Summer has begun, and with that so has theme park season. Despite the fact that Summer in Orlando is brutally hot, and also the busiest time of year, I still find the summer to be my favorite time of year to visit the parks. To me Summer and Universal Studios go together hand in hand. I have strong memories of many summer nights spent by myself at Universal during my high school years, and still enjoy going on those summer nights now to get nostalgic for those high school summer nights. So with summer beginning I thought It'd be a good time to rank the 25 best rides I have ever been on. These rides span Ten different parks, The 4 Disney World Parks, both Universal Orlando Parks, Sea World, Busch Gardens, and both Disneyland parks. Before we get to the top 25 though, a few honorable mentions.
Test Track: A fun ride that has become a bit outdated, and has a superior counterpart at Disneyland that we will see in these rankings.
The Great Movie Ride: Another fun ride that I really tried to make a case for putting in the top 25, but just couldnt quite bring myself to do it.
The Simpsons Ride: No theme park ride captures the spirit of its source material more than the Simpsons ride, as all the sharp satire seen in the show is here as well. Just missed the top 25.
Rip Ride Rockit: There are many roller coasters in the top 25, but this just missed the cut because of its lack of flow, and relatively tame pace compared to the others.
Dragon Challenge: A shell of its former self, this would have easily been in the top 10 five years ago when it was dueling dragons. It used to have the greatest queue in the world, then they had to change it to fit the harry potter theme and completely destroyed that great queue, leaving me sour on the ride. Even after destroying the queue, the ride itself would still be good enough for the top 25, but then in 2012, the "dueling" aspect stopped permanently, dropping it from the rankings altogether.
Now onto the top 25 with number 25-23 today
25. ET Adventure: Some may say its a kiddy ride, but not me. Some may say its very outdated, but not...well actually I do think it is very outdated, but that doesnt detract from the fun. The part of the ride where you feel like your flying over the city is the highlight, and the queue before the ride is one the best around. This Peter Pans Flight knockoff isnt quite as fun as Peter Pan, but its still one of my favorites and is a great ride to kick off the countdown with.
24. Expedition Everest: I am in a camp of people that find Everest an overrated ride, as many would probably have it in their top 15. That said its still a fantastic ride, with a great drop in the middle, a surprisingly intense backwards portion, and a massively huge Yeti animatronic. It also benefits from being in Animal Kingdom, by far the weakest of the Orlando theme parks, and therefore this ride sticks out as being its best.
23. Spaceship Earth: One of the most underrated rides ever in my opinion, I could ride this all day long and not get tired of it. The Planetarium at the top is still a great sight every time, and the disneyfied history lesson makes it one of the most informative rides in the world.
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