
Lifetime: 2001 - 2005 (4 years)
Replaced By: Sinbad's Storybook Voyage 

When Tokyo DisneySea opened, it represented the next evolution of theme parks. Arguably, it's still the best example of a theme park in the entire world. One of its themed "ports" is the gorgeous Arabian Coast. Loosely tied to Aladdin, the port is filled with unbelievable Middle Eastern castles and Arabesque domes. Just outside the city, though, is an old crumbling stone fortress, home to Sinbad's Seven Voyages. The boat ride resembles "it's a small world" in many ways, from its slow-moving flume to its doll-sized Audio Animatronics. But below the surface, the two couldn't be more different. Sinbad told the story of the famed sailor / adventurer and his legendary exploits across the globe. And even if the Audio Animatronics were "small world" sized, the advanced figures are capable of unthinkable fluidity and dexterity, earning a position in our must-read countdown of the Best Animatronics on Earth!

Problem is, the ride was legitimately quite scary. 

First, Sinbad encountered sinister green-skinned mermaids luring sailors to their doom against sharp rocks. Then he bumped into a massive whale hellbent on devouring Sinbad and his crew. The river then flowed past Sinbad's encounter with an evil giant dangling the crew over guests' boats to drop them. In the most horrifying scene of all, the boat flowed through a canyon populated with dozens of animatronic monkeys with dead black eyes, all shrieking and baring their fangs as they shook spears at riders with that unparalleled and startling fluidity and expression. The whole thing was pretty intense for a family boat ride, and perhaps one of the darker toned dark rides Disney had ever created.

What Happened: Thinking quickly, Tokyo Disney management set out to re-imagine the ride. Retitled Sinbad's Storybook Voyage, the ride now sent guests through a charming storybook retelling Sinbad's voyages from a distinctly lighter perspective. The sirens became beautiful helpful mermaids pointing the way; the whale gained a smile and eyelashes, carrying Sinbad and crew across the sea. The giant became a friend released from a cage by Sinbad thanks to a magical feather. Instead of threatening to kill the crew, the giant instead plays a humungous mandolin. The horrifying monkeys - while still innately pretty scary - now shake maracas instead of spears and offer riders bananas instead of poison dart guns.

Even more brilliantly, famed Disney songwriter Alan Menken was brought in to develop a theme song called "Compass of your Heart" (which is incredible). In "small world" style, the song repeats endlessly along the ride, sung by the mermaids, giant, Sinbad, and everyone else. And, the pièce de résistance, Sinbad was given a charming little pet tiger named Chandu to accompany him on his adventures. The itty bitty kitten is visible hiding in every scene, meowing along to the song and becoming a veritable icon of Tokyo Disney Resort. And just like that, the dark and scary Sinbad ride was given a new lease on life, by all accounts better than its first incarnation. What else can you expect from Tokyo Disney? You can view a video of the original ride here and the lighter Storybook Voyage here.

7. Triceratops Encounter

Location: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Lifetime: 1999 – 2003; summer 2010 (4 years)
Replaced By: Nothing 

Another testament to Universal’s Islands of Adventure’s technological prowess was the Triceratops Encounter, a stunning and cutting edge 21st century walkthrough that added tremendous layers of realism to the Jurassic Park Island. The attraction sent guests along a jungle path and to the park’s veterinary clinic where they could get a glimpse of the technology needed to care for these humungous creatures.

The real stunning moment, though, was when guests were invited to visit one of the triceratops currently resting at the facility. A group would be taken in to visit with Cera, Topper, or Chris as a Jurassic Park veterinarian explained the care and health of the animals. The animatronic dinosaurs would blink, breathe, sneeze, and even urinate. Guests chosen to approach the animals would find that they reacted to touch and sound with startling realism. 

Triceratops Encounter was not a headlining E-ticket, but it was an impressive walk-through that really extended the realism of the world and extended the experience. As it is, the entire Jurassic Park Island has one single attraction. The rest is just jungle. Even if it makes for great atmosphere, the notion that an interactive and engaging walkthrough is rusting away in the woods is unfortunate and (to be very honest) leaves Jurassic Park with a lot of dead space. Triceratops Encounter was a nice balance to the River Adventure, and it's a shame it's gone.

What Happened: Since the attraction's closure, designers from Universal Creative (Universal's version of Imagineering) have spoken openly about the attraction stating that - quite frankly - the attraction simply didn't live up to its own hype. While interesting, the attraction didn't inspire the "wow" reaction they'd hoped for, perhaps in part because the animatronics were too realistic. They were meant to look tired, sluggish, and under heavy sedation, which certainly doesn't make for the most engaging interaction. But even for guests who suspended their disbelief long enough to enjoy, Triceratops Encounter was a "one and done," not worth revisiting on a second trip to Universal. 

Triceratops Encounter closed after a few years at the park. After 7 years of being dark, it briefly re-opened in summer 2010 under the name Triceratops Discovery Trail to absorb summer crowds attending the brand new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It closed as summer faded, and is once again overgrown with plants. The three animatronics and the extensive walkthrough and queue still exist in the jungle, just waiting to be flipped back on. Odd!

8. Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s Very Unusual Driving Machines

Location: Universal's Islands of Adventure
Lifetime: Never Opened
Replaced By: High In The Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride

It isn’t too often that an advertised ride just completely fails to open. Such is the case, though, with the Very Unusual Driving Machines at Islands of Adventure’s Seuss Landing. The attraction was meant to send guests puttering around in sky-high carts weaving along twisted tracks in the sky. Sort of a mix of classic antique car rides, bumper cars, and Disney’s Peoplemover, the ride would’ve seen zany carts bumping into each other as riders controlled the speed of their nimble vehicles.

What Happened: The opening was postponed when it failed to open with the park (allegedly for safety issues, probably involving evacuation routes along the raised track). Universal eventually set the opening as “summer 2001,” but no such luck. The ride’s manufacturer went bankrupt, and Universal postponed the opening indefinitely in 2002. In 2006, the ride was re-built with new track sections and new trains that chug along at constant speed for an aerial tour of the Island with a hint of the tale of the Sneeches snuck in. Sylvester McMonkey was left behind as the ride was renamed The High In the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride.

9. Journey into YOUR Imagination

Image: Disney

Location: Epcot
Lifetime: October 1, 1999 – October 8, 2001 (2 years)
Replaced By: Journey Into Imagination With Figment 

When Epcot opened, the concept behind it was admirably concise and brilliant – eight pavilions, each focused on a single topic and containing multiple attractions, shows, restaurants, or exhibits focused on that topic. The Imagination pavilion, for example, contained the incredible Journey Into Imagination dark ride where guests joined the enigmatic inventor Dreamfinder and his friendly purple dragon Figment on a literal trip through the arts and sciences of imagination. The original ride is often regarded as one of the best dark rides ever created, and earned its own in-depth feature... Lost Legends: Journey into Imagination.

What Happened: As the new millennium neared, designers went back to the drawing board to update the pavilion. Honey, I Shrunk The Audience was playing in the pavilion’s 3D theatre, so Imagineers decided to redesign the dark ride to match the Imagination Institute setting and theme of the film. The result was a brand new ride titled Journey Into YOUR Imagination. Dreamfinder, Figment, and their signature song (a Sherman Brothers ditty called “One Little Spark”) were reduced to mere hidden cameos while the ride became a tour of the cold, sterile Imagination Institute Labs guided by Eric Idle’s kooky Dr. Channing. As well, the dark ride’s track was physically cut and rerouted, shortening the ride from 11 minutes to 6 minutes. Fans reacted in outrage at the loss of the Tony Baxter original and the elimination of characters that had become icons of Epcot.

The ride didn’t last long in this ill-fated incarnation. It closed after just two years and re-opened as a third completely new version called Journey Into Imagination With Figment in June 2002, keeping the Imagination Institute and Dr. Channing story but re-inserting a more mischievous version of Figment throughout. The half-hearted re-do hasn’t calmed fans’ immense dislike of the new ride. It's still open today and it continues to limp along in this third incarnation until something more permanent can take place.

10. Luigi’s Flying Tires

Location: Disney California Adventure
Lifetime: June 15, 2012 – January 11, 2015 (2.5 years)
Replaced By: Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

Remember the Flying Saucers of Tomorrowland? Principal Creative Advisor of Walt Disney Imagineering John Lasseter did! Always enchanted by the floating hockey puck attraction, Lasseter saw a chance to revive the technology with 21st century precision in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure (based on the film by Pixar, where he’s the Chief Creative Officer). Luigi’s Flying Tired opened with Cars Land on June 15, 2012.

If the Flying Saucer’s two fatal flaws were capacity and upkeep, Lasseter had a plan to remedy at least the former: now, each Flying Tire would carry two or three passengers. The unfortunate trade-off was that the much-heavier vehicles float incredibly slowly on their air cushions. A joystick originally intended to help steer was found to be more or less useless given the bulky Tires’ slow motion dance and physically removed. Even if the ride could hold more guests per cycle, it was still a slow loader and a capacity nightmare in one of the most-visited parks in the world. Giant inflatable beach balls were added during the ride’s testing and stuck around for a bit, but they increased the ride’s loading time and irritated parents who didn’t see the fun in being struck by massive beach balls. Put simply, for as much as Luigi's Flying Tires succeeded in resurrecting the Flying Saucers old ride system, it brought its own new frustrations. Disney could've let it stick around as a mildly-successful family ride, but decided to go back to the drawing board...

What Happened: True to rumors, Luigi's closed forever in January, 2015. In its place parked Luigi’s Rollickin' Roadsters, where riders board Fiat cars that spin, drive, reverse, dance around one another, and accelerate around a festive family reunion for Luigi’s family. The ride uses the same Location Positioning System behind Tokyo DisneySea’s Aquatopia, meaning that the cars are not on a track of any kind. Instead, they circle each other, line up and perform line-dances, spin, swirl, and dance in perfect choreography. In short, the Roadsters have everything the Flying Tires lacked: bright kinetic colors, a zany and hidden technology, and an experience that's as fun to watch as it is to ride. Seriously!

11. Jaws

Location: Universal Studios Florida
Lifetime: June 7, 1990 – August 1990 (2 months)
Replaced By: Jaws (completely new version)

Universal Studios Hollywood – a real, working film studio – always had a Studio Tram Tour as its highlight. The multi-hour attraction whisks guests through live film sets and past recreations of favorite scenes from Jaws, King Kong, and Earthquake – The Big One. Universal planned to duplicate the Tram Tour success with a second studio park in Florida… That is, until they heard that Disney was hurriedly constructing their own movie studio / theme park with a headlining tram tour as a preemptive strike. Thinking quickly, Universal split their tram tour into separate rides, producing a full, stand-alone ride for Earthquake, King Kong, and Jaws.

What Happened: Jaws – technologically similar to Disney’s Jungle Cruise – opened with the park in June 1990. It didn’t stay open. The ride was plagued with downtime and crushing breakdowns that evacuated the ride almost daily. After just two months, Universal closed the ride and sued the company behind it. Four new companies collaborated to re-build the ride from the ground up, including new technology, new scenes, and new effects. The new Jaws re-opened in a grand ceremony in Spring 1993 – three years after the ride had carried its first passengers. The Jaws most of us knew was quite different from the the original, short-lived version.

One particularly intense scene in the original saw Jaws bite onto the boat and swim forward, turning the boat 180-degrees (via a hidden turntable). The finale involved the on-board skipper launching a grenade into the shark’s open mouth as it exploded. Neither scene worked reliably, and the new version of the ride replaced them with the exploding gas dock and the electrical barge, respectively. You can see both scenes in this rare video of the original ride, which shows just how surprisingly complex the original animatronics were.

Memories?

A lot can change in a short bit of time. Some of these rides were so short-lived, they're barely even remembered. Did you get lucky enough to see any of these attractions before they disappeared into the foggy memory banks of mystery? We want to hear all about your experience in the comments below, and be sure to let us know of any other attractions that seemingly disappeared as quickly and mysteriously as they appeared.