Best Amusement Park Ride

1. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disneyland; disneyland.disney.go.com

While it’s no surprise that Disney dominates the best amusement park ride category, the top three attractions feature a few new additions to the lineup.

This year will go down in Disneyland history as one of the most unusual with the Anaheim park bouncing back after a 412-day closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rise of the Resistance nabs the top ranking for the first time since the dark ride debuted in December 2019 in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland. The ambitious, first-of-its-kind attraction combines four separate ride systems with state-of-theart audio-animatronics and visual effects.

Rise of the Resistance enlists recruits to join a battle between the villainous First Order and the heroic Resistance. The backstory for the attraction finds riders entering a dense forest where the Resistance has set up a temporary and secret military base camp outside of the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the 14-acre Galaxy’s Edge themed land. Along the way, the recruits will be captured aboard a Star Destroyer, break out of a First Order detention cell, elude the clutches of Kylo Ren and escape back to a secret base on Batuu.

JEFF GRITCHEN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jadson Santos, 9, walks past 50 stormtroopers on a Star Destroyer while on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge.

— Brady MacDonald

2. Space Mountain

Disneyland; disneyland.disney.go.com

Space Mountain drops from the No. 1 spot after several years on top. The 1977 indoor roller coaster takes riders on a high-speed journey through the dark with many twists, turns and dips. After more than four decades of thrills, the popular coaster consistently has one of the longest lines in Disneyland.

The attraction occasionally shifts into Hyperspace Mountain mode, with a Star Wars overlay that was first introduced during the 2015 Season of the Force event. Scenes of X-Wings, Starfighters and even the Millennium Falcon flash on the interior walls of Space Mountain as riders race through the dark aboard the indoor coaster. In past years during Halloween, a Ghost Galaxy overlay has filled the ride with paranormal activity with the help of projections, lighting and sound effects.

Riders walk through a futuristic space station before boarding the coaster train in a mission control center. NASA Mercury and Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper helped design Space Mountain so the ride would feel like an actual space flight. Through the years, the coaster has introduced onboard audio, added new ride vehicles and undergone a complete retracking.

The 999 ghosts who call Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion home redecorated the classic dark ride attraction and the grounds surrounding the estate while the mortals were away during the yearlong coronavirus closure of the Anaheim theme park. Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion renovation introduced new draperies, carpet, wallpaper and décor inside the attraction and fresh paint and plants on the exterior. In 2019, Disneyland celebrated the 50th anniversary of the popular haunted house attraction that has persevered and thrived at the Anaheim theme park despite a tortured and protracted birth. The story of the determined dark ride involves a string of starts and stops that stretches for nearly two decades from 1951 to 1969.

The reasons for the delays are many — from storytelling direction (frightening or funny) to architectural aesthetic (pristine or ramshackle) to attraction experience (walk-through or ride). In the 1960s, fans wondered if the finished facade would ever open as the Haunted Mansion sat vacant and fenced off for six long years. But the detours and diversions proved valuable as the Haunted Mansion helped usher in a new level of storytelling and technological advances at Disneyland that are still celebrated and enjoyed by fans today.

3. Haunted Mansion

Disneyland; disneyland.disney.go.com

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