If you’re heading to Walt Disney World Resort with teens in your party, put these attractions on your must-ride list.
When my family returned to Walt Disney World after a pandemic that shall remain nameless, we discovered a threshold had been crossed. We now had zero tweens and two teens. We noticed the differnce on the first ride of the first day, when they boarded the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train together for the first time ever – without even looking back to check if their mother and I were in the back of the barrel.
“Oh dear,” my wife said. “It all changes now, doesn’t it?”
Well, yes and no, as it turns out.
Walt Disney World is so brilliant at creating attractions and experiences that welcome the entire family, including the very little ones, that some members of the family who are much taller than they used to be might be looking for a little bit more freedom and a challenge here and there. Sometimes, change is hard for moms and dads, but there are rides in every park that can help you all (teens included) experience new-to-them thrills and find new ways to play together.
Below, find our picks for the best Disney World rides for teens!
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park
In many ways, Animal Kingdom is the gentlest of the four major Disney World parks, with colorful stage shows to enjoy and exotic animals to be seen along walking trails, the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction and enclosures throughout the park. Even the park’s staggeringly popular attraction Avatar: Flight of Passage is entirely virtual and feels as completely safe as it is.
Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, your teens will still want to do all of those – if you carve out a little time for them to get their thrill on at Expedition Everest.
Climbing to the peak of the tallest ride in any Disney park, rocketing through the mountains and caves, racing away from terrifying yeti attacks and then doing it all again – backwards! They’ll be glad to return to terra firma and enjoy a nice calming Mickey pretzel at base camp after this!
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Photo by Cliff Wang
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
I’m not going to lie to you; there’s an excellent chance your teens will have no idea who those enthusiastic elderly fellows in the pre-show video are, and I know that sort of thing makes you feel old. Tough it out.
In mere moments, or 2.8 seconds to be more precise, your “super-stretch limo” will accelerate to 57 mph and your teens will be upside down twice, before they have any idea what is happening.
There’s some extreme banking to be done, and another inversion before you’re finished, so choose wisely whether you want to impress your offspring by chasing thrills with them or enjoy a chocolate banana nearby while you wait.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
If you got blank looks from your teens over Aerosmith, prepare for another helping when you explain The Twilight Zone. Tower of Terror is full to the brim with fantastic retro theming, from the main doors of the Hollywood Tower Hotel to its top floor… and down again… and up … up… and all the way down… you get the idea.
When your teens were small, they likely had an aversion to plummeting repeatedly to certain doom. However, once that thrillseeker trait kicks in, they won’t be able to get enough. his one might demand some repeat riding, and it’s good, zero-g fun for Mom and Dad too!
The formerly nearly identical version at Disney California Adventure beat the old-timey I.P. problem by giving the attraction a re-skin as Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, but if your teens’ travel plans don’t include California, they will still love the genuine scare of repeated “free-fall” in an elevator straight to the 5th dimension. T
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
Location: EPCOT
Impress your teens with your mad Virtual Queue skills, or shell out for a Lightning Lane Single Pass, because this ride is a full-on madhouse of thrills.
The stars of Marvel Studios’ spacetacular series are all on hand (well, via video anyway) to save Earth, the time stream, and the universe as we know it in this experience your teens absolutely will not want to miss. Like the films that inspired it, Cosmic Rewind squeezes in a ton of story, a lot of laughs and more rock and roll than can fit into a single ride. (True story. There are 6 random, classic tracks you might experience, and my family is STILL chasing “Disco Inferno”.)
Cosmic Rewind launches backwards, hits a top speed of 60 mph and moves in ways you would never have expected. It’s a must-ride, pure and simple.
TRON Lightcycle / Run
Photo by Danny Shuster
Location: Magic Kingdom Park
If your teens are after new experiences, they won’t want to miss Disney World’s newest thrill coaster – and neither will you. Located in the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland, TRON Lightcycle / Run is in good company, cozied up to Space Mountain (which, let’s be honest, could easily have made this list.)
TRON is a masterpiece of design, beautiful to look at by day or night. As you enter the attraction, riders whip overhead, and the roar they make sounds more like triumph than fear, in spite of the fact that this is one of the fastest-ever Disney rides. You’ll climb aboard a seat like a futuristic motorcycle, which feels more active than passive and gives an exciting illusion of control that makes this an experience like nothing else.
TRON Lightcycle / Run must be booked through the Virtual Queue or Lightning Lane Single Pass, so don’t let this one race away from you!
The Nostalgia Train (AKA Humoring Mom and Dad)
Okay, this is not an actual ride, but it was a thrill for us. As we made room for new experiences that challenged our new teens, we were amazed to see they came back “home” to some of the experiences we had always loved to share.
Soon, they were re-creating beloved ride photos of years past, whipping through the wind on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and chasing Tinkerbell through the queue of Peter Pan’s Flight. Sure, they’ll never be little again, and there are even more changes coming, but change is good… as long as we can still come together for Disney magic, old and new.
Overcoming Ride Fears: Tackling Your Kid’s First Thrill Ride
