I think you're on to something there. If built today (as it probably is, in the newer parks, but I'm not going to the trouble of looking it up now), I would expect Peter Pan to have better animatronics and a smoother ride system. Other than that, though, I think the ride holds up well.

I don't know what nostalgia factor Alex is on about. The tykes who love Peter Pan have no idea it wasn't built in 1998, nor any clue that the movie it's based wasn't released direct to home video in 1986.

It's beloved because it's a flying ride.


I'll grant that if it had competition, that might be another story. If there were an Aladdin flying carpet ride over Agrabah, an UP ride over Paraside Plateau, and a Dumbo ride soarin' over Florida all giving Peter Pan a run for its money, the populariy of the Pan ride might be less.

But while it's the only flying game in town, it remains arguably the most popular ride in Disneyland. Well, at least the most difficult ticket.

What He Said !!

Peter Pan was the one that always fascinated me most because you flew over the sets.

At least some percentage of those tykes are influenced by the encouragement and excitement of their parents. If the parent is thrilled to be sitting next to their 2 year old on their favorite ride, the odds of that 2 year old being happy go up. If the parent is sitting in a wiggling honey pot rolling their eyes and generally not being as excited as they are on a flying pirate ship, that 2 year old is less likely to enjoy it.

Really? So why are 2-year-olds screaming in terror during that Haunted Mansion ride their parents so obviously enjoy?

Could it be because that attraction's sometimes creepy tone is not appropriate for all children? Perhaps. But if so, then parental enjoyment of a notalgic experience is hardly the only criteria for passing that enjoyment to the child.

Please tell me with a straight face flying has nothing to do with a child's delight with the Peter Pan ride.

Jesus, is the hostility really necessary? Really?

I thought Winnie-the-Pooh was quite pleasantly air conditioned.

No, hostility was unnecessary. I thought sarcasm was called for, and it came off a little too blunt, I suppose.


Let me say, then, in a completely straightfoward manner that I find the contention that children, or adults for that matter, derive their main enjoyment of Peter Pan's Flight from either nostalgia or the demeanor of their ride companions to be entirely without merit.


You're in a pirate ship. FLYING. Over London. Over Neverland.

Nostaliga? I call shenanigans on that.

As for the demeanor of your ride companion, it's impossible to test whether that has any effect ...since the demeanor of your companion is universally happy .... due to the flying over London and Neverland as aforementioned.

Of course children are truly enchanted. But I'm not talking about the perception of children. Of course children don't have a sense of nostalgia. To fling back some sarcasm, exactly how big of an idiot do you think I am that you seriously suppose I claim that young children are suffering an excess of nostalgia?

The perception of the child is, however, for many the seedbed of the nostalgia I'm talking about. It is my claim that for the adults (on average as a group) who love Peter Pan it is the nostalgia factor, the fact that it's old, that it speaks to them -- if not to a ride they experienced when young then to a quaintness of 1950's "wow." If Peter Pan, exactly as it is today, were to open for the first time this Saturday, it is my contention that most adults who love it now would be unimpressed.

Children, I agree, would continue to react very much as they do now.

And it is all a purely academic discussion since it posits a test that can't possibly be constructed beyond the fact that a dark ride (Pooh), very much on par with other Fantasyland dark rides (though not necessarily Peter Pan which does have an added hook) is widely regarded as vastly inferior to Snow White or Pinocchio).

Let me throw my 2 cents into the Peter Pan debate. I took a ride on it last time I was in Disneyland a few years ago. I hit it first thing in the morning and only had to wait a few minutes. I only rode it the one time that visit and I had no desire to ride it again. To me it is not worth the wait. The overhead thing is nice and all, but the ride just did not impress me. I rode it on past trips to DL, but once is enough. I think it is very overrated.