Luigi says "Arrivederci" to the beach balls

[joelnkelly]

when we rode we just ignored the beach balls, i think this will make the ride a little more fun for people because its a lot easier to control when everyone is working in tandem to make it move, than each individual reaching for the beach balls.

 

[DLR29]

Although it looks rather bland without the balls, from the very beginning I really disliked them. To me they looked cheap and unnecessary. I'm glad that they removed them and that it's actually helping with the capacity!

 

[debdreamsofdis]

sounds like it's either going to be really fun or really lame

Lame. Even with the balls.

Never understood the concept from the beginning.

I couldn't figure it our either. I guess, like someone else mentioned, they're supposed to be like bumper cars on air.

i thought the ride was really boring even with the beach balls.

We thought this too.

Sorry, No offense to those of you who like this ride, but we thought it was the biggest waste of our time in Carsland.

 

[momsquad]

Honestly?!? The fact they lasted 59 days is the surprising point for me! No, I have not been there as yet, clearly haven't rode the ride. However, the 1st picture I saw of the ride with the balls amazed me that Disney would have something that people could actually pickup and throw! Not that it would have bothered me, but obviously there are those that fear beach balls. And the potential of getting hit? at the happiest place on earth? Que the whiny people now.
Additionally, the added overhead expense of keeping the balls working. I'm sure there were "those" that felt it necessary to POP as many as they could.
I was just amazed they were there in the 1st place.
NTL, wish I could've rode before they were gone. Regadless of the nay-sayers, I will be riding in OCT, as I make sure to enjoy everything not available at WDW.

 

[DISHoppy]

When we were there in June, LFT was the last ride we did @ DCA. The wait time should only have been ~20 minutes, so we could fit Mater in b4 closing. However, the crew working the ride that night was inept, and went around gathering the balls and handing them to the guests in every tire. That and they lost track of the triangles not once but twice, so the wait time ended up being 45 minutes and just past closing.

-Kevin

 

[ManusDei]

For those who say that they don't want to get pegged by a ball, while that's entirely possible, I'd like to point out that it's quite difficult to pull off. Reason is, the beach balls are HUGE. They aren't something that can easily be picked up or thrown. I have a picture of DGF and I holding one up together above our tire, because it's near impossible to hold it by yourself, let alone try to pick one up off the ground while your tire is in motion. You basically had to kick one up in the air by ramming it with your tire against the side walls so that you could then catch it, and again, that was difficult due to their massive size. As a result, in my experience riding LFT, most people spent the majority of the ride chasing after and trying unsuccessfully to pick up and throw beach balls.

I thought it was all good fun, but then, I was riding it at the closing time of Cars Land Media Day preview, when there was no wait and we got to ride three times in a row without getting off. I did get pegged with a beach ball once by some random older kid. I just laughed and tried to retaliate (failed), but then again I'm a 23-year-old kid myself, I was having a blast .

I'm a little sad that the beach balls are gone, but at least that'll help with the incredibly slow loading. The first time we ever rode LFT we actually waited in a decently long and slow line for it, and we agreed that this was a really slow-loading ride. We also rode once ignoring the balls and instead racing each other in laps back and forth across the floor, and that was still really fun, so LFT fans/would-be riders shouldn't incredibly miss the beach balls, it's still a fun ride.

 

[Kuzcotopia12]

I'm going to chime in - we went on the ride in July with the beach balls and loved it. I have a 13 year old and she thought it was fantastic. Yesterday, the wait time was over 1 hour and as we got close to the front, we noticed the beach balls were gone. We were shocked. In my opinion, they just took a fun, unique ride and ruined it. The CM was none too friendly when I asked them what happened to the beach balls. Needless to say, I will probably not be going on that ride again when the wait is over 5 minutes.

 

[DharmaLou]

I just told my friend who went on it in July and she also said without the balls it's pointless.

 

[bumbershoot]

I just told my friend who went on it in July and she also said without the balls it's pointless.

The balls, IMO, were pretty and added color to the area, but were an annoyance to me. To me, the balls were pointless. It's a hover ride, and that's stinkin' cool. I know I've never hovered on air before that ride!

 

[DISHoppy]

More 411 on this change.

-Kevin

 

[HenDuck]

I have to say when I saw the ride for the first time, I was not impressed. A 2 billion dollar addition to DCA and that's all they could come up with?

DS and I rode it in early August with the beach balls. It was fun, but not something I'd ever wait in line for again. Also, lots of kids were having melt downs because they couldn't ever get a ball, and lots of rotten adults were either hogging the balls or whipping them at other guests. I could see a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Without the balls, I will never ride it again. The whole hover thing is not really that exciting.

We love Cars Land, but that ride is a waste of space. Good thing the rest of the land is fabulous. RSR is fantastic - now we really have no reason to go to WDW again. And Mater's is deceivingly simple but so fun! And the music is hilarious!

The best thing about CL is that it totally opened up DL in the mornings. When we were there, first thing in the morning, DL was desserted!

JMHO.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

This ride is terrible! I know they threw the beach balls in as a last ditch effort to make it "better", but come on! If it doesn't work, it doesn't work--no matter if you throw around some beach balls.

I am hoping that eventually this ride goes away and they put something better there.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I'm going to chime in - we went on the ride in July with the beach balls and loved it. I have a 13 year old and she thought it was fantastic. Yesterday, the wait time was over 1 hour and as we got close to the front, we noticed the beach balls were gone. We were shocked. In my opinion, they just took a fun, unique ride and ruined it. The CM was none too friendly when I asked them what happened to the beach balls. Needless to say, I will probably not be going on that ride again when the wait is over 5 minutes.

This ride was actually designed without the beach balls. It was only when an imagineer rode it and talked with everyone else about how it was "missing something" (that is code for this ride sucks!), that they added the beach balls. He said anything can be made better with beach balls thrown in (don't know if I agree, but DO agree with the original idea that it was missing something)--and that is why they decided to try them out for a while.