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Rocket Rods?
- Thread starter BriLee
- Start date
CaesarBoxFan
Member
Rocket Rods closed in September '00 and never reopened. The queue building is now home to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters while the empty track still exists.
A replacement is in the works along with a full facelift of Tomorrowland most likely just as soon as the California Adventure makeover is completed.
http://yesterland.com/rocketrods.html
A replacement is in the works along with a full facelift of Tomorrowland most likely just as soon as the California Adventure makeover is completed.
http://yesterland.com/rocketrods.html
Re: Rocket Rods
Hi There,
As a lifelong so. cal native whose sister was a CM at DL for many years. I have a little info on the rocket rods. The rocket rods ran on the old People Mover track. I always thought the cars looked like the Batmobile. Not only was the line VERY slow moving capicity per car was only four or five and it also required a high volume of cast members to run it. Originally it also had a 4 second wheelie at the end, which was soon taken out due to the fact that they were burning through the tires at a very fast rate. Unfortunately, the straw that broke the camels back was the fact that due to the high rate of speed of the ride the pilars that supported it from the old people mover ride were beginning to become structurally unsafe (cracks, pieces falling out..one that caused a lawsuit... which can be found in the Santa Ana Courthouse records) Hence no more rocket rods. I have heard noises that it will be reintroduced at California Adventure, but not from a reputable source.
Hope this helps,
Kim
:kiss:
Hi There,
As a lifelong so. cal native whose sister was a CM at DL for many years. I have a little info on the rocket rods. The rocket rods ran on the old People Mover track. I always thought the cars looked like the Batmobile. Not only was the line VERY slow moving capicity per car was only four or five and it also required a high volume of cast members to run it. Originally it also had a 4 second wheelie at the end, which was soon taken out due to the fact that they were burning through the tires at a very fast rate. Unfortunately, the straw that broke the camels back was the fact that due to the high rate of speed of the ride the pilars that supported it from the old people mover ride were beginning to become structurally unsafe (cracks, pieces falling out..one that caused a lawsuit... which can be found in the Santa Ana Courthouse records) Hence no more rocket rods. I have heard noises that it will be reintroduced at California Adventure, but not from a reputable source.
Hope this helps,
Kim
:kiss:
Well, as a 7 year old I was quite the fan. lol
Nicole220
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I loved Rocket Rods.
Sassagoula-Rvr
Well-Known Member
So you entered into the Buzz Lightyear queue but then emerged on the loading platform that is by the Tommorowland Terrace eating place? How did the queue get over there from Buzz???
CaesarBoxFan
Member
The Yesterland article I linked to in post #2 gave a pretty good description of what happened as you walked through the queue.
There were switchbacks going through the building, then you would walk through the old Circarama 360 theater, then some more switchbacks to the loading platform.
Sassagoula-Rvr
Well-Known Member
Yeah but that platform is in the middle of a plaza if I remember right. Did it just go underground?
CaesarBoxFan
Member
It did go underground.
From the Yesterland article:
From the Yesterland article:
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Yes, the queue dove underground into a winding tunnel under the southern patio of the Tomorrowland Terrace dancefloor and dining area.
You left the CircleVision theater queue where Magic Highways USA and old CircleVision 360 film clips played in CircleVision format, and went down two flights of stairs into a dark tunnel. The tunnel had maps of the fictional proposed extensions of the Rocket Rods system around Orange County, to John Wayne Airport, Angel Stadium, Newport Beach, etc. Then the queue rose up three flights of stairs to not only get back up to ground level, but to continue up to the raised loading platform that was originally the PeopleMover loading station. There were elevators available in the queue for those in wheelchairs.
Rocket Rods was a ridiculously stupid ride in my opinion. It only lasted two years, from May, 1998 to April, 2000, with months at a time during that period when the ride was shut down with problems. It is an attraction that is not missed, and certainly won't be showing up in DCA.
Although, Radiator Springs Racers is an advanced version of the Test Track ride system, so theoretically the offspring of the ride system is going to DCA.
Test Track was Version 1.0. Rocket Rods was Version 1.5 and a failure. Journey To The Center Of The Earth was 2.0 of that ride system, and Radiator Springs Racers is Version 3.0 of the original Test Track ride system.
What are the odds that the two people in the world who didn't think the Rocket Rods were stupid both happen to post here at WDWMagic.com? :lol:
Rocket Rods was at it's best when it was not running. :lol:
Nope - the opposite. Cynthia Harris refused the less-than-$10m WDI wanted to bank the turns. Instead they were kept Peoplemover-flat and the Rods had to slow down and speed up again - causing stress on the track and the vehicles themselves (quite a few actually snapped a chassis or two)
SirGoofy
Member
Management refusing to fund attractions!? Preposterous. :lookaroun
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
One of the small handfull of attractions that I hate I missed out on at Disneyland. From the videos I've seen, I would have absolutely loved the queue, theme, and music from this attraction. Personally I also think the ride would have been a lot of fun as well. I really hate I missed out on this one, but hopefully they will find a way to use the track in the future.
CThaddeus
New Member
It was everything I hope the future won't be - loud, problematic, and not the least bit entertaining. Okay, well, the queue was slightly entertaining, but that was only because they used clips from Wonderful World of Disney episodes like Magic Highway USA, and had cars and blueprints from various ex-Tomorrowland attractions scattered around. I was also not too keen on it because they killed off two great attractions - Circle-Vision and Peoplemover - for one poorly designed one.
It's coming up on ten years now and they have yet to do something with that track. My hope is that it will eventually be rebuilt as a 21st century Peoplemover and not another cheesy attempt at a thrill ride, but you never know.
I, too, will agree it belongs in Disney's top 5 worst attractions, though Rockin' Space Mountain would be hard to beat.
It's coming up on ten years now and they have yet to do something with that track. My hope is that it will eventually be rebuilt as a 21st century Peoplemover and not another cheesy attempt at a thrill ride, but you never know.
I, too, will agree it belongs in Disney's top 5 worst attractions, though Rockin' Space Mountain would be hard to beat.
I can understand the disappointment associated with never having gotten to experience an attraction, regardless of the bad reviews. But trust me when I tell you, Rocket Rods was a pretty pathetic one. It was really a joke. The queue, however, was pretty cool...almost an attraction in and of itself.