3. Peter Pan's Flight
Location: Disneyland
Theoretical: 625 pph
Operational: 525 pph
Fantasyland is, in many ways, the heart of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. Even today, in an era marked by simulators and screens, Fantasyland is still anchored by its classic dark rides. Nostalgic, glowing, and timeless, these retellings of time-tested Disney fairy tales are fan-favorites, and on the rare occasions that they've been removed (see Lost Legends: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Snow White's Scary Adventures), fans mourn for decades.
One Fantasyland favorite that will probably always reign supreme is Peter Pan's Flight. Soaring over a miniature London and then sailing through the skies over Neverland, the dark ride is simply unforgettable. And unfortunately, there's no way to see it but to wait for it. The ride can only realistically serve 525 guests per hour at Disneyland – unbelievably few for a park that sees upwards of 18 million guests a year (or 50,000 a day on average).
Magic Kingdom's version of the ride does better by way of a continuously-loading belt that keeps the 3-person ships moving during load and unload, but the resulting 800 / 720 capacities still aren't exactly stellar.
2. The Barnstormer
Location: Magic Kingdom
Theoretical: 350 pph
Operational: 315 pph
The dipping, diving flight path of Goofy's Barnstormer effortlessly made the transition from the Lost Legend: Mickey's Toontown Fair's rural traveling carnival to the more historic, esteemed Storybook Circus celebrating classic Disney characters. Unfortunately, the tiny family coaster retained its surprisingly slim capacity of barely 300 people per hour.
Of course, the Barnstormer is one of 109 Junior Coasters designed by manufacturer Vekoma (with 27 of those 109 being identical clones of the Magic Kingdom ride), so for most of the ride's installations, that capacity is just fine. For the most-visited theme park on Earth, it's considerably lower than you'd like. Disney helps moderate the capacity by running Barnstormer through the course only once per cycle (many installations skip right through the station and go 'round again a second time). Plus, the Barnstormer's queue tends to self-moderate as guests choose not to queue too long for the 30 second ride.
1. Enchanted Tales with Belle
Location: Magic Kingdom
Theoretical: 300 pph
Operational: 270 pph
When Disney Imagineers got to work designing a New Fantasyland for Magic Kingdom in the 2000s, they had a revolutionary idea: rather than building new, expensive dark rides or E-Ticket attractions for this New Fantasyland, they'd stock the reborn area with what they called "play-and-greets" – an interactive evolution of the old "meet-and-greets" of yesteryear. Guests would queue up for immersive mini-shows that place guests face-to-face with the beloved Disney Princess characters.
But when fans looked across the plans for New Fantasyland, they had plenty to say about the lack of rides and the overemphasis on Princesses. That's why you can only see most of those "play-and-greets" in our must-read walkthrough of the park that never was, Possibility World: Magic Kingdom.
Even though most of those interactive exhibits never came to be, Enchanted Tales with Belle did. The attraction – equal parts walkthrough, meet-and-greet, and show – is a great example of what "play-and-greets" would've been like in two ways: first, it's fun, unique, and memorable. Second, it's incredibly low capacity. Even with two operating theaters, the elaborate character encounter rarely crests 300 people her hour – astonishingly low for one of three legitimate new attractions opened in New Fantasyland.
Imagining that Disney planned three more of these "play-and-greets," their combined capacity of about 1000 people per hour would still be less than that of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train that took their place in the revised Fantasyland plans, which can top 1500 people per hour.
Enchanted Tales with Belle can only handle about 300 guests per hour. Would you believe that Disney's HIGHEST capacity ride can handle sixteen times as many? What Disney Parks attraction do you think can whisk through 4800 people each hour with ease? To find out, make the jump to our countdown of Disney's Highest Capacity Attractions. Then, let us know in the comments below... which of the rides on this low-capacity list are worth their inevitable wait?
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