Dumbo the Flying Elephant – Disney World – Magic Kingdom

Facts at a Glance About Dumbo the Flying Elephant:

Overview of Dumbo the Flying Elephant:

Aladdin, Dumbo and Astro Orbiter are basically the same ride themed three different ways. A kid’s favorite, this attraction is an outdoor elevated spinning ride. Like a bicycle wheel, there’s a central hub with spokes sticking out. In the center of the hub you’ll see newly born Dumbo being delivered by a stork.

At the end of the spokes are the flying Dumbo vehicles. Each vehicle allows the rider in the front seat to control how high or low to fly. The maximum height is about 17 feet. The rider in the back seat can control how to pitch the vehicle forward and backward. As part of the recently opened Storyland Circus area, there are 2 separate Dumbo spinners. One spins clockwise, the other counterclockwise (called “Dueling Dumbos”). At the end of the ride, all of the Dumbo vehicles go to the maximum height before lowering down.

At the base of the ride are water fountains. The fountain has multi-colored LED lights that the water falls over. At night this is particularly noticeable.

Queue information for Dumbo the Flying Elephant

This queue offers a new concept. The Standby queue starts outdoors under a roofed area with fans, but much of the wait is in an air conditioned circus themed Big Top building. Once inside the big top, you’ll be given a pager that will go off when it’s time for you to ride. This frees you up to sit or move around inside while you wait.

There are some benches and an interactive playground where children become the ‘circus performers’. This includes a slide, rope climbs, climbing towers with elevated bridges, and small bouncers. There is a section for wheelchair users and their parties designated towards the back of the tent. If you wish to have a more calm wait, here’s a suggestion from one of our readers:

“If the play room is open there is a nice spot in the back by the benches to get out of the way of all the kids running around.” —Heather Raymond Gable

In the tent, there’s a Dumbo flying overhead with spotlights following him, loud circus music and noises, bright colors, lots of activity, crowd noise and child play noises. There are periodic announcements, and xylophone like sounds as people walk on an interactive musical floor area.

For many, this new queue concept will be fantastic, but for some it’s challenging. Here’s what one mom had to say:

“I was glad to read this line—“If you have a Fastpass (now Lightning Lane) you’ll skip the Big Top with its playground and go right to the ride” because our experience with waiting in the big tent was negative for our son with special needs.

Our son is all about the rides and could not understand why he had to wait in the big tent. All of the activity in the big tent area was too stimulating and overwhelming for him. He grew disoriented, impatient, and angry. We had an out-of-control kid by the time we reached the actual ride. We were exhausted and swore we’d never ride this ride again (one of his and our favorites) unless we could bypass the big tent.”

If you have a Lightning Lane you’ll skip the Big Top with its playground and go right to the ride.

This is a really popular ride and it’s slow loading, so there can be a very long waiting time. However, the second Dumbo spinner, interactive queue and availability of Lightning Lane have improved the wait.

Ride Car and Boarding info for Dumbo the Flying Elephant

The ride vehicles are themed as old fashioned open cockpit airplanes. Eight ride cars with two individual seat sections each are connected together. Guests must step over the side of the ride car,  which is about 18-20 inches high. There’s one seatbelt per vehicle that goes across all the riders.

The seats are hard benches with backs. They’re fairly wide, and are meant for one adult and one child, or one adult and two small children. Two smallish adults and a very small child could conceivably squeeze in. Children must sit towards the inside of the ride.

People of larger size may want their own bench seat. Here’s what one of our readers had to say about that:

“If you are a Pooh sized person ask for your own elephant. I always tell them there are 2 in my party but we want to ride separate.” —Heather Raymond Gable

Wheelchair & accessibility info: The queue is wheelchair accessible, so guests with wheelchairs should obtain a Lightning Lane or enter through the regular queue. There is no wheelchair accessible Dumbo ride car, but each Dumbo spinner has an ADA “transfer assist“ Dumbo car available. Let the Cast Member know when you get to the ride.

Guests using a wheelchair can bring it as close as needed to the Dumbo car for boarding. The entire side of the ADA Dumbo car swings away toward the back, allowing for a larger door and the possibility of a sliding transfer for a guest transferring from a wheelchair. The Dumbo car is very low to the ground, so it’s not an easy transfer. The ADA Dumbo car still requires a step over the side into the car, although the step is not quite as high.

To see photos of someone transferring, check out Rolling With The Magic’s Dumbo page. 

More details about Dumbo the Flying Elephant

The Dumbo elephant vehicles are really whimsical and cute. Little ones seem to generally adore this ride. It spins at a pretty good clip, so anyone with a problem irritated by spinning should avoid this

First thing in the morning there may be shorter wait times. During parades is also a great time to try. Towards the end of the evening, the wait is often minimal unless there’s an evening event.

Take a look at Big Tent area and the ride itself: