Recently, the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land and the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction have been taking up a lot of the attention surrounding Disney parks, and rightfully so because they are Disney’s most ambitious projects yet. But Disney parks are constantly evolving things, especially in recent years, and the infusion of lightsabers and X-wings isn’t the only upgrade the parks are getting. To that end, EPCOT’s upcoming Ratatouille ride sounds awesome.
The ride is called Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and it is opening in the France Pavilion at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park this summer. Because all Disney Parks attractions have a story, this one takes its inspiration from Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava’s 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure sees guests shrunken down to the size of a rat as they race through the kitchen and around the culinary delights of Gusteau’s, the Parisian restaurant that serves as the setting of the film.
In Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, guests board ride vehicles that appropriately look like rats and which are particularly interesting because they are trackless. What that means is, unlike other dark rides at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, like say Peter Pan’s Flight, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride or The Haunted Mansion, your ride vehicle is not bound to a specific and predictable track.
As noted by the Orlando Business Journal, each of the ride vehicles in Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is expected to behave differently, with the benefit of that being that each ride experience is unique. Making each experience unique on a ride is something Disney has done before with rides like Star Tours, which has dozens of possible mission combinations and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror’s random drop sequence.
That eliminates some of the predictability of the ride, allowing it to feel new, not just to first timers, but to Disney Parks die-hards who have ridden it dozens of times. Another thing that sounds awesome about Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is that it will also incorporate 4-D experiences and 4-D equals smell-o-vision folks.
That means that as you race through Gusteau’s kitchen, surrounded by massive pieces of food, you’ll actually be able to smell what the master chef has cooking. And unlike the skunk smell in Journey into Imagination, I imagine these will be scents you won’t have to hold your nose for.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is not the exact same ride, but it is modeled after the Ratatouille: The Adventure attraction in Disneyland Paris. It sounds awesome and like it is the next evolution of the dark ride, taking what works about that traditional ride format and updating it with new technologies to make for a more immersive and exciting experience.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure is well on its way to completion. As highlighted on the Disney Parks Blog, the sign for Gusteau’s restaurant has just been installed in the newly expanding France pavilion in EPCOT to really make guests feel like they’ve entered the world of the film.
EPCOT has tons of new things on the way (Although no new country in World Showcase yet. Boo.), as the park is about to undergo a major transformation. And in addition to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, there are plenty of new attractions headed to Walt Disney World this year.
To see what new Disney films might serve as theme park fodder in the future and to know when all of this year’s biggest movies arrive in theaters, check out our 2020 Release Schedule.
