In this post we give an overview of Dumbo the Flying Elephant, an aerial carousel ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park in Walt Disney World. We cover the basics of the ride, how to ride it, and our thoughts on the experience. Read on to learn more!
Related Posts
This post is a quick guide to Dumbo the Flying Elephant, but we have related content that dives deeper into topics. Our Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane post covers Lightning Lane strategy in depth. The Magic Kingdom Rides and Entertainment Guide gives brief introductions to all the park’s offerings. For putting together your day at the park, we have a One Day Plan for Magic Kingdom.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant Basics
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is an aerial carrousel at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. The ride
does not offer rider switch
is a Tier 2 ride on Lightning Lane Multi Pass
does not have a single rider line
is a part of Early Entry at Magic Kingdom
is about 90 seconds long
If you’re visiting Magic Kingdom with small children, there is a playground inside the Dumbo the Flying Elephant queue that makes the wait a little more tolerable. If the ride has no wait and the playground is open, we’ll often stop for a few minutes because our kid enjoys the playground that much. We’ve never had any issues with this ride scaring our toddler.
Where is Dumbo the Flying Elephant located?
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is located in the Storybook Circus portion of Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom.
Entering the park, the most direct route is through the castle, taking a right at Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, past the entrance to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train on your left, past the entrance to Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on your right, around Mad Tea Party, and into Storybook Circus. Dumbo will be immediately on your right.
How to Ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Note: The initial paragraphs of this section are repeated across the four relevant rides.
There are four rides—all tier 2 Lightning Lanes—in this part of the park that I almost always ride in quick succession: Dumbo, Barnstormer, Under the Sea, and Mad Tea Party. Whether it’s with or without Lightning Lanes (or some with, some without), you should be able to conquer this part of the park without too much fanfare.
With exceptional planning / luck, you’ll be able to make Tomorrowland Speedway and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin a part of this block, too. And don’t forget PeopleMover is nearby if you have some time to fill between Lightning Lanes.
Altogether, this chunk of rides is usually how I finish my morning when I don’t have Multi Pass. With Multi Pass, it’s really a matter of monitoring return time vibes and refreshing your searches to put these together whenever you can. On a day with low crowds, I might head here with just one open Lightning Lane “slot” and just book one after the other. On a day with higher crowds, I probably want to be working with two or three open “slots” so I can get three things booked around the same time before committing myself.
Dumbo in particular is in the Storybook Circus part of Fantasyland, next to Barnstormer. So, 10/10 times you’re going to want to just ride these back to back.
If you do wind up waiting in the queue, there is an indoor playground, subject to crowd levels and availability. They’ll sometimes use pagers to call people when it’s their time to continue in the queue, or it can be a come-and-go-as-you-please situation.
Soarin’ Over Storybook Circus
Dumbo the Flying Elephant is a standard outdoor aerial carousel. Each Dumbo can fit up to two adults and one small child. There’s a lever you can use to make your Dumbo go up and down (no bouncing, this isn’t a real circus!). There are actually two carousels that spin opposite directions, but you don’t choose which you ride.
Dumbo offers decent views of Fantasyland and the castle. Between the indoor playground and the option to use a Lightning Lane, you should be able to find a way to make this one worth any wait you have to deal with. That said, is there any world in which I’d just wait 30 minutes in the middle of the day for it—no.
Overall, I’d say Zoe enjoys the indoor playground more than the ride itself. This can make it a small trouble for us to visit. On the one hand, these are Zoe’s days, and if it’s a playground that steals the show, who am I to judge? On the other hand…well…you all know the cost of the time spent at that playground.
If you need an iconic photo and aren’t fast enough to snap one during ride loading and unloading, there’s an empty Dumbo vehicle between the two carousels—you can take a picture there. You can also use it to test how comfortably your party will fit in a single vehicle.
You can view a video of the ride here:
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Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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