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

On our way to nowhere in particular.

Now that we’re halfway through the month of June, we’ve also arrived at a big box-office weekend of the year, in which a new Pixar movie goes up against a big new superhero film. I’ve not seen The Flash — I am not a huge DCEU person, and all those pesky/horrifying headlines about Ezra Miller’s alleged behavior make me not terribly interested! — but I have seen Elemental, which is decent if not a truly impressive Pixar high. I imagine Elemental is getting stomped this weekend, but we’ll see.

Anyway, as we get ready for the weekend, time to vote in some new matchups in the first round of the Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction bracket!

(5) Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (DL) vs. (60) Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage: I really don’t enjoy the truncated Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I don’t strongly dislike many of the attractions here — I tolerate a few, and I like or love the rest — but this is one of the few I am repelled by, for the ill-kept costumes, the dubbing (featuring some now-deceased actors), and…just overall. Mr. Toad would get my vote anyway, but it’s a very easy choice.

Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (DL)

Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

(28) Astro Orbiter (DL) vs. (37) Wild Africa Trek: I’m voting for the Wild Africa Trek here, but it will not surprise me if the Astro Orbiter wins, for one very obvious reason: you don’t have to pay extra to ride that. If you’re willing to spring for the Wild Africa Trek experience at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, I’d say it’s worth it, with the caveat that my wife and I did it literally over a decade ago. But the video below — from the extraordinarily chipper Molly formerly of AllEars.net — may give you a more recent glimpse of what it’s all about.

How do you vote?

Astro Orbiter (DL)

Wild Africa Trek

(12) The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure vs. (53) Sorcery in the Sky: I wish that the Disney California Adventure-located dark ride about Ariel had a proper third act — it kind of falls off after the replication of the “Under the Sea” sequence — but I’m still voting for it over the 90s-era nighttime show that predated Fantasmic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

What do you say?

The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

Sorcery in the Sky

(21) Disneyland PeopleMover vs. (44) Wonders of China: Two now-defunct attractions going head to head. This one, for me, is very easy. The PeopleMover’s defunct status at Disneyland is all the more painful because you can see the track right over your head throughout the Tomorrowland section of the park. It’s still there, like a ghost that refuses to be exorcised. It sure would be nice if Disney brought it back. At least the China pavilion at Epcot has some version of its old self.

Disneyland PeopleMover

Wonders of China