1. Space Mountain
Disneyland
Space Mountain reclaims the top spot after spending a year as runner-up — a rarity for the perennial Disneyland favorite. The 1977 indoor roller coaster takes riders on a high-speed journey through the dark with many twists, turns and dips.
After more than four decades of thrills, the popular coaster consistently has one of the longest lines in Disneyland.
The attraction occasionally shifts into Hyperspace Mountain mode, with a Star Wars overlay that was first introduced during the 2015 Season of the Force event. Scenes of X-Wings, Starfighters and even the Millennium Falcon flash on the interior walls of Space Mountain as riders race through the dark aboard the indoor coaster.
In past years during Halloween, a Ghost Galaxy overlay has filled the ride with paranormal activity with the help of projections, lighting and sound effects.
Riders walk through a futuristic space station before boarding the coaster train in a mission control center. NASA Mercury and Gemini astronaut Gordon Cooper helped design Space Mountain so the ride would feel like an actual space flight. Through the years, the coaster has introduced onboard audio, added new ride vehicles and undergone a complete retracking.
— Brady MacDonald
2. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Disneyland
Rise of the Resistance drops from the top spot after a brief reign as the Best of O.C. in 2022. The epic dark ride debuted in January 2020 in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland.
The ambitious, first-of-its-kind attraction combines four separate ride systems with state-of-the-art audio-animatronics and visual effects.
Rise of the Resistance enlists recruits to join a battle between the villainous First Order and the heroic Resistance.
The backstory for the attraction finds riders entering a dense forest where the Resistance has set up a temporary and secret military base camp outside of the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for…
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