MINIATURE: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle

Image: Disney / Marvel

Size: Spec of dust
Location: Hong Kong Disneyland

Though Disney purchased Marvel over a decade ago and kicked off a Cinematic Universe of billion-dollar films, infusing the superhero characters into the parks has been a significantly slower process. The first ever Marvel ride was Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland… step one in a long-term plan to annex part of Tomorrowland into a standalone, Marvel-themed Stark Expo land. The land took shape in 2019 with Nano Battle - ironically, a retrofit of the existing Buzz Lightyear dark ride that had been shrinking guests since the park’s 2005 opening!

Image: Disney

On board, riders are recruited by Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) when Hydra Swarmbots infiltrate the SHIELD Science and Technology Pavilion. The only way to beat them is from the inside, with guests using Pym’s miniaturizing technology to infiltrate the Swambots microscopic circuitry.

The ride’s been largely criticized by fans for taking a promising, high-energy concept and (by necessity) translating it to the slow-moving chain of Omnimover vehicles, passing through entirely static sets brought to life only through lights and projections. While the environment on board does replicate being inside a circuit board, there’s not a great sense of urgency, movement, or action. Just a sense of being small.

MICROSCOPIC: Body Wars

Image: Disney, via Yesterland.com

Size: Germ
Location: Epcot

Located in EPCOT Center’s whimsical Wonders of Life pavilion resided an attraction very different in tone to the celebratory circus of life outside. Stepping into the Lost Legend: Body Wars, guests found themselves in the offices of the Miniaturized Exploration Technologies corporation, “Pioneering the Universe Within” since 2063. Passing through “Dermatopic Purification” stations, guests would be recruited for miniaturization themselves, heading into a human to rendezvous with Dr. Cynthia Lair, who was studying a splinter from inside. 

Image: Disney

The ride itself - debuting less than two months before the technically-identical Lost Legend: STAR TOURS - placed guests aboard an “LGS 250” probe, Bravo 229. Placed before a “particle reducer,” the 26 ton vehicle would seem to emerge weighing less than a drop of water, with microscopic riders aboard no larger than a germ.

The ultra-turbulent (and inherently somewhat gross) journey violently pulsed guests through the undulating circulatory system, earning a reputation for being nauseating. Especially compared to the thrilling (but smooth) space flight alongside Star Tours’ well-known characters, Body Wars quickly faded from prominence before ultimately closing alongside the entire Life pavilion. Think you can’t get any smaller than a germ? Think again...

MOLECULAR: Adventure Thru Inner Space

Image: Disney

Size: Atom
Location: Disneyland

Finally, the ultimate shrinking adventure! Just before Walt Disney’s death, he and his team of designers were working on one of the most ambitious projects in Disneyland’s history - a New Tomorrowland! Heavily influenced by the Space Race, this gleaming, white, mid-century modern wonderland of soaring rockets, Googie architecture, and boundless optimism remains the land’s most iconic incarnation to this day.

Alongside the Lost Legends: Carousel of Progress and the Peoplemover stood the land’s most ambitious attraction, and an icon of the Atomic Age - the Lost Legend: Adventure Thru Inner Space. Sponsored by Monsanto, the attraction was the first ever to utilize Disney’s fabled Omnimover ride system, with a continuous chain of vehicles advancing through the iconic lobby and into the Mighty Monsanto Microscope (where miniaturized vehicles were seen continuing out the other end). There, the narration of Paul Frees (the Haunted Mansion’s “Ghost Host”) took over.

Image: Disney

During the almost-abstract ride, guests found themselves gradually growing smaller and smaller; to the size of a snowflake, then to a frozen water molecule, then to the size of the atom itself with the glowing nucleus within. Adventure Thru Inner Space is considered one of Disney’s most classic attractions ever; one of the final icons of a sincerely-futuristic Tomorrowland, and an inspiration for the educational dark rides of EPCOT Center that would follow.

It also gave guests the chance to shrink down to the smallest unit of matter, one ten-millionth of a millimeter! Now that's small!