The third annual Wandering in Disney Relates the Oscars Best Picture Nominees to Disney Theme Park Attractions Post™ is here. I know you’ve been planning your 2025 calendar accordingly! If you think that comparing some of the year’s best (or maybe worst movies to Disney attractions is a little too niche then you’re right. Barely anyone reads this and I don’t blame them! But I love theme parks and I love movies, so here we are. We’ve got 10 movies to compare to theme park attractions and, just like electing a new pope or fulfilling desert planet prophecies, this is important stuff that someone has to do. I am that person.

The only rules in this post are that I have to match the 10 Best Picture nominees from 2025 to Disney theme park attractions. It won’t be pretty. I’m guessing it won’t make very much sense even. I can say that I’ve seen all 10 of the nominees and have been on all of these rides. It’s a weird slate of movies and probably the strangest group that I’ve done this for. There’s a couple of movies I don’t care for in this group but the majority of them are great, with my favorites being Anora and The Brutalist. We’ll try to stay away from any major movie spoilers in this post.

Before I begin, I should say that some of these movies are quite serious and touch on difficult subjects. I will do my best to tread lightly in those areas and likely change the subject to something else entirely. This is all in good fun here. Let’s get to it!

Anora as Pirates of the Caribbean

We’ll start this off totally normal exercise by comparing a movie about an exotic dancer (among other things, I’m trying to keep this PG on the family site!) to a family boat ride. Everyone was asking for this. Awkwardness and audaciousness of this exercise aside, there are a few similarities between this wonderful film and Pirates of the Caribbean. The most obvious of those is the Pirates scene with auctioning off women that has been transformed to showcase a woman with agency, Red. The titular Anora certainly has some agency in her own movie. On a broader sense, Pirates can play like a dark comedy of a theme park attraction and this film is one of the funniest of the year until it’s not.

The Brutalist as Tokyo DisneySea’s Tower of Terror

The Brutalist is an immigrant story of a Hungarian architect coming to America after being in a Nazi concentration camp. We follow his career, including meeting a wealthy man named Harrison Van Buren who hires him for an extravagant project. Without spoiling an incredible movie, there are some uncanny similarities between Van Buren and Harrison Hightower in DisneySea’s Tower of Terror. I have some egregiously dumb reasons and statements in this blog post but I promise this one is better than the two characters sharing first names. They embody a selfishness, bravado and power that most characters can’t portray so clearly.

A Complete Unknown as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Bob Dylan goes electric!

Conclave as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

My lovely wife, Melissa, puts up with this blog post every year just like you are right now. Except she gets has to hear me talk it out, as I ask for advice on certain movies that I can’t figure out. We usually do this on the walk home from Disneyland. It’s a weird life, but a good one.

Anyway, I explained the plot of Conclave to her as I was completely stuck on what attraction most resembles this film about Ralph Fiennes and a bunch of other actors you like trying to elect a new pope. As I finished describing, she said that it seemed most like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I asked for a reason and she said let’s talk about a few other movies first. We did and then I pressed on why she thought Mr. Toad. Melissa said, “I dunno, there’s a judge and a sort of purgatory and hell.” Good enough for me!

Dune: Part Two as Avatar: Flight of Passage

And, uh, fly.

Emilia Perez as Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros

If you’re confused about Emilia Perez being a French movie that is set in Mexico while also being a musical, you’re not alone. But we’ve had confusion like this before! The Three Caballeros starred in a mostly South American movie musical but now take guests through a tour in Epcot’s Mexico Pavilion. I don’t think this is breaking news but Mexico is not in South America. There’s also the uncomfortable realization that Donald Duck has some drunk uncle who would definitely say something racist energy, and the lead of Emilia Perez… Well, if you know you know or you can look it up. Let’s move along.

I’m Still Here as Autopia

Speaking of South America, I’m Still Here comes from Brazil. It’s a movie about the political corruptness in the 1970’s and how that affected one family specifically. For as much as I’ve wracked my brain, there aren’t a ton of theme park attractions about Brazilian political corruptness. The movie does jump ahead in time (slight spoiler) during the third act as the mother of this family continues to fight for justice. She’s still here. You know what else is still here? Autopia. Reaching. Unlike the cars on that seemingly immortal attraction, this blog post has gone off the tracks.

Nickel Boys

Nickel Boys is a difficult subject, detailing two young black men getting sent to a reform school that is full of racism and terrible practices. I don’t think I’ll find a match going that route, nor should I even attempt it. Finding a different path, the movie is told through first person as the camera switches between being these two characters. That includes one of the best cinematography moments of the year, seen in this shot where the boys look up at their reflection.

What iconic attraction has guests being a first person character, leading up to seeing themselves in the mirror? Haunted Mansion. I’m really rolling now!

The Substance as Alice in Wonderland

In this body horror movie, Demi Moore’s character wants to be young and hot again. She takes a substance to do that, but there’s some restrictions that may or may not (they definitely do) change her life. Alice takes some substances to change her body. I don’t know, guys. We’ve got a tough batch of movies to do this for! I appreciate the four of you who have read this far into the post.

Wicked as Muppet Vision 3D

We already have precedence (see below) and this is becoming the best bit I have on the website.

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