The Greatest Ride That No Longer Exists at Walt Disney World

Disney fans can be fickle. We always want the latest and newest stuff when we visit the Parks, but then we lament that a great attraction was removed to make room for our latest toy. It’s the irony of being a Disney fan: we want the shiny, new toy, but we don’t want to give anything up to get it.

Case in point, The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We all loved that ride. It had a little bit of everything, and it didn’t matter if you’d never seen the films. You were drawn into this world. But now, we have Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad, and it’s fantastic. We love our new, updated toy, and we’ve almost forgotten about what used to be there.

Now, I can make an excellent argument for The Great Movie Ride as the most incredible ride that no longer exists at Walt Disney World, but I won’t do that. That would be too easy. There would be a few outliers, but most people would agree. But I don’t.

I could also make an argument for Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom or the Studio Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios. I’ve even made the argument that I miss the Magical Express. But, there’s something else that I miss more and wish hadn’t gone away.

Remember when EPCOT used to be the educational Park? There are still some remnants of that. Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land (a tragically underrated ride), and Figment are all left over from that time. Test Track, Mission: Space, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind have replaced educational rides.

But let’s be honest with each other. Those rides are great. I love them all. Okay, so Mission: Space gives me motion sickness, but that’s another story.

Given all that, I’d like to see those rides in conjunction with some of the “old school” rides. The ride that I miss the most is The World of Motion.

I know, I know. I’m a nerd. For those of you who don’t know, The World of Motion took you through the history of transportation with animatronic characters up to some silly hijinks. Think of Pirates of the Caribbean meets the History Channel. Was it boring? Possibly. Did I love it? Of course.

I don’t know why I have such an affinity for this particular lost EPCOT ride, but it remains close to my heart. The storyline wasn’t great, but it was interesting enough after waiting in line for an hour to ride it. No Genie Plus back then, ask your parents.

Guests had to wait for the next attraction, no lightning lane to move things along. Maybe that was the beauty of an attraction like this at Disney World. You waited in line and stared at the map, wondering what attraction in Future World you’d be heading to next.

The World of Motion allowed you to use your imagination, as most slower Walt Disney World Resort rides, and pay attention to details. There were no phones to distract you, so you had to interject yourself into the story. And perhaps that was the beauty of it.

The World of Motion closed in 1996 to make way for Test Track, which even I will admit is a much better ride. But something must be said for those “old school” slow rides at EPCOT that are fading by the day. And maybe that’s what I miss more than The World of Motion. Or maybe I’m old and cranky and want a nice slow ride. Perhaps it’s a little of both.

So, what do you think? Am I crazy to miss The World of Motion? Wait, don’t answer that. So what do you miss the most from the old EPCOT days? But I will say that The World of Motion is Disney’s best ride that isn’t there anymore.

But time marches on. The Disney Imagineers keep coming up with great new attractions. And we’ll love those too. So, we wait for the newest Disney World ride and lament the loss of a beloved attraction. Such is our lot in life.

And let’s just all agree that if they come after Living with the Land, we protest. Agreed.