Credit: DisneyGuests are convinced that Disney is changing multiple classic attractions – all for one sneaky reason.
Since opening Disneyland in 1955, The Walt Disney Company has built a fully-fledged theme park empire. Today, it operates five resorts across the world (Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland Resort) and licenses out a sixth (Tokyo Disney Resort) with a seventh on the way in the form of Disneyland Abu Dhabi.
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While plenty of things have changed about Disney parks over the years, multiple opening day staples remain. Guests can still meet beloved Disney characters – from Mickey Mouse to modern favorites like Elsa, Moana, and Baymax – as well as purchase magical merch and experience attractions inspired by iconic Disney films.
In fact, guests can still experience several attractions that have operated at parks since day one. Over at Disneyland Park, rides such as Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan’s Flight, and King Arthur Carrousel have run since July 1955 and were all constructed under the instruction of Walt Disney himself.
While other parks may not have benefited from Walt’s direct wisdom, the same is true at Disney’s destinations worldwide. Classic attractions typically boast a dedicated fanbase – one that appreciates their tiny quirks and will almost certainly notice if a ride is altered in any way.
In fact, some guests think they’ve noticed changes to multiple classic Disney rides lately. A Reddit thread questioned whether several rides have been sped up, including Snow White’s Adventures at Tokyo Disneyland.
Are Disney Parks Making Some Rides Faster?
“My girlfriend and I went to Tokyo Disneyland yesterday,” wrote the Reddit user. “We had a discussion about the Snow White and Pinocchio rides, because we both thought they seemed too fast. The Snow White ride was so fast that you barely had time to look at the props before being taken to a new room. It just felt like we were thrown around.”
They went on to explain that they were “certain that these rides used to be slower.” After checking footage of a past trip to Disneyland Paris (which uses the same layout for these rides as Tokyo), they noticed that “the rides in Paris (which had the same layout) were almost a full minute longer and my father had plenty of time to record all the beautiful details.”
Some pointed out that this could be an effort to improve capacity – especially at Tokyo Disney Resort, which has historically suffered from heavy crowds. As argued by one user, “They’ve been looking at solving the overcrowding for a while, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they shortened ride times to alleviate some of it.”
However, others noted that they’ve observed a similar change in non-Tokyo attractions, too. “I’m sure the Winnie The Pooh ride in Disney World has been sped up,” another user said. They claim that when they rode the attraction at Magic Kingdom Park last year, it was “nice and slow timed at just over 3 minutes. This year was about 2 minutes 20.”
Another user noted that they believe Splash Mountain was also sped up on occasion. “I recall reading that Disney used to do this with Splash Mountain if they needed to cycle people [through] quicker due to high park capacity,” wrote IveGotNoManners.
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“Snow White also stacks to the point where the ending of the ride is ruined every time, so it certainly seems like they’re doing whatever is necessary to keep the queues moving,” added 8BitThemePark.
Historically, speeding up rides hasn’t ended well for Disney. In the late 1990s, it repurposed the Peoplemover track for an attraction that ran at 35 mph instead of 7 mph. Operating under the name Rocket Rods, the new thrill ride proved a logistical nightmare, suffering recurrent breakdowns until it was closed just two years later. Fortunately, even if Disney is changing the speeds of its classic attractions, they’re nowhere near as drastic.
Have you noticed a speed difference on classic Disney attractions?