- [Narrator] This video is a request
from YouTube user, Bunnygal.
Epilepsy warning for flashing lights and colors.
Rocket Rods at California's Disneyland.
This attempt at turning a slow moving transportation system
into a thrill ride was one of the worst mistakes ever made
by the park.
Its engineering failures and the way it wrecked one
of the park's most beloved attractions can easily qualify
as the worst thrill ride ever.
But what made this attraction so terrible?
Let's find out today right here on "Theme Park Crazy".
(upbeat music)
The story of this attraction starts all the way back
at the 1964 World's Fair.
Not only did future Disney theme park attractions
like the Carousel of Progress
and It's a Small World make their debuts,
but another attraction named The Magic Skyway
was in operation.
Though Walt Disney himself didn't oversee this project,
it was worked on by his imagineers.
This slow moving ride had guests traverse an elevated track
that went over park paths and through dioramas.
The ride was sponsored by auto company, Ford,
hence the actual Ford cars used on the ride.
Though the ride was scrapped at the end of the fair,
Walt was heavily inspired by the Skyway.
He felt that the concept had great potential
as a futuristic transportation system.
As such, he decided to bring the experience to Disneyland.
With the Tomorrowland section
undergoing a sizable renovation,
he figured this would be a perfect addition to it.
Ford declined to sponsor the ride again
as they didn't wanna support something
that could theoretically replace their automobiles.
Nevertheless, the proposed Skyway
would soon begin development in California.
Walt sadly wouldn't live to see this ride open,
but his imagineers still worked tirelessly
to get the new attraction built.
On July 2nd, 1967,
the PeopleMover made its triumphant debut to the public.
Rather than four vehicles,
the PeopleMover used covered trains
that could seat up to 16 people at a time.
At Disneyland, the course took guests
on a scenic ride over the walkways.
It also went through a number of gift shops
and ride buildings.
The attraction was an instant success
with park guests praising the relaxing ride experience
and the scenic views it gave.
One important thing to note
about this ride was the way it worked.
Despite what one might think,
there were no engines on board the trains.
Instead, the track itself powered the ride
with sets of electrically powered drive tires set up
underneath the cars.
The track was held up by a concrete support structure
which ran all across Tomorrowland.
The structure was even installed
in the infrastructure of several buildings.
The trains themselves traveled at a top speed
of seven miles per hour
with a total ride length of 16 minutes.
Though it certainly wasn't meant to be a thrill ride,
it was still a solid transportation ride
that was a perfect fit in Tomorrowland.
Still though, there was an attempt
to make the ride more thrilling in the '70s.
In 1977, the park introduced the super speed tunnel
to the ride.
What the park did
was take one of the ride's existing tunnels
and project race cars on the walls.
This gave guests the illusion that they were speeding up
while they still remained at the same speed.
Despite the ride's success,
Tomorrowland soon faced an issue.
The land's vision of the future
from the 1960's inevitably became dated.
As for the PeopleMover,
imagineers felt that the ride was too old
and no longer served its purpose
as a prototype transportation system.
Reportedly, it was expensive to operate as well
especially since the track was exposed to the elements.
The issue of cost was especially relevant
ever since the initial financial failure of Euro Disneyland.
Since then, Disney was looking to cut costs
wherever they could.
To help do this, Disney CEO at the time,
Michael Eisner appointed Paul Pressler
as the Head Executive of Disneyland in 1994.
Pressler's background in merchandising
meant he was experienced with cost cutting measures.
However, park fans look back
on his run negatively saying he relied too heavily
on cheap attractions
that weren't up to Walt Disney's standards.
One could easily argue
that he made Bob Chapek look like Jeff Bezos maybe.
Several classic attractions were deemed too expensive
and shut down,
and costly projects
that were still in development were shelved as well.
The PeopleMover with its seemingly outdated nature
and high operational costs
would end up closing for good in 1995.
As for canned upcoming projects,
one of them was a large refurbishment
of Tomorrowland named Tomorrowland 2055.
Based on the concept art,
many have suggested it would've breathed new life
into the dated area.
Though the project was canceled for budget concerns,
Disney still wanted to refurbish Tomorrowland,
but at a much lower cost.
Instead of a complete makeover,
the renovations to Tomorrowland
were planned to be much less drastic,
but still there was an all new a-list attraction planned.
According to Park Vault,
this bright concept originally
got its start at Tokyo Disneyland.
The Oriental Land Company who operates the park
once planned their own refurbishment of their Tomorrowland.
The proposed makeover
would feature a thrill ride named Rocket Bikes.
This attraction would seat passengers on high speed bikes,
and much like the PeopleMover,
the course would be built over the walkways.
However, the Oriental Land Company nicks this refurbishment
in favor of allocating the funds
to the upcoming Tokyo Disney Sea.
Eventually, this concept made its way
to Disneyland officials in California.
In an effort to bring a new attraction
to the park at a lower cost, the concept was retooled
to reuse the old PeopleMover's track,
serving as a more thrilling replacement
for the defunct ride.
Instead of motorbikes,
the vehicles would resemble futuristic hot rods.
And instead of Rocket Bikes,
the ride's name would be changed to Rocket Rods.
On paper, it seemed like a promising addition
to the park that would draw in thrill seekers
and save money.
Despite the promises of cost reduction though,
Disney still sought a sponsor to help fund the attraction.
At first, Disney sought help
from automobile manufacturer, General Motors
or GM for short.
However, GM was frustrated with the construction delays
of Epcot's test track, which they already agreed to sponsor.
For this reason, they turned down the sponsorship
for Rocket Rods,
which was a huge blow to the ride's funding.
In total, Disney spent around 25 million dollars
on the new attraction.
Keep that in mind for later.
Despite the setback,
Disney carried on with the rides development and testing.
After months of planning and construction,
the new Tomorrowland would open in 1998.
But instead of a refreshing renovation,
the park essentially gave the land a bronze color scheme.
There were some interesting aesthetics added here and there,
but it was a fraction of what was originally planned.
And for Space Mountain,
it didn't look so good.
On the bright side,
Rocket Rods would open on time with the new land.
Unfortunately, dark times were ahead
for this new attraction.
The ride experience went as followed.
After a pre-show about the history of transportation,
guests boarded the Rocket Rods.
Gone were the 16 person trains of the PeopleMover
and in their place were a set
of five person cars resembling sci-fi dragsters.
These featured rubber tires that ran on top of the track
as well as a separate set of wheels underneath
that attached to a single middle rail.
Onboard each vehicle was an electric motor system
which interacted with bus bars on the track
to power the vehicles at varying speeds.
The rides top speed was over four times faster
As a result of this change, the ride's duration also went
from 16 minutes to just around three.
Shortly after boarding,
the vehicles approached the straight section
where they would be launched forwards at top speed.
While this did seem fun at first, the fun was short-lived
as the vehicle speed suddenly slowed down before the turn,
and here was the first big problem with this ride.
While the original PeopleMover track was changed
to accommodate a high speed ride,
the layout's turns were not.
For context, roller coasters required bank turns
during high speed moments.
This reduces uncomfortable lateral forces
and allows for less strain on the track.
Anyone who's played rollercoaster tycoon knows this.
However, the turns on Rocket Rods were not banked.
Instead, the cars were slowed down before each turn
which absolutely killed the pacing.
Essentially, Rocket Rods was the equivalent
of Fruit Stripe gum,
an initial burst of fun before becoming a buzzkill.
Disney did plan to bank the turns at first,
but the loss of GM as a sponsor forced them
to further cut costs.
Aside from the speed changes,
the course stayed the same as the PeopleMover.
However, because of the higher speeds,
guests were no longer able to appreciate the scenic views
of the shops and ride buildings.
Thrill rides are cool, but this makeover decimated one
of the best things about riding the PeopleMover.
Sometimes it's nice to just sit back
and take in the views,
like there's no need
to make Living with the Land a high speed rapids ride,
it's great the way it is.
Still though, many praised the ride
for adding some high speed flavor to the old attraction.
Many looked back on this ride fondly.
Even with its buzzkill turns,
this ride was still fast-paced enough
to get some enjoyment out of.
And for some,
this was their first time riding a thrill ride.
The term worst thrill ride ever
may seem like an unfair assessment
based on how many people loved it,
but the label has less to do with the ride experience
and more to do with the fact
that it was an engineering and operational disaster.
In terms of functionality, reliability, and design,
this ride absolutely sucked.
Regardless of how guests felt
about the vehicle slowing down for each turn,
the change in speed
was a huge maintenance issue nonetheless.
The constant speeding up and slowing down
of the ride vehicles put considerable wear and tear
on both the rubber tires and the onboard motors.
Moreover, the ride's computer system was finicky.
Oftentimes, it would assume the vehicles
weren't where they were supposed to be
and shut down the ride.
This sometimes forced gets to evacuate
by walking along the track.
The trains themselves presented other issues as well.
Since they could only seat five people at a time,
the rides suffer from low capacity.
This led to excessive wait times
of up to two or three hours,
resulting in frustrated guests and disappointment
that the ride wasn't worth the wait.
Capacity was the least of the vehicle's issues though.
The biggest problem
with them was by far their weight.
Despite only seating five people compared
to the PeopleMover's 16,
the vehicles on Rocket Rods were much heavier.
The PeopleMover's concrete structure
wasn't meant to carry such heavy vehicles,
let alone ones that went over four times faster
than the original trains.
The weight of the vehicles
as well as their constant speed changes
caused the ride's supports to be structurally compromised.
It got so bad that chunks of concrete reportedly fell
from the supports.
There was also a rumor and incident involving a piece
of the breaking system breaking off from the ride
and being flung across a walkway.
Though it's unknown if that was related
to the vehicle's weight,
these vehicles were literally destroying
the ride's infrastructure.
It's obvious that the engineering
of this attraction was poorly planned
and the budget cuts played a huge part in its failure.
Considering all of these issues,
it's no wonder why this ride closed in just two years.
In the year 2000, Disney announced
that the ride would be closed for refurbishment until 2001.
However, once the full extent
of the structural damage was brought to light,
the decision was made to cancel the refurbishment
and never reopen Rocket Rods.
And the worst part was that due to the damage
to the ride structure,
Disneyland was unable to bring back the classic PeopleMover.
Because the ride's path went around Tomorrowland
and was built into the infrastructure of several buildings,
repairing the track would be costly, time consuming
and forced Disney to shut down a good majority
of Tomorrowland to do so.
Plus, they would still have to build it up to code
with today's safety standards.
Simply put, the only way to repair the track
and bring back the PeopleMover
would be to completely redo it from scratch.
To this day, the track remains abandoned at Disneyland,
serving as a reminder
of one of the park's biggest mistakes ever.
In the end,
Disneyland ended up decimating a classic attraction
to build a 25 million thrill ride
that only operated for two years before being abandoned.
For context, 25 million is the same cost
as the world's tallest operating rollercoaster,
Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great adventure.
Imagine if Six Flags built that ride
only for it to close two years later
and sit abandon to this day.
Though those who grew up
with Rocket Rods remember it fondly,
fans of the PeopleMover loathe it
for what it did to the classic ride.
Overall, it was a huge waste of time,
a huge waste of money, and a huge failure.
But the worst part
is that this wouldn't be the only time a ride refurbishment
at Disneyland went wrong.
Be sure to stay tuned later this month for that story.
Now it's time for the comment Shout out program.
This is where I take five random comments
from my previous video and read them out.
These comments are from my video
on the worst coaster makeovers.
Kanas83 says, "It's a shame RMC didn't exist yet
"to fix Son of Beast."
Niels Hazeborg says,
"Oh, what could have been.
"El Condoror at Walibi was going to get KumbaK trains
"like T3, the other prototype SLC,
"but the park waited it out
"and now they've got
"much better new Vekoma vest trains instead.
"So now El Condor is saved for the foreseeable future,
"while if they had gone for the KumbaK trains,
"it might have been gone.
"Gee, thanks Vekoma."
Coltonandgen says, "15:11, honestly,
"the fact you included Celestia
"as a Vyond cameo makes me wanna subscribe
"to you like seven more times now."
Thank you, Colton.
Korynith says, "When Nighthawk at Carowinds first opened,
"it was called the BORG Assimilator
"and was surprise, themed after the Borg from 'Star Trek'.
"I know it was a licensing thing that forced the change,
"but I really missed the original Borg theme."
And Crossfire Detroit says,
"Background song keeps making me think
"of 'Indica Badu' by Logic."
If you wanna see your words in my next video,
leave a comment down below and it may be selected.
Please note though that inflammatory
or spam comments will not be read.
Thank you all so much.
And if you wanna support me on Patreon,
you can do so once again at the link in the description.
Thanks for watching, everyone.
Feel free to like, share and subscribe.
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you can check out the links I put in the description.
This is "Theme Park Crazy", and I'll see you all next time.
(upbeat music)