4. Incredicoaster

Disney California Adventure's Incredicoaster is perhaps one of the most unusual rides in Disney Parks. Initially opened alongside the park in 2001 as California Screamin', the bare steel coaster was excusable insofar as its job was to be... a bare steel coaster. Literally enveloping the park's Paradise Pier land, the launched Intamin coaster was designed to look like a classic wooden twister you'd find at a seaside boardwalk, and fittingly served as a backdrop for the park.

As part of the park's 2012 reimagining, Paradise Pier had its clocks set back, abandoning the vaguely-modern setting for a turn-of-the-century Victorian pleasure pier. California Screamin' remained, as did its synchronized on-board rock 'n' roll soundtrack. But at least the ride's classic appearance now lent itself to the kind of timeless, reverent, and idealized land you'd expect of a Disney Park rather than being a spoof of modern carnivals. 

At the semi-annual 2017 D23 Expo, Disney announced a change literally no one saw coming: Paradise Pier would go under the knife again. Oddly, Imagineers would double down on the land's shift to Victorian romantic architecture that had begun in 2012... but mix in intentionally incongruous "neighborhoods" themed to The Incredibles, Inside Out, and Toy Story. Pixar Pier is really the opposite of Galaxy's Edge in a lot of ways – a subject we explored in our in-depth look at the park's billion-dollar rebirth and subsequent undoing – by purposefully combining clashing styles, mish-mashed IPs, and corporate logos you'd never expect to be forward-facing in a Disney theme park. (Not to mention, it's content merely "label slapping" Pixar films onto carnival rides and calling it a day.) 

The Incredicoaster was, of course, positioned as the highlight of the project. We half-heartedly included it in our list of "Story Coasters" if only because it did transform California Screamin' from a bare steel coaster to a ride with a story... even if that story is that you're... well... on a roller coaster. Yes, you're now attending the unveiling of an old classic coaster that's being dedicated to The Incredibles when (you guessed it) something goes horribly wrong, turning your landmark first ride into a zipping, dashing, leaping race to recapture baby Jack Jack. Unfortunately, the execution is... well... pretty bad. But even still, this is one roller coaster that's extensively themed to... a roller coaster. The good news is, even as the "pier" it's located on changes timelines and IPs, a coaster visually fits. A "roller coaster themed to a roller coaster" is automatically permissible in a land themed to a theme park, right? Err... Our last entry may have you wondering if that's true...

5. Velocicoaster

Despite its eventual neighbor getting credit for inventing the "living land" age, you could argue that a decade before Hogsmeade's debut, Jurassic Park at Islands of Adventure beat the Wizarding World to the punch, plucking a single place from the screen and building it in real life. Jurassic Park didn't just bring the film's Discovery Center to life (positioning it as the park's icon, viewed across the Great Sea for entering guests) but "sketched in" parts of Jurassic Park not seen on screen but arguably just out of sight, like the River Adventure and Triceratops Encounter. From its dino-themed midway games to its restaurants, you really could argue that the island brought John Hammond's boutique nature park to life. (Of course, Universal didn't, opting for an obscure backstory that this was a second, separate park... Really!)

In any case, it's all complicated by the 2021 arrival of the Jurassic World Velocicoaster. While Islands purists might've prayed that Universal would #keepIOAtimeless, the mutli-billion-dollar Jurassic World trilogy proved too hip-and-happening to let pass. The 21st century sequel franchise introduces a new attempt at a park on Isla Nublar that's... well... kind of a sell-out. Abandoning John Hammond's scientific, boutique nature park for 1-percent-ers, Jurassic World is a corporate thrill park for the masses complete with monorails, stadiums, thrill rides, and even its own CityWalk equivalent with several Starbucks. 

So, yeah, really, no matter how you slice it, half of Islands of Adventure's Jurassic Park ceding to Jurassic World doesn't make any sense timeline wise. And technically, the two parks are meant to be diametrically opposed in their styles; that's kind of the point. Fittingly, it's pretty impossible to imagine Jurassic Park would've had a blazing steel coaster cutitng through the treeline, even if Jurassic World definitely, 100% would. From its outrageous conceit (a steel coaster that intentionally launches through a Velociraptor paddock?! Someone call the AZA!) to its in-your-face elements that now dominate views from across the lagoon and even its fourth-wall-breaking name, it's clear that the days of John Hammond are well and truly gone.

Both fans of Universal and the Disney loyalists who like to egg them on will probably forever use the Velocicoaster as emblematic of Universal's uneven execution outside of Potter-themed lands (and to add insult to injury, this steel coaster will also scream past the formerly-reflective, waterside patio of the Three Broomsticks. Oops). And it's true that – even in a park with the Incredible Hulk – an Intamin coaster's top hat rising over the iconic and picturesque Jurassic Park Discovery Center and opposite Hogwarts itself feels... invasive.

(Plentiful Photoshopped images poke fun at the concept by plopping the same steel coaster around other famous park vistas and icons, rising alongside Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth and... yeah... that's actually a somewhat fair comparison.) Frankly, the equivalent invasion of Jurassic World into Jurassic Park saps some of the park's hard-won literary timelessness; the thing that makes Islands of Adventure feel different (and more secure) than even Universal's best imitations of it that infuse flavor-of-the-week movie IPs rather than intergenerational literary ones.

Yet for all the debate about the Velocicoaster, it'll come down to the same question that Disney fans ask themselves about TRON – is the visual and narrative intrusion going to be worth it? Almost certainly: yes.

Screams and supports and steel!

For most of Disney Parks history, "bare steel" thrill rides have been verboten. The rise of Disney's "mountains" may have given new license to bring coasters into the parks, but nowaways, designers are finding other ways to excuse off-the-shelf thrill rides from trusted coaster manufacturers. Sometimes – like with the Incredicoaster and Slinky Dog Dash – there's at least a larger placemaking or conceit that permits a coaster to be... well... a coaster...

But on the same note, it's hard for many fans to justify a growing cognitive dissonance... While Disney and Universal trade blows by building ultra-immersive, highly-detailed "living lands" that go to breathtaking lengths to hide any visual or narrative intrusion, they're also building... well... Pixar Pier, TRON Lightcycle Run, and the Velocicoaster. Ultimately, though, the question is likely to remain: are these brief glimpses of bare steel coaster worth the capacity, story, and experience they add? And most guests to Disney and Universal Parks, the answer is likely to be: yes. 

But what are your thoughts? How can Disney and Universal continue to push the boundaries of immersion with one hand while building massive thrill rides with the other? Do any of the rides we've listed here diminish the lands they're a part of? Or are "roller coasters themed to roller coasters" worth the E-Ticket experience, even at the expense of sightlines or immersive world-building for hyper-fans? Share your thoughts in the comments below or when you share this feature on social media!