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Credit: Chad Sparkes via FlickrDisney World has never been a museum.
From the very beginning, the parks were designed to evolve. Lands change. Attractions get replaced. Entire concepts disappear and get reborn as something new. Still, there are always a handful of rides that feel untouchable. The ones people assume will always be there, no matter how much the parks change around them.
But if you look at where Disney is actually spending its money, which franchises it is prioritizing, and how guest expectations have shifted, a different picture starts to form. Some attractions are no longer aligned with the company’s long-term strategy. They may still be popular. They may still have long lines. But structurally, thematically, or financially, they no longer fit where the parks are headed.
Here are five Disney World rides that, for very different reasons, are unlikely to survive the next decade.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
This one already feels like it’s on borrowed time.
Gran Fiesta Tour has been quietly operating inside the Mexico Pavilion at EPCOT for years, offering a gentle, air-conditioned boat ride with very short waits and a surprising amount of charm. For many guests, it’s a hidden favorite. For Disney, though, it’s increasingly an outlier.
World Showcase is rapidly shifting toward major intellectual properties. Norway has Frozen. France has Ratatouille. China, Canada, and the UK have all added recognizable brands to their entertainment offerings. Mexico remains one of the last pavilions anchored by a ride that is not tied to a modern blockbuster.
That’s where the Coco (2017) rumors come in.
From a business standpoint, the idea almost sells itself. Coco is one of Pixar’s most beloved films of the last decade. It is deeply connected to Mexican culture, already heavily represented in the pavilion, and proven to drive merchandise and guest interest. Disney has repeatedly shown that when it has a chance to replace a low-profile attraction with a proven franchise, it usually does.
Gran Fiesta Tour survives today because it is inexpensive to run and rarely draws complaints. But it also occupies a prime ride space in a pavilion that is increasingly valuable. If Disney ever needs a high-impact upgrade in World Showcase, this is the most obvious place to start.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
This is the one fans least want to imagine losing.
Tower of Terror is still one of the most iconic attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Its exterior dominates the skyline. Its queue remains one of the best in any Disney park. The ride experience itself still holds up remarkably well.
But the foundation it is built on is aging.
The Twilight Zone is no longer a mainstream franchise for younger audiences. While the attraction has become iconic in its own right, it is also one of the last major Hollywood Studios rides not anchored to a modern, actively marketed brand.
The precedent already exists.
At Disney California Adventure, Tower of Terror was replaced by Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, a move that was deeply controversial but financially successful. Disney proved that even a beloved classic is not immune if a stronger franchise can take its place.
Hollywood Studios is now almost entirely driven by brands. Star Wars. Pixar. The Tower of Terror stands as a rare example of a ride that succeeds purely on mood and storytelling rather than current IP.
It may not be going anywhere soon. But over a ten-year timeline, it’s difficult to believe Disney will never seriously consider re-theming one of the most valuable ride buildings in the park.
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
Star Tours does not necessarily suffer from low popularity, though its wait times are particularly short.
It suffers from redundancy.
When it opened, Star Tours was the definitive Star Wars attraction at Disney World. Today, it exists in the same park as Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, two of the most advanced and expensive rides Disney has ever built.
By comparison, Star Tours now feels like a product of a different era.
Disney has tried to keep it relevant by adding new scenes tied to recent films and Disney+ series, but the core ride system is still a motion simulator from the late 1980s. The building occupies a valuable footprint in a park that is constantly looking for space to expand.
The bigger issue is strategic.
Hollywood Studios already has a full Star Wars land. It already has two headline attractions. It already sells massive amounts of Star Wars merchandise. If Disney ever needs room for a new major project, Star Tours becomes one of the easiest candidates.
It’s not that the ride is bad.
It’s that it is no longer essential.
DINOSAUR
This is no longer a prediction.
It is already confirmed.
Disney has officially announced that DINOSAUR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will permanently close in just a matter of days. After more than two decades, the attraction is reaching the end of its life in its current form.
In hindsight, the warning signs were everywhere.
DinoLand U.S.A. has been dismantled piece by piece. Primeval Whirl is gone. Chester & Hester’s is gone. The surrounding land has already been cleared for a completely new themed area. DINOSAUR, once the centerpiece of that section of the park, has been standing alone in a land that no longer exists.
DINOSAUR is the clearest example on this list of how quickly even long-running attractions can disappear when they no longer fit the park’s future.
It will not survive the next ten years.
It will not survive the next few weeks.
Tomorrowland Speedway
This one survives almost entirely on nostalgia.
Tomorrowland Speedway is one of the oldest attractions still operating at Magic Kingdom, and for many guests, it represents a very specific childhood memory. It’s often the first “car” a kid ever drives. Parents remember riding it themselves decades ago. That emotional connection has protected it far longer than most attractions of its age.
But nostalgia only goes so far.
The Speedway takes up an enormous amount of land in one of the most valuable areas of Magic Kingdom. Its hourly capacity is low for its footprint, and its experience has barely changed in generations. While the rest of Tomorrowland continues to evolve, this ride has remained almost frozen in time.
Disney has repeatedly shown that when it needs space for something new, sentiment eventually loses to strategy. Tomorrowland has already gone through multiple reinventions, and the Speedway now feels like a relic sitting in the middle of a land trying to redefine itself.
It may linger longer than people expect.
But over the next decade, as Magic Kingdom searches for room for its next major expansion, it’s hard to imagine this much real estate remaining locked up by an attraction that exists mostly because it always has.