Sunday, July 15, 2012

Raining On The Radiator Springs Racers Parade

Radiator Springs Racers - An L.A. Times Photo
Imagine, if you will, that you planned a couple of days at the Disneyland Resort - say last Thursday and Friday for instance. Suppose your planned trip down there was primarily to experience the highly publicized Cars Land and all it has to offer. Suppose you are not a Southern California local and your trip involved the cost of an airplane flight and the booking of a hotel room. A little trip like that would not be inexpensive.

Now suppose you get over to Cars Land and found out that Radiators Springs Racers had just shut down and they don't know when the giant attraction will reopen (though you could be getting different information depending the case member you spoke with). Suppose it never reopens in the 2 days you are at the park. It just happened. For the most part, Radiator Springs Racers was down for the count last Thursday and Friday. A freak Southern California summer rain storm didn't help and as a sudden power outage shut down several attractions in Disney California Adventure. But the Racers was the one ride that wouldn't come back up to normal operation the way it should.



Outages on Radiator Springs Racers have been common since the ride opened less than a month ago with some outages being relatively short and others being several hours. But an outage of almost two days? Not good.

The Disneyland veterans and frequent visitors to the park over on MiceAge cut the ride some slack the first couple of weeks saying that new rides frequently have break downs while thay get dialed into regular operation. They point to the problems Indiana Jones had when it first began taking on passengers. But now you begin to sense the forgiveness sentiment is turning as problems with the Racers continue on a fairly regular basis. They forum posters are starting to let their frustration and displeasure come out. Was the ride really ready for prime time summer operation? Some still are in the forgiving mode saying the ride is new and give Disney a chance to continue to work out the bugs but Disney veterans question why should there even be bugs at this point since the ride is base on existing technology (EPCOT's Test Track attraction) that has been in operation for years.

One thing is for sure, Disney does not make any guarantees when it comes to ride operation. They have a way out when a big ride shuts down unexpectedly. But what about the guests who had their lofty plans to come down and enjoy the wonders of Cars Lands at Disney's invitation through its massive media campaign? Well....sorry about that, there's plenty more to do Disney will say. For some people, they are not going to feel any better.


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