A Different Kind of Magic- the strangest, creepiest and outright terrifying attractions to operate at Disney Parks- Part One

The main target market for Disney’s many theme parks around the world has always been families- this was made clear by Walt Disney even before Disneyland opened in 1955, when he said he wanted to create a fun little park for kids and kids-at-heart to enjoy together.

But that’s not to say Disney rides and attractions have always been bright, whimsical and child friendly: sometimes a ride is unintentionally weird or creepy, while other times we question whether the Imagineers want to give us nightmares. So let’s start the creepy, and explore the history of Disney’s strangest and most terrifying attractions!

Original Alice In Wonderland, Fantasyland, Disneyland

Alice in Wonderland is the enchanting story of seven year old Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole into the magical and slightly psychedelic world of Wonderland. Seems innocent enough, right? Well, apparently not. Among the initial plans for Disneyland was an ornate maze based on the 1951 Disney adaptation of Alice In Wonderland, which was strange enough seeing as it was one of Disney’s least popular movies at the time.

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The maze would be somewhat similar to Alice’s Curious Labyrinth at Disneyland Paris, allowing guests to explore Wonderland and meet its strange residents along the way. The project was abandoned for a while as other attractions received priority during Disneyland’s construction, and Mad Tea Party, an innovative teacup ride built by Arrow Development was built instead.

Not too long after the opening, however, the plans were revived as part of the second stage of Disneyland. This time it was not a maze, but a darkride utilising a system similar to Snow White’s Adventures, with many elements and scenes from the original drawings adapted to fit this. The ride, known simply as Alice in Wonderland, would be built on the second floor of Mr Toad’s Wild Ride- you can even hear some of the soundtrack from the one of the rides if you get stuck on the other! – with guests travelling in caterpillar cars through the attraction. Alice in Wonderland opened in June 1858, with a grand opening at which Walt Disney, along with a young actress as Alice, opened the attraction with a giant key.

Check out this awesome video from Diz Avenue on Youtube of the ride’s 1958 opening!

But the first riders were in for a surprise. While the movie was bright and imaginative, the ride was a lot darker, and seemed to focus only on the more terrifying aspects of Wonderland. The experience began with riders falling down the rabbit hole and into the upside-down room, a scene not included in the film which made the ride even more confusing, before passing into the oversized room.

Soon you would come face to face with the Cheshire Cat, laughing insanely through speakers in his… eyes, as if that scene wasn’t creepy enough. After venturing even further into this twisted version of Wonderland, riders would visit the tea party scene, but here you weren’t an honoured guest- more of an unwanted visitor.

WDWmagic forums have some great (and terrifying pictures from the original ride!)

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/original-alice-in-wonderland-ride.864119/

You would be “welcomed” into the scene with the Mad Hatter and March Hare screaming about how rude you are, before quickly trying to KILL you with an exploding Unbirthday cake. Crashing through three sets of doors, terrified guests would end the indoor part of the experience with Goofy’s shrieks of pure terror ringing from the speakers. Wow, that’s an intense ride- it’s as if the designers looked back at the Alice in Wonderland movie and decided what it really needed was a bit of nightmare fuel.

This strange adventure through Fearland, sorry, Wonderland, lasted for over fifteen years, closing in the 1980s to make way for the Fantasyland overhaul. Mad Tea Party received its own updates during this time, and was moved to be just outside Alice In Wonderland. As for the darkride itself, Alice in Wonderland was given a drastic reimagining to keep the mysterious nature of the film, but make it a lot more family-friendly. This new version, opened in 1984, incorporated many more scenes from the movie, as well as adding 3D scenes and sets as opposed to the mostly flat set pieces used before. The 1984 incarnation of Alice In Wonderland remained mostly unchanged until 2010, when newer, more up-to-date technology was added.

While it would have been awesome to experience the original, more creepy version of this classic Disneyland darkride, I’m glad we have the modern ride… a lot less people are getting nightmares from this one!

Superstar Limo, Disney California Adventure

Ahh, Superstar Limo. How can we do a “strangest Disney rides” list without discussing this failed darkride? Superstar Limo was an opening day attraction at Disney California Adventure in 2001, but lasted for less than a year. The ride was originally meant to be a high-speed limo chase through the streets of Hollywood, in which riders were celebrities fleeing the paparazzi in order to reach the Chinese Theater. After Princess Diana’s death in 1997, this theme was abandoned as it would just hit too close to home, but the ride was too far along in production to be shelved altogether.

The theme and overall experience of Superstar Limo had to be completely reworked, without much success. The ride vehicles were slowed down, and as many references to the paparazzi removed as possible, but this resulted in many of the old sets being simply impossible to work into the new storyline of riders travelling calmly through Hollywood. The solutions to this? Either keep them in despite not making much sense, or remove scenes that didn’t fit, and create new ones that portrayed Hollywood and celebrity life in a much more positive light.

Due to swiftly approaching deadlines and Superstar Limo needing to be finished by DCA’s opening, the sets ended up feeling low-effort and two-dimensional. The experience felt distinctly not-Disney, and most riders hated the strange storyline.

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But this wasn’t the only factor working against Disney when creating Superstar Limo. It seems Pop Culture ages faster than it takes to build a ride, so by the time the attraction opened in 2001, many of the celebrities represented in the weird-looking and unnerving animatronics were not as relevant to younger audiences as they were back when it was designed, and the Hollywood in-jokes scattered throughout the ride were outdated too.

Superstar Limo was one of the few rides included in Disney California Adventure’s plans from the very beginning, set to be one of the park’s headliner attractions, yet it seems this darkride was doomed to fail from the start. After the failure of Superstar Limo at DCA, plans for a much more elaborate version of the ride at Disney MGM Studios (now Hollywood Studios) over in Florida were subsequently scrapped, and California’s version closed in January 2001 to be replaced by Mike and Sulley to the Rescue.

Body Wars, Wonders of Life, Epcot

Leaving California now for Florida, let’s visit an attraction that riders always either loved or hated. Seven years after Epcot Center opened in October 1982, a new “life and health” pavilion would complete Future World’s nine pavilion layout- and this pavilion was known as Wonders of Life. Sponsored by life insurance company MetLife, Wonders of Life focused on teaching guests the importance of taking care of our health while still getting the most out of life, through two main attractions: Cranium Command and Body Wars.

While Cranium Command took guests inside the brain of a 12-year-old boy to learn how to reduce stress, Body Wars got right into the ‘gory’ side of health, allowing riders to explore the inside of a splinter, complete with blood cells, vessels and everything else you can expect to see on the inside of the body.

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Riders would enter the labs of MET- Miniaturized Exploration Technologies- where they would see a range of pre-shows exploring the science behind healing wounds. Soon you would board your spaceship-like vehicle, and embark on a high-speed adventure by the means of a slightly violent (okay, extremely violent!) simulator ride system. Body Wars was Epcot’s first thrillride, and it certainly packed a thrill, lurching riders backwards and forwards and this way and that way as their ship navigates the inside of a blood vessel.

Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed the thrills Body Wars had to offer. For many, it would make wars happen in their own bodies- meaning vomit! The rigorous twists and turns of the simulator combined with the somewhat gross imagery shown on the screen was too just much for many, and therefore Body Wars was avoided by those who prefer the more gentle rides that even today are more common around Epcot.

Body Wars wasn’t the only strange attraction to inhabit the pavilion’s shining dome- Wonders of Life was also home to what is considered Epcot’s most controversial show! The Making of Me debuted in one of the pavilion’s theatres in October 1989 along with Cranium Command and Body Wars, but with a much more mature theme: the making of, well… you! Cartoon sperm race to reach the egg, with actor Martin Short narrating the story of how his parents met and how he eventually was born. The show was so controversial, in fact, that a warning had to be placed outside the theatre, warning parents about the show’s sensitive nature. Wow, Wonders of Life really was an unusual pavilion.

After MetLife ended their sponsorship of Wonders of Life in 2001, the golden pavilion would have just declining six years left before it was forced to close. Since then the gold dome that once housed Wonders of Life has been used as a Festival Center among other things, and parts from Body Wars are used for Star Tours over in Hollywood Studios. The new Epcot overhaul will bring a complete redesign of Wonders of Life as the Play! Pavilion, but it’s sad to see such a loved pavilion fall into decline as quickly as it did.

ExtraTERRORrestrial Alien Encounter/Stitch’s Great Escape, Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom is possibly the most family-orientated park in Walt Disney World, and especially in Tomorrowland, where you can meet your favourite characters from Toy Story, Lilo and Stitch, and more. So it may seem impossible that the building that would go on to house Stitch’s Great Escape once was home to what is known by some as Disney’s most frightening attraction- but it was, and the attraction in question is ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter!

Mission To Mars, a screen-based show inspired by the version at Disneyland, closed in 1993 to make way for the New Tomorrowland expansion as part of Michael Eisner’s “Disney Decade” (post on this coming soon!). Mission To Mars’ predecessor, ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, opened in December 1994, making use of the in-the-round seating and screens, and was already reasonably frightening for younger guests, but, according to then Disney CEO Michael Eisner, not scary enough. After being open for just two months, Alien Encounter went down for an extensive refurbishment in order to up the fear factor on this already scary attraction.

The result? A show so terrifying that it was considered too scary for children, despite the dark jokes thrown in to make the show slightly more family-friendly. Guests would be seated in harnessed seats surrounding a tube, where they were be greeted by X-S tech scientists Spinlok and Dr Femus, before encountering a hideous, horrifying alien rising up into the tube. Water would spray out at guests, but for the sake of even more terror it was never specified that it was in fact water- so it could have been anything, really. This wasn’t the only fear-inducing special effect however, guests would feel the alien moving round the theatre as their seats rumble and shake beneath them.

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ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter sure did terrify its fair share of guests, and honestly seemed like something you would find in a Universal park, not in the middle of Magic Kingdom close to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. The show did its final run in October of 2003, and while its replacement was a lot more child-friendly, it wasn’t exactly loved by guests.

Stitch’s Great Escape was hated before guests even experienced it, and the problem was with the way the attraction was promoted. Stitch had completely taken over Cinderella Castle, scrawling over the walls in bright red paint “Stitch is King” and covering the turrets in toilet paper (hey Stitch, we could really use all that toilet paper now!). While some guests found this overlay hilarious, others didn’t, particularly if they were on a once in a lifetime trip and wanted to get that iconic Cinderella Castle photo. Once guests actually entered the theatre, many considered Stitch’s Great Escape to be boring and pointless compared to Alien Encounter.

From 2016 Stitch’s Great Escape began operating only during peak times and when Magic Kingdom was at its busiest, but soon began opening less and less before becoming abandoned altogether, with an area of the attraction being used as a meet-and-greet area. Earlier this week, however, Disney announced that they would be closing three attractions across two parks- one of these being Stitch’s Great Escape. Hopefully this means we’ll see something else occupying the space in the next few years, maybe a new, more up-to-date Lilo and Stitch attraction!

Kitchen Kaberet/Food Rocks, The Land, Epcot

Need some motivation to eat healthier? Have you considered a band of singing audio-animatronic foodstuffs singing about the importance of health? Okay, you probably haven’t. But this was the aim of Kitchen Kaberet, an opening day attraction at EPCOT Center, located in The Land pavilion where Soarin’s queueline is today.

Bonnie Appetite would open the show, singing about her ‘mealtime blues’ and how exhausting it is to cook nutritious meals over and over again every mealtime. Soon the foods would take over, as the Kitchen Krackpots (cool name, by the way!), a set of singing condiments, showed you how to Chase Those Mealtime Blues Away, and this was when the action really began.

A great video of Kitchen Kaberet from Mousesteps.com!

Mr Dairy Goods, The Cereal Sisters, and Ham and Eggz performed their own pieces about the food groups that were recommended by the US government for a healthy diet at the time. This all led up to the signature character of Kitchen Kaberet, Mr Broccoli, singing that extremely catchy song Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit. Kitchen Kaberet certainly was a crazy and unique experience, and fans loved this craziness, which is why many were heartbroken when the attraction’s closure was announced in the early 1990s.

Around this time The Land’s sponsor, food company Kraft, had not renewed their sponsorship, allowing for Nestle to step in as the new face of the pavilion. They didn’t invest as much effort and money into The Land as Kraft did before, meaning that Kitchen Kaberet’s retheme was kinda disappointing. Food Rocks opened in 1994, with a similar premise to Kitchen Kaberet- singing food items is quite a strange and unique concept in itself- but the animatronics seemed cheap compared to what was there before, and the whole show just felt a bit low-effort for a Disney attraction.

The storyline was completely changed: Bonnie Appetite was removed from the show altogether, and Fud Wrapper led a concert in advocacy for health and nutrition. Excess, a rock band consisting of those foods we all love but our bodies don’t, kept interrupting the show, singing about why they think you should eat as much unhealthy food as possible (though really, I think we’ve all been eating a little more than we should in lockdown!) Food Rocks concluded with a song known as Choose Before You Chew, adapted from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Food Rocks wasn’t Epcot’s worst retheme ever (that title goes to Journey Into Your Imagination!), but was disliked as it lacked the charm and weirdness that Kitchen Kaberet was loved for. By 2004 the attraction had reached the end of its life, yet much of the theatre remained intact. Some of the area occupied by Kitchen Kaberet/Food Rocks was reused as the queueline for Soarin… Over California… In Florida. Soarin Around The World makes so much more sense in Epcot!

It’s A Small World, Fantasyland, Various Disney Parks

There, I said it. It’s A Small World is CREEPY. This classic water-based darkride first debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, along with Carousel of Progress and Great Moments With Mr Lincoln. This World’s Fair wasn’t like the others that came before it- while most have attractions and pavilions sponsored by various countries and companies, the 1964 World’s Fair was run by Walt Disney and his company. The pavilions had a focus on progress and were a way for Disney to experiment with new rides and experiences that would eventually find their way into Disneyland, and later Magic Kingdom in the 1970s.

It’s A Small World was a new kind of attraction. It put a new spin on the age old darkride concept by adding water, allowing riders to sail through a range of scenes depicting audio-animatronic children that represented countries from England to Egypt. Then called Children of the World, the ride was sponsored by UNICEF, but lost its sponsorship when the World’s Fair came to an end in 1965 and the attraction was moved to Disneyland, becoming It’s A Small World.

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The Happiest (and possibly most annoying!) Cruise That Ever Sailed was soon recreated in Florida for Magic Kingdom, with a few changes. While the original begins outside before sailing into an indoor portion, Magic Kingdom’s is completely indoors, opposite Peter Pan’s Flight. Small World’s façade was different too at the two parks: Disneyland’s uses a regal looking white and gold colourscheme, while Magic Kingdom’s contains a brightly-coloured entrance sign on a castle type-building. Despite these small aesthetic changes, the ride experience remains more or less the same at both parks, and at every other park with a version of It’s A Small World, with the exception of Tokyo Disneyland, which features Disney characters in their home countries. Can we please get that on every version, please? It would be awesome!

But what’s creepy about this, you may ask. Well, the animatronics are kind of nightmarish! Their soul-staring faces singing that loud, repetitive song- agghhhhh!

It’s A Small World may be one of the most annoying attractions Disney have ever created, but its an old classic with so much history, and we wouldn’t want it any other way!

Have you ridden any of the rides and attractions on this list? Which do you think is the scariest or weirdest? Let me know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love my other posts from theme parks and attractions around the world! Don’t forget to come back for part two- coming soon!

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You are all clear… and outta here! Thanks for reading!

-Lily