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

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty...

Well, friends, I can’t believe it, but the day has finally arrived. No, we’re not completed with the Ultimate Disney Parks Attraction bracket — we’re still a couple weeks away from the big finale — but we’re down to just 32 seeds in the overall competition. Where once there were 256 options among great rides and shows, we now just have 32.

There aren’t a ton of patterns that I’m seeing among our remaining competitors, though I will note that it’s almost all attractions and a lot more Walt Disney World-exclusive ones that I would have guessed going in. (I guess there are some patterns.) But enough chatter! We now have to decide our Sweet Sixteen, and have four matchups today to get us a little closer to that goal.

Let’s go!

(1) Pirates of the Caribbean (DL) vs. (8) Peter Pan’s Flight (WDW): First, we have what I hope will be an easy vote for all of you. It’s sure as hell easy for me. Pirates of the Caribbean on either coast would top Peter Pan’s Flight on either coast. So in this battle of the pirates, the rum-fuddled looters of the Caribbean win this one.

How do you vote?

Pirates of the Caribbean (DL)

Peter Pan’s Flight (WDW)

(4) Splash Mountain (WDW) vs. (5) Expedition Everest: This one’s a bit tougher, at least for me. Expedition Everest is still kicking, and Splash Mountain is gone for good. Expedition Everest’s big Animatronic character, the Yeti, is…uh…well, he’s never really working correctly. And frankly, the same was true for the AA characters in Splash Mountain on either coast, especially in the post-drop section.

And yet, I will just barely give this one to Splash Mountain, because as much as I marvel at the design of the Expedition Everest track, my stomach is an easily jostled one, and the backwards track can be hell to sit through.

But it’s not my call. What do you think?

Splash Mountain (WDW)

Expedition Everest

(2) Soarin’ over California vs. (7) Space Mountain (DL): Of today’s four matchups, this is the hardest. Both of these attractions are fairly straightforward, when you break them down to the core. One of them is “Here’s an IMAX movie that you sail through” and one of them is “a Wild Mouse attraction with the lights turned off”. Neither of them has truly remarkable queuing areas. Neither of them are too rough, even though Space Mountain can feel that way because you don’t know which way you’re riding.

I am voting for Soarin’ over California, though, and it honestly comes down to the music. You know — if you’ve stuck around these brackets for a while — my love of background music from the parks, and the Soarin’ background music is among my very favorite. Space Mountain has a suitably sci-fi-sounding score (now by Michael Giacchino, though it’s changed over time), but Soarin’s music includes the theme to The Rocketeer, and you know what that means.

It means I vote for Soarin’. What do you think?

Soarin’ over California

Space Mountain (DL)

(3) Rise of the Resistance vs. (59) Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: Both new attractions, both tied to recognizable intellectual property, both starting with the letter “r”, but…it’s gotta be Rise of the Resistance.

…right?

Rise of the Resistance

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure