fbpx
Recent
https://www.disneydining.com
Menu
Home » Business

Two of Disney World’s Most Popular Rides Broke Down More Than 900 Times Last Year

Posted by: Becky Burkett January 9, 2023

cinderella castle

Last year, two fan-favorite rides left Guests angry and frustrated as they broke down nearly 1,000 times when combined.

Disney fans love visits to the parks, and diehard fans still get excited every time they plan a new visit to Disney World or Disneyland. They are also able and very willing to reel off a list of their favorite attractions and experiences at each theme park, and if you give them enough time, they’ll even tell you about the frustrations they experience when visiting the parks.

RELATED: Disney World Issues New Warning, Consequences for ANYONE Planning to Visit the Parks

sleeping beauty castle and cinderella castle

Currently, there are over 50 rides across the four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort. And when you add the parks’ other offerings, such as live entertainment, stage shows (live and animatronic), and other attractions, the total number of diversions offered by Disney World is more than 100.

And with that many attractions available to Guests 365 days per year, shutdowns, breakdowns, and other delays are to be expected. It’s just that most Guests expect those breakdowns to take place before or after they visit the parks–let it happen during someone else’s vacation. But interruptions in the operation of rides simply cannot be predicted when they’re related to mechanical issues, electrical issues, or other malfunctions.

RELATED: Disney World Unveils New Way of Handling Ride Breakdowns, and Guests Are Going to Be Livid

mickey and minnie's runaway railway

Credit: Becky Burkett

Such is the case at each of Disney World’s four theme parks, but last year, one park won the non-coveted “Park with Most Infuriating Ride Breakdowns” Award. Congratulations to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, at which two of the most popular rides at Disney World are also the ones that broke down more than any others–Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

RELATED: Disney World Announces Spring 2023 Opening of New Restaurant at Hollywood Studios

In 2022, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was down for the count more than 330 times. That’s almost every single day of the year, when averaged over 365 days. Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge reportedly failed to operate at least once on more than 300 days in 2022, and in all, the uber high-tech attraction that features way too many animatronic Kylo Rens broke down 580 times.

disney world rise of the resistance

Credit: Becky Burkett

The number of breakdowns alone is astronomical, but when you consider that Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance are the two most recently added attractions at Hollywood Studios, a recipe for disaster begins to take shape. Not only do the breakdowns cause long lines of Guests hoping to experience the attractions, but the “newness” of the rides often means longer lines in the queues, even without breakdowns.
Breakdowns + long lines + tired, cranky, sweaty Guests = a very unmagical experience, indeed.
mickey and minnie's runaway railway

Credit: Becky Burkett

It’s no wonder breakdowns like these–as well as they frequency with which they happen–cause Guests to become impatient, stressed, frustrated, and sometimes, even downright enraged.

About Becky Burkett

Becky's from the Lone Star State and has been writing since she was 10 and encountered her first Disney Park when she was 11. It was love at first Main Street Electrical Parade. Joy is blank lined journals, 0.7 mm pens, and all things Walt, Woody and Buzz, PIXAR, Imagineering, Sleeping Beauty (make it blue!), Disney Parks history and EPCOT. At Disney World, you'll find her croonin' with the birdies at the Enchanted Tiki Room or hangin' with Woody and the gang at Toy Story Land. If you can dream, you really can do it!