Only Original Disney Adults Know About This HUGE Problem With Peter Pan’s Flight

Did you know an iconic Disney ride used to lack one HUGE detail?

Peter Pan’s Flight has been one of the most popular Disney rides since it opened with Disneyland in 1955. The definitive Fantasyland dark ride still commands massive wait times to this day and has been built at nearly all of the Disney resorts around the world including Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland. That everlasting popularity probably makes it a bit surprising that the original Peter Pan’s Flight was distinctly lacking in Peter Pan for almost 30 years. 

From its opening in 1955 until a major refurbishment in the early 1980s, PETER PAN HIMSELF didn’t appear in Peter Pan’s Flight, outside of a painted version featured on a mural in the loading area. 

The ride wasn’t that dissimilar to the modern version, as it was still a flight through the Darling children’s nursery, over moonlit London’s skyline, an overview of Neverland, and finally Skull Rock, where a sword-wielding Captain Hook ordered the bumbling Mr. Smee to shoot down riders as they flew by, and finally Tick Tock the Crocodile. However, there were NO representations of Peter Pan or the Darling children for that matter. 

To understand why Peter Pan didn’t originally appear in his own ride, we have to look at the overall intention of Disney’s Imagineers when Disneyland was being designed in the early-to-mid 1950s. 

The initial Disneyland dark rides were designed with the idea that the guest would BE the character depicted. In other words, those riding Peter Pan’s Flight would be in the shoes of Peter Pan or the Darling Children, experiencing the attraction from their point of view. From that perspective, obviously Peter Pan wouldn’t be featured on the ride since it would make no sense for Peter to encounter himself flying over Neverland. The same concept was true of the original versions of the other Fantasyland dark rides, such as those based on Snow White and Mr. Toad.

The biggest issue with this approach? Many guests apparently didn’t get it. The concept of being Peter Pan seemed to — no pun intended — fly over their heads, and many guests exited the ride questioning why Peter Pan himself didn’t appear. The issue was so pronounced that when Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, its version of Peter Pan’s Flight featured a Peter Pan animatronic figure from the start. 

Despite the addition of Peter Pan himself in Florida’s version, it took over a decade for the character to come to the California original. In the early 1980s, Disneyland’s Fantasyland underwent a MASSIVE refurbishment spearheaded by Imagineering legend Tony Baxter. While the entire land was given a massive facelift, Peter Pan’s Flight specifically was changed a great deal. The ride was completely redesigned to include animatronics of Peter and the other characters, with reconfigured scenes inspired by the Magic Kingdom version. 

This redesigned version of Peter Pan’s flight opened along with the rest of the new Fantasyland in 1983. The Tokyo, Paris, and Shanghai versions of the attraction that have opened since follow a similar structure. 

Peter Pan’s Flight is one of the most beloved attractions in Disney history, but the original version didn’t even feature the titular character. Stay tuned to AllEars for more fascinating looks into Disney history.

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Did you ever get to ride the original Peter-less version of Peter Pan’s Flight at Disneyland? If you didn’t, would you have liked to? Let us know in the comments below.