Originally Posted By Anacon Does anyone know what the soundtrack was like when this ride first opened. How did it compare with Disneyland's Peoplemover soundtrack? Did it have the same carefree 60's "modern" music?
Originally Posted By Mouskateer It may have been the Go Go Goodyear Theme I'm not 100% sure though....
Originally Posted By brotherdave I don't think it ever had the "Go, Go, Goodyear" theme since it was never sponsored by Goodyear. From what I remember, there was never any music really used on the ride itself. The speakers (which are mounted in speakers in the ceiling above the cars where the sound 'travels' at the same speed of the cars) were only pretty much used for narration only. Occasionally, some music could be heard from inside the attractions (Space Mountain, If You Had Wings), but, I don't think there was any music that played JUST for the Peoplemover. There was, however, very 1960s like 'futuristic' easy listening music heard throughout Tomorrowland then, some of which could be heard while traveling on the Peoplemover.
Originally Posted By Mouskateer It was sponsored by Goodyear and many many more.. I did a little research and found this great info site on the Peoplemover... Enjoy! <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeopleMover" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P eopleMover</a>
Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney ^^^Yes. Something called the Edison Electric Institute or something similar sponsored at WDW.
Originally Posted By Anacon Thanks for the research Mouskateer. That link describe's Disneyland's Peoplemover, but there was a link to the Magic Kingdom's version. Some good info I was looking for.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Thanks for that link, Mouskateer! But as Labuda stated, Goodyear only sponsored the Disneyland Peoplemover (since Goodyear tires were used on propulsion units througout the ride). The WDW version uses linear induction motors and was originally sponsored by Edison Electric.
Originally Posted By smctopia The script is posted on my page: <a href="http://www.waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id219.htm" target="_blank">http://www.waltdatedworld.brav epages.com/id219.htm</a> Visit Walt Dated World
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Why did the Rocket Rods close so quickly? We rode them the first time Tomorrowland was refurbed and then the next time we went to DL they were gone! Why?
Originally Posted By Labuda The vehicles were apparently heck on the tracks. Not good for them at all - the WEDWay tracks just aren't meant for high-speed vehicles.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros GM was originally going to sponsor the Rocket Rods, but pulled out at the last minute. They had been planning on basically rebuilding the entire track, but with the same layout, so they could bank the turns. When GM pulled out, the funding for the banked turns was gone, so the cars had to constantly be changing speeds to get any hope of high speed. Originally, there was trouble with the ammount of rubber being worn off of the tires and collecting on the tracks. After that, the cars began to break down, one by one. They had sever damage to the drive trains, and a couple of them even just fell out of the cars. The vibrations in the tracks from the high speeds during the indoor sections also started to cause stress fractures in the buildings. So, there was really no one reason for the Rocket Rods closing, other than that they were doomed by budget.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj Not to mention the recently adopted California regulations on amusement park rides. Rocket Rods suffered a large number of breakdowns during its short time in operation. According to the California regulations, any unplanned stop in a ride's operations is required to be formally reported to the state as a "safety incident." Rocket Rods accumulated an enormous number of these safety incidents, and even though none of the breakdowns were related to safety, Disney couldn't justify operating an attraction that could possibly be a liability if there ever were an actual mishap. The mountain of reports made to the state for all of the downtime would have been a lawyer's dream, and the reporting requirements made the ride look like it had a bad "safety record."
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> They had been planning on basically rebuilding the entire track, but with the same layout, so they could bank the turns << I laud this idea, trying to use an existing installation for a new attraction. But I worry that this would have been doomed from the get-go even if turns were banked. The original track was not built to handle the loads and shear stresses that banked turns would have added. The whole track would have had to be built up and isolated to handle the additional loads. An extremely difficult thing to do, considering how the track wound in and out of many small corridors in buildings. Test Track at Epcot -- the major curved portion of the track that goes around the front side of the original World of Motion building is not attached to the building itself. The track is entirely stand alone, outside the building.
