And the Best Disney Ride is....

Space Mountain continued its dominating run with a 9-2 victory over Expedition Everest!  It was the top overall seed heading into the tournament and it was never really threatened at any point.  The average margin of victory for Space Mountain's six wins was seven votes.  That may not seem like a lot, but we typically only had between 5-10 votes each round.  Three of those victories were shutouts, too.  

I'm not really surprised by Space Mountain's victory.  It is always a fan favorite with long lines.  In my opinion, it is the most fun ride I've ever been on.  I never have a bad time on Space Mountain.  And, for my money, the Disneyland version is better than the Disney World version.  Even though both made the Final Four, the best one won.

I'm happy that Space Mountain won, and I want to thank everyone who voted.  This was a fun bracket to do.  Disney Parks has done a similar bracket for the past few years called March Magic, where people can vote on Facebook.  Surprisingly, Space Mountain has never won that bracket.  Pirates of the Caribbean, twice, and Tower of Terror have been the winners.  That's very different from our results, which I find fascinating.  And this is why I do what I do!  Can't wait until next year's bracket!  If anyone has a suggestion for what next year's bracket should be, feel free to pass it my way!

One of my favorite pins!

Best Disney Ride - Championship!

It's the time you've all been waiting for, time to see which two rides will go head to head for the right to be called the best Disney ride.  One ride from each coast has made it to this point, but only one can give bragging rights to its respectful park.  The championship match is a battle of mountains, but maybe not the mountains everyone thought.  On the Disneyland side, Space Mountain continued its dominating run with a 7-2 win over Indiana Jones.  But on the Disney World side, Space Mountain did not fare as well, falling to Expedition Everest 6-2.

So here is your championship matchup!!
Space Mountain

 vs.
Expedition Everest

I was a little surprised to see Everest make it this far.  Not because it's not a great ride, which it is, but because it is newer and I thought the more classic rides would have an advantage.  But this is a great matchup and it will be interesting to see which ride prevails.  You probably all know where my vote is going as I've never been shy about my love of riding through space.  So let's get to the voting!

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And here's the bracket

Best Disney Ride - Final Four!!!!

Here we are!!  The Final Four is set!!  After an exciting Elite Eight, there are four teams left to duke it out for the right to say they are the best Disney ride.  On the Disneyland side, Space Mountain pitched a shutout against Toy Story Midway Mania.  It was another dominating performance for Space Mountain, which has won three out of four matchups via shutout.  Their opponent in the Final Four will be Indiana Jones, which ended the cinderella run of Soarin'.  That sets up a high powered matchup between two of the most popular rides in Disneyland.  Those two rides consistently have the longest lines and use up their Fast Passes the quickest.  It should be an interesting matchup.  Space Mountain has been dominant, while Indiana Jones has had some close calls.  Both are thrilling, but only one will be able to compete for the championship!

And on the Disney World side, Space Mountain was a winner once again, setting up the possibility of an all Space Mountain championship.  But that won't be easy, as it will have to face off against Expedition Everest, which took out Splash Mountain in the closest vote of the round, 4-3.  I think Splash Mountain at Disney World is really great, so to see it go out against Expedition Everest tells me that ride has a chance to pull another upset versus Space Mountain.  I expect another close match because as far as roller coasters go, Everest is incredibly unique and a ton of fun.  But Space Mountain is a classic, so I think it's a toss up.

Now let's get to the real reason you're here, the voting!!  As usual, if you are on a mobile device use the following link.
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Here's what the bracket looks like now.

Best Disney Ride - Elite Eight!!

The Sweet Sixteen has come and gone, and for the most part, the higher seeds dominated.  The top seeded Space Mountains and Splash Mountain all advanced easily.  The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train also advanced handily over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and Expedition Everest ended the Cinderella run of Spaceship Earth.  And in what is an upset in seed only, on the Disneyland side, Toy Story demolished Radiator Springs Racers in the 2-3 matchup.  There were only two close matchups and they both occurred in the Matterhorn region.  Soarin' continued its miracle run, winning 6-4 over California Screamin'.  And Indiana Jones had to scratch and claw its way to victory over Pirates of the Caribbean, winning via tiebreaker, 5-5.  That sets up an intriguing Elite Eight.

Breaking down the four matchups, let's start on the Disneyland side.  First, we have Space Mountain, which has been absolutely dominant, facing off against Toy Story Midway Mania.  This was a matchup on the Disney World side in the last round and Space Mountain advanced easily.  I expect the same here.  In the Matterhorn region, Soarin' continues its cinderella run against Indiana Jones.  At this point, I think the Soarin' supporters might take it into the Final Four.  Either way, I think this will be a close match.

On the Disney World side, we have two 1-2 matchups dominated by Magic Kingdom rides.  Space Mountain goes head to head against Seven Dwarf Mine Train.  This will be an interesting matchup.  It's a classic roller coaster versus the newest roller coaster.  Space Mountain Disney World isn't as good as its Disneyland counterpart, but it still has a good chance to make it to the Final Four.  Finally, in the Splash Mountain region, the top seed faces off against Expedition Everest.  Both of these rides are great and I could see either one winning.  It will depend on whether people prefer a watery drop or an icy thrill.

But enough of my rambling, let's vote!  Use the following link on a mobile device.
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And here is the current bracket!

Best Disney Ride Sweet Sixteen!!!

The second round is officially over!!  After the conclusion of voting in the Disney World regions, the Sweet Sixteen is now set.  The last round of voting saw a lot of close matchups with four results determined by one vote.  But at the end of the day, there was only one real upset.  Spaceship Earth upset Test Track.  And, unfortunately, my sentimental favorite, the Tomorrowland People Mover, came up one vote short against the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  It was a valiant effort and all People Mover fans should be proud.

But now it is time to look ahead as we are down to the top 16 rides!  On the Disneyland side, the Space Mountain region is the only one to see all top four seeds advance to this round.  Top seed Space Mountain faces off against 4-seed Big Thunder Mountain.  So far Space Mountain has rolled through the competition and I expect nothing less in this matchup.  The 2-3 matchup features Radiator Springs Racers and Toy Story Midway Mania.  I think this will be a very close race as both rides are extremely popular.  The Matterhorn region features two cinderellas in Soarin' and Pirates of the Caribbean.  Can either of them keep their magical run going?  I think they both have a chance.

On the Disney World side, Space Mountain might have a little bit of a fight against Toy Story Midway Mania.  In the bottom half of that region, we have an all roller coaster matchup featuring Seven Dwarfs Mine Train against Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  This might be the closest matchup.  And in the Splash Mountain region, the top seed faces off against Star Tours.  I could see Star Tours fans making this close.  And, finally, we have Spaceship Earth, which looks to continue its own cinderella run against Expedition Everest.

A few things I've noticed about the Sweet Sixteen teams is that they are comprised mostly of the bigger thrill rides.  This isn't too much of a surprise as these are usually the most popular rides.  Some smaller fan favorite rides pulled off upsets in the first round, but most of them couldn't sustain their success in the second round.  Also notable is the absence of Tower of Terror and Haunted Mansion on both sides of the bracket.  It really surprises me that neither of those rides made it through considering how popular they are.  I guess that goes to show how tough this bracket really is.  But enough of my yammering, let's get to the voting!

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Here is what the current bracket looks like.

Best Disney Ride Round Two - Disney World Regions!

Well, we have our first major upset in the tournament.  Matterhorn went down to Soarin' by a score of 6-5.  I'm utterly shocked by that result.  I hold the Matterhorn in such high regard as one of the best rides in the park, but apparently not every one feels the same.  I will be interested to see if Soarin' can build off the momentum of this upset in the next round against California Screamin'.  That's right, it's an all California Adventure matchup in the next round, one of two such matchups.  In the other region, Radiator Springs Racers and Toy Story Midway Mania each took out a classic Disneyland ride, Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, respectively, to advance to the next round.  There was one other upset in this round with Pirates of the Caribbean winning easily over Tower of Terror, 8-3.  I'm not all that surprised by the result, by rather by the score.  The other matchups in this round were all won by the higher seeds with Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Indiana Jones all advancing quite easily.  It should be quite an interesting Sweet Sixteen!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to finish Round Two in the Disney World regions.  In my opinion, there are quite a few tough choices to make in this round.  Starting in the Space Mountain region, the top seed faces off against The Great Movie Ride.  This should be an easy win for Space Mountain.  The 4-5 matchup, however, features a battle between Mission: Space and Toy Story.  I'm a big fan of Mission: Space, but I think Toy Story will win this one.  The last two matchups in this region feature a couple potential Cinderellas in the People Mover and Peter Pan.  They were each upset winners in Round One, but now they are up against two top seeded roller coasters in Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.  Sentimentally, I want to vote for the underdogs, but those are two really good roller coasters.  It's a battle between fast and slow!

The Splash Mountain Region is really interesting because each matchup features rides from the same park, with all four parks represented.  Splash Mountain versus the Jungle Cruise representing Magic Kingdom, should see Splash Mountain advance.  The Hollywood Studios matchup between Tower of Terror and Star Tours should be a close one.  Animal Kingdom is represented by Expedition Everest and the Kilimanjaro Safaris, and I predict a win for Everest.  And Test Track faces off against Spaceship Earth to represent Epcot in what is one of the tougher choices for me to make.  I think Spaceship Earth is absolutely magical, but Test Track was very fun.

And with all that said, let's get to the voting!  If viewing on a mobile device use the following link.
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Here is what the bracket looks like after the latest round of voting.