#50 (tie) - Cinderella Castle (Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom)
1971 - Present
25 total points
Appeared on 1 of 16 lists. Top vote: #1 (Linda C.)
Cinderella Castle is the centerpiece of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, and thought to be one of the most photographed structures in the world. The castle was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces, including Fontainebleau, Versailles, and the châteaux of Chenonceau, Pierrefonds, Chambord and Chaumont (France), as well as Castle Neuschwanstein, (Bavaria), and Alcázar of Segovia, Castile and León (Spain)
Cinderella Castle is more than 100 feet (30 m) taller than Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, with forced perspective being used to make the castle appear even larger than it is. Despite the appearance of bricks on the exterior of the building, the inner structure is constructed of six hundred tons of steel-braced frame construction, and a 10-inch-thick (250 mm) reinforced concrete wall encircles the structure to its full height...without a single brick in place.
#50 (tie) - The American Adventure (Walt Disney World, Epcot)
1982- Present
25 total points
Appeared on 1 of 16 lists. Top vote: #1 (Amanda G.)
The American Adventure is the host pavilion of the World Showcase portion of Epcot, and is built around a 1000+-seat theater that presents a 28-minute production, mixing Audio-Animatronics and film to show the history of the United States from the arrival of the pilgrims to the present.
The hosts, Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin, narrate the history of the country, including periods like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 (representing American industrialization), and the Great Depression. The presentation culminates with a musical film montage representing famous moments and people in American history from post-World War II to the present.
#48 - The Country Bear Jamboree (WDW Magic Kingdom & Disneyland)
WDW: 1971 - Present, Disneyland: 1972 - 2001
26 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #11 (Bill H.)
The Country Bear Jamboree is a 15-minute long stage show featuring Audio-Animatronic bears playing country songs and telling jokes.
The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt Disney to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt assigned imagineer Marc Davis to the project, and Davis, together with Al Bertino, came up with many bear groups, including bear marching bands, bear mariachi bands, and Dixieland bears.
One day Davis was working on drawings of the characters in his office when Walt Disney walked in and saw the drawings and laughed because he loved the characters. On his way out, Disney turned to Marc Davis and said good-bye, which he was known never to say. That was the last time Davis saw Disney, who died a few days later on December 15, 1966.
While plans for the show progressed, plans for the ski resort did not. Instead, the Imagineers working on the project decided to place the show in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in time for its grand opening in 1971. Over the years, the show was retooled to feature a special holiday production, and a summer vacation version.
#47 - Studio Backlot Tour (WDW Disney's Hollywood Studios)
1989-Present
26 total points
Appeared on 2 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #13 (Elizabeth S.)
Also known as the Backlot Tour featuring Catastrophe Canyon, this attraction was the centerpiece of Disney-MGM Studios when it opened in 1989. When the park first opened, it featured a tram ride through the Streets of New York/Streets of America before the tram stopped in Catastrophe Canyon, where a stunt crew is "filming" a fiery crash of an oil tanker and subsequent flood that the tram is just in time to see.
Due to the popularity of the park, and need for more space, NY Street was removed from the tour and made into a public walkway within the first few years of operation. Today, the Streets of New York house one of Walt Disney World's most popular seasonal attractions, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights during the Christmas season.
Today, the attraction has a walkthrough component before guests board the trams, where a handful of guests are selected to act out a scene on a storm-ridden boat, but the tram portion has been significantly reduced to make room for the Lights! Motors! Action! Stunt Show and the previously mentioned walkways.
#46 - The Matterhorn Bobsleds
1959-Present
29 total points
Appeared on 4 of 16 Lists. Top vote: #6 (Wesley D.)
The Matterhorn Bobsleds is a roller coaster attraction running on the first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster ever constructed and is therefore thus an ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) Coaster Landmark.
Located on the border between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it employs forced perspective to seem more impressively large. Throughout the day, climbers dressed in Swiss mountain-climbing garb may be seen scaling the peak, often accompanied by Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy.
No joke, there is a basketball court inside the Matterhorn for the climbers to spend their downtime.
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