How many rides does Disney have?

June 20, 2012, 9:12 AM · "Disney has only one ride," a colleague said to my mother the other day.

"It's Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," that person said. "All the rest are attractions."

I've heard this joke before, but it got me thinking this time. Sure, Toad's called a ride, but what about all those "journey"s and "adventure"s in the names of Disney attractions? Shouldn't they count for something, too? And by the way, I'm not so certain that other Disney attractions don't use the word "ride," either. If only I had access to a database that listed the names of all active, open Walt Disney attractions around the world....

Hey, wait a minute! ;^)

So I whipped up a little SQL query and here are the results.

[Notes: I thought it a bit cheap to count one name several times because it appeared on the same attraction at multiple parks, so I didn't do that. That decision got tricky with the five Fantasyland carousels, each of which has a different name - even with different spellings of "carousel". But they're all identical go-around-in-a-circle with white horses under a festival tent behind the castle - so I counted them as the same "carousel." That said, "carousel" still tied for third place. An attraction could have two "names," as well, such as Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, which counted as both a "tour" and an "adventure." Finally, I stopped the list at three instances of the same name, to keep the post length reasonable.]

For what it's worth, Disney has four rides, not just one. And a whole slew of adventures, races, spins, and tours, as well. Here's the breakdown:

Adventures (10, including an entire park)
Disney California Adventure
Adventure Isle (Disneyland Paris)
Ellen's Energy Adventure (Epcot)
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure (Disney's Hollywood Studios)
Indiana Jones Adventure (Disneyland)
Snow White's Scary Adventures (Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland)
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios)
The American Adventure (Epcot)
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (Disney California Adventure)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom)

Races (5)
Blowfish Balloon Race (Tokyo DisneySea)
Cars Race Rally (Walt Disney Studios Paris)
Grand Circuit Raceway (Tokyo Disneyland)
Radiator Springs Racers (Disney California Adventure)
RC Racer (Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios Paris)

Carousels (4)
Caravan Carousel (Tokyo DisneySea)
Carousel of Progress (Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom)
King Triton's Carousel (Disney California Adventure)
The five Fantasyland carousels (Counting them as one)

Coasters (4)
Crush's Coaster (Walt Disney Studios Paris)
Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster (Tokyo DisneySea)
Gadget's Go Coaster (Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland)
Rock n' Roller Coaster (Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney Studios Paris)

Spins (4)
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom)
Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin (Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland)
Slinky Dog Spin (Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios Paris)
TriceraTop Spin (Disney's Animal Kingdom)

Rides (4)
Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek (Tokyo Disneyland)
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (Disneyland)
StormRider (Tokyo DisneySea)
The Great Movie Ride (Disney's Hollywood Studios)

Journeys (3)
Journey Into the Imagination With Figment (Epcot)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Tokyo DisneySea)
Pinocchio's Daring Journey (Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland)

Mountains (3)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris)
Space Mountain (Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris)
Splash Mountain (Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland)

Tours (3)
Gran Fiesta Tour (Epcot)
Star Tours (Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris)
Studio Backlot Tour (Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney Studios Paris)

Trails (3)
Discovery Island Trails (Disney's Animal Kingdom)
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (Disney's Animal Kingdom)
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail (Disney California Adventure)

Trains (3)
Casey Jr. Circus Train (Disneyland, Disneyland Paris)
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (Disney California Adventure)
Wildlife Express Train (Disney's Animal Kingdom)

So what's your favorite type of Disney, uh, experience?

Replies (11)

Melissa Donahue

June 20, 2012 at 9:24 AM · What about Expeditions? I didn't see "Expedition Everest" listed. :) (Or I guess that could go under Mountains!)

Anon Mouse

June 20, 2012 at 10:04 AM · I thought you might give us a defintion of "ride" and "attraction" so we can debate it, but you merely used the existing names and categorized them.

I believe "ride" means something that doesn't have additional special effects or storytelling narrative, whereas an "attraction" has it.

Most roller coasters, Main Street vehicles, carousels, spinners (dumbo, tea cups) are rides.

The remainder are attractions.

At Disney, its attention to detail makes them all attractions.

Brandon Mendoza

June 20, 2012 at 10:16 AM · Great list! I'd argue that Disney's Main Street Vehicles are still attractions as they fit in with the theme, and they're detailed unlike other parks. But it's all semantics anyway.

You can argue that Disney makes attractions while everyone else makes rides, but an argument will get you nowhere as you'll reach the same conclusion... an attraction can be considered a ride, but not all attractions are rides.

Dominick D

June 20, 2012 at 10:30 AM · My favorite "Adventure" is Star Tours" The Adventures Contiue.

Mitchell Botwin

June 20, 2012 at 11:16 AM · what about the WDW Railroad. That would seem to fit under Train, but doesn't have train in the name?

Mike Gallagher

June 20, 2012 at 3:23 PM · My head hurts.

Sylvain Comeau

June 20, 2012 at 10:21 PM · Wow. how could you miss Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey under your Journey roundup? It's only the highest ranked ride on this site...and one of your personal favorites, Robert.

Randall Peek

June 21, 2012 at 1:53 AM · Harry Potter wasn't listed since it isn't a Disney property, and the thread is very definitely Disney-centric. As far as Expedition: Everest, it simply doesn't have the word 'mountain' in its official title, nor do the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland. These are definitely considered part of the Disney mountain range, but are not included due to the actual given name. If we are to include every mountainous attraction, however named, then I think a case could be made for Summit Plummet at Blizzard Beach, which most definitely is an attraction, thrilling, and mountain-themed...

Rob P

June 21, 2012 at 4:02 AM · .......and doesn't the fact that we can't even find a category to put Stitch's Great Escape into tell you something about that particular non-event ?
It's not a ride or a spin.
It's not a mountain or an adventure.
It's not even an attraction.....as it doesn't appear to attract.
It's kind of a .....nothing.
So how about special category for things that are pretty much nothing at all .?

Sylvain Comeau

June 21, 2012 at 8:57 AM · This is off topic, but Disney should get rid of Stitch and put Alien Encounter back in there. Tomorrowland could use a boost, and this would be something that would be new to a lot of people (and welcome by everyone who was dismayed when it was replaced by Stitch).

76.14.32.235

June 23, 2012 at 10:03 PM · Bobsled!

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How many rides does Disney have?

Replies (11)

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