Buckle Up! - These Are the Tallest Rides in Walt Disney World

Ever wondered what the tallest rides at Walt Disney World are? You’re in luck!

Cinderella walks toward a Cinderella Castle at Disney World — Credit: Disney

The Walt Disney World Resort is famous for many things. From its richly detailed and immersive environments to its incredible atmosphere, Walt Disney World, also known as “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” really is full of magic around every corner.

However, a theme park is only as good as its rides, and Walt Disney World packs quite a punch when it comes to both new and old attractions. Despite Disney’s reputation for being family-friendly, there are still quite a few thrilling attractions scattered across its Florida theme park resort, several of which stand quite tall.

Let’s take a look at the tallest attraction at each theme park!

Magic Kingdom

The image features Space Mountain, a distinctive white futuristic building with spire-like structures at Disney World, at dusk with a colorful sunset sky and foreground lush greenery. — Credit: Disney Parks

Space Mountain – 183

Magic Kingdom is by far Disney’s most popular theme park, even more so than its original Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. The park is incredibly large and houses some of Disney’s most iconic and infamous theme park rides and attractions, like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and “it’s a small world.

Space Mountain is the tallest attraction at the park, at around 183 feet. However, this classic Disney coaster does not use most of this height to its advantage.

Space Mountain achieves this height with its spires on the very top of the exterior shell of the building, something guests aren’t even close to while riding.

EPCOT

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It may come as a surprise to learn that the tallest attraction at EPCOT is the first attraction guests are greeted with when entering the park: Spaceship Earth. This classic dark ride is anything but thrilling, but it has remained a core part of not just the EPCOT experience but the entire Walt Disney World Resort, taking guests through history.

Much like Magic Kingdom’s “tall” attractions, Spaceship Earth only reaches its 180-foot height due to its outer shell, though guests do get pretty high up as they travel through time.

Hollywood Studios

A tall, aged, pinkish-brown building with a sign reading "Hollywood Tower Hotel" stands against a bright blue sky with white clouds. With its old-fashioned design and worn-out facades surrounded by greenery, one might imagine Disney World characters exploring its partially exposed brickwork. — Credit: Inside the Magic

It’s not hard to guess which ride is the tallest at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror stands high above the entire theme park. The spooky attraction practically teases guests as they explore the rest of the park, somehow always looming in the distance.

Despite being several decades old, The Tower of Terror is still a marvel of theme park design, with Walt Disney Imagineering expertly blending a thrilling ride experience with incredible theming and a story to boot.

The Tower of Terror stands roughly 199 feet tall, making it the second tallest attraction at Walt Disney World. However, like the rest of the rides on this list, guests do not actually drop the full 199 feet, instead dropping roughly 13 stories or somewhere around 100 feet, depending on what randomly/selected drop sequence they get.

Animal Kingdom

Expedition Everest opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2006 and is the tallest ride in Walt Disney World at 199.5 feet. The coaster stands roughly half a foot taller than The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Both these attractions are just shy of the 200-foot mark due to Florida’s aviation laws, which require a flashing light to be installed at the top of structures that are 200 feet tall or more.

Disney Imagineers figured this would break immersion, and they were right. We really don’t want to know what Expedition Everest would look like with a blinking red light on top.

While Disney World certainly featured fast and intense roller coasters before Everest, this mountain coaster quickly became known as one of Disney’s most thrilling experiences, blending immersive storytelling elements with impressive on-ride technology.

While Expedition Everest is a beast to look at from the outside, it’s even more impressive on the inside. Disney Imagineers implemented two track switches to achieve the backward section, each weighing 200,000 pounds. These switches move back and forth into position in a matter of seconds hundreds of times per day.

Did this list surprise you? What is your favorite ride at Walt Disney World?

Buckle Up! - These Are the Tallest Rides in Walt Disney World - Inside the Magic