The Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction Bracket -- Round One, Day Four

He touched the butt!

Can you believe that with today’s newsletter, we are…one-eighth of the way through the first round of the Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction bracket? OK, maybe I won’t mark time that way too often in this bracket. But it’s true! We’re getting through another quartet of matchups today as you keep whittling 256 seeds down to 128.

You ready for some thrills? (And this time with accurately titled options in each of the polls, too! A novel idea, I know. Sorry about yesterday’s confusion, friends.) Let’s do it.

(5) Expedition Everest vs. (60) ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter: Here, I am both voting for a thrilling ride — Expedition Everest, that is — and voting strongly against a not-at-all-thrilling ride. I know some folks enjoyed the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, and were able to forgive its crimes against spelling. I am not one of those folks. I remember distinctly experiencing the attraction on a high-school trip, and being prepared for something suitably creepy and/or terrifying. What I got was something annoying, pitch-black, and stinky. (The alien-breath effects are the wrong kind of yucky.) The Yeti in Expedition Everest may not work, but the ride around it does.

How do you vote?

Expedition Everest

ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

(28) Dumbo the Flying Elephant (WDW) vs. (37) Rivers of Light: Sometimes, the simplest rides are the best. I won’t push hard for Dumbo the Flying Elephant often in this overall bracket, but in the first round, I will. You can’t say no to Dumbo.

Can you?

Dumbo the Flying Elephant (WDW)

Rivers of Light

(12) World of Color vs. (53) World of Color Seasons of Light: I gotta tell you, when my wife and I watched the holiday version of World of Color, subtitled Seasons of Light, for the first time recently, we were…a bit disappointed. Maybe the bar was just set too high with the original World of Color, which is one of my favorite nighttime shows Disney’s ever mounted. But the holiday show felt a lot weaker than we expected. My vote, thus, is clear: OG WOC for the win.

World of Color

World of Color Seasons of Light

(21) Finding Nemo The Musical vs. (44) Frozen at the Hyperion: Having seen each of these musicals multiple times — and having seen the films that inspired them even more — my choice is pretty clear. I’ll be voting for Finding Nemo The Musical here. Now, it’s true that Frozen at the Hyperion has the advantage of being based on a film that already features characters singing and dancing (though mostly just singing).

But Finding Nemo the Musical has some solid songs (written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez before the days of…well, Frozen), and it feels like a more satisfying film-to-stage adaptation. Frozen at the Hyperion did have the benefit of offering tired parents an hour to sit and relax, but it also felt like — the hard work of the casts and crews aside — a much lazier transfer from one medium to the other.

But that’s just me. Should I let it go? What do you think?

Finding Nemo the Musical

Frozen at the Hyperion