Walt Disney World might be a park targeted for family-friendly fun, but that doesn’t mean it’s all innocence and no horror 100% of the time. Take a look at the Tower of Terror thirteen-story drop, for instance. Or the giant t-rex looming over us on Dinosaur. Or how about disco yeti at the end of Expedition Everest?
All these attractions were designed by Imagineers with a little bit of adrenaline-inducing spookiness in mind.
However, some attractions — whether they be extinct or still operating today — effortlessly made us feel the heebie-jeebies a little too well.
It’s Tough To Be A Bug
This attraction at Animal Kingdom happens within the Park’s icon — The Tree of Life itself. With that in mind, you’d think the show inside would be just as astounding as the tree itself, right?
Astounding might not be the right word for it, but it definitely is . . . something. It’s Tough to Be a Bug is an eight minute, 4D show that shrinks audiences down to the size of — you guessed it — a bug.
While A Bug’s Life cast is busy trying to entertain you, the villainous grasshopper, appropriately named Hopper, interrupts the production. Turns out he’s not a big fan of humans — and he’s ready to exterminate.
What happens next could be considered pure nightmare-fuel: the lights dim, spiders drop from the ceiling, and hornets “sting” your backside. (That’s the power of Disney magic for you, folks!)
Fortunately, Hopper is defeated and we’re free to leave the theater bug-free…
Or are we? Before you get the chance to stand up and leave, your seat vibrates underneath you, creating the sensation of bugs crawling underneath your rear! Blech!
Want to learn more about the Tree of Life at night? Click here!
Journey Through Imagination With Figment
Some Disney fans might tell you that the scariest part about Journey Through Imagination with Figment at EPCOT is how many overhauls it’s received since its opening back in 1983. However, there are two different reasons this particular version has us on-edge. And they both happen at the end of the ride.
Reason number one: The explosion. At the conclusion of this ride, a screen-based Figment announces, “Imagination is a BLAST!” Immediately after, you’re bombarded with a sudden gust of air in your face, followed by the sound of an explosion that makes new and old guests alike jump out of their seats.
At least the scene that follows is adorable? The screens disappear and reveal a cutesy, rainbow setting full of Figment figures flying through puffy, colorful clouds.
Reason number two: The Nigel Channing moon.
Need we say more?
Want to see Figment in a cute little Christmas sweater? Click here!
Haunted Mansion
We know what you’re thinking — of course The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom is scary — the word “haunted” is literally in its name! This ride is filled with spirits, ghosts, and ghouls galore. But even with all the spooks roaming about, this is the type of “scary” that’s considered more fun than actually terrifying.
Ballroom dances. Seances. Footsteps across upside-down staircases to nowhere. This mansion is a hip-happening place to be!
And then you enter the graveyard scene.
Honestly, this scene is a bunch of fun, too. Singing tombstone busts, see-sawing spirits, dancing ghosts galore — it’s a party that makes us think that being the 1000th haunt might actually not be that bad.
But just when you’re getting comfortable and find yourself dancing along to the tune of “Grim Grinning Ghosts” with the other spooks in the graveyard — BOO! A head with a sullen face and wild hair pops out from behind one of the tombstones and gives us an actual fright!
Click here for some Haunted Mansion merch we’re just dying to have!
Maelstrom
Many veteran Disney-goers mourn the loss of Maelstrom, which retired from EPCOT in 2014 and was replaced with Frozen Ever After in the Norway pavilion. But Maelstrom’s trolls still haunt our memory to this day.
When you ride Frozen Ever After, you’ll come up to the scene where Elsa serenades you with her token ballad, “Let it Go.” In the middle of the chorus, she’ll “push” your ride vehicle backward with her “ice magic,” leading you to a scene with Marshmallow the Snow Monster and the little Snowgies (featured in Frozen Fever).
Super cute, right?
That same show scene in Maelstrom…wasn’t so cute.
Instead of Elsa, you were greeted by a giant tree troll with a haunting animatronic eye, plus a three-headed troll who accuses you of trespassing, then casts a spell/curse on your ride vehicle — causing you to go backward. Wheeeeee?
What are Disney’s most recent closures? Click here to find out!
Stitch’s Great Escape
Before Magic Kingdom’s attraction Stitch’s Great Escape, there was ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter — a purposely terrifying show that featured an escaped alien and a circular theater of guests who could only sit in their shoulder-restraint seats and experience the sensations of said alien breathing down and sitting around their neck. (Good ol’ Disney magic again, right?)
The show was too terrifying for children (and adults, honestly), so Disney shut down the experience and reopened it with a re-theme: Stitch’s Great Escape. It was the same show format as before, only with the cute and cuddly Experiment 626 as the escapee instead of a man-eating alien that made kids cry.
One problem: this experience still made kids cry.
As adorable as the animatronic Stitch might have been, the role he played was still the role of a dangerous and unhinged alien. When the theater room went pitch back and Stitch began to “tousle” our hair, the experience felt a little too real — not only scaring us, but making us pretty uncomfortable, too. The attraction went from being open daily, to just a seasonal experience, to fully closing altogether in 2018.
Where can you find the newest Stitch merch? Click here to find out!
Honey, I Shrunk The Audience!
Here’s another defunct attraction for the list! Honey, I Shrunk The Audience was an EPCOT 4D attraction. The plot? Professor Wayne Szalinski accidentally shrinks the entire audience during an award’s ceremony. (A show where the audience is miniaturized…Now *why* does that sound familiar…?)
The show consisted of the standard 4D effects: water spraying, lights flickering, 3D hands reaching out of the screen as if “they’re right in front of us!” But what made us scream — actually scream — were the mice.
That’s right, the mice. During the ceremony, and before the audience is shrunk down by Professor Szalinski, the professor decides to demonstrate his Dimensional Duplicator. Unfortunately for Wayne (and super unfortunately for the poor audience), Wayne’s son places his pet mouse on said machine, causing it to create hundreds of mouse copies.
Thanks to leg-tickling technology installed under the theater seats, the audience got to experience the sensation of multiple mice squirming past their calves. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Click here to explore other defunct Disney attractions!
Luna Park Pool
You wouldn’t think a Deluxe Resort would be able to scare its guests, right? The Clown Slide at BoardWalk Inn’s Luna Park Pool once said otherwise. (Don’t make eye contact!!)
We shudder to remember going down this winding slide, only to be spit out by a giant, IT-looking clown head. It was especially terrifying at night, when its soulless eyes would glow an eerie yellow.
Alas, the creepy clown has departed the Boardwalk. In its place is the new Keister Coaster facade, featuring the modern style of Mickey and the gang.
Missing that extra Boardwalk in scare? Never fear — you can always still find the Nanny Chairs in the resort lobby.
Oh, BoardWalk Resort. We love your bizarre charm. And we are also scared of you.
What new treats are coming to Disney’s Boardwalk Inn? Click here to find out!
You may love the memories of Disney accidentally terrifying you, or you may still be scarred by them to this day. Either way, Disney attractions always seem to make an impact — for better or for worse.
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What Disney attraction scared you the most growing up? Let us know in the comments below!
The Maelstrom trolls we’re spooky but Alien Encounter and later Stitch, was probably the most “uncomfortable scary” thing I’ve ever experienced at Disney. I think the separated seating made it worse, because the kids were always wanting to crawl in your lap when the lights went out.
I remember every single one of these attractions back in the 90s! I miss most of them that are no longer there, but the part of ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Audience’ with the mice is one part I don’t miss. I remember always lifting my feet up off the floor when that happened, lol