Many people are familiar with the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom. It’s a classic attraction, one of the oldest rides in the park, and it’s well known for its (obviously) animatronic animals and the skipper’s playful pun-filled patter. It’s bright, it’s cheerful, and it’s funny, from the smiling elephant playing in the water to the happy tribesman trying to sell you shrunken heads.

At night, though, Jungle Cruise turns into something a bit… creepier. There’s very little man-made lighting on the ride, so once the sun goes down the jungle becomes much darker and your visibility into the trees is cut way down. Animals are hidden in shadows, sometimes harder to see until you’re right next to them, and some of the details can be lost in the dark. As a result they can look much less (charmingly) fake, and even that goofy tribesman becomes a bit more menacing.

Since it’s harder to see where you’re headed, and where you’ve been, you get much more of a ‘lost in the jungle’ sense at night than you do during the day. The skipper’s spiel stays basically the same, though, so you’re hearing the same puns and jokes that you would when the sun’s up. It creates a weird dichotomy between humor and creepiness, making the whole journey a bit surreal.

Don’t worry, though. Even at night, you can still get a great view of the backside of water.

Jungle Cruise is one of a handful of Magic Kingdom rides that can seem slightly different at night. It’s not by any intentional cause, Disney isn’t actively changing an attraction once the sun goes down, but because a lack of natural light can subtly change the experience.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, for example, is a fun roller coaster ride in a mine-themed setting. It’s hardly the roughest or the fastest coaster out there (my wife, who is not a roller coaster fan, really enjoys it) but it does have its fair share of twists, turns, and the occasional small drop. There are also cool things to see along the way, like geysers and a dinosaur skeleton, that can distract from the bumpiness of the ride. And because of all the natural light, you can clearly see what’s coming up ahead and prepare yourself for the next twist.

But at night the drops seem longer, the banks seem sharper, and the whole experience just seems to move faster. Because the darkness takes away the ability to really see where you’re headed and how fast you’re going (which is, in part, why Space Mountain seems so much faster and rougher) everything just seems to be kicked up a notch and the train ride feels more intense. Even parts that you may know are coming, like that wiggle followed by a small drop, seem much… wigglier and droppier than during the day.

Additionally, you may be able to notice details at night that you can’t see during the day! On a bright and sunny day your eyes need to adjust when going inside, so this means that when the runaway train takes you into a mine cave there’s a few seconds in which you just can’t see much. By the time your eyes have adjusted to the lower light, you’ve already sped by a lot of neat things to see. However, at night you don’t have that adjustment period, so as soon as you go inside you’ve got a much clearer view of what you’d probably miss otherwise. For example: shortly after entering one of the mines, there are a bunch of bats flying above the track. They’re easy to miss, especially when you’re sort of blind from the rapid change in light levels, but if you look up on a night ride you’ll probably be able to see them.

Like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train coaster seems faster and more intense at night. Also, like on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the adjustment between exterior and interior can make a difference. Going into the dark mine on a bright sunny day can mean missing some of the cool stuff to see in there, but at night there’s no adjustment necessary. You can see the incredible animatronics of the Dwarves no matter what, but some of the early details can be missed on a really bright day.

The Tomorrowland Transit Authority (aka “Peoplemover”) is, truth be told, one of my favorite attractions in the Magic Kingdom. A slow-paced ride taking you all around Tomorrowland, with glimpses of Cinderella Castle and Main Street, it even winds through shops and restaurants and at one point takes you inside Space Mountain.

When the sun is up, the TTA offers a great tour through Tomorrowland’s retro-futuristic world. At night, multi-colored neon highlights details that you may not notice during the day, really bringing out the ‘space age’ vibe. The lighting in Magic Kingdom does more than just offer illumination so people can see, it’s a part of the personality of each land, and the Peoplemover tour is a great way to see this Disney magic at work.

A couple times, too, I’ve been riding the Peoplemover at night and have managed to catch a snippet of the Main Street Electrical Parade as it goes by in the distance. That’s a bit of lucky timing, but it’s great to see when it happens. The Peoplemover experience itself doesn’t necessarily feel different at night, like Jungle Cruise or Big Thunder, but it does offer a different (and pretty cool) look at Tomorrowland.

If you just want to get a great view during the day or night, there’s always the loading platform of Astro Orbiter. As one of the “higher” rides, Astro Orbiter offers a pretty good view of different parts of Magic Kingdom. You can get a good look at Cinderella Castle, Main Street, and Tomorrowland from the platform as you’re waiting to board or getting off of a ride vehicle.

Finally, there’s the Magic Kingdom Railroad. During the day it offers glimpses of the different lands as you take a pleasant trip through the forest, giving an old-time feel as it chug through the trees. At night, the lack of natural light–particularly through the wooded areas–minimizes your visibility and makes it a slightly different ride. It really heightens that old-time sensation since there aren’t many electric lights along the route.

These rides aren’t necessarily better or worse, just… a little different. In fact, I highly recommend trying to ride them during the day and at night in order to really see how the different level of natural light changes things.