Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Sure, you’ll still find a Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride at Disneyland—but the original Dumbo Flying Elephants ride is in Yesterland.

This ride is inspired by Walt Disney’s 1941 animated feature, Dumbo. It’s located in a dead-end corner of Yester-Fantasyland, right in front of the Fantasyland Theatre, near the Pirate Ship Restaurant.

Climb into one of the ten Dumbos. Soon you’ll be flying around in circles.

Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Hinged ears, close-up from the first photo

Notice the hinged ears. The ears are supposed to move up and down. I’m sorry. They’re not working today. To be honest, the mechanisms never worked properly, so the ears on each Dumbo are stationary. But that’s okay, because these elephants fly anyway.

Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Wooden loading platform

As you visit the park in different years, you’ll see different color schemes on the loading platform.

Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor

No longer hinged

Eventually, the ears became integral parts of the elephant, not inoperative hinged appendages.

Each elephant holds two guests—or three guests if some of them are small enough.

Photo by Frank Taylor, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Seating for two

Photo by Frank Taylor, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Or seating for three

Photo by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Timothy atop a silver disco ball

Each Dumbo wears a different color cap, but the elephants themselves are always gray, just like in the movie.

What other color would you expect? Pink?

Dumbo Flying Elephants—also known as Dumbo the Flying Elephant or simply Dumbo—was supposed to be one of the attractions ready for Disneyland’s invitation-only opening on July 17, 1955 and for the public opening the next day.

The first batch of fiberglass elephants arrived about three weeks before the opening. They weighed 700 pounds apiece—which is light for an elephant, but heavy for a flying elephant. The ride was a mechanical failure. The attraction was quickly reworked and managed to open August 16, 1955.

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Artwork in The First 50 Magical Years exhibit shows pink elephants.

Early artwork showed pink elephants, not the familiar gray pachyderms.

The finest Disneyland history book, Disneyland: The Nickel Tour, by Bruce Gordon and David Mumford (Camphor Tree Publishers, 1995), provides an explanation: “Just as there is only one Mickey Mouse, there can be only one Dumbo, right? Because this ride would have ten flying elephants, they would be the “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo’s intoxicated nightmare in the movie.“

The book goes on to speculate, “Somewhere along the way, no doubt, Walt decided he’d rather have everyone riding the real Dumbo, not an alcohol-induced hallucination. So the pink elephants became gray and the one and only Dumbo became ten.”

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006

Model of Fantasyland of 1955 in The First 50 Magical Years exhibit

When the Dumbo ride first opened, it was located on the west side of Fantasyland.

The official Disneyland website used to include this bit of historic trivia about Dumbo the Flying Elephant: “When former President Harry Truman visited Disneyland Park in 1957, Dumbo was one of the few attractions he didn’t ride. Truman didn’t want to be associated with a character related to the Republican party.”

Photo by Frank Taylor, courtesy of Chris Taylor

Dumbo at its original location in Disneyland

Photo by Fred Nelson, 1959

A similar, but somewhat later, view of Dumbo in Disneyland

The two similar photos above were taken by two different photographers from the Skyway ride. Do you see any differences? The big difference is the railing around the ride.

For the May 1983 opening of the New Fantasyland, the Dumbo ride moved to where Skull Rock Lagoon had been. The cosmetically updated version of the original ride still had just 10 elephants, but the mechanism looked more like it does today.

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2004

Dumbo at Disneyland in 2004

The biggest change to Dumbo came in 1990, after two accidents.

On March 29, 1989, one of the fiberglass elephants partially separated from a support arm, injuring a Garden Grove couple and their 3-year-old daughter. The family suffered “bruises and scrapes.” Dumbo reopened the next day.

A year later, on April 1, 1990, one of the support arms collapsed, injuring a 13-year-old girl from Canada. The teenager suffered “minor bruises.” After being checked at Garden Grove Hospital, she returned to the park for the rest of the day. This time, the old Dumbo was grounded permanently.

In both cases, the injuries were minor. But the accidents should not have happened at all. Disneyland needed a safe, reliable Dumbo attraction.

Disney had a magnificent 16-elephant version of Dumbo ready for Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris), but that park would not open until 1992. The new Dumbo ride went to Anaheim, where it opened in November 1990. Disneyland now had a Dumbo ride with 60% more capacity. There was still plenty of time to build a duplicate for Paris.

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Front view of flying elephants

Photo by Allen Huffman, 2005

Rump view of flying elephants

The elephants at Disneyland fly above a doughnut-shaped pool of water with splashing fountains.

Dumbo is one of only a few rides that can be found at all of Disney’s Magic Kingdom-style parks around the world. Even though Dumbo is essentially just a simple amusement park ride, there’s something very appealing about the friendly elephants—especially for young children.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2004

Dumbo at Walt Disney World at its original location

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2013

Clockwise Dumbo added at Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World opened with a 10-elephant Dumbo spinner in 1971. It was replaced with a 16-elephant version in 1993, but without a fountain. In 2012, this Dumbo was moved to the Storybook Circus area of the New Fantasyland, where it was joined by a second, mirror-image Dumbo spinner turning the opposite direction.

Disneyland Paris (1992), Hong Kong Disneyland (2005), and Shanghai Disneyland (2016) have had 16-elephant Dumbo rides since opening.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2000

Dumbo at Tokyo Disneyland in 2000

If you’re nostalgic for the old Dumbo, take a trip to Tokyo Disneyland. There, the Dumbo ride is from 1983 and has just ten elephants.

Photo by Karen Weiss, 2006

Golden Dumbo at Disneyland

As one of the original attractions from 1955 at Disneyland, one of elephants was painted gold in honor of the park’s 50th anniversary in 2005.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2006

Bulwagi’s Flying Adventure at Lion Country Safari, Loxahatchee, Florida

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Dumbo should feel very flattered by rides such as Bulwagi’s Flying Adventure at Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Florida; Amazing Flying Elephants at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and Elephant March at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri.

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Updated December 17, 2021