Originally Posted By barboy or boo me off stage but I really, really miss the Rocket Rods---it was probably my favorite attraction at DL back in '99. I know I am an extreme minority(I'll bet that I just might be the only one on here)but I loved that ride--- especially at night. I know that RR was: A)the heavy weight champion of theme park attraction break downs which has left countless guests pissed/disappointed. RR made Test Track look reliable. B)the Beast many guests resented for taking the place of their beloved and out of commission People Mover. C)critically labeled half-baked, pointless, stupid, silly and unimaginative etc. D)costing the company truckloads of money to maintain. but I thought that it looked and sounded so cool and found it exhilarating to ride--- just pure fun. Any other kooks out there besides me or am I the lone lunatic who gave that ride a huge thumbs up?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I also miss it, but because I never got a chance to ride it. I was there in summer of 98, just as Tomorrowland was kicking it into high gear. All day, my brother had bee annoying my dad with random things. At one point, my dad got so upset that he made my brother wait outside while the rest of us got to go see the brand new exciting Innoventions (talk about irony!). Anyway, we knew that RR would have a rediculously long wait, so we planned on getting in line just before closing. Well, we did that, and by the time we got to the area that leads back toward the Ariel meet and greet, my brother did something else to piss my dad off. Instead of making my brother sit another one out, we made the executive decision that we were all going to leave the park. By that time, the park had officially closed (it had been all of 2 minutes since we got in line), so there was no way to get back in line again. The next time we were in the park, probably about a year later, the ride was already gone. So, yes, I miss it, but because I never really got to see it in its fullest. While it was noisy, the noise definatley added a certain air of excitement to all of Tomorrowland for that little while that it was there.
Originally Posted By k_peek_2000 Can we pelt you with rocks? I kid I kid, I never had the chance to experiance Rocket Rods, I did however have the chance to ride the People mover when I was a kid and It was my favorite ride in the whole park.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Hi lune! ;~) I'm kidding. Heck ... I thought when it popped a wheelie when it accelerated was kind of cool. I always made sure I had the front seat for that little pleasure. I think that feature was VERY short lived. Like maybe through the end of '98! I also thought that blast of air through the circle-building was like - "What was that???!!!"
Originally Posted By Spokker I'm glad you have passion for something you love but it was the worst ride Disney ever built, hands down.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Worse than Superstar Limo? Worse than the Phantom Boats? Worse than Journey into Your Imagination (2nd version, which I personally loved)? Disney's definately built many clunkers over the past few decades. And then there are all the non-ride attractions that really make a lot of the bad rides look amazing...
Originally Posted By Mr X No way was it the WORST Disney ride every built, never mind "hands down" (unless you mean worst constructed, there you'd have a point!). I had my chance to ride it...it was fun. Not great, but not terrible either. It was kind of fun zipping around Tomorrowland although I wish it didn't slow down every time it took a corner (a banked track would've been so much better!).
Originally Posted By jdub I LOVED the Rocket Rods. WOW--and YES, REALLY! Fast, fun, inside & outside, great views, popping wheelies... I was lucky enough to have taken the ride several times over a few visits, and yes--I miss it, too!
Originally Posted By Spokker "Worse than Superstar Limo? Worse than the Phantom Boats? Worse than Journey into Your Imagination (2nd version, which I personally loved)?" Yes, it is worse than all of those, considering the Rocket Rods replaced The People Mover.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I really don't take past attractions on the same site when I'm ranking how much I like an attraction. I was pretty fond of the Bambi section of the old parking lot, but I can honestly say that (even as bad as it was) Superstar Limo was probably better than that. Things will come and things will go. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if at some point down the road (many many many years from now) all the big E Tickets that we have now won't be there, or at least in a way that we would recognize them. Change happens. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes not. For me, there's really not too much of a point in trying to rank attractions of present against what was once there. There was a reason that they were taken out and replaced: they weren't living up to their potential. "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." -Walt Disney
Originally Posted By Spokker "I really don't take past attractions on the same site when I'm ranking how much I like an attraction. I was pretty fond of the Bambi section of the old parking lot, but I can honestly say that (even as bad as it was) Superstar Limo was probably better than that." The parking lot was a lot more magical than all of DCA.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Yes, it is worse than all of those, considering the Rocket Rods replaced The People Mover.*** I personally like the peoplemover, but the simple fact is it wasn't very popular anymore. Look at Florida, it's a walk-on almost always. Rocket Rods, on the other hand, was plenty popular. It just wasn't well built, I guess. Or else too expensive to maintain.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Part of properly engineering something is making it affordable. So, basically, it wasn't well built for the task it had to accomplish. (Along with a series of other problems that it had)
Originally Posted By Spokker "Look at Florida, it's a walk-on almost always." The People Mover was designed to be a walk on.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt I liked Rocket Rods. It's too bad it wasn't developed properly. The technology that was behind it was pretty neat.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "The parking lot was a lot more magical than all of DCA." Oh brother.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***"Look at Florida, it's a walk-on almost always." The People Mover was designed to be a walk on.*** What a stupid thing to say. If that were true, they wouldn't have built those QUEUE LINES up top now, would they? Nor would they have rope lines down below. It USED to be much more busy than it is now. Duh. Boy, you're really getting off to a great start here on LP, eh buddy...calling OTHERS "know it alls"? That's rich.
Originally Posted By Spokker No doubt that on busy days the People Mover would have a line, and it did on occasion. But the point of the technology was to never have to wait for the next vehicle, that one was always ready to go. People Mover had great capacity and it's hard to say that it was unpopular because there was never a line for it. That track was not meant for an E Ticket. It was a great place to relax your feet, take in the sights of Tomorrowland, and most importantly, slow down.
Originally Posted By Spokker Pirates is a walk on most of the night even with the new additions. Would you say it's unpopular as well? Pirates has an overflow queue as well, but it's rarely used on all but the most crowded days.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Going by the logic that the PeopleMover wasn't nessecarily unpopular because of it's amazing capacity works both ways here. The Rocket Rods had a miserable hourly throughput. So, going by your logic, that doesn't mean that they were popular, they just couldn't handle the crowds they got because of poor designing. It works both ways.
