Luigi's Flying Tires is it a failure??

[Dexican]

Haven't been yet but early reports weren't too promising. Is it worth skipping if the lines are really long?

 

[aan1701]

Haven't been yet but early reports weren't too promising. Is it worth skipping if the lines are really long?

It was my wife's favorate ride in Cars Land. Yes it takes too long to unload/load but it was really fun. Two thumbs up from us.

 

[Girimama33]

From what I have read it takes a bit to figure out how to get it going, and it is difficult to hear the instructions given. The people that can't get it going don't like the ride, and the ones that can really like it.

 

[pudinhd]

Based on what I had read online, I wasn't expecting a lot. The ride was easier than I thought it would be and it was a lot of fun!!

 

[cmwade77]

It's a very fun ride; however, if someone pegs you with a beach ball, it really hurts, as the beach balls were intended to be for atmosphere only and weighted so that people could not get them while on the ride. The problem is that CMs hand them to people before the ride starts and others grab them before getting on the ride vehicle.

 

[DisneytheKid]

From what I had heard on the last podcast, its takes somewhere in the ballpark of 5 minutes to load the tires. For those of you who have ridden the ride, do you think it can be sped up or is the ride designed to take that long to load?

 

[cmwade77]

On the side with the wheelchair ramp, it seems to be about 6 minutes when it is used, otherwise I would say about 4 minutes. I don't think that there is much that can be done to speed the process up. Essentially this is the same loading process as bumper cars would have, except the wheel chair ramp adds a little time for them to push the vehicle in and out of the loading area.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

When we were there it was taking even longer to load the ride. We got the speel from the cast member on how to "drive" (lean together, same direction, etc...) the tire--and it still was a big thumbs down for us. Yes, our tire moved as it was suppose to, but it just isn't that fun! I am the type that likes most any ride Disney throws at me, but even with my glass half-full, Pollyanna attitude--this ride was a big fat dud!

We waited SO long to board this ride. We rode the Racers ride 4 times, and would have ridden it more. Mater ride was a hoot, but good for one ride. I wouldn't be sad to never see or ride Luigi again! Other people in our line were saying the same thing as they left.

So if there is no wait, go for it and decide for yourself. If there is a long wait (we walked right in to the line and thought we would be out of there fairly quickly, but alas....) then skip it.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We had a different experience. We got on the ride, and quickly figured out how to manipulate the ride. It was a lot of fun for us.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

I've seen people asking and answering this question, which always makes me laugh because of the some individual concerns in an appropriate answer. *My* family will definitely have to carve out time on some day to ride it because:
1) It's most likely our once/lifetime trip to DLR, so it's now or never;
2) Cars Land is the #1 reason my three sons are going to DLR rather than WDW and why we waited an extra year to go;
3) My youngest is only two (and as big a raging "Cars" fanatic as his brothers--if you don't have three boys 7 and under, you might not understand the pop-cultural touchstone "Cars" is for their generation! It's like what Ariel's princess meal, BBB, and PFF all rolled up together is for some of your daughters), so he definitely won't make it on RSR (not sure about Mater's ride and its height requirements), BUT he can ride Luigi. We got to tell him so during ABC's Saturday broadcast of "Cars" with the Larry the Cable Guy previews of CL, where Larry jokes about meeting Luigi's height requirement of 32". So we're doing it so he can ride a ride at CL.

I think the people who are casual about the idea of skipping it don't share those same qualities with my family. I think even the people who ask about possibly skipping it must have very different demographics. I'm now concerned about convincing the kids to spend an entire day at DL without wandering over to CL to see the lights or meet Lightning and Mater again.

I like hearing tips from those of you who managed to make it fun.

 

[dleyel]

My family rode at the preview party on the 14th with an hour wait. We didn't see the posted wait time, but glad we waited since CL is what we were there for. DH, DS13, DD10 and I all thought it was fun and easily got the hang of moving them, but agreed an hour is too long to wait again for such a short ride. We rode 2 and 2 rather than single. Takes forever to load and unload. We'll wait for shorter lines in the fall to ride again as we have APs. I definitely don't think it's a failure, but hopefully they can speed up loading/unloading somehow.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

We were there for a preview. The wait was 60 minutes at the time. We watched a bit to decide and the whole beach ball thing made it a no for us. I don't like being hit with objects.

 

[DLR29]

I actually enjoyed it more than I expected, but I only waited about 15 min. I didn't find it difficult to steer. We just kinda would lean and go wherever the air blew us. I wouldn't wait a long time for it, but I think it was worth a 15 min line.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

From what I had heard on the last podcast, its takes somewhere in the ballpark of 5 minutes to load the tires. For those of you who have ridden the ride, do you think it can be sped up or is the ride designed to take that long to load?

There's one easy fix to speed up loading: Get rid of the beach balls.

Not only does it take time during loading to make sure everyone has one....during unloading there's always a kid or two (or a kid at heart) that has to pick one up on the way out and toss it at their brother, sister, wife, etc, which delays loading for the next group of guests.

(And thanks for listening.)

 

[CurlyGirlyGirl]

We were also there on June 14. This was the ride we waited the longest to ride. Was the ride fun? No, not really - especially when you got stuck in the middle of a bunch of people that couldn't maneuver their tires.

Hands down, the only thing that made the ride worthwhile for us was watching my brother completely DRILL a cameraman on the head from behind as he was riding and filming at the same time! I would pay good money to find a clip of this on youtube or some news channel.

Is anyone taking any bets on how long it will take for someone to sue Disney over this ride? I can just imagine how easily someone could unbuckle themselves during the ride and either fall or get their hand/body crushed between tires.

 

[mysteriouspnai]

I also think that Luigi's probably wouldn't be worth an hour plus wait. We waited 40 minutes and that still seemed a little long. I think part of it is that they don't have music or something pumping through the line so waiting was extra dull. At other rides, there is music to distract you while you wait, but between loadings, there was complete silence. It was kind of creepy TBH without any real background noise. If they could just have something playing in line, I think people would be more inclined to wait.

DBF and I rode it a total of 3 times on Media day, and it's very fun if you can make up your own games to it. The first time was just to figure out how to work the car, 2nd was how many beach balls we could pick up in the time frame, 3rd was how many laps you could complete.

 

[ValpoCory]

3) My youngest is only two ... so he definitely won't make it on RSR (not sure about Mater's ride and its height requirements), BUT he can ride Luigi.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is an even more kids ride than Luigi's Flying Tires. Both have a 32" height requirement.

 

[DanT]

This is exactly what happened with the flying saucers in FL back in the early 60's.
Long to load, hard to maneuver, short ride for the wait.

There were normal sized beach balls in that ride from time to time as well. This is really a throw back ride in many ways.

That one lasted about 2 years

 

[ValpoCory]

This is exactly what happened with the flying saucers in FL back in the early 60's.
Long to load, hard to maneuver, short ride for the wait.

There were normal sized beach balls in that ride from time to time as well. This is really a throw back ride in many ways.

That one lasted about 2 years

It lasted 5 years, but yes, there is a bit of "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it" going on here.

The ride was expensive to operate, maintenance was intensive, and it did not fit the normal Disneyland "guest flow" in that a relatively small number of riders was able to participate on any given day. The Flying Saucers did not survive the transition to New Tomorrowland. When New Tomorrowland opened in 1967, the space that this ride occupied was turned into the Tomorrowland Stage.

One interesting thing is that the old ride had 2 sets of saucers to aid in the number of guests the ride could handle.

The ride consisted of two sets of saucers (approximately 14 each) on a semi-circular field and a mechanical boom that would sweep the arc of the field and corral one set of saucers in the loading area. As the boom moved, it would free the other set of saucers (with their new riders) from their loading area to roam the field while the other set was unloaded and loaded in-turn.

 

[DisneytheKid]

(And thanks for listening.)

Absolutely! Thanks for the great info!