My favorite part of Spaceship Earth is also the reveal of the Earth and stars
at the top just as the car turns.
For Space Mountain, I love the largest drop (the 4th and final straight drop), but my favorite part actually occurs earlier in the ride, and is most noticable on the front seat of the OMEGA track.
Just after the second spiral, in which you are dropping gradually to the right in a slightly tighter radius than the first spiral, there is a long straigtaway.
Next, a left hand turn followed by another straigtaway, and you are conscious of being close to the roof here as you are along the outer edge of the building.
Next is an uphill climb which will serve to set up the series of 4 straight drops that make up the middle portion of the ride, and the part I am referring to occurs at the top of this uphill:
A WICKED, aggressive, strong pop of abrubt “airtime” – easily the strongest air I’ve gotten on any Disney coaster!
Even after this moment, the speed and intensity of the ride seem to INCREASE as the ride goes on, which is reasonably unique for a coaster.
It is for these reasons that, from a thrills point of view, Space Mountain Omega remains my favorite WDW coaster, and favorite steel coaster in Florida!
For some reason this identical moment (the wicked pop of airtime) on ALPHA track is much more subdued. I think it has to do with the slight difference between the two tracks occurring near this portion of the ride due to the crossing of the near-mirror image tracks into each other’s territory.
From a thrills point of view, my fave part of Splash Mountain is the dark drop and climb in the middle of the “Laughing Place” sequence.
But aesthetically, I love the AA scenes and songs so much that it’s really hard to pick a “favorite” moment. In the finale where the gator is biting Brer Fox’s tail, and Brer Fox is yelling at Brer Bear “Stop that singing” – this part makes me laugh out loud no matter how many times I’ve seen it!
The beginning of Peter Pan’s Flight is a sublime magical moment that gives me goosebumps. Everything about it seems perfect. The way the stuffed bear and his friends are set up at the little table for a snack perfectly captures the innocence of childhood, and this mood is perfectly captured by the audio, the music, and the rest of that scene.
Peter Pan then takes us to Neverland via a flight over London which is simply breathtaking!
The finale always cracks me up because of the silly grin on the crocs face as he is approaching, and then munching on Captain Hook!
The Snow White ride doesn’t seem as highly acclaimed but there are some moments in it that I think are very well done.
Particularly Snow White’s flee through the forest just after she learns a psychotic madwoman is trying to kill her. Naturally in her imagination the trees and logs (as gators) are also after her, as are the suspicious eyes staring – which turn out to be the lovable and friendly forest animals. The music used in this scene, from the score of the film, fits the mood perfectly, and this scene reminds us how our imagination can sometimes get the best of us, and that many fears and anxieties ultimately turn out to be “false alarms”.
