13. Maharajah Jungle Trek

Image: Disney

Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Open: 1998 - Present

It's become the norm for zoos to evolve from standalone animal exhibits or even grouped-by-country enclosures into more naturalistic "walkthrough" attractions of their own, setting animal enclosures among themed spaces and seemingly-borderless habitats. But of course, Disney's are perhaps among the best, with both Animal Kingdom's Africa and Asia featuring new-age wildlife walkthrough paths. In Asia, it's the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Animal lovers will delight in seeing gibbons, flying foxes, komodo dragons, and deer, as well as an aviary with over 50 species of exotic birds.

But even better, the scenic storytelling of Disney Imagineers creates an entire story for the attraction for those who care to look, explaining how the nearby village of Anandapur was once a stopover for the kingdom's Maharajah, who used the ruins outside of town as his own personal hunting ground... before being killed in a karmic hunting accident himself... 

Evidence throughout signals that the land came under colonial British rule for a time before returning to the ownership of the villagers, who restored the royal hunting grounds into a nature preserve, leading to the hallowed tomb of the founder of the Kingdom of Anadapur. (You pass his sarcophagus at the entrance to the aviary.) As with so many things, it means that there's more than meets the eye with the "simple" animal enclosures, creating a sort of mythology and legend that extends to the whole land... for those who know to look for it. 

14. Garden of Wonders

Image: The Travel Intern

Location: Hong Kong Disneyland
Open: 2013 - Present

Remember S.E.A.: The Society of Explorers and Adventurers? One of its members at the turn of the last century was Lord Henry Mystic, a bon vivant world traveler and all-around nice-guy who ventured across the globe with his pet monkey, Albert. Once retired, Henry and Albert retired to an eclectic manorhome deep in the jungles of Paupau New Gineau – Mystic Point. All Imagineering fans gush over their starring E-Ticket ride, the Modern Marvel: Mystic Manor, wherein guests are caught in the chaos when an ancient music box brings Mystic's international collection to life.

But outside of Mystic Manor is another spectacular sight – the Garden of Wonders. Here, in the dense rainforest, Mystic has set out the pieces too large to fit into the mansion. Massive sculptures, tilework, and tablets dot the multi-level area near the Mystic Freight Depot. These ancient relics are a sight in and of themselves. But even better, they're interactive illusions... photo opportunities that play with perspective and proportion. Sure, no one is rope-dropping the Garden of Wonders. But it adds to the land's realism and experience! And as with all these walkthroughs, that's the point!

15. Camp Discovery

Image: Disney

Location: Shanghai Disneyland
Open: 2016 – Present

Shanghai Disneyland was a massive reinvention for Imagineers, who essentially dispensed with the tried-and-true layout and lands of Disney's "castle parks" and started from scratch. Gone is Adventureland, replaced with Adventure Isle – an "immersive" land where guests join the League of Adventurers (note: neither S.E.A, the Adventurer's Club, or the Explorer's Society) who have discovered the tropical island home of the native Arbori people. The peaceful relationship between the groups has allowed the League to set up Camp Discovery – a home base for exploring the island's mystical features.

As if taking Disney California Adventure's Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and upping the ante, Camp Discovery is a you'd-never-see-that-in-America attraction using real high ropes course elements. Passing over river gorges and along sheer cliffs, guests strap in to tackle teetering steps, leap over open chasms, climb ropes, and inch along literal chasms. You literally have to see it to believe it (skip to 7:52!).

Image: Disney

Three different trials each reveal more of the island's backstory:

• The Hidden Falls Chamber course, journeying behind a waterfall and deep into the jungle to a mystical cavern, home to the glittering gem-encrusted Temple of the Milky Way.
• The Echo Cavern course, winding along a perilous river gorge to discover magnificent rock carvings and cave paintings, and hear for yourself how Echo Canyon got its name.
• The House of the Ancients course, with guests trekking to the site of an in-progress excavation, where League of Adventurers archeologists are unearthing an ancient Arbori trading center.

16. Swiss Family Treehouse

Image: Disney

Location: Magic Kingdom
Open: 1971 - Present

There can be no sweeter walkthrough for Disney Parks history buffs than another all-time classic, the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Initially opened at Disneyland in 1962 (and based on the 1960 Swiss Family Robinson film about a shipwrecked family building an island home), Magic Kingdom's opening day version of the attraction is 70 feet tall and 80 feet wide. Guests climb 116 steps up and down as they navigate through the tree's branches, gazing in at rooms the family has managed to construct in the canopy and the famous water system that carries clean water to the tree's height.

The Swiss Family Treehouse can be found at Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland. In 1999, the Disneyland original was reimagined as Tarzan's Treehouse, which also opened alongside Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005. In hindsight, Tarzan wasn't quite evergreen enough to warrant the reimagining of such a Walt original classic, even if the overlay was needed at the time to convince executives not to remove the attraction entirely. Not that Swiss Family Robinson is any more well-known... In fact, it's almost certain that many times more people have walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse than have seen the film it's based on...