Last week, thousands of Disney’s Hollywood Studios guests fled an emergency alert in one of the most popular sections of the Walt Disney World Resort theme park. One impacted Disney Park guest spoke out on social media after enduring the ordeal.
Tens of thousands of guests visit Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, and Disney Springs each day. Most won’t notice any operational disruptions, but a small, unlucky percentage will experience an attraction evacuation.
For some Disney Parks fans, evacuating a popular ride is a dream. Think about walking through restricted areas of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Space Mountain with the lights on!
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But evacuations can be nerve-wracking, too. Last week, panicked Disney cast members rushed thousands of guests out of the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster building at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They couldn’t tell guests what shut down the Sunset Boulevard attraction.
“It seems like a medical emergency as they cleared the area entirely,” u/Aggressive_Put5891 recalled on Reddit.
“It definitely freaked me out,” said another guest. There was an urgency in the cast members [sic.] voices. They said get out of the building as fast as possible. Use any exit…turn around if you have to. I’ll never ride it again.”
Walt Disney World Resort didn’t publicly acknowledge or explain last week’s Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster closure. If a medical emergency necessitated the shutdown, Disney cast members would not disclose that information to other guests.
Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith reopened about an hour after the evacuation. The Disney Park ride was operating normally at the time of this article’s publication.
Have you ever evacuated a Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park attraction? Share your story with Inside the Magic in the comments.