What attraction was a surprise favorite?

[abaldacci]

Tower of Terror I don't like drops but I love this ride my favorite ride in the park.

 

[crazycatlady]

Carousel of Progress and People Mover at MK. We skipped both of these rides for years because we thought they would be boring and now both are on our must-do every trip.

I agree that the Flights of Wonder show at AK is great!

 

[MrInfinity]

1) Figment. We head to it multiple times. I don't care that some traditionalists like the old version, the current version is awesome. Only thing that could improve this is to do something w the 2nd floor or improve the post-ride tech area. Eric Idle narrating is great.

2) TSMM. Great all around ride, no wonder it's always slammed for FPs.

3) Test Track. Rode it for the first time ever last year. All previous trips we either didn't get to it or it was in the major refurb phase.

4) Laugh Floor. Didn't know what to expect, was really surprised!

5) Maelstrom. We didn't even notice a ride in Norway the first time we went. Then discovered it's a major dark boat ride. Now it's going away. Ah, progress...

 

[disney world dreamer]

My DD, 8, did Stitch last month for the first time and absolutely loved it. Really? Almost everyone hates Stich!

i don't understand why hardly anyone likes stitch.
i'm not a huge fan but thats more because i feel that extraTERRORestrial alien encounter should have remained.
i loved that attraction as a 10yr old.

 

[buzzrelly]

The bird show in AK.

I always though, I've seen birds before, who cares, but both my son and I really enjoyed it and now it's become an AK "must do!"

LOL! I was thinking of this one too! Such a weird thing for me to like, but it was really enjoyable! I also really enjoyed the Bug's Life in the Tree of Life…I thought I was going to hate it!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Living With The Land
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (anticipated liking it, but not THAT much)
Dinosaur
World Showcase (all of it)

 

[adcadc]

Definitely Carousel of Progress for me!
I didn't really know what to expect when we went in for the first time but I ended up loving it and we went on it again the day after!
Will definitely make an effort to go on it at least once during all future trips!

 

[PoohsFan1]

HS - Animation Class. Everyone learns to draw a dis character. Incredible for kids to draw something so amazing on their own. Ours are framed.

I second this, we first went in there because we were kind of wasting time until we could use our FP. We all surprisingly thought this was the coolest thing around. We ended up going back to the class a few more times that day (drew different characters) and now it is something we have to do each trip .

Another attraction would be Mission Space. Granted we all rode this a few years ago when the kids were younger and they hated it...my youngest DD cried because she was scared by it all. Fast forward until last year and we all decided that we wanted to try it again (since they are older, and we did the easy side, hence we did the easy side the first time too) and lets just say, we kept riding it that day. Now that has become a favorite of theirs. However, my DD(13) loves the more intense side while DD(11) still won't do it. Not sure what DD(13) is going to do when we are there in January because DH is not going and that is her ride buddy since I won't do the intense side either.

 

[Reddog1134]

i don't understand why hardly anyone likes stitch.
i'm not a huge fan but thats more because i feel that extraTERRORestrial alien encounter should have remained.
i loved that attraction as a 10yr old.

Someone posted a link to an article about why people hate it. Unfortunately, I don't remember where it was posted.

Basically there are 2 main reasons:

1. Stitch got shoved down everyone's throats in the early to mid 2000's (just like Frozen today)

2. The attraction falls in between 2 groups of potential fans. It's too scary for the Stitch crowd and it's not scary enough for the ExtraTERRORestrial fans.

 

[BigHawk]

As a surprise, I would say Star Tours, didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I do. It is one of the most underrated rides at WDW. DD and DS also loved it and I had to drag them on it the first time.

Glad to see Flights of Wonder getting some love in this thread, saw it for the first time on last visit and echo others that it is very good.

 

[Frozen2014]

Test Track

I thought it would be a boyish car ride, but loved loved loved it. Didn't even book a FP for it initially (selected Soarin instead which ended up being just ok). So cute watching mt kids design their car, and how the ride tells you at the various tests how it performed. The fast part at the end was super fun.

Other surprise was Spaceship Earth. Didn't really know what it was, but quite enjoyed it.

 

[JaimeK]

My 6 year old's favorite ride in all of DW turned out to be the PeopleMover!

And both of my boys loved Spaceship earth - but really for the "design your future" part and playing the little games after the ride

 

[ckoshka]

Mickey's Philharmagic. I wasn't planning on going, but it was ready to go when we walked by and the kids wanted to go. I LOVED it. So cute.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

While "favorite" may be a bit of a strong description for some of these, they all surpassed my expectations.

The Barnstormer
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Carousel of Progress
Tom Sawyer Island

Living with the Land
The American Adventure

Festival of the Lion King

 

[bjscheel]

Laugh Floor. In 2011 trip we did it about 5 times in a row. The last was the best- small crowd that was REALLY into the show, older DD's joke was used, younger DD's face was on the screen with "Can burp the alphabet". Which is funny cuz it's true...

Kali River Rapids. We didn't do it until our 2014 trip. Other trips had cooler weather, or the line was too long to spend part of our one AK day in. This time we finally got on with FP+ and with waiting till near park closing. DD13 loved it a lot.

 

[Sparkly]

Living With The Land was one that was surprisingly good! Love the farmhouse scene and can't wait to eat at Garden Grill to possibly see the inside.

And Carousel Of Progress.

 

[kidd_freeper]

Tom Sawyer Island

Caves, hidden passages, a fort, a barrel bridge. Checkers. The kids loved it.

Not too crowded either.

 

[jog58]

Carousel of Progress and Spaceship Earth. I just went on because I was at Disney. I knew they were old and was not expecting to connect with them like I did. I absolutely love them.

 

[stinkpickle]

DS8 spent hours in the Test the Limits Labs area of Innoventions. We could barely get him to leave.

 

[Groomer Gal]

It's a great big beautiful tomorrow ....

Omg! We NEVER expected to love COP but we do ! We really do! And we all say 'awwwww' when somehow it gets brought up in conversation.

Laughing floor ....we were in the area and the wait was low so we went....had no clue what it was....well now it's a MUST every time! (And I swear my DH gets put on the big screen every time!)

Muppets! We skipped this I think for two trips? Anyway...we finally did it last December and it was SO cute! I'm of the Muppet Show generation so it was really fun for me !