133 Best Sights in USA

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 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 for ages 3 and up that provides a more detailed look at the greenhouse. The tour is offered every half hour and costs $35 per person. Sign-up in advance on the My Disney Experience app or check the desk by the ride's exit.

This whirling carnival staple is for the vertigo addict looking for a fix. The Disney version is based on its own 1951 film Alice in Wonderland, in which the Mad Hatter hosts a tea party for his un-birthday. You hop into oversize, pastel-color teacups and whirl around a giant platter. Add your own spin to the teacup's orbit with the help of the steering wheel in the center. Check out the soused mouse that pops out of the teapot centerpiece. For people with disabilities: If using a wheelchair, enter through the exit on right, then transfer to a ride vehicle.

Brightening the lush Adventureland landscape is this jewel-tone ride around a giant genie's bottle. You can control your own four-passenger, state-of-the-art carpet with a front-seat lever that moves it up and down and a rear-seat button that pitches it forward or backward. Part of the fun is dodging the right-on aim of a water-spewing "camel." The ride is short but a big hit with kids, who are also dazzled by the colorful gems implanted in the surrounding pavement. Parents must ride with toddlers. For people with disabilities: There's ramp access for guests in wheelchairs. If you're in an ECV, you must transfer to a standard wheelchair. Lines here are relatively short and move fairly quickly: visit when Pirates of the Caribbean or Jungle Cruise have long lines—they may have shortened by the time you're done with this ride.

It will take several flights of stairs to reach the starting point of this ride, one that pairs you up with as many as five others on a rafting adventure. After settling in, a little push is all it takes for gravity to take over and water to wash you into a humongous enclosed tube for a short stretch before you are spat out into the daylight and into a massive basin where your forward motion sends you up toward the rim (but not over it). From here, you wash back down again and slide into another tube before the cycle repeats, taking you through another tube followed by a circular tour of another basin before finally flowing into a calm pool. For people with disabilities: There's a lift to the right of the main queue area; wheelchair users must be able to transfer to the raft unassisted or with help from a member of their party.

This 460-foot slide in bright-yellow inner tubes is the longest and bumpiest of the three falls. It's a long trek up—even higher than that at Keelhaul—but the increased speed and longer descent are worth the climb since the watery route slips through caves, slides under bridges, and skims past thundering waterfalls before splash down. This ride isn't appropriate for guests who are pregnant or who have heart, back, or neck problems.

 While you're in the neighborhood, ride Keelhaul Falls, too.

The preshow of "the world's first ride-through video game" provides the storyline: to earn membership in MIB, you must round up aliens that escaped when their shuttle crashed on Earth. On board your vehicle with a few others, you enter the backstreets of a city where aliens pop out from windows, trash cans, and doorways. Fire at them with that laser gun mounted to your futuristic car, and since there's no limit to the number of shots you can take, blast away. Even though the gun's red laser dot is just a pinpoint, an onboard scoreboard helps you keep track of what you've hit. Aliens fire back at you, and if they score a hit, it'll cause your car to spin out of control. Depending on the collective score, your ride will wrap up with one of 35 endings, ranging from a hero's welcome to a loser's farewell.

All in all, it's pretty exciting, though the spinning nature of the cars might cause dizziness. Use caution if you're prone to motion sickness, and don't ride if you have heart, back, or neck problems. For people with disabilities: Equipped for assisted-listening devices. Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. In summer, waits can be up to an hour. Come first thing, or plan to use Express Pass.

You can still play "catch the brass ring" at this 1920s carousel, housed in a round, gleaming glass structure, the highlight of Greenport's renovated waterfront.

To enter this gentle river ride, you must first wander through the inventive landscape of Pandora, designed by Disney Imagineers to include many tropical and subtropical plants found in Florida, as well as creatively imagined alien plants, many of which light up at night. After entering the cavern and boarding a reed raft, you drift slowly past a bioluminescent rain forest with an even more diverse range of flora and fauna. The object of your quest is to find the Na’vi Shaman of Songs, the life force of Pandora, but you'll be so caught up in the stunning details of the landscape that you'll be surprised when the Audio-Animatronic Shaman shows up. For guests with disabilities: Guests must transfer from a wheelchair or ECV.

Stretch your legs, pet a kangaroo, and fall in love with a red panda or two. This 188-acre farm-turned-zoo is home to more than 2,764 animals, with more joining the herd every year. For older children and adults, a tour of the historic Grassmere Historic Home is a highlight. If you need a break from the Tennessee sun, follow the shady Bamboo Trail to visit the clouded leopards. Or, if it’s raining, just bring your umbrella. The animals don’t mind when it rains (they live outside, after all), and with all the fussy humans gone, you’ll practically have the whole place to yourself.

At some point, you'll realize that the most thrilling rides at Volcano Bay involve climbing several flights of stairs. Height is what makes such attractions work, and this is one of them. On your way to the top, you cross a deep chasm and walk across rope bridges before finding yourself at the entrance to the Ohno tube (Ohyah is right nearby). Like its counterpart, you'll slip and slide through a serpentine run until the tube runs out and you're flying out on a 6-foot drop into the waters at the base of Krakatau. For people with disabilities: Guests must be able to climb stairs, cross rope bridges, and exit the pool without assistance. This ride accepts only the Express PLUS Pass.

You don't need a mat; you don't need a raft; you just need you to enjoy the first of two side-by-side body slides that snake around corners and shoot into straightaways on a fast-paced slide to the finish. On this side of the ride (next to the Ohno portion), the finish comes with a 4-foot drop into a swirling pool. Oh yeah! For people with disabilities: Guests must be able to climb stairs and exit the splash pool without assistance. This ride accepts only the Express PLUS Pass.

Dr. Seuss put elephants in trees and green eggs and ham on trains, so it doesn't seem far-fetched that his fish can circle "squirting posts" to a Jamaican beat. After a rather lengthy wait for what will seem like a very short experience, you climb into your fish, and, as it spins around a center pole, you (or your child) control its up-and-down motion. The key is to follow the lyrics of the special song—if you go down when the song tells you to go up, you might be drenched courtesy of the aforementioned squirting post. Then again, if the guests ahead of you miss their cue, the water's still spraying—and will likely splash you, too. Mighty silly, mighty fun. For people with disabilities: Modified mounts let guests using wheelchairs ride without having to transfer to a ride vehicle. Consider skipping it on your first visit. Otherwise, come early or late.

You can travel at 45 mph on this 450-foot-tall swing, said to be the tallest in the world, which also rotates 360 degrees. It's as terrifying as it sounds, so this ride is not for either the faint of heart or small children. Ticket packages for ICON Park attractions are available.

This sweet indoor ride was inspired by Sir James M. Barrie's 1904 novel about the boy who wouldn't grow up, which Disney animated in 1953. Aboard two-person magic sailing ships with brightly striped sails, you soar into the skies above London en route to Neverland. Along the way you can see Wendy, Michael, and John get sprinkled with pixie dust while Nana barks below, wave to the Lost Boys, spot the evil Captain Hook, and cheer for the ticktocking, clock-swallowing crocodile who breakfasted on Hook's hand.

Children—especially preschoolers—love this ride. Adults enjoy the dreamy views of London by moonlight. The downsides are the ride's brevity and its low-tech look. For people with disabilities: You must transfer from your wheelchair to the ride vehicle. Service animals aren't permitted. Equipped for handheld-captioning and audio-description devices.

As with every ride at IOA, there's a storyline here, but the real attraction is boarding the wide, circular raft with 11 other passengers and then getting splashed, sprayed, or deluged as the watercraft bounces and bobs down and around the twisting stream. The degree of wetness varies, since the direction your raft spins might or might not place you beneath torrents of water flooding from a shoreline water tower or streaming from water guns fired with enthusiasm by guests at an adjacent play area. Pregnant women and guests with heart, back, neck, or motion-sickness problems should skip this one. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. Come first thing in the morning or an hour before closing, and stow your items in a locker, since you will likely get completely soaked.

This ride is great for families and for romantics, young and old. Seventy-two of the 90 dashing wooden steeds date from the original carousel built in 1917 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company; additional mounts were made of fiberglass. All are meticulously painted, and each one is completely different. One wears a collar of bright yellow roses; another, a quiver of Native American arrows. For a bit of extra magic, look for the horse with a golden ribbon in its tail: this is Cinderella's horse. Eighteen panels beneath the wooden canopy depict scenes from Disney's 1950 film Cinderella. As the ride spins, the mirrors sparkle, the fairy lights glitter, and the band organ plays favorite Disney movie tunes. For people with disabilities: If using a wheelchair, or if you have a service animal, check with a host for boarding information.

These prehistoric bird–style gondolas are eye-catching and tempting. The catch is that this very slow, very low-capacity kids' ride can eat up a lot of your park time. Do it only if (1) your child asks, (2) you want a prehistoric-bird's-eye view of the Jurassic Park compound, or (3) you've been to the park a dozen times and this is the last ride to conquer. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. Crowds are usually perpetual, waits can be long, and Express Pass isn't offered. Consider skipping this on your first visit.

This multiperson rafting ride follows a journey similar to that of its neighbor, Maku. But this one includes a few different twists and turns—primarily one with a moment of zero-gravity hang time as you spring out of an immense funnel. The twists keep coming as you cling to the raft handles and rock and roll to a spectacular splash finish. For people with disabilities: There's a lift next to the main queue area; guests must be able to transfer to the ride raft unassisted or with help from a member of their party.

A relaxing place for families, this small leisure pool is relatively secluded from the park's most active areas (albeit beside the splashdown pool of the Ohyah and Ohno slides) and includes elements that kids will appreciate—namely jets of water they can spray and tropical bongo drums they can beat. For people with disabilities: A pool lift makes it easier for guests in wheelchairs to transfer into pool, but they must do so unassisted or with help from a member of their party.

For some friendly family competition, grab a mat and pick a lane. There are four tracks on this attraction, and once you have your mat, you'll launch yourself into a tube that twists and turns and then changes to an open-air slide just to keep things interesting. The first person to cross the finish line of this race receives a celebratory spray of water. For people with disabilities: Guests must be able to climb stairs and exit the finish area unassisted.

It's Remy's big night, and he's cooking to impress the food critic Anton Ego. To succeed, he needs the help of all his rat friends, including you! On this ride, the six-person cars, which are shaped like rats, begin by meandering through the oversized rooftops of Paris. Gusteau quickly takes you to his restaurant so you can assist Remy and Linguini with the cooking, all the while trying to avoid the gaze of Skinner, the head chef who has a terror of rats. Combined 3-D screens along with a giant kitchen create a 4-D effect so real it feels like you're really scurrying around. The trackless ride system furthers the notion of independence; often you and your fellow rats will hide in different places and then meet back up to help Remy. For people with disabilities: Wheelchairs can be loaded onto certain ride cars in a lane to the side of the boarding area. Those in ECVs will need to transfer to a standard wheelchair to use this feature or will need to walk to a wider car if they would prefer. The earlier the better for this attraction; lines can be long, and they don't tend to dissipate in the evening.

Action, adventure, and horror are in abundance in this spine-tingling thrill ride that combines roller-coaster technology, pyrotechnics, and some super-scary skeletal warriors. The entrance is set up like the tomb of a pharaoh, which means you'll walk through winding catacombs in the near-dark, passing Egyptian artifacts and archaeological scenes before reaching your vehicle. After boarding the multipassenger coaster car and zipping into the heart of a haunted labyrinth, "dead" ahead, you're given the chance to sell your soul for safety and riches. Whether you take the deal or not, a guardian mummy thinks it's high time to send you hurtling through underground passageways, where you must escape a beetle-infested burial chamber, zip backward through fog, and then race full-tilt into the mummified mouth of Imhotep.

Take note: you feel the 1.5 g-forces when flying uphill, and much of the ride takes place in the dark, which adds to its unforgettable intensity. Needless to say, this isn't a good choice for expectant mothers or anyone with neck, back, or heart problems. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. By all means, use the available free lockers to stash loose items.

Gatlinburg has several "mountain coasters" (gravity-controlled, single-car coasters), including options at Anakeesta and Ober Mountain. But to experience one without a huge time commitment—and that the operators claim goes a little bit faster, thanks to banked turns—this smooth double track is a winner that loops through the forest and tops out at 35 mph. There's also a mountain glider, where riders descend while suspended from a track in a harness.

It's easy to overlook this three-track flume ride hidden on the far red slope of Mt. Gushmore. Yet, if you have the courage to carry your tube all the way up to the top, you'll eventually come upon three twisting, turning, 600-foot-long flumes—even one that's in the dark (keep in mind the tunnel slide is for single riders only, while the open slides are for one- or two-passenger tubes). Once you're in, it's way more fun than scary. Still, guests who are pregnant or who have heart, neck, or back problems should skip it. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to inner tubes. Your water chair will be sent to the bottom of the hill for you. It's worth riding both an open slide and the tunnel slide, but remember that the tunnel slide is only for single riders.

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, Marlin'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.

Hop aboard the Seattle Great Wheel at the end of Pier 57 for one of the city’s most scenic rides. Rising 175 feet above Elliott Bay, this gleaming Ferris wheel—just steps from Pike Place Market and the Seattle Aquarium—offers a slow, 15- to 20-minute spin with panoramic views of the skyline, the Olympics, and Mount Rainier (on clear days, of course). Each climate-controlled gondola fits six comfortably (up to eight if some are kids), and most groups get a cabin to themselves. After dark, more than 500,000 LED lights transform the wheel into a glowing waterfront landmark with weekend light shows in summer. Advance tickets are worth it—you’ll still wait in line, but not for long.

As you wind along a path into the heart of a towering mountain, the mood grows more ominous. Navigating darkened corridors that are inhabited by "scare actors" (hence the warning that kids might find the preshow too intense), you pass a proliferation of skulls and then meet an old crone, who hints that something unsettling lies ahead—and you'll find that out when you and your fellow travelers enter a primeval world where things get very scary, very quickly.

To the eerie chants of "Kong! Kong! Kong!" your guided tram drives through a towering set of doors where the skeletal remains of a great ape greet you. Put on your 3-D glasses, and soon other amazing sights will appear—namely Peg, a steely nerved scientist whose exploits are the centerpiece of the attraction. Swarms of bats are followed by swarms of pteranodons that lift her up and away, and now it's up to you to come to her rescue. Although Peg works to save herself, she lands in the middle of swamp infested with scorpions and slimy snakelike creatures. As she blasts them with a machine gun, you feel the splash of their guts before the tram speeds to the next scene, where velociraptors try taking a bite out of your tram. Those agile, snapping dinosaurs are soon overshadowed by a Tyrannosaurus rex, who is soon overshadowed by your hero: King Kong.

With the action taking place on both sides of the tram, you're in the middle of a high-energy, over-the-top battle that's thrilling from start to finish. Hint: after riding it once, go back again and wait for a seat on the opposite side to catch scenes you may have missed (they're just as exciting). This ride might be too intense for preteens. Pregnant women and guests with heart, back, neck, or motion-sickness problems should also skip this one. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. The preshow is part of the fun, so go even if the line is long.

Take a seat in one of the Ferris wheel’s 42 climate-controlled cars perched 20 stories above Downtown for spectacular views of Centennial Olympic Park and miles beyond. The ride lasts 15 minutes. The wheel comes alive at night with an ever-changing display of colors outlining its rim and spokes powered by the same lighting system as the Eiffel Tower. In true Atlanta fashion, there’s a VIP experience that lets you skip long lines and sit privately with your group in a gondola outfitted with Ferrari leather seats and a glass floor for a longer ride. Discount parking is available in nearby lots.

It wouldn't be Vegas enough to build the world's largest slot machine and just leave it there. Now thrill-seekers can take off from a platform atop the 11-story slot machine and soar over Fremont Street. There are two options to zip: one line that averages 70 feet above the ground and a second that averages 110 feet. If you'd rather just play the big slot machine, you can do that, too. It is Vegas, after all.