Credit: DisneyCome with us as we explore the darkest rides at Walt Disney World.
Credit: Marada, Flickr
From thrilling roller coasters to classic dark rides, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at Walt Disney World. Known as “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” Disney’s Florida theme park easily earns this title, offering guests unforgettable and magical experiences around every corner.
Walt Disney World consists of four main parks, which means doing everything requires dedication, advanced planning, and maybe even multiple trips. A large part of guests’ research should include the rides themselves, as there are a number of attractions that offer up more than a few chills and thrills.
Below is a list we compiled of the darkest and most gruesome attractions at Disney World.
Haunted Mansion
Credit: Disney
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Perhaps Disney’s most iconic theme park ride, Haunted Mansion takes guests on a chilling journey through a spirit-filled house where thrills and chills hide around every turn. The ride itself can hardly be called “scary,” though certain elements may frighten some guests.
For starters, Haunted Mansion is incredibly dark, both literally and figuratively. Some stretches of the ride are so dark that guests may not be able to see their own hands in front of them, but this all helps add to the immersion and ensures the effects work properly.
However, Haunted Mansion’s story is also creepy and dark. Guests encounter the spirits of deceased travelers and former patrons. They will see all kinds of ghoulish and macabre items and characters, with one scene taking place in a large graveyard.
Haunted Mansion’s most divisive and grim feature can be seen before the attraction even begins in the Stretching Room. After the “Ghost Host” is done talking, guests can look up and see the remains of someone hanging from the roof. This is, without a doubt, the darkest element currently found inside the Magic Kingdom and maybe the Walt Disney World Resort itself. This part of the attraction is so controversial that many fans have debated whether or not it even belongs in a Disney theme park to begin with.
Just recently, Disney Imaginer Kin Irvine discussed the Haunted Mansion, saying that the company is keeping a close eye on the hanging corpse moment and may replace it in the near future. This would fall in line with other sensitivity changes seen across the Disney parks in recent years, with Disney toning down other parts of Haunted Mansion last year.
Below is the official description for Haunted Mansion:
The disembodied voice of the Ghost Host is your private guide through the cadaverous realm of an eerie haunted estate, home to ghosts, ghouls and supernatural surprises. Glide past a casket-filled conservatory, Madame Leota’s chilling séance room and a ghostly graveyard of singing specters as you attempt to find your way out. Beware of hitchhikers—these phantom pranksters may follow you home. Happy haunting!
A musical crypt, a leaky tomb and a ghostly writer are among the creepy haunts you’ll find outside the main entrance. Explore supernatural hands-on experiences—only at Walt Disney World Resort—while you await your fate inside.
The Haunted Mansion is dark and contains some mildly frightening scenes, but there is no gore, the ghostly residents are friendly and the ride is slow-moving.
DINOSAUR
Credit: Disney
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You can’t have a list of scary and dark Disney rides without including DINOSAUR, though this attraction won’t be around for much longer. Last year, Disney confirmed it would be closing DINOSAUR to make way for Animal Kingdom’s new South America land, a project that was first teased several years ago.
DINOSAUR has existed since the Animal Kingdom first opened in 1998, though it certainly feels out of place when considering The Walt Disney Company’s current mindset of IP-heavy, family-friendly crowd pleasers. DINOSAUR is anything but gentle, taking riders on an intense, loud, and violent ride through history. Guests board their Time Rover and travel back to the age of the dinosaurs, though they happen to visit just before the Earth is hit by a massive asteroid.
It’s a race to the finish line, quite literally, as guests try and rescue an Iguanodon before being wiped out by an asteroid or, worse, eaten by a Carnotaurus. The ride is in near-total darkness, though certain elements like asteroids and dinosaurs are lit up with special lighting.
Guests will encounter multiple dinosaur animatronics, some friendly and some not so friendly. Sound also plays a big role in the overall DINOSAUR experience, with Disney employing dozens of special effects, technologies, and systems to craft a fun and terrifying adventure.
Part of what makes DINOSAUR so great is just how scary and overwhelming it can be. Even after riding DINOSAUR dozens of times, the Inside the Magic team still finds ourselves ducking down and closing our eyes during certain parts of the experience.
Disney really went above and beyond while designing DINOSAUR, making it feel as though you were inches away from becoming a dinosaur’s lunch, and for that reason, we have to admire it.
Below is the official description for DINOSAUR:
A paleontologist recruits you for a secret mission to bring a 3.5-ton Iguanadon back to the present. There’s just one problem—the giant meteor that wiped out life on Earth is on the way!
Board a rugged Time Rover vehicle and set off on a thrilling adventure through a primeval forest filled with life-like dinosaurs. Careen through unpredictable hairpin turns. Dart around a fearsome Velociraptor hunting for prey. Avoid the clutches of a Cearadactylus soaring overhead!
As the clock counts down, fiery meteors crash down around you. Will you make your escape before the dinosaurs—and you—become extinct?
DINOSAUR includes loud sounds in the dark and menacing dinosaurs that may scare some children.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Credit: Ed Aguila, Inside the Magic
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While definitely not as scary as the previously mentioned attractions, Pirates of the Caribbean has a certain morbidity that also helps it stand out among the other attractions at Walt Disney World. With swords, guns, gold, and skeletons galore, Pirates of the Caribbean is about as classic as Disney rides come, though there are still a few elements that are considerably more graphic than others.
For starters, Pirates of the Caribbean is quite a bit more violent than other rides. Guests pass by a massive ship taking and receiving cannon fire from a nearby coastal town. They witness the wreckage left behind by the invading pirates, who leave the town up in flames.
The ride used to be even more graphic, with certain scenes being toned down or changed altogether over the last few decades. In 2018, Disney announced it would be getting rid of one of the ride’s most controversial scenes, the bride auction. For years, guests passed by a group of pirates who appeared to be auctioning off women, all the while making comments about their bodies.
The decision to remove this scene proved quite controversial, though most guests prefer the new scene to the original bride auction one.
Below is the official description of Pirates of the Caribbean:
Board a weathered barge for a treacherous voyage to the 17th century, when rowdy rogues and ruthless rapscallions ransacked Caribbean seaport towns. Sing along as pirates serenade you with their anthem, “Yo Ho, Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me).”
Sail past haunted Dead Man’s Cove. Navigate cannon fire between a Caribbean fort and a striking 12-gun galleon. Behold boisterous buccaneers drunk on the spoils of plunderin’ as flames engulf a seaside town.
Be sure to keep a spry eye out for Captain Jack Sparrow, from The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Ye beware, mateys: Dead men tell no tales!
Download the Play Disney Parks app to earn digital achievements for experiencing attractions and entertainment, including Pirates of the Caribbean! You can also earn achievements for playing games and other fun activities—both in the parks and at home.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
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Last on this list is the iconic Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This infamous ride has been sending guests down, up, and back down again for decades, becoming one of the resort’s most recognizable attractions. This ride shares a few things with Haunted Mansion, namely, with its story, which is centered on the afterlife and ghosts.
Guests board their maintenance service elevators for a wild ride through the fifth dimension, where sight, sound, and all other forms of terrifyingly fun sensory experiences merge to form one of Disney’s most cohesive and exhilarating attractions to date.
The ride’s story is rather gruesome, revolving around a group of mysterious hotel guests who meet their fate when lightning strikes the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel in 1939. These guests have haunted the hotel since, and riders come face to face with them during their “stay.”
Below is the official description of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror:
Step uneasily inside the infamous Hollywood Tower Hotel and find a dusty lobby frozen in time. Even the subdued hotel staff seems strangely out of another era.
Suddenly a television set springs to life and Rod Serling welcomes you on a journey into the Twilight Zone. He reveals that on a gloomy Halloween night in 1939, some hotel patrons were riding the elevator when a violent storm struck the building… and they were never seen again. The hotel closed down and has stood empty ever since.
Going Up?
Enter the rickety, elevator-style lift, strap yourself in and prepare to discover what lies beyond the darkest corner of your imagination.
Shriek in terror as you’re suddenly propelled up and down the abandoned shaft—unexpectedly dropping and rising—as you hear the sound of cables snapping and metal clanging overhead.
Will you make it back to the real world… or will you become a permanent resident of the Twilight Zone?
This attraction is based on the popular television series which originally aired from 1959 to 1964. Created, hosted and written by Rod Serling, the award-winning show—with its imaginative storylines and unexpected twist endings—was wildly successful.
The Twilight Zone® is a registered trademark of CBS, Inc. and used with permission pursuant to a license with CBS, Inc.
What do you think is the darkest and/or scariest ride at Walt Disney World?