6-Year-Old Ride Suddenly Closed at Disney World, Guests Moved Elsewhere

Now that Lightning Lane Passes are paid, Walt Disney World Resort seems to be instructing cast members to give out as few complimentary skip-the-line passes as possible. An Inside the Magic team member recently got stuck in line for Slinky Dog Dash after the ride broke down and observed the new protocol for handing out recovery Lightning Lane Passes.

Slinky Dog Dash opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2018, along with the rest of Toy Story Land, including the Alien Swirling Saucers attraction. It’s the most popular attraction in the Disney Park land, followed by Toy Story Mania!, which predates Toy Story Land by by a decade.

The outdoor ride invites guests on a toy roller coaster that Andy from Toy Story (1995) built with an assembly kit. Oversized, colorful toys and string lights make up the attraction’s set, mimicking what a kid might use in their backyard. The end of Slinky Dog Dash also features the first-ever Wheezy the penguin animatronic.

Because Slinky Dog Dash is mostly outdoors, the attraction occasionally closes due to inclement weather. However, the skies were clear when Inside the Magic recently visited the ride and hopped in a 70-minute standby line.

Shortly after the Lightning Lane merge point, the constantly moving line suddenly stopped. Standby guests had been waiting at least 90 minutes by the time Disney cast members arrived to inform them that Slinky Dog Dash wasn’t operational and that anyone past the merge point needed to leave the area.

Guests were removed from the attraction, and guests in line past the merge point were directed to Disney cast members wielding mobile devices. Those few dozen guests scanned their MagicBands or theme park tickets to receive a Lightning Lane Pass usable on any Disney’s Hollywood Studios attraction that day besides Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

Unfortunately, the thousands of guests in the standby line weren’t so lucky. Disney cast members informed those waiting that they could continue to wait until Slinky Dog Dash reopened or return and re-enter the queue later. In the free FastPass+ days, Disney cast members were more likely to grant skip-the-line passes to more guests in line.

Slinky Dog Dash reopened about 30 minutes later, and those guests with complimentary Lightning Lane Passes could use them to ride without waiting again. But that didn’t help the thousands of other guests who waited almost two hours for the broken ride.

If you hop in a lengthy standby line at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, just know that you might not get the experience you waited for!

Has a Disney Park ride ever broken down while you were waiting in line? Did you receive a free Lightning Lane Pass? Share your experience with Inside the Magic in the comments.