3. New Fantasyland - Magic Kingdom

Discussing the latest iteration of Fantasyland could iterate down two divergent paths. I could discuss only the updates to this themed land as a full piece, as more than enough additions and enhancements occur to justify it. Alternately, I could simply list everything at once, presuming that the changes speak for themselves. I’ve chosen the latter since anyone who has visited Fantasyland since 2012 understands how dramatically it’s changed, and for the better.

The Fantasyland of today at Magic Kingdom now includes Be Our Guest, the best restaurant at Magic Kingdom. Its constant sellouts years after its opening reflect its sustained popularity. Theme park tourists embrace this rare opportunity to dine as an invited guest of the Beast. That’s arguably not even the best part of the non-attraction options. Hanging out at Gaston’s Tavern and the surrounding area affords guests the opportunity to meet the biggest ham in the entire Disney universe. And each of these encounters has a chance to go viral. Gaston is the unofficial breakout star of the Fantasyland update.

Still, the attractions are what sell the brand for Disney’s Parks and Resorts division. And Fantasyland is teeming with new, phenomenal ones. Parents can participate in a play with their kids thanks to the ingenious Enchanted Tales with Belle. Fans of The Little Mermaid can feel like they’re a part of the story in Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid. And everyone can celebrate Walt Disney’s first animated film through the magic of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, my choice for the best new Disney attraction of the 2000s. Disney park planners faced a daunting task in rebuilding one of the original themed lands at the world’s most popular amusement park. To their credit, Fantasyland is a triumph of the imagination as well as the truest representations of Disney themes at any park to date.

4. Goofy’s Sky School – Disney’s California Adventure

Image: Disney

One of the most heralded attractions at the debut of Disney California Adventure was Mulholland Madness, which sounds vaguely like a David Lynch movie festival. In actuality, it was a terrible attraction meant to drive home the theme of the park. Mulholland Drive (the road, not the movie) is one of the most famous streets in the state, and this ride vaguely paid tribute to it. The cars used in the attraction were also distinctly Californian. The problems with this strategy were twofold. The first is that the ride itself was disappointing. The second was that guests visiting Disneyland couldn’t care less about California as a whole, simply the idyllic slice of it known as the Happiest Place on Earth.

Disney park planners rightfully chose to reboot this nonsense in 2010. It wasn’t technically part of the Cars Land expansion but instead a simultaneous rebranding at nearby Paradise Pier. While the ride itself couldn’t change much due to the limited space and the pre-existing roller coaster tracks, Disney could introduce the one enhancement certain to spike the popularity of the attraction. They added a bit of Goofy magic to the proceedings.

Loosely based on a famous 1940 animated short known as Goofy’s Glider, the new version of Mulholland Madness became an entirely different experience. Now known as Goofy’s Sky School, it tells a tighter, more engaging story. In its current, updated form, Goofy now shows guests the proper way to fly a plane…and there’s absolutely nothing that could possibly go wrong in that scenario. The ride is still stilted and awkward, but it’s the latest example of how a simple splash of Disney theming can fundamentally alter the overall enjoyment of a ride. Goofy’s Sky School is a quick way to put a smile on someone’s face, a stark contrast to the dull and pointless original version of the attraction. Disneyland is predicated on theming, and in this instance, it's the difference between a terrible ride and a crowd pleaser.

5. Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy – Walt Disney Studios Park

Image: Disney

The struggles of Disneyland Paris are well documented by now. In desperate need of an attraction that could sell park tickets, Disney invested a whopping $270 million to build a Ratatouille ride. Intended to celebrate the 2007 movie as well as provide a consistent flow of traffic to the adjoining Bistrot Chez Rémy, this particular addition has succeeded in the face of almost impossible odds.

The appeal of Ratatouille as a ride is that it casts guests in the role of Remy as the tiny rat navigates the streets of Paris. Eventually, he enters Chef Gusteau, the restaurant where he builds a sterling fine dining reputation for a human “chef” named Linguini. It’s basically the concept of Honey I Shrunk the Kids writ small but grand.

The chief selling point of Ratatouille the ride beyond its lovable characters is the trackless motion technology. Every coaster cart stumbles along an uneven path, adding a level of chaos to each ride-through. Ratatouille proved so popular so quickly that it flipped the wait times of several nearby attractions at Walt Disney Studios Park, acting as a magnetic force to attract Disney fans. The popularity of this Pixar attraction and its halo effect on the surrounding area indirectly led the company to renovate Disney’s Hollywood Studios with Pixar characters, too. Its lingering legacy in this regard reinforces its tremendous success as a victorious addition to the Disney theme park lineup.