10 Best Sights in Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida

The peace-loving planet Xandar, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, has opened as the first other-world exhibit at EPCOT. However, Rocket and his pals find the presentation “boring,” so that’s when you’re off on a totally new (in summer 2022) adventure created especially for EPCOT. This attraction, which uses Audio-Animatronics and screens to tell the story, features the first reverse launch of any Disney ride. Like the movies, the direction for it was done by James Gunn. Expect it to have a height requirement of between 40 and 44 inches. There are no flips, and the harnesses are lap only, with guests sitting two-by-two, which can make nervous kids feel more relaxed. For people with disabilities: check with Guest Relations about boarding requirements.   Expect massive crowds, which might mean that this attraction will become one of EPCOT's few that offer individual Lightning Lanes.

It took five years for Disney Imagineers, with the help of 25 experts from NASA, to design Mission: SPACE, the first ride ever to take people "straight up" in a simulated rocket launch. The story transports you and co-riders to the year 2036 and the International Space Training Center, where you are about to embark on your first launch. Before you board the four-person rocket capsule, you're assigned to a position: commander, navigator, pilot, or engineer. And at this point, you're warned several times about the intensity of the ride and the risks for people with health concerns. After many guests became sick after riding, Disney created an "orange" and a "green" mission. The Orange mission heads to Mars and has a height requirement of 44 inches. A spinning motion creates the feeling of a rocket launch and weightlessness (the effect is also cumulative, so stick with one go-round unless you have a particularly hardy constitution). The Green mission on Earth, with a height requirement of 40 inches, is still plenty bumpy, but doesn't use spinning to create special effects. Pregnant women and anyone with heart, back, neck, balance, blood-pressure, or motion-sickness problems shouldn't ride either version.

For those who can handle the intense spinning, the sensation of liftoff is a turbulent, heart-pounding experience that flattens you against your seat. Once you break into outer space, you'll even feel weightless. After landing, you exit your capsule into the Advanced Training Lab, where you can play some very entertaining space-related games. For people with disabilities: This ride requires a transfer from wheelchair to seat. Service animals aren't permitted to board. Video-captioning devices can be used on the ride; assisted-listening devices can be used in the postshow Training Lab.  Both lines move swiftly, and people rarely ride this more than once, so if you see long wait times, give it an hour and try again. Don't ride on a full stomach.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to fly, or at least hang glide, this attraction is your chance to enjoy the sensation without actually taking the plunge. It uses motion-based technology to literally lift you in your seat 40 feet into the air within a giant projection-screen dome. As you soar above the wonders of the world—from the sharp peaks of the Alps and the Great Wall of China to Sydney Harbor in Australia and the spires of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria—you feel the wind and dodge the spray of leaping whales.

The flight is so mild (and the view so thrilling) that even very timid children love it. For people with disabilities: Those with mobility impairments must transfer from their wheelchairs to the ride system. Equipped for video-captioning devices. Service animals aren't permitted on the ride.  Long lines mean this should be one of your first stops upon entering the park, or you can wait until just before fireworks to try for a shorter line.

The white-knuckle finale of this fan favorite is as thrilling as ever. Create a custom concept vehicle at an interactive design station, and then buckle up in a six-person SimCar to put the design through its paces in a neon-splashed, futuristic setting that surrounds the attraction's original hills and mountain switchbacks. Everyone can create their own designs and see how they compare to everyone else's—first in their car and then at the end of the ride.

The High-Speed Test is last: your vehicle bursts through an opening in the Test Track building to negotiate a steeply banked loop at a speed of nearly 60 mph. At the special effects–laden postshow, you can see how your custom car performed and create your own car commercial. The speeds and some jarring effects can be unsettling, so this ride isn't suitable for pregnant women or guests wearing back, neck, or leg braces. For people with disabilities: Visitors in wheelchairs are provided a special area in which to practice transferring into the ride vehicle before actually boarding. One TV monitor in the preshow area is closed-captioned. Service animals aren't permitted onboard.   This ride won't function on wet tracks, so don't head here after a downpour. Also note that the Single Rider queue has been eliminated here.

This 11-minute film focuses on how we can work together to keep our awesome planet liveable in the future. The entire film is a real-estate pitch about how lucky we are to live on our planet, narrated by the ultimate real estate agent, Ty Burrell. For the first half, you're shown how Earth came to take form and the different biomes around the globe. The second half talks about how we are facing unprecedented changes to our planet and what can be done about it. There is breathtaking imagery from around the globe mixed in with this worthwhile message.

Figment, a fun-loving dragon, takes you on a sensory adventure designed to engage your imagination through sound, illusion, gravity, dimension, and color. After the ride you can check out Image Works, where several interactive displays allow you to further stretch your imagination. Although this ride is geared to smaller kids, there are a few bangs and a brief period of darkness. Though Disney hasn't announced anything, there is constant speculation that this attraction is going to be updated or closed during the EPCOT renovations. For people with disabilities: ride and Image Works are wheelchair accessible. Equipped for handheld-captioning and audio-description devices.

A canopied boat cruises through three artificial biomes—rain forest, desert, and prairie—and into an experimental live greenhouse that demonstrates how food might be sourced in the future, not only on the planet but also in outer space. Shrimp, tilapia, eels, catfish, and alligators are raised in controlled aquacells, and tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other fruits and vegetables thrive in the Desert Farm area via drip irrigation that delivers just the right amount of water and nutrients to their roots. Gardeners are usually interested in the section on integrated pest management, which relies on "good" insects like ladybugs to control more harmful predators.

See Mickey Mouse–shape fruits and vegetables (there might be pumpkins, cucumbers, or watermelons) nurtured with the help of molds created by the science team; scientists also have grown a "tomato tree"—the first of its kind in the United States—that has yielded thousands of tomatoes from a single vine. Many of the growing areas are actual experiments-in-progress, in which Disney and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have joined forces to produce, say, a sweeter pineapple or a faster-growing pepper. The plants and fish that grow in the greenhouse are regularly harvested for use in The Land's restaurants. For people with disabilities: Those using an oversize wheelchair or ECV must transfer to a standard wheelchair. Equipped for handheld-captioning and audio-description devices.  If your party finds Living with the Land interesting, check out Behind the Seeds, an hour-long tour providing a more detailed look at the greenhouse. Offered every 45-minutes, this tour is $29 per person ages 3 and up. A sign-up desk is beside the ride's exit.

Inside the giant geosphere you are transported past tableaux that explore human progress and the continuing search for better forms of communication. The journey begins in the darkest tunnels of time, proceeds through history, and ends poised on the edge of the future. Revered author Ray Bradbury helped design the iconic ball and wrote the original story. Ten-time Emmy winner Bruce Broughton composed the musical score.

Audio-Animatronics figures present Cro-Magnon man daubing mystic paintings on cave walls, Egyptian scribes scratching hieroglyphics on papyrus, Roman centurions building roads, Islamic scholars mapping the heavens, and 11th- and 12th-century Benedictine monks hand-copying manuscripts. As you move into the Renaissance, there's Michelangelo and Gutenberg, and, in rapid succession, the telegraph, radio, television, and computer come into being. A family views the moon landing on TV, and soon the personal computer is born.

This ride has been updated multiple times over the years, always trying to incorporate the newest ideas for the future. The current Spaceship Earth emphasizes storytelling as what connects humanity, culminating in guests exiting at Dreamers Point, which honors Walt Disney who had his own gift for storytelling. For people with disabilities: You must be able to transfer to a standard wheelchair, then walk four steps to the ride vehicle. Guests with service animals should check with an attraction host for boarding information. The ride is equipped for handheld-captioning and audio-description devices available at Guest Relations   Lines are longest in the morning and shortest just before closing.

Hop into a "clamobile" and ride under the sea to look for Nemo, who has wandered off from Mr. Ray's class field trip. This ride adds clever fun to the aquarium attraction—an astonishing animation-projection effect makes it appear as if Nemo and his pals are swimming among the marine life of the actual Seas aquarium. As your ride progresses, Dory, Nemo's spacey sidekick, helps Bruce, Squirt, and other pals find him. After the ride, walk around the tank to Bruce's Shark World for some fun photo ops and shark facts, discover how dolphins communicate, and visit an endangered Florida manatee rehabilitation center. For people with disabilities: Guests in standard wheelchairs can wheel onto an accessible "clamshell" vehicle; those in ECVs must transfer to a standard wheelchair or the ride vehicle. Equipped for audio-description and handheld-captioning devices.  Though lines can be long, they move quickly. 

Head for the Sea Base area to line up for this real-time animated show starring Crush, the ancient sea turtle from Finding Nemo. Crush chats and jokes with kids so convincingly that young children, eyes wide as sand dollars, have walked up and touched the screen where Crush "swims." It's in a small theater, and there's often a wait, but it's a hit with young children as well as their parents. For people with disabilities: The theater is wheelchair accessible, and assisted-listening devices can be used.  Check the Times Guide for show schedule; arrive about 20 minutes early during busy times to guarantee a seat.