Underrated Aspects of Disney Attractions

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What’s an aspect of a Disney attraction that you personally find underrated? It could be an effect, a scene, a piece of music.

I’ll share mine which inspired me to make this post. Go figure, it comes from Splash Mountain.

The transition from the lift hill in the barn to the first interior scene is absolutely stellar. You go from the real barn into a nice mixture of real rocks, birdhouses, and crops that have the cartoonish touch to them, all while the wonderful rendition of How Do You Do plays.

You pass through the caves marked “Brer Rabbit” and “Brer Bear”. You can hear them singing and snoring, respectively, but you can’t see them because you aren’t in that cartoon wonderland just yet.

It’s incredibly well done, and is probably my favourite part of the attraction.
 

belledream

Well-Known Member
Expedition Everest - the cascading waterfalls coming down the mountain! Everyone talks about the Yeti... the going backwards sensation... the interesting queue... but this little detail blends in so well with the rest of the mountain that many probably don’t give it a second though. But to me, it adds such an exhilarating feel to the ride. The sight and sound of pounding water as we fly on by. One of my favorite little things.
 

Brer Oswald

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Expedition Everest - the cascading waterfalls coming down the mountain! Everyone talks about the Yeti... the going backwards sensation... the interesting queue... but this little detail blends in so well with the rest of the mountain that many probably don’t give it a second though. But to me, it adds such an exhilarating feel to the ride. The sight and sound of pounding water as we fly on by. One of my favorite little things.
The waterfall is definitely a nice touch. It makes the mountain more organic, and if I recall correctly, you get a little mist going by, which is incredibly refreshing.
 

nickys

Premium Member
The eyes that follow you down the hallway / corridor of Haunted Mansion. Knowing how it’s “done” doesn’t diminish that sensation I get as I go past each of the busts.

Feeling like my feet really are skimming the water on Soarin’.

The Splash Mountain queue is what I remember being awed by on my first visit to WDW, just the level of story telling before we even started going up the stairs to board. That visit I honestly had no idea what to expect at MK, I had only ever seen photos of the castle and one or two pictures in travel brochures.

The same is true of the queue for Jungle Cruise and Kali, creating a back-story in order to set the scene for the ride. But perhaps my ultimate favourite effect is the sounds from the upstairs windows in Harambe,
 

LastoneOn

Well-Known Member
Queue of Expedition Everest. So much to look at, read, think about. Everest is real, the history of the climbers, all of that very real. The myth of yeti, the searching, etc is real and storied, the "footprint" plasters and all of that replicate both real and suspect findings. In a sense nothing fake about any of it. As an armchair alpine climber the histories of the expeditions kept me enthralled when I was young and to this day.

Queue of ToT, outside part the inside is too abbreviated) especially compared to DCA. DHS ToT is like a complete environment, literally walled off from everything else. You aren't just walking up to an old hotel, you are entering the grounds of what might have been considered a resort in that era.

The Liberty Bell. It's a paddle wheeler, something most people will never see or ride on again anywhere else. Walk around the deck, let your imagination roll back to that time, that pace of living and transportation.

Out in California the Columbia sailing ship. A full scale replica of the first American ship to sail around the world, the Columbia Rediviva. Stand below deck, look at how small the bunks are - how small the people were - imagine life onboard. Makes you appreciate the past and its people, and your own relatively easy life of today.
 

Mickey5150

Well-Known Member
Dinoland. It started as a run down gas station and lodge. Once fossils were found at the Boneyard, the lodge was taken over by the scientists and became Restaurantosaurus. Each section of the restaurant is different as they added on to the original structure. Eventually the Dino Institute comes in with the time rover technology. As the area became more popular the gas station become a gift shop before the owners really cashed in and built an amusement park in a parking lot. The entire land tells a full, cohesive story from start to finish and most people just ignore it and call it a blight on the Animal Kingdom.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
The way the Thunder railroad and cars feel like a natural part of an actual, and large, mountain.

It feels like the mountain had always been there and the mining railroad was an addition. Even the difference in scale is overcome. (Compare Everest, where the scale of the coaster and the mountain fit more uneasily)

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Edit:
@Figments Friend because Baxter
 

celluloid

Well-Known Member
What’s an aspect of a Disney attraction that you personally find underrated? It could be an effect, a scene, a piece of music.

I’ll share mine which inspired me to make this post. Go figure, it comes from Splash Mountain.

The transition from the lift hill in the barn to the first interior scene is absolutely stellar. You go from the real barn into a nice mixture of real rocks, birdhouses, and crops that have the cartoonish touch to them, all while the wonderful rendition of How Do You Do plays.

You pass through the caves marked “Brer Rabbit” and “Brer Bear”. You can hear them singing and snoring, respectively, but you can’t see them because you aren’t in that cartoon wonderland just yet.

It’s incredibly well done, and is probably my favourite part of the attraction.

Great post. There are tons for me as I believe it is often the nuances that make the attractions great when people think of them as a whole being amazing. Even when we can't pinpoint then.

The Splash's cavern holes near the train station where you can see some of the ride going by. The entire ride is perfection along with Big Thunder.
The ghostly boat always arriving from the distance on Pirates.
The detail on Tom Sawyer's Island.
Traveling Audio of son fixing the light on Carousel of Progress.
The thought out way Muppets 3D preshow was filmed to be simultaneous to independent sources.
Nearly everything in Tower of Terror when working properly. Audio was top knotch and the B on the doors at the end becoming 13.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
*Hopper & Flik AA figures in ITTBAB are definitely underrated for how fluid and detailed they are.

*The bear claw markings on the floor and attention to detail in the lobby & auditorium of Country Bear Jamboree.

*Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe

*The impresssive mechanism for getting AAs onstage for American Adventure.

*Any and all tributes to past attractions, most notably at Epcot (Maelstrom references in FEA, Horizons logos in M:S, ect.)
 
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UKDisney Dave

Well-Known Member
For me it has to be the bootleg Mickey Mouse image in Harambe Market.

Firstly Disney even admitting that their products get ripped off by third parties is pretty clever, but then the sheer paradox of a Disney character in the hyper realism, but still entirely fictional Harambe village just blows me away.

It’s like they want us to feel like we have left Disney and have traveled to Africa, and they are so darn confident they have pulled that suspension of belief off, that they slap a Mickey Mouse on the wall. For me, rather than diminish the idea of being in an African town, it actually makes it seem more real.

Oh the paradox. Well played
 

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