Orlando Magic center Robin Lopez is ranking his favorite Disney rides

When the Orlando Magic signed veteran center Robin Lopez, it felt like a good fit for the team’s roster.

With two young centers in Mohamed Bamba and Wendell Carter, the team needed one more center as a failsafe if either one dealt with injuries — something both have dealt with in their careers. They also needed a veteran presence for their locker room. This Magic team is exceedingly young. Finding veterans is at a premium.

It is not clear yet how much Lopez will play. It is not yet clear where he fits in this ecosystem or whether he can beat out one of the Magic’s young players for a spot in the rotation. Lopez will come in handy at some point — and with just one year on his deal, he does not cost the team very much in the end.

The other reason Lopez was a good fit for the Magic is because Lopez is also a huge Disney fan. Surely that is one of the reasons he made Orlando a target in his free agency.

Robin, along with his brother Brook, are well-known fans of Disney. They own one of the high-priced homes on Disney property and spend a good chunk of their time at both Disney World in Orlando and Disney Land in Anaheim, California.

They are both frequent guests and have strong opinions about Disney and its associated properties — they are both also dipping their toe into the world of manga. So Lopez is one with opinions and expertise when it comes to Disney.

And he is not afraid to share it.

Lopez is already feeling right at home — although it is not clear yet whether he has gotten an annual pass to Disney World’s four parks and celebrated his new contract with a trip to the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom.

He has been on Twitter answering questions from fans and followers the last few days and being an authoritative figure in the NBA/Disney community, he shared his opinions on the best rides at the parks:

Lopez started with a look at his favorite boat rides (with his later-noted omission of It’s A Small World, an answer so obvious everyone would forget it).

His favorite is Pirates of the Caribbean, leaning in favor of the Disney Land version over the version at the Magic Kingdom.

For me, I enjoy a good ride on Pirates except for some of the additions they added to try to incorporate the movie franchise and the one time I got stuck right at the end. We all love the song, but that was overkill.

It is hard to argue with Pirates being an amazing water ride. There is so much going on with the animatronics that you can literally find something new every time you ride it. For a kid, it offers just the right amount of thrill and scares to introduce you to the wider world of other rides.

His second pick is Splash Mountain, where he again takes the Disney Land version over the Magic Kingdom version. There is a slight difference so I will not begrudge this take too much — the version in California has a song that fans really like that was not included in the Florida version. We will see where it stands once it gets its redo to incorporate The Princess and the Frog.

Those are the two big ones. But Lopez definitely is right to put the Jungle Cruise and EPCOT’s Living with the Land in the next tier. At least Magic Kingdom got one ride better than its Disney Land counterpart.

And big props for keeping the memory of Maelstrom — now converted into the last-place Frozen Ever After — alive.

On to his next rankings of Disney’s best dark rides:

Again hard to argue with his list. Although most would agree Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is the best dark ride Disney ever had. Otherwise, dark rides are probably in the eye of the beholder.

I am a fan of the Winnie The Pooh ride, but I am also a stan for that story and those characters. And the way the ride “hops” during the parts with Tigger. But who here is counting.

Other than Lopez’s very incorrect opinion that Disney Land is better than the Magic Kingdom (no bias here), Lopez already seems like he will fit in perfectly.

The man is a Disney encyclopedia. He already jumped from rides to restaurants. And he is surely going to be excited to go to the EPCOT Spring Festival or Food and Wine Festival probably for the first time in his life.

If you need recommendations for your next trip to EPCOT, Lopez definitely has you covered.

Really anything involving Disney, Lopez probably has an answer for you. And it is an expert opinion.

We may disagree on whether our hometown Magic Kingdom beats out Disney Land — Lopez has the year and an Annual Pass to amend this opinion and it might be the most important thing that comes out of his year with the Magic — but he is right about one thing.

It will forever be MGM Studios:

It will indeed be MGM Studios always and forever no matter how many bells and whistles they add to it. Although I still need to head to Battu and visit Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.

The only thing we can conclude is that Lopez is a perfect fit for Orlando. And surely he feels the same way.