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View Full Version : Rocket Rods gone?



ruthjohn
03-25-2002, 06:38 PM
I was reading another thread that said the rocket rods are gone?
Why? I loved them!

Ghoulish Delight
03-25-2002, 07:33 PM
The Rocket Rods have been gone for about a year and half now. The reasons they are gone are as follows:

1) First and formost, they were a technical disaster. Because the turns are not banked, the ride controls had to perform intricate acceleration and deceleration to deal with the sharp turns. This was prone to massive failure. The ride was constantly down. Plus, since the vehicles were actually propelled by those huge, rubber racing slicks, it was very rain sensitive. The second a drop hit the track, the computer would kick into 'rain mode' (i.e. slower). Unfortunately, more often than not, 'rain mode' mean 'stopped.' Bad bad programming. I expect a lot of IT people got fired over RR

2) You seem to be in the minority. With uneven acceleration, generally slow speeds, and less than impressive light effects (that only worked half the time), the general public opinion of the ride was terribly negative.

Uncle Dick
03-25-2002, 07:51 PM
Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
2) You seem to be in the minority. With uneven acceleration, generally slow speeds, and less than impressive light effects (that only worked half the time), the general public opinion of the ride was terribly negative.
I loved the Rocket Rods, too, and I think a whole lot of other people did as well. There were a few problems with it though which may have tainted people's perceptions. 1) A really, really long line. 2) The great ride it replaced. 3)The overall lukewarm reception of the New Tomorrowland. Taken for what they were, the Rocket Rods were pretty fun. I don't know what you mean about "slow speeds". The Rocket Rods were the fastest ride in Disneyland Park.

Brown Monkey
03-25-2002, 08:57 PM
I loved the Rocket Rods, too. And so did everyone I know. Why else do you think the line was always long? I loved how the wind would blast in your face. And how it would slow down and speed up. You never knew what to expect. It was fun for what it was. And I was sad to see it go.

Nigel2
03-25-2002, 09:42 PM
Well one reason was that it was still considered big and new when it was near death so many wanted to see it. Also since they didn't open the lines until arround noon a crowd would build up. Oh and sometimes they would only use a small part of the CV room so that would also account for a long line as well. I too loved the ride as well (was there opening day) :) and it was neat to see the construction for the 2nd floor of innoventions as well but what on earth were the strobes (lightning effect?) and the wind blast for?:D

zapppop
03-25-2002, 09:43 PM
I'm hoping now that they're gone, maybe the PeopleMover will return.

Nigel2
03-25-2002, 09:48 PM
Speaking of that ride BTW, I wonder whatever happend to the return of CV?

Tigertail777
03-26-2002, 12:05 AM
Alas I never got to see the Rocket Rods, so I have no idea what the ride was like. Can someone describe what it was like and what you saw for me? I'm dying to know because although I did hear bad things about it, I have also heard almost equally as much good as opposed to "superstar Limo" , which all but a handful of people have said they hated.

Uncle Dick
03-26-2002, 12:16 AM
Originally posted by Tigertail777
Alas I never got to see the Rocket Rods, so I have no idea what the ride was like. Can someone describe what it was like and what you saw for me? I'm dying to know because although I did hear bad things about it, I have also heard almost equally as much good as opposed to "superstar Limo" , which all but a handful of people have said they hated.
Well, let's see here. I'll assume you rode the PeopleMover at one time or another so you know the track layout the ride followed. You started out at a stoplight type thing and immediately accelerated down the track. But as soon as you reached the turn into the Star Tours building, the rocket slowed down considerably. In the building housing Star Tours/The Star Trader, there was one short area with a bunch of lights on the ceiling and another where you accelerated towards a mirror before turning to the right. The rest of the ride out over the Autopia was more acceleration/deceleration until you reached the old CircleVision building. The ride accelerated a final time into the building and a burst of air from the ceiling added a little excitement.

That's about it. The ride was pretty fun when it was accelerating, but it slowed down before you really got that feeling of "fun". As one person noted, "I can have more fun with my car (a purple Geo Metro with manual transmission) on the freeway." I liked it though.

Nigel2
03-26-2002, 12:17 AM
Well the RR was a high speed ride on the PM track(well it felt that way and it was also toned down after it opened).
On the interior of the track there weren't any high detailed scenes since you went by so fast. The best effect is the mirror that looks like you are going to collide and then you turn at the last second.:D
The whole theme was supposed to be that you were in TRT's(Tomorrowland Rapid Transit) newest thing and there were various "stops" that were planed (the "map" included all the Tland attractions, DCA, John Wayne, Beaches, Mountains, Edison Field, Aerohead Pond, and a few more)
You eventually get to Innoventions (There is a bay behind inno that they stored the vehicles when it was still there) and you pass by that large set of windows (the cars made the tree inside shake).
Then out and over Autopia, Sub Lagoon, Motor Boat Lagoon and next to the monorail (it's neat if you can zoom along with a monorail.
All along the way various sound effects play but there is no set music. Oh and the end is where you enter the CV building and there are flashes of white light (lightning?) and a strong blast of air.
It also had one of the most entertaining lines by far.

justagrrl
03-26-2002, 06:45 AM
That's funny - I thought the line sucked.

I mean - yeah - it was sort of neat to see the old ride vehicles and the areas that it would "go to someday ?" - but it was sad the way the line tracked through old attractions no longer in use...and very little effort was made to make it look like it wasn't that way. (It was obvious you were in a building that was used for something else.)

I rode the RR's once...I enjoyed the ride but can easily understand why it's not there anymore. What I don't get is all the unused space in Dland...when you start adding up the old rides where nothing else was put in, and then the other show/eating places that aren't used, that's a lot of space.

Of course, they'll acquire more land and build a new park...and you can see it for another fee...instead of using the perfectly good space they now have.

What I don't get is why someone doesn't see the nostalgia sell - put the old rides back in - even some of the much older ones - and use that as a selling point. I think many people would praise dland for the return of PM, the subs, circlevision and Innerspace (one of my fav's).

80S ERA
03-26-2002, 07:40 AM
RR is one of the few Disney rides that I actually enjoyed waiting in line better than the ride itself. There were some slow days where we would get out of line in the Circlevision room and just sit down and watch Walt. We weren't alone, either -- many others seemed to think of the same idea.

Uncle Dick
03-26-2002, 11:59 AM
The Rocket Rods queue started out good with some entertaining movies and nice decor but it sort of petered out after exiting the CircleVision theater, making the last 10 minutes or so seem to drag on forever.

AliKzam
03-26-2002, 01:06 PM
I too enjoyed the Rods. The line was also entertaining to me. I'd heard from a Disneyland electrician that the rubber tires kept melting, and they had to reapply the shelves in the Star Tours gift shop to tilt inward, because everytime the rod rode by, merchandise would fall off the shelves.

innerSpaceman
03-26-2002, 04:32 PM
The Rocket Rods was pretty good for a Peoplemover-on-Speed kind of effect. As with most rides at the Park, the premier version of the ride was way better than the later, toned-down version. It used to really get some speed going, and did not slow down as much on the curves as they eventually figured was necessary if they hoped to have the ride last the full six months.

The queue was equal to if not better than the attraction, but it killed you that they destroyed two attractions to make one ride and its queue. And, as mentioned before, the great themeing of the queue just totally dropped away for the last 10 minutes of standing in line, which was a really stupid way to go (even with the space contraints in the final stretch of that line - no excuse for going from a nicely themed environment to basically a black corridor).

The best part of the Rods, in my opinion, was not riding them, but just the sight, and especially the sound, of them whizzing by in Tomorrowland. For the brief time they were running (and when the sound effects were working), they added some much needed life and futuristic feel to the otherwise dreadful "New Tomorrowland."

Nigel2
03-26-2002, 09:14 PM
Originally posted by justagrrl
What I don't get is why someone doesn't see the nostalgia sell - put the old rides back in - even some of the much older ones - and use that as a selling point. I think many people would praise dland for the return of PM, the subs, circlevision and Innerspace (one of my fav's).

I have to disagree since an "E-Ticket" like RR could draw in more people since it had a "thrill" element to it. I can remember that PM (a long with other extinct rides, subs are a different story) basically had no line most of the time and wasn't running anywhere near capacity (like the bears) and it basically wasn't drawing tons of new people in (which isn't a bad thing for guests:)). But since they wanted more people to come they decided to redo Tomorrowland and it drew people in, unfortunetly (and yes I also was told that the tires wore down/melted daily as well) RR ran such limited hours and broke down so much (as well as the other problems) they decided that it wasn't worth keeping open. Which basically did make it a waste of resources in general.

Also did RR have anything to do with the Lunar Level of the Starcade being closed? I know when they were testing playing pinball was a pain.