Which Disney Rides Broke Down the Most in 2023?
With 2023 officially in the books, we can take a look back at a fascinating year at Disney theme parks.
While headlines frequently suggested that park attendance proved sluggish, you could rarely tell so from the crowds.
Not coincidentally, the sheer volume of park guests led to frequent outages on Disney attractions.
Here are the Disney rides that broke down the most in 2023.
10. TriceraTop Spin
When we discuss theme park attractions, some aspects may surprise you.
For example, some of the simplest attractions by nature prove challenging to maintain.
Any programmer will tell you that the maintenance phase is when the product can fall into disrepair.
That same premise applies to all mechanical devices. Importantly, Disney also prioritizes safety.
We learned this during the shocking events of 2023 when Fury 325 at Carowinds narrowly avoided disaster.
Not all theme parks have proven as diligent about safety as Disney.
Our favorite theme park’s protocols automatically shut down a ride that is operating at less than 99 percent efficiency.
Surprisingly, TriceraTop Spin falls victim to these parameters fairly regularly.
The attraction shuts down several times a month, and we’re all glad for that. It’s among the most family-friendly rides at the park.
Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom skews toward the younger crowd, safety precautions are paramount.
This statement will explain the presence of another attraction we’ll discuss in a minute.
9. Tron Lightcycle / Run
Obviously, nobody quite knows how an attraction will operate at the start.
Sure, Tron Lightcycle Power Run has been up and running at Shanghai Disneyland since 2016.
However, every installation site works differently.
Disney didn’t have open space when it built this roller coaster at Magic Kingdom.
Instead, Imagineers had to squeeze it in. So, Disney officials held their breath during the ride’s first year.
Thankfully, Tron Lightcycle / Run has mostly run smoothly, all things considered.
Still, we’ve had a few understandable hiccups as everyone learns how to maintain such a complex roller coaster design.
Thus far, the biggest issues have come from the ride cart design itself. Disney forgot that Americans are societally larger.
8. Peter Pan’s Flight
Like TriceraTop Spin, Peter Pan’s Flight makes a return appearance from last year’s list.
In 2023, we have six of the same entries as last year, alongside four new ones. Tron was obviously the first of those.
As I mentioned last year, Peter Pan’s Flight presents the most challenges when it does suffer a breakdown.
Since the ride occurs well above ground, an evacuation becomes a process.
Here’s the link I used last year to help you visualize what an ordeal this is:
To a larger point, you need a lot of ladders to repair this ride.
7. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Here’s another family-friendly attraction that experienced lots of shutdowns in 2023.
The Winnie the Pooh dark ride covers a lot of territory in a short timeframe. So, a lot can go wrong here.
However, that statement only partially explains its presence here.
For whatever reason – and I’m not privy to the details – this ride suffered extensive downtime during a couple of months in 2023.
I don’t know precisely what challenges cast members were facing and won’t even speculate.
What I can say empirically is that Winnie the Pooh tore up more last year than I’ve tracked since before the pandemic.
6. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Last year’s list only included nine entries. However, I mentioned that Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway finished tenth.
The reality is that trackless ride technology comes with more hurdles than regular tracks.
For those of you unfamiliar with trackless tech, it’s how your Runaway Railway ride cart can move seemingly anywhere.
Hidden sensors in the ground direct the ride cart on where to move within the set.
Obviously, there’s a lot that can go wrong here, and automatic shutdowns occur when a cart goes out of bounds.
So, the downtime on trackless rides will typically be more frequent than for conventional theme park attractions.
5. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Here’s another holdover from last year. Once again, the answer lies in the technology.
If you didn’t already know, you’ve probably guessed that the Ratatouille ride employs trackless technology.
So, plenty can go wrong here, and we’ve experienced this one firsthand.
When the lights go on at Ratatouille, you realize that the rooms are kinda empty little boxes. It’s surreal.
4. Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover
You can probably guess the top four, all of which appeared on last year’s list and are consistent mainstays.
The PeopleMover, quite possibly my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, shuts down frequently.
This ride’s path covers so many different areas, and so many different PeopleMovers operate in simultaneous motion.
Plenty can go wrong here, and it often does.
Out of everything on this list, I suspect that the PeopleMover is the one where most of you have experienced a delay.
3. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Meanwhile, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster just struggled through its roughest year that I’ve ever tracked.
Not coincidentally, Disney recently closed this coaster.
Even more alarmingly, the ride apparently won’t return until the summer.
That’s a strong indication that either RnR is in serious need of repairs and renovations or Disney is re-theming it.
2. Test Track
Two of this year’s top three remain the same from 2022.
Test Track moves up to second place in 2023 because last year’s second-most problematic ride, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, had a good year.
Based on what I tracked, the Magic Kingdom carousel wasn’t one of the 12 most frequently closed attractions.
Meanwhile, Test Track’s 2023 mirrored the previous year. This attraction is simply difficult to maintain.
Not coincidentally, Disney announced at Destination D23 that it will create a new version of Test Track.
I strongly suspect that Disney wants the downtime to see if it can make Test Track 3.0 easier to keep online.
This area of EPCOT relies on a functional Test Track for proper traffic flow.
1. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Finally, we have the attraction that you knew would win.
You were confident because it has happened every year since Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance opened.
The genius of this attraction is also what causes its problems.
Disney aimed high with Rise of the Resistance, combining theme park technology from several different existing rides.
That’s a lot of different moving parts, each of which comes with a failure rate.
So, while each one might fail one time out of every million uses, if you have thousands of those parts, it adds up.
Eventually, the law of averages takes hold, causing Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to break down an average of once a day.
This ride is arguably the best ever built, but it takes a lot to keep up and running.
That’s the overriding theme of this entire list. Just look at how many attractions Disney theme parks keep online!
Obviously, stuff will happen, but the challenge itself highlights the accomplishment of how much Disney offers on a daily basis.
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