Forthcoming roller coasters at Florida theme parks spark joy from roller coaster enthusiasts

RideMan said:

I realize it's not WDW, but just to pre-empt the "Disney would never do that" people, I have only two words that I am surprised were not on Richard's list: "Rocket Rods".

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

You know they really should do something with the old peoplemover track. Bringing back the people mover would be awesome. But that isn’t going to happen.

RideMan said:

I realize it's not WDW, but just to pre-empt the "Disney would never do that" people, I have only two words that I am surprised were not on Richard's list: "Rocket Rods".

Never heard of them – I guess that makes me a bad enthusiast!

Just found a video; I guess they can be thought of as a spiritual ancestor to Test Track/Cars/Journey to the Center of the Earth.

They were, in fact, the failed successor to the original PeopleMover.

--Dave Althoff, Jr., who never got to ride them.

Rocket Rods didn't have enough money to redo the old Peoplemover tracks, leading to a ride which consisted of acceleration, slow to a crawl around a curve and so on. If you could have banked the curves, you would have gotten a Test Track like experience with less structural and reliability issues.

Capacity was poor too, with only 5 riders per car, so the line, which started in the old Circlevision 360° theater was really long. Guests entered the building and started queuing, with videos shown on some of the screens and old ride vehicles lighted in blacklight. Guests then went underground, under the pathway of Tomorrowland, ending at the old Peoplemover tower, where guests boarded the cars.

Like Westophalopalis said, the ride went "under refurbishment" in August 2000 and while Disney never formally announced its closure, local newspapers confirmed the news in April 2001, the cars were destroyed and the Circlevision building became Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters in 2005.

This video shows the old Rocket Rods queue: https://youtu.be/3605d7YSSZY?t=231

Richard Bannister said:

bjames said:

How long can they let them sit SBNO?

Indefinitely. There are a few examples:

You forgot Lightning Rod!