Radiator Spring Racers - it's got problems

[CurlyGirlyGirl]

I don't know about breakdowns but my family felt that the windshields need to be removed from each car. We rode 5 times and each time it was dirty from the mist near the end of the ride.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thats disappointing

 

[theparsons]

Problem with this is that for the past week I don't think there's been a day where RSR opened with the park or Early Admission because it's been breaking in the morning!

Thursday (June 21) it was working at opening.....we rode it using the single rider lane but it still took 45 minutes to get through the line because the EMH folks were already in line, lol. But that 45 minutes was MUCH better than the 2+ hours that the CMs were telling people for the regular line which is the reason we took the single rider.

The ride is HEAVY in animatronics....in fact the first half of the ride is almost all about the characters and had me very disappointed as it felt like Winnie the Pooh's ride with different characters, lol.....but the second half made up for it big time. Too bad you have to go through 3 minutes of boring for 1 minute of fun.

I would imagine that this ride will continue to be popular even if it does break down regularly. Breaking down frustrates guests but doesn't seem to make them shun it when it's back up and running.

 

[theparsons]

I'm genuinely curious about this. Why would the line move any faster without the single rider option? When we waited in the SR line we were pointed to our loading area in plenty of time to board the ride along with those who had waited in the regular or fp lines.The SR line just fills seats that would remain empty otherwise. How does that make the wait longer for anyone?

Yep, that's what we experienced (Thurs June 21) as well. We were put into the boarding lane before the regular line people were even getting on so all we were doing is filling in the empty seats.....which means that we weren't in the regular line slowing it down as empty seats would have gone by.

I am fairly certain that the SR line sped things up by keeping us out of the regular line.

The CMs were on the ball about knowing how many SR they needed and getting us into the cue line quickly. I did notice they were asking the regular line for parties of 1 or 2 before they came to us (because a lot of people didn't seem to know or understand about the SR line.....it runs alongside the regular line and we often had people asking us if we were the fastpass line (which was actually in between us and the regulars but for our time in line (8 to 9am) it had almost no one.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I hope they get some of these issues worked out before mid July!

Do you need to get some sort of single rider pass from a CM before getting in line? (I've seen that for other rides. ) Or can you just get in the single rider line?

 

[aan1701]

I hope they get some of these issues worked out before mid July!

Do you need to get some sort of single rider pass from a CM before getting in line? (I've seen that for other rides. ) Or can you just get in the single rider line?

Just get in line. It is the far left hand enterance.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Just get in line. It is the far left hand enterance.

Good to know! Thanks!

 

[Minuet888]

These CMs were obviously not around for Rocket Rods. The biggest difference here is that they didn't do true soft openings for RSR with the general public. There is a big difference between running limited previews and opening for the general public.

As for maintenance costs, it will not match Rocket Rods, the problem there was that they didn't bank the curves, so there was A LOT of stop and go on the attraction. This massively increases maintenance cost, add to that the lack of popularity of the attraction with no real Disney tie-ins and it's maintenance to profibility was not a good ratio.

With how popular Cars is, even if the maintenance cost is slightly higher than Rocket Rods, it will be worth it for Disney. In addition, the kinks will get worked out and will reduce maintenance costs.

I am just saying what the cast members said I personally never even saw the rocket rods they were in and out between my visits to Disneyland back in those days.
I'm not saying RSR is a bust I quite enjoyed the ride what I am saying is they are going to have to work out the kinks and the bugs because it constantly bereaking down it a problem it pissed a lot of people off who were being quite rude to castmembers blocking them off from the entrance.
Plus if you here the horrible noise those cars make when they start and stop ick!

OP have ever been on Test Track? If you have maybe you wouldn't have cared so much about the break downs. At Test Track a lot of the breakdowns happen because of the guests taking time loading and unloading and the ride backs up. By the way that info comes right from a Test Track CM. I don't understand why you don't think they should offer single rider. It's just a seat filler. It has nothing to do with the ride going "101". Also it goes down a lot due to the fact it is new technolgy and it takes time to work it out.

I did ride test rack while in Florida in 2003 with my choir students and I rode it 3 times, never broke down when I was there.
SOunds like the same loading system for Space Mountain, in and out in a certain time or the ride breaks down.
I never said anything about the single rider line so not sure why you are after me about that.

I hope they get some of these issues worked out before mid July!

Do you need to get some sort of single rider pass from a CM before getting in line? (I've seen that for other rides. ) Or can you just get in the single rider line?

Just go on they separate parties later.

HERE was my biggest complaint if you were in line when it broke down (like one time for one and half hours they DON'T give you a front of the line or fast pass to come back like they do with other rides. a LOT of people VERY unhappy with this.
I have a GAC because of my son, they wrote a time to come back (three hours later) but fine, we did, it broke down my son is autistic and after half an hour of waiting he had a meltdown and we had to leave we got another time (ANOTHER three hours later to come back) THIS HAPPEN THREE TIMES!! I asked for a lead and everything!

 

[Rhonna]

I don't know about breakdowns but my family felt that the windshields need to be removed from each car. We rode 5 times and each time it was dirty from the mist near the end of the ride.

That reminds me - we saw the ride on TV and the cars have "eyes" on the windshields but it is meant to be see through. So does that interfere at all with seeing out the windshield or do your eyes easily ignore it?

 

[Minuet888]

That reminds me - we saw the ride on TV and the cars have "eyes" on the windshields but it is meant to be see through. So does that interfere at all with seeing out the windshield or do your eyes easily ignore it?

your eyes easily see through or ignore it, at least for me

 

[lcasa]

You all have me worried! We have APEE tomorrow - was planning on Luigi first and then to the fast pass machine for RSR.
Should we just get in line for RS?

 

[Killer Fish]

You all have me worried! We have APEE tomorrow - was planning on Luigi first and then to the fast pass machine for RSR.
Should we just get in line for RS?

Go straight to the racers....did APEE today. Got on in about 25 minutes...Although it was not loading for the first 10 we were in line. Did Single rider walk on a second time. Fastpass line does not open to 8 and it was absurd. Did not do the tires today although knocked it out at Media day preview.

I think the ride is great though I have done it 5 times now.

 

[taaren]

I'm genuinely curious about this. Why would the line move any faster without the single rider option? When we waited in the SR line we were pointed to our loading area in plenty of time to board the ride along with those who had waited in the regular or fp lines.The SR line just fills seats that would remain empty otherwise. How does that make the wait longer for anyone?

It looked like a lot of 2's and 3's were using the single rider line those first several days, and often ended up in cars together. When there was no single rider line, the CMs pulled 2's and 3's (as well as singles) from the regular/FP line and made the 6-pack groups at the bottom of the last ramp in the line (where the FP and regular lines merge). Then those lines run faster. We were a party of 5 and met a nice switchpass rider in the FP line, made our own group of 6, but observed the CM making the parties into the right number earlier and pushing the line through much more smoothly at 11p without the SR line.

People can figure out the SR line later, and it will be handy in several months to a year when the line does not regularly exceed two hours, but for now its just a hindrance.

 

[theparsons]

It looked like a lot of 2's and 3's were using the single rider line those first several days, and often ended up in cars together. When there was no single rider line, the CMs pulled 2's and 3's (as well as singles) from the regular/FP line and made the 6-pack groups at the bottom of the last ramp in the line (where the FP and regular lines merge). Then those lines run faster. We were a party of 5 and met a nice switchpass rider in the FP line, made our own group of 6, but observed the CM making the parties into the right number earlier and pushing the line through much more smoothly at 11p without the SR line.

People can figure out the SR line later, and it will be handy in several months to a year when the line does not regularly exceed two hours, but for now its just a hindrance.

We were a party of 3 and more than willing to ride singly....that's why we got in the single rider line. The seats sit 3 across and when 2 from the regular line got in they were taking one from the SR line. When they need more than 1 they often called out to the regular line for a party of 2 (or 3 occasionally) and if they didn't get it then they'd take 2 from the SR line....often it was not 2 that were 'together', just the first 2 bodies in the SR line.

I think Disney does a good job of moving people......so if they took a short break from having the SR line and then resumed it one might conclude that they felt the SR line moved people better than not having it.

 

[cats mom]

DD and I rode in the same car when we waited in the SR line, but she sat in front and I sat in back. Since we were prepared to be split up we were thrilled with that arrangement. But I don't know how thrilled we would have been had we waited 3+ hours in the stand by line. I think most people expect to be seated next to someone from their group, not behind them.

The seats the SR line generally fills are like piggyback seats at concerts. Most people will have absolutely nothing to do with them, some will take them as a last resort, but they're rarely the ideal for anyone.

CM's were calling for groups of 2 or 3 from the regular line before they pulled from the SR line, unless they were filling piggyback seats. The only time I saw anyone from the SR line assigned seats next to each other was when they couldn't find a small group in the regular line.

And the one mother I saw pitching a bit of a fit because she and her young-ish son were assigned to different cars was told politely but firmly that if you wait in the SR line, you don't get a choice, you go where you're assigned.

 

[Vexorg]

I remember when Indy opened. They had similar break-down issues, so this is nothing new.

I'm sure they'll work out the kinks in time.

Even now, breakdowns on Indy don't seem to be all that uncommon. On my last visit a few weeks ago, I ended up on a car that got to reride because of some fault in the vehicle (I couldn't determine what went wrong, but there were flashing lights on the vehicle indicating some fault.). They had us all stand aside, wait for another car, and ride again. I've also had the ride go 101 several times while I was in line too over several visits. With some of the big set pieces in the Indy ride, it's not too surprising that things might break every so often.

 

[fctiger]

Yes, RSR breaks down a lot. I think it broke down 3 times last Sunday that I was there AND it broke down on me while I was on the ride (stopped after we were chased by the mean tractor lol). BUT, it only lasted a few mins and we were off and running again thankfully.

But yes, its a new ride, HIGHLY detailed and all kinds of new, fancy effects, so its to be expected. Especially one that is being run basically 18-20 hours a day! Its being put through the ringer with its popularity and its constant running, so its understandable.

AND, sorry, but Indiana Jones has been happily breaking down nearly daily for the last 17 years now! People talk about it as if that ride is now completely running smoothly when I still think about 90% of the time I've gone to the park it breaks down at least once in the day. In FACT, it broke down on me last Monday around midnight for about 20 mins! It was suppose to be my last ride of the night, with a meager 15 min wait so 'why not'? Ended up being 40 mins, but I was soclose to riding I decided to wait, but yes, I imagine 17 years on with that ride breaking down constantly it has high maintenance bills as well. Its also one of the most popular rides in the place so no way would it ever leave even if idoes keep breaking down for nearly 2 decades.

RSR is probably the next Indy for both good and bad reasons, but it will definitely stay regardless!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Yes, RSR breaks down a lot. I think it broke down 3 times last Sunday that I was there AND it broke down on me while I was on the ride (stopped after we were chased by the mean tractor lol). BUT, it only lasted a few mins and we were off and running again thankfully.

But yes, its a new ride, HIGHLY detailed and all kinds of new, fancy effects, so its to be expected. Especially one that is being run basically 18-20 hours a day! Its being put through the ringer with its popularity and its constant running, so its understandable.

AND, sorry, but Indiana Jones has been happily breaking down nearly daily for the last 17 years now! People talk about it as if that ride is now completely running smoothly when I still think about 90% of the time I've gone to the park it breaks down at least once in the day. In FACT, it broke down on me last Monday around midnight for about 20 mins! It was suppose to be my last ride of the night, with a meager 15 min wait so 'why not'? Ended up being 40 mins, but I was soclose to riding I decided to wait, but yes, I imagine 17 years on with that ride breaking down constantly it has high maintenance bills as well. Its also one of the most popular rides in the place so no way would it ever leave even if idoes keep breaking down for nearly 2 decades.

RSR is probably the next Indy for both good and bad reasons, but it will definitely stay regardless!

I hope RSR isn't the next Indy! I've been saying they need to shut that ride down for a good long time and do a major overhaul. As of last summer, the Mara's eyes still weren't working and we always got the same "treasure". We've been stopped in line, walked off, and turned away from the ride too many times to count.

 

[DisneytheKid]

I hope RSR isn't the next Indy!

Only time will tell...

 

[Carrie in AZ]

More problems today, Monday 6/25, during EMH. Even though we are staying at GCH, I went to the main DCA gate and at 6:23, I was the first person in my turnstile line. Gates opened at 7:00 and we ran to the rope. CM told us at that time that RSR was down but we elected to walk with CMs behind their rope to the ride. We were in the line stopped right at the trash cans nearest the front of the ride...it was 7:18, about 75 people in front of us. Ride opened up at 7:40 and we were in our car at 7:45. There were HUNDREDS if not thousands of people behind us. Not sure how the rest of the day has gone for RSR because we left afterward and went to DL.

I feel lucky we were able to ride. Hopefully they will work out the kinks so that folks will no longer need to use their entire EMH hoping to experience this one attraction.