5. Tom Sawyer Island

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland
Open: 1956 – Present

Opened just a year after Disneyland itself, Tom Sawyer Island is today a hallmark of any visit to the parks in Anaheim, Orlando, or Tokyo. And in keeping with the decades-old traditions, the island is packed with imaginative play experiences like floating barrel bridges, spooky caves to explore, docks, climbable forts, and more.

Though fans groan when the extra-cautious Disney occasionally removes some of the islands' "wilder" features (like see-saws, merry-go-rounds, ladders, or treehouses), it's nothing if not astounding that Disney continues to expend precious real estate in the top three most well-attended theme parks on Earth for open-play islands that lack merchandising, are accessible only by cast-operated raft, and that look... well... pretty much how they did in Walt's time.

That said, Disneyland's island became "Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island" in 2007 – excused away as "Tom and Huck playing an imaginary game of pirates," but really a ham-fisted attempt to add Pirates of the Caribbean experiences to the island (which actually did enhance the experience with new interactives). Since both Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland set their Adventurelands in the spot normally reserved for Frontierland, they both have explorable islands too, featuring Swiss Family Robinson and Tarzan's Treehouses respectively, but their "Adventure Isles" are connected to the park via bridges, not rafts.

6. Fortress Explorations

Image: Disney

Location: Tokyo DisneySea
Open: 2001 – Present

There's perhaps no more spectacular story in all of Disney Parks canon than that of S.E.A.: The Society of Explorers and Adventurers. The legend of S.E.A. is a subtle, cross-continental frame story that unites multiple Disney rides, shows, and even restaurants into a massive "extended universe" connecting characters you might never expect. And it all started at Fortress Explorations – the "headquarters" of the Renaissance-era chapters of S.E.A. 

The Fortress itself is a massive, multi-story palace set into the cooled lava flows of Tokyo DisneySea's iconic Mount Prometheus. Guests can climb the ramparts and towers, dark across bridges, and explore the rooftops as they desire. What's coolest, though, is that the fortress is essentially a science museum within a theme park, offering a Navigation Room of remote-controlled ships sailing across an ancient world map, a three-story Foucault Pendulum, galleries of artwork and illusions, a real, working camera obscura, a geological monitoring station embedded in the volcano, and – in the central golden dome – a massive Planetarium where guests can move the planetary models with wooden cranks and gears. 

7. Poseidon’s Fury: Escape from the Lost City

Image: Universal

Location: Universal’s Islands of Adventure
Open: 1999 – Present

When Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, it was billed as "the world's most technologically advanced theme park." And believe it or not, the Declassified Disaster: Poseidon's Fury was one of the most advertised (and talked-about) attractions to help it earn that title. Drawn into waterlogged ruins of the Lost City, guests found themselves caught in an ancient battle between the evil Poseidon (whose massive toppled statue outside serves as the attraction's iconic entry) and the righteous Zeus. 

Guided by an old man called the Keeper, guests would advance through the temple's chambers, learning of the ancient myth of Poseidon and Zeus until ultimately reaching the attraction's epic crescendo: a walk through a 40-foot long, 18-foot wide "vortex" of water spinning around guests, leading them to the ruins of Atlantis deep underwater and to a special-effects filled final battle between the animated gods and their control over water and fire. A surprising finale even had guests apparently be magically transported out of the collapsing city and back to a room they'd been in previously.

Image: Universal

Soon after opening, the attraction underwent a major redesign. Poseidon became the hero against an evil high priest, Lord Darkenon – both played by live actors on screen rather than animated characters, and neither matching the collapsed statue outside. The tour guide became a young archaeologist, Taylor, and a major re-write recast the final "teleportation" effect. The point was to make Poseidon's Fury's story clearer, and while it probably succeeded, it's hard to argue that one version is altogether better than the other. 

The Lost Continent was one of just two "islands" at Islands of Adventure to be entirely original. Sadly, Poseidon's Fury is all that's left of the land (the Merlinwood area became Hogsmeade and the Sinbad's Bazaar area recently had its long-running stunt show shut down), so it's a real shame that Universal hasn't found a way to make this special effects show the headliner it really could be. Still, it's an impressive and decidedly different kind of attraction we'd like to see Universal try more of.

8. Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin

Image: Disney

Location: Disneyland Paris
Open: 1992 - Present

Disneyland Paris' Adventureland is perhaps the most unusual of any Disney Parks'. For Magic Kingdom guests, the easiest way to understand it is that Paris' Adventureland is essentially placed where you'd expect Frontierland and Liberty Square. It's comprised of "neighborhoods" stretching around Le Mer de Bretteurs (a Rivers of America equivalent) including Caribbean Plaza, a colonial Indiana Jones-themed area, the Swiss-Family-Robinson and pirate-themed Adventure Isle (rather than Tom Sawyer Island) and the Bazaar – an area dedicated to Aladdin. 

Aladdin's Enchanted Passage is only the first walkthrough from Disneyland Paris to make our list, with small vignette scenes celebrating Aladdin – a film that opened in theaters seven months after Disneyland Paris. While it's a saturated cartoon walkthrough of fun displays, it does suffer from looking more like Emporium window displays than authentic Arabian-influenced retellings of the tale. And ultimately, it only goes to further our amazement that Aladdin has never gotten a full, classic dark ride of its own yet. Still, for adding to Paris' list of hidden gems, we have to give it credit!