With Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opening this year at Epcot‘s France Pavilion, the World Showcase will receive its third ride! That’s… actually a really low number of rides, come to think of it.

Compared to Future World, the World Showcase has always focused on dining experiences and shows over dark rides and attractions. Which raises the question: what if it didn’t?

Let’s head to the Dreamport to imagine attractions that could appear in the World Showcase Pavilions that don’t have one… yet.

So several things. First, we’re not going to include Mexico, Norway, or France on this list, as they already have (or will soon have) rides. We’re also not including the United Kingdom… for now. We know a Mary Poppins attraction is planned for that area, we just don’t know what it’ll be yet, and speculation on that deserves a lot more space than we have to offer in this article. Finally, we were torn over counting The American Adventure as being a show or a ride… but decided it was just too elaborate and spectacular to be lumped in with standard CircleVision movies.

So without further ado… our first stop in this grand circle tour of the World Showcase of our Imaginations!

China – Ride the Dragon

Back when WestCOT was an actual planned theme park and not just the subject of my wistful fantasies, it was to be home to one of the most spectacular roller coasters at any Disney park: Ride the Dragon. Inspired by the lion-dancers seen at many Chinese festivals, guests would board a train inspired by these mythical beasts and brave the Dragon’s Teeth Mountains. At the ride’s (literal) peak, your train would be engulfed in colored silks, obscuring the outside world and sending you rushing through a tunnel of color. If we were free of the constraints of reality, like space, time, and monetary concerns, we’d love to bring this lost attraction to life in Epcot’s relatively tame China pavilion.

Germany – I’ve Got a Dream: A Tangled Tale.

Rapunzel is a German fairy tale…. and also a princess whose main attraction at Disney World is literally a toilet. She deserves better, but we also don’t want to just make “Frozen Ever After 2: Now It’s Tangled“. So let’s get a bit… subversive.

It’s Rapunzel’s birthday, and for the Lantern Festival, the Kingdom of Corona is putting together a show celebrating her life story, a show put on by the patrons of the Snuggly Duckling. As you ride your boats through Corona’s canals, the pub thugs use their talents to tell the tale of Rapunzel as best they can… though things go a bit askew! Shakespeare fans should picture the Mechanicals from A Midsummer Night’s Dream as inspiration, because this ride would be some serious self-parody of Disney dark rides.  Finally, you’ll join Rapunzel and Eugene for the lantern viewing as everyone joins in a rousing rendition of “I’ve Got a Dream”.

Italy – Pinocchio’s Daring Journey

Pinocchio is one of the most famous Italian fairy tales of all time as well as one of the most iconic Disney films ever made! Yet, while rides dedicated to this classic film exist at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris, no such attraction exists at Walt Disney World. It wouldn’t be too difficult to bring such an attraction to a new location (compared to some of the more outrageous ideas in this article), but why limit ourselves to 1980s technology? Put guests on trackless carts as they ride through Pinocchio’s tale! Make his animatronic seem like he’s really dancing without strings! Use projection mapping to make Pleasure Island pop with color, then send guests down into Monstro’s Gullet before the finale. Bring this classic ride to the 21st century!

Japan – Big Hero 6: The Ride

Did you know there’s a sequel storyline to Big Hero 6 in Kingdom Hearts 3? Obviously, the animated series is a sequel, but I mean a direct sequel. A continuation. One of the game’s villains retrieves the original Baymax body (trapped in an alternate dimension at the movie’s conclusion) and uses Not-Actually-Microbots to corrupt it into an EVIL Baymax. It’s a very Kingdom Hearts plot that really only makes sense in the context of that game, but it has potential. Get a villain (like Yokai), some Microbots, and an evil Baymax, and you’ve got a compelling storyline.

So imagine this. You’re visiting an exhibit dedicated to the work of Tadashi Hamada at San Fransokyo Tech, when Yokai attacks with a swarm of microbots, and the original Baymax chassis, now reprogrammed to be his minion. You’re roped into helping Big Hero 6 stop this new threat and save Baymax 1.0, and given a superhero mask (VR Goggles) before being strapped into a special harness… one mounted to Baymax 2.0’s armor! In this high octane VR attraction, you’ll ride on Baymax just like Hiro does as you work together to stop Yokai and save the city! The icing on the cake? DOUBLE BAYMAXES. Best meet-and-greet ever or best meet-and-greet ever?

Morocco – Morocco: A Whole New World

Back when an Iranian pavilion was planned for Epcot, a Magic Carpet ride was one of the intended attractions. That obviously didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean the idea is without merit. The issue is that, while Aladdin and magic carpets are symbolically resonant with the Disney brand, Agrabah isn’t Morocco. We don’t know precisely where the One Thousand and One Nights come from, as there are too many individual tales to attribute to a single author or source. So, simply retelling Aladdin is inappropriate. So let’s take a different approach.

A delegation from Agrabah has been invited to the Rally of the Gazelles, the famous off-road rally held in the south of Morocco. Maybe Jasmine is participating this year? I could see it. There’s just one problem… you’re late! Luckily, Genie, Iago, and Carpet will get you to the finish line on time… but not before you take a wild tour through all of Morocco’s most famous landmarks on this Back To The Future style Flying Theater Ride!

Canada – The Call of the Wild

While Jack London’s famous novel doesn’t take place entirely in Canada (a good portion is set in Alaska), it still features the sublime beauty of the Yukon as its central setting. This ride would cast guests at outdoorsmen and -women during the Yukon Gold Rush, being treated to legends of the fabled Ghost Dog. When you board your Dog Sled, things quickly go awry as you’re exposed to all the beauty and danger this region has to offer… including an encounter with the fabled Ghost Dog himself, Buck!

…Oh, spoilers for a 117-year old novel, I guess.

There you have it! If you enjoyed this Imagineering exercise, leave a comment below with one of your own ideas! We’ll see you real soon!