Our ride guides review & rate every attraction at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, plus Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai. These cover must-dos, what you can skip, along with strategy and recommendations about which attractions are worth paying for line-skipping. (Updated April 8, 2025.)
These guides provide objective scores for each ride, show, and other attraction based upon how well-done those attractions are when experienced by their target audience. Fantasyland dark rides are reviewed with kids in mind, and intense roller coasters and simulators are reviewed with teens and adults in mind.
We’ve updated these ride guides for 2025 in light of the new attractions at Disney’s theme parks around the world. Several new rides have opened in the last couple of years, including Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom, plus Peter Pan, Tangled, Frozen, and Beauty and the Beast rides in the international parks.
In addition to basic information and ratings for each Disney attraction, we’ve included strategy! We know your time in the theme parks might be limited, so we mention how you should prioritize popular attractions and whether they’re worth using FastPass (which is temporarily unavailable).
Below are the guides, organized by resort with links for the guide to each park at that resort. We hope these guides prove handy when you’re planning your next Disney trip!
Walt Disney World
Magic Kingdom Park & Attraction Guide – Walt Disney World’s flagship castle park, Magic Kingdom is home to more rides and other attractions than any other park. Known for its family-friendly Fantasyland dark rides and Magic Kingdom Mountain Range, which now includes TRON Lightcycle Run and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. (Despite neither having ‘mountain’ in the name, they both count!)
EPCOT Park & Attraction Guide – This park’s colossal transformation is now finished! Notable recent additions in the evolution of EPCOT include Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (and before that, Frozen Ever After). Moana’s Journey of Water and a new nighttime spectacular have debuted, too.
Hollywood Studios Park & Attraction Guide – Prior to EPCOT’s transformation, Disney’s Hollywood Studios was the park that “reinvented” itself at Walt Disney World, thanks to the addition of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land, plus Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. As a result, DHS has a stacked ride roster, but problematically, it doesn’t have enough ‘supporting player’ rides…meaning long lines and high wait times!
Animal Kingdom Park & Attraction Guide – Known as the “Zoo Park” at Walt Disney World, there’s really a lot more to Animal Kingdom. In particular, the impressive Pandora – World of Avatar land that’s devoted to James Cameron’s blue alien cat critters. There’s also Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, two amazing stage shows, and a whole lot of animal attractions.
Typhoon Lagoon Water Park Guide – Walt Disney World’s first water park, Typhoon Lagoon is home to a great wave pool and lazy river, plus classic water slides and a couple of new, more technologically-impressive attractions.
Blizzard Beach Water Park Guide – This water park is themed to winter, with the idea that a freak snowstorm transformed the Florida landscape. It has been enhanced in recent years with a scattering of Frozen-inspired additions.
Additionally, we have a list of attractions with height restrictions here. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation, make sure to read our full 2025 Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide. It includes information about MagicBands, where to stay, whether Lightning Lanes are worth buying at each park, and much more!
Universal Orlando
Universal Studios Florida Ride Guide – The original “ride the movies” theme park in Central Florida, this opened pretty much right along side the Disney-MGM Studios a few decades ago. It has evolved over time (just like Walt Disney World’s version of the same), losing many of its classics while adding new ones. Highlights now include the second Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Diagon Alley), as well as E.T. Adventure (an OG) and newcomers such as the Minions franchise.
Islands of Adventure Ride Guide – A rundown of the best attractions in Islands of Adventure, the second gate at Universal Orlando Resort. This includes the blockbuster Jurassic Park area and the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Hogsmeade). This focuses on height requirements, scare-factor, intensity, and motion sickness–all common concerns among Walt Disney World fans and frequently questions we’ve received from readers. If you’re planning a trip to Universal Orlando, it’s a great starting point for things to do and skip, and what’s appropriate for your family.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our 2025 Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. This includes info about hotels, on-site perks, and much more.
Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Park & Attraction Guide – Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom, Disneyland is home to more attractions than any other Disney theme park in the world. It has everything from Fantasyland originals to modern masterpieces of Imagineering, including both Indiana Jones Adventure and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Its newest addition is Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Disney California Adventure Park & Attraction Guide – The second gate at Disneyland Resort, DCA is home to Cars Land, Avengers Campus, Pixar Pier, and more. It features many Marvel and Pixar rides, and generally has a higher thrill factor than Disneyland–making it more appealing to young adults.
If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland, we highly recommend you check out our comprehensive 2025 Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. It will assist you with everything from hotels (off-site or on?) to dining and beyond!
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disneyland Park & Attraction Guide – This park started as an amalgamation of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, with cloned rides from the Florida and California castle parks. Since then, it has come into its own, with the exceptional Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek, Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, and more.
Tokyo DisneySea Park & Attraction Guide – Far and away our favorite Disney theme park, this one is like Disneyland Paris in the sense that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Which is to say that it’s lighter on rides and heavy on theme. Still, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, Tower of Terror, Soaring Fantastic Flight, and others are world-class. The newest addition is Fantasy Springs, featuring a bunch of boat rides based on Peter Pan, Frozen, and Tangled!
If you’re traveling to Tokyo, read our full 2025 Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Planning Guide. It includes information on traveling around Japan, and specifics for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Definitely a must-read!
Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris Park & Attraction Guide – This is Disney’s finest castle park, but that’s not because of its rides. To the contrary, a major new attraction has not debuted here in decades. Still, it’s home to Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more–and several of those are the best versions of the respective attractions.
Walt Disney Studios Park & Attraction Guide – A far cry from the castle park next door, WDSP is a utilitarian park. However, it does have many newer rides, including ones based on Marvel, Ratatouille, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and more. Next up, an Arendelle area with Frozen rides.
If you’re planning a Disneyland Resort Paris trip, check out our detailed Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. It includes in-depth information for Americans (or any non-Europeans) heading abroad!
Shanghai Disneyland
If you are thinking about visiting Disney’s newest theme park, start by reading our comprehensive Shanghai Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. In addition to strategy for the park, it covers everything from travel visas to the language barrier, culture, WiFi, public transportation, and much more!
Hong Kong Disneyland
Visiting Hong Kong? Our comprehensive Hong Kong Disneyland Trip Planning Guide contains information not just about the park, but about visiting Hong Kong, China, and Macau. It covers everything from WiFi to the MTR and much more!
For basic information about the rides & attractions at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Tokyo Disney Resort, these guides are great places to start. If you are looking for other ways to save time, money, and make the most of your Disney trip, check out our Disney Tips & Tricks section of the blog. It has numerous posts devoted to getting more out of your Disney vacation!
Your Thoughts
Which Disney attractions, stage shows, and nighttime spectaculars are your favorites? What about least favorites? Which parks have your favorite ride rosters at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond? If you have any questions, comments, or your own attraction ratings, please feel free to share them in the comments below. We try to respond to every question we receive!
Great newsletter! One question on rides. In rides based on simulators, such as avatar right of passage or the Star Wars one, is there a way to know when new simulations are added to them? We would not mind planning visits based on new content in the rides.
This is helpful and I live genuinely 30 minutes from WDW haha. Really good photos too!
My son and his fiancé plan to honeymoon in Disney World. They are both 400+ pounds. Are there weight restrictions for the rides?
help I need pick up hilton 530 thursday
When will Splash Mountain be turned into The Princess & The Frog?
Will Hall of Presidents be open??..You Also said,about The Hall of Presidents,something about “current potus”. Do you mean Trump or Biden?? When will The Tron Bike Ride open??
Please sign me up for email updates.
The links to the guides are not working?
I want to go to Hong Kong Disneyland if the COVID-19 outbreak was over. Looking for a guide that helps me plan my 3 days.
Hi, we are in a week or so to Disney World in Florida, on our honeymoon, and it will be my husband’s first visit. I just had a couple of questions I was wondering if you could answer. First, I love all your information, thank you so much! FastPass: does it cost extra to choose more than three per park per day? Also, if we are park hopping Hollywood Studios (AM) and Epcot(PM), can we get any FastPass selections when we get to Epcot, or is there anything with Fast-passing there?
Also, do you know of any neat perks for first timers or honeymooners?
Thanks so much!
Hello Amanda! Congrats on the marriage. All FastPasses do not have a cost to them at any point. You are limited to the first 3 and then continue to get one every time you use the first 3. To explain the park hopping with FastPasses…if you start at Hollywood Studios you would need to use the first 3 that you get (which is super easy to do at Hollywood Studios, that is my favorite park), then after you use though 3 you can continue to get one each time. You can continue to use them at Hollywood Studios and when you are about to leave you can go ahead and assign one for your trip to Epcot. After I use my 3 when I book another where I am at and when I scan my magic band then I start booking the next in the line. Then when I am heading to another park I go ahead and reserve my next one. I hope that helps you on the FastPass portion 🙂
I’m still confused about Hollywood Studios Fast Pass as you in one blog you say you can choose a Toy Story Land attraction and then another Tier 1 ride but in a different blog you say you can only pick one Tier 1 ride. Which is it?
I’m confused.. is there something to print? Or just these articles?
I am looking for a guide that helps me plan my 2 days.
Sorry! it seems in the last year since my visit they have enacted an app system! Yay!
trying to sign up for notifications, my email was just posted though so i’m confused? Just wondering how to get the emails when a new post is made
Do you have insight on fast passes – does TDR have the max pass app where we can pay for a day to transact fast passes on line?
Also what are the policies around rider swap when there is a child in the party who is not tall enough to ride? Do they allow rider swap?
Hi April, TDR does not have an app for fast passes. Guests must take their park ticket to the fast pass machine for the corresponding ride and get a print out FR with a return time. Each guest must present their park ticket to get a FP.
4 rides at Tokyo Disneyland and 3 rides at Disney Sea offer rider swap.
I have heard they are updating the golf ball ride at Epcot is this true and when is it scheduled to take place.
Thank you
Want to receive email from your site Thanks!!!