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Credit: DisneyWalt Disney World Resort guests report that Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios rides are breaking down more frequently than ever. Disney Parks fans first noticed ongoing attraction issues amid maintenance staffing shortages after the extended COVID-19 closures. Still, the problems persisted even after Walt Disney World Resort reached pre-pandemic staffing levels.
Now, Central Florida Disney theme park guests say conditions are worsening. During one guest’s four days at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, 13 attractions broke down. Space Mountain, TRON Lightcycle / Run, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance unexpectedly closed twice.
Of the 13 broken Walt Disney World rides, the guest’s family was stuck on board five times: twice on Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and once on Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and “it’s a small world.” They received free multi-experience Lightning Lane passes to compensate for their negative experiences, but they still went home disappointed.
“It was about 5 years since my last trip to Disney,” the guest wrote. “Quite a bit had changed…The family had a blast still but to see this many rides break down and the overall vibe seems to [have] changed quite a bit.”
Other Disney Resort guests reported similar upsetting experiences.
“We are still here, and it’s been insane the amount of times we’ve received redemption passes because rides have gone down,” u/tres-teen replied. “This trip alone we’ve received 6 lol. Yesterday at MK big thunder went down early into the morning, didn’t come back up until noon-ish. We got back on about an hour after it came back up and actually got evacuated (my first ever evacuation!).”
“We haven’t ridden a couple rides this trip because we just got too tired of waiting for them to come back up,” they continued. “Bad luck on our part. We are super fortunate to come here 1-2 times a year, but I really feel awful for the families who are only going to come here once in their lifetime.”
Some of the most popular Disney Park attractions are affected the most.
“Rise went down while we were on it,” said u/vivacycling. “Getting off was an adventure in itself. We were in the room after you’re rescued by the rebels. The cast [members] could not figure how to get us out. Eventually they did. We ended up backstage and even saw the lunch room.”
“[Space Mountain] is a wreck,” u/DingGratz wrote. “Completely closed the whole day even after hours back in February. The worst part is, the more attractions go down, the longer the other lines get. It’s just a cascade of disappointments.”
“This should not be happening at one of the best/most expensive theme parks in the world,” u/Ambitious-Habit-2533 echoed. “This is Disney not some ratchet carnival. Standards have dropped so much and people make excuses for the company.”
Did any rides break down on your most recent Walt Disney World Resort visit? Share your experience with Inside the Magic in the comments.