20 Disney Rides That Had to Close (and Why)

some disney rides come and go but their legacy stays with us forever today we're going to take a trip back in time back before lightning lanes rise the resistance boarding passes and virtual cues and talk about why some disney rides were forced to close and what mysteries there were behind them hey everybody it's aj for disney food blog today i'm going to talk about 20 disney rides that had to shut down and why pretty excited to talk about this one not gonna lie when i was researching some of these rides i was like oh man i missed this one or i wish i could have seen this one and others i was like oh yeah that was a train wreck hopefully you'll enjoy this walk down memory lane too let's get started okay let's talk about the phantom boats 1955-1956 this is the first of many many disneyland tomorrowland attractions i'm gonna mention on today's list originally the phantom boats were called the tomorrowland boats super on the nose but who am i to judge however the tomorrowland boats had to close for major maintenance shortly after they opened turns out the boats kept overheating when they opened they were renamed the phantom boats this name was pretty misleading though there was nothing phantom about them except that they kept disappearing from people's itineraries since they were rarely ever running and when they were running well guests found them to be pretty dull and not phantomy whatsoever sure they had cool stylish fins jutting out from each side but other than that not a lot to be offered just a short little boat ride that killed guests valuable park time because they cost more money than they were worth the boats shut down a year after they opened and were replaced by the submarine voyage which i'll be talking about again here shortly don't you worry all right the skyway 1956-1994 did you know disneyland once had its own skyliner system the system was called the skyway but more commonly referred to by guests as the sky buckets for their whimsical bucket-shaped gondolas and it stretched from tomorrowland and went all the way over to fantasyland i know i know super far apart right well this became a great shortcut to get around parades or it just gave your feet a minute or two to relax from having to walk around everywhere now when the matterhorn bobsleds opened in 1959 imagineers built the mountain so that the skyway could run directly through it which is way cool so why did skyway close it was such a staple attraction in disneyland well there were rumors and speculation thrown about but in the end it all boils down to rider demand and the matterhorn itself apparently rider demand was falling and on top of that stress cracks were starting to show up in the support tower of matterhorn to save the matterhorn and keep the skyway running through it the whole ordeal would have been rather pricey and disney didn't think it'd be worth the cost in the end so the matterhorn still remains while the skyway was lost to time closing its gondolas after nearly 40 years of operation all right next we're gonna talk about horizons 1983-1999 let's head over to epcot's future world i am still salty about this one the fact that it was replaced by mission space still hurts but that is my opinion anyway moving on horizons was a futuristic dark ride sponsored by general electric that took passengers from the ocean to space the ride focused on the concept of us someday being able to build communities under the sea bring life to barren deserts and flourish somewhere beyond earth it incorporated both animatronic and screen technology the interactive tech at the conclusion of the ride was super cool and it had guests vote on the transportation method they wanted to use at the end of the ride so it's kind of like a choose your own adventure whichever option got the most votes in the vehicle was the option the ride chose for you the different transportation options included a hovercraft flight through the desert a solo sub from sea castle and a shuttle to omega centauri now nobody ever chose desert right i legit rode this ride a zillion times and totes never chose desert anyway horizons closed painfully in 1994 because general electric's partnership with disney concluded however it reopened for just a bit longer in 95 while test track was under construction this gave guests something else to do while the ride options were so sparse now eventually it was replaced by the vomitron 3000 and of course by that i mean mission space all right submarine voyage 1959-1998 told you the submarines would return these subs in disneyland were originally painted gray reflecting america's newest nuclear submarines through the portholes you'll be able to see fish mermaids sea serpents and atlantis not to be confused with the disney animated movie atlantis released in 2001. this ride was before that movie's time in 1980 the subs were repainted yellow to take on the appearance of research vessels and technically i am cheating a little on this one these submarines are still in disneyland today the ride was re-themed again in 2007 this time it changed into finding nemo submarine voyage however these subs as of the release of this video have been marked as temporarily unavailable since march 2020 so their future still remains unclear all right mind train through nature's wonderland 1960-1977 fun fact this was a ride that walt disney designed himself after being unsatisfied with the way his hired designers were going about it talk about tension yo originally the mine train in disneyland's frontierland was called the rainbow cavern mine train but the rainbow cavern mine train was shut down and reimagined to mind train through nature's wonderland see it's not just recently that disney comes up with these really weird names the new mind train was now based around disney's true life adventure nature documentary films which a lot of us didn't even know existed until we got disney plus which incorporated a more whimsical humorous tone throughout the ride now riders rode through scenes such as cascade peak bear country beaver valley the living desert devils paint pots and rainbow caverns the name may have changed but the rainbows remained along with the scenes there were many life-like wilderness creatures you could see on your journey the attraction lasted 17 years before it evolved into its current form big thunder mountain railroad world of motion 1982 to 1996. here we go this is my favorite ride of all time in epcot's future world or walt disney world in general world of motion was a ride that took guests on a tour through the history of transportation when you exited the ride you'd enter the trans center which featured the latest and greatest car technology now if you're an 80s epcot kid like me you 100 000 remember waiting hours to ride this ride and watching the little cars kind of go up up up along the outside of the attraction it was super cool anyway this ride wasn't all cars at the time of its opening it had the largest cast of audio animatronics on a ride anywhere i'm talking cavemen cooling down their feet a man on a crashed bicycle y'all remember him right and christopher columbus staring down a dragon with his giant telescope each ride scene was funny thanks to the help of ward kimball who came out of retirement to lend his voice and artistic direction to this attraction props ward kimball now can you guess what replaced this ride yep test track in 1996 world of motion closed its doors to make way for epcot's first high-speed attraction which was also based around the wonderful world of cars am i as mad about test track as i am about mission space no was world of motion better than test track yes these are facts all right flying saucers 1961 to 1966 the coolest disney ride i never got to ride this is another tomorrowland disneyland attraction and i am super jelly that i never got to ride these according to d23 the flying saucers vehicles were designed to feel like you were floating what they were actually doing was sitting on cushioned air the floor of the ride shot out bursts of air to help the saucers hover and bounce about while passengers desperately attempted to steer them think like air hockey cars basically now this attraction was constantly broken down a lot like myself so disney just had to give up on this one it wasn't worth the constant maintenance so after a five year run the flying saucers were no more okay next one double whammy flight to the moon was a ride located in both disney world and disneyland's tomorrowland initially flight to the moon over in disneyland was rocket to the moon a ride that graced disneyland's tomorrowland in 1955 but rocket to the moon was demolished and replaced by flight to the moon in 1967 when disneyland was in the middle of creating its new and improved tomorrowland a project that started in 1966. the new tomorrowland was meant to update outdated sections as well as change over any expired attraction sponsorships thus flight to the moon was born and it included an all-new pre-show state-of-the-art animatronics and moving seats disney world followed suit with flight to the moon and added the attraction to their tomorrowland in 1971 where it remained until 1975. now when flight to the moon first opened in disneyland the world was still a ways away from having the technology to transport us to the moon so this was a ride that really brought a futuristic spin to the tomorrowland area but in 1969 guess what happened we sent people to the moon for real so although flight to the moon was still a cool concept for those of us who will never actually see the moon in person which is most of us at least right now the ride still became outdated making tomorrowland in turn outdated again tomorrowland outdated surely not flight to the moon became mission to mars at both disneyland and disney world in 1975 and it included many many connections to epcot's mission space attraction including having gary sinise as the pre-show host on both attractions mission to mars closed in 1993 so what became of the former flight to the moon mission to mars show buildings well over in disneyland guests now know it as the alien pizza planet a quick service location themed off of the little green aliens from pixar's toy story franchise and they have really really good fusilli pasta just heads up the version of mission to mars over in disney world was replaced by extraterrestrial alien encounter another one that we'll get back to later in this video because it is a trip all right adventures through inner space 1967 and 1885 guess what we're back in disneyland tomorrowland adventures through inner space shrunk guests down to a microscopic size that allowed you to enter the molecule of a snowflake because that's what disney loves to do it loves to shrink people weird statement maybe but think about all the attractions disney's incorporated in the parks over the years that involve shrinking its guests it's tough to be a bug honey i shrunk the audience the entirety of toy story land remy's ready to adventure it's just a sure-fire way for disney to keep guests immersed in the experience so they do it a lot now adventures through inner space introduced the omni mover system a system now used in rides like under the sea with little mermaid seas with nemo and friends and the haunted mansion so adventures through interspace was pretty revolutionary now star tours took its place but d23 mentions that the mighty microscope used in adventures through inner space can still be found as the star speeder exits a tunnel in the death star all right 1989-2007 body wars more future world and epcot over here y'all the technology used in body wars was very similar if not almost identical to the ride model used for star tours today so if you've been on star tours you know what it's like to go on body wars minus the blood and guts but guess what the body wars storyline does to its guest it shrinks some yep it shrinks them real good this time guests were shrunk down to take a trip through a person's bloodstream that's not dark at all totally normal stuff and this was to help educate writers about the inner workings of the human body your mission was to study the white blood cells keeping a fellow volunteer from developing an infection after getting a splinter in her finger ouch this was one of the first thrill rides to premiere in epcot so initially it was a pretty popular ride however when star tours came about using the exact same technology as body wars with much cooler theming the hyper on body wars kind of died down and the ride closed in 2007 shrinking guests no more but luckily you can still get just as sick riding star tours as you could riding body wars so silver lining all right 1983-1998 y'all og journey into imagination hello again future world the original journey into imagination starred the jolly redheaded dream finder who reminds me of a ginger santa claus to be honest and his trusty purple dragon sidekick figment together they took you on a dark ride tour through the wondrous world of imagination and these audio animatronics explored the arts ranging from literature theater painting and anything else that involved maximum use of the right side of your brain it also encouraged passengers to explore their more creative sides to enhance their imaginations as well this ride received high praise for its trippy prop and screen technology as well as its inspiring message and who could forget the rainbow tunnel to image works anyone else press their face against that pin board no just me cool okay but journey into imagination closed in 1998 for renovation what guests received upon reopening was not what everyone had in mind let's talk about journey into your imagination usually when disney closes a ride to open up another ride there at least seems to be a bit of thought and a whole lot of imagineering behind the decision even if said decision can be seen as controversial but journey into imagination not one of those cases when the ride reopened in 1999 both the dream finder and figment were nowhere to be found instead we got good old nigel channing who insulted our lack of imagination took us on a tour through these labs that sounded like they should be cool like illusion sound color connections and gravity alas these labs didn't have the heart that the og journey into imagination did and the ride ended up closing again in 2001 after guests continuously complained about the cheesy illusions and lack of our purple dragon friend figment and his upside down bubble bath and if you know you know the ride reopened once again in 2002 this time as the attraction we all know today journey into imagination with figment though many guests still miss the original version of this ride it is nice to have our purple dragon friend back in epcot as well as being featured on the majority of our merchandise dfb tip by the way figment gets a christmas sweater during the holiday season and it's legit the cutest thing ever all right 1988 to 2014 maelstrom you are not the first to pass this way nor shall you be the last how was that did that did bring you back okay cool maelstrom was located in abcot's norway section of the world showcase this was a boat ride that took guests on a journey through norway's history and there were trolls really creepy trolls with giant noses and ears that put wild curses on you the unique element of this ride was the backward momentum you guys remember back back back over the falls but eventually your boat straightened up and you were sent plummeting down a hill instead now plummeting isn't the right word it's about as tall as the drop you experience in pirates of the caribbean it just felt like a plummet because you'd come face to face with an angry tree creature before you dropped after maelstrom closed in 2014 it was replaced by frozen ever after however frozen ever after kept the same ride track as before fyi you can also see the puffins from maelstrom in frozen ever after you're welcome now you're flying backward thanks to elsa's magical ice powers instead of troll curses and though many loved this change there were a handful of guests who also worried about how disney's ips were starting to take over the world showcase and replace the history lessons regarding the different countries so a little bit controversial all right 1989-1998 delta dream flight and we're back to tomorrowland this time we're in the magic kingdom initially delta dream flight was an attraction called if you had wings which ran from 1972 to 1987. according to d23 if you had wings was sponsored by eastern airlines and took passengers from an airport to several different locations around the world so it was like soarin if soarin were an omnivore ride when eastern airlines sponsorship ended with disney delta airlines took its place changing the ride from if you had wings to delta dream flight which focused even more on the wonderful world of aviation but delta eventually also discontinued its sponsorship in 1996 the ride was renamed once again simply as take flight until it was closed a couple of years later and replaced by buzz lightyear's space ranger spin all right 1989 to 2017 the great movie ride oh hollywood studios you didn't think we'd forget about you did you we won't forget what you did we will never forget okay the great movie ride was a 22 minute long attraction that took guests on a tour through the magic of the movies passing through scenes like wizard of oz singing in the rain alien and a ton of other movie classics not only that it had live performers your tour guide wasn't just your tour guide they ended up being a large part of the overarching storyline as you wrote on the seemingly harmless tour you'd either be pulled over by an outlaw or a gangster depending on what ride through you got since there were two potential tracks and storylines who would then take over your vehicle so super real life drama now there was a big standoff in the indiana jones scene where your tour guide came back with a vengeance and regained control of the vehicle much applause and stood after it was a great time alas the great movie ride had its final performance on august 13 2017 much to the dismay of many guests mickey and minnie's runaway railway now graces the grommen's chinese theater replica as the newest hollywood studios trackless dark ride having opened just last year though the ride has changed greatly the outside of the theater still has the cement signatures and handprints of countless celebrities mickey and minnie also kept great movie rides tornado scene or at least they kept the mechanics for it in one scene of great movie ride guests were driven into a tornado room with scenes from fantasia projected in the middle of it and now the wind tunnel technology is used for a random chaos sequence within the runaway railway ride 1989-2014 backstage studio tour we're not done with you hollywood studios or rather mgm the backstage studio tour was another behind the scenes tram ride that lasted for a whopping 35 minutes although not all of this experience was completely on the tram sometimes you and the other guests would walk through certain areas to get a more up close and personal tour tour of what exactly well this attraction illustrated the making of film and movies by taking guests through production buildings costuming and special effects demonstrations a lot of the different tour elements were taken down to make room for lights motors action extreme stunt show so mgm renamed it to studio backlot tour but the studio backlot tour had to close in 2014 to make way for the toy story land expansion all right 1995 to 2003 the extraterrestrial alien encounter should i really count this as a ride yeah we're gonna do it it just needs to be talked about extraterrestrial was another tomorrowland attraction that led guests into a theater or rather high-tech laboratory though the theater remained stationary guests still had to put on over-the-shoulder harnesses to experience the full impact of the attraction and by full impact i mean an absolutely traumatizing experience especially for young kids thanks to vague advancement in technology that always seems to get us into trouble on these sorts of disney experiences the extraterrestrial demonstration of interplanetary teleportation goes haywire and a full-on alien is transported into the theater the alien got loose because it wasn't traumatizing enough in its little experimental imprisonment tube and the lights flickered off leaving guests in the darkness with a wild alien that they couldn't see but by golly they could feel 4d effects allowed guests to feel this alien it jumped on their shoulder harnesses drooled down their necks breathed too close to their ears the ride got several complaints about children being terrified of this attraction even though that's what chairman and ceo at the time michael eisner was trying to accomplish by building it not traumatizing children per se but adding more thrills to attract older audiences the experience shut down in 2003 and was replaced by stitch's great escape in 2004 which was basically the same experience except now a fluffy blue alien was ruffling your hair and burping bean burrito in your face stitch's great escape closed in 2018 for a while the area was used as a meet-and-greet section for stitch without the burping but now the building remains vacant 1996-2017 ellen's energy adventure hi-ho hi-ho it's back to future world we go before ellen degeneres took over this ride was simply called universe of energy opened in 1982 and took passengers on a tour through the prehistoric past to learn more in depth about the concept of energy this ride totally slapped by the way but in 1996 ellen came on board the plot ellen falls asleep watching game shows and dreams about being on jeopardy unfortunately she's unable to answer any of the energy-based questions which is where bill nye comes in to save the day taking her on a tour to show her energy resources energy production and energy solutions and dinosaurs this was a very long ride 45 minutes long to be exact it was infamously known as the place you went when you were hot and sweaty and needed to take a nap but ellen's energy adventure closed on the same day as a great movie ride on its last ride through it actually broke down giving guests the chance to walk through take pictures and say one last goodbye 1998-2000 let's talk about rocket rods one last tomorrowland entry in disneyland and then we're done picking on tomorrowland once upon a time disneyland had a people move or two it lasted from 1967 to 1995 but why why would disneyland close the people mover well this was another interesting move on michael eisner's part apparently the ride needed to be faster it was too chill and needed speed thus rocket rods were born these were basically like the people mover if the people move or hit a fast forward button but at the same time it wasn't like the ride vehicles would speed up but then automatically slow back down to round the corners so it was pretty jerky and it just didn't work very well plus the basis of the infrastructure was meant for a slow-going ride not a fast one so the track was weakened over time and had constant breakdowns this closure was pretty quiet disneyland announced they'd be doing refurbishments on the ride and open it back up in 2001 but obviously that never happened so now you got to go over to magic kingdom and bum off their people mover ride which also breaks down quite frequently though it doesn't run at a high speed so it's just kind of a drama queen and 2001 to 2002 superstar limo oh this ride i was saving the best or worse depending on how you look at it for last year superstar limo was an opening day attraction for disney california adventure the ride premise you are a hot shot movie star on your way to the grommen's chinese theater and initially the ride premise was supposed to be about you escaping paparazzi but after princess diana's passing that had a lot to do with the same situation michael eisner and the rest of the team thought it'd be in poor taste to proceed with that storyline turns out the ride was kind of in poor taste period guests complained about this ride feeling like a blacklit ride you'd experience at the carnival aka it felt like a rush job with animatronics of celebrities like regis philman cher whoopi goldberg and many others that took on some rather interesting caricature features it was definitely a choice plus your agent the puppet named swifty larue that appeared to guests on their in-ride screens in front of them had a grating voice in this habit of kissing his fingers repeatedly to punctuate his sentences the ride was shut down after only a year of operation and in 2006 mike and sully to the rescue came well to the rescue it's the ride still at dca today next time you ride mike and sully to the rescue watch out for the cda agents turns out they're leftover characters from the old superstar limo ride dressed up in yellow hazmat suits and there you have it 20 disney rides that had to shut down and why i poked fun at all the tomorrowland future world entries on this list but honestly it makes sense that those are the areas experiencing the most changes over the years as technology continues to update these futuristic realms tend to catch up with the times and are outdated almost constantly even now tomorrowland is known as yesterday's tomorrow just think about that end scene on carousel of progress sorry virtual reality headsets and car phones are no longer tech of the future that being said epcot's future world is currently undergoing major renovations to bring its section of the park back to a more futuristic setting and the dfb team is looking forward to what all those renovations are gonna look like when they're finally all up and running it's interesting seeing how the parks undergo these different changes but sometimes it's sad to say so long to an old friend with a lot of nostalgia let me know in the comments what your favorite extinct disney ride was thank you so much for listening this has been a really really fun one i know it's not necessarily going to help you plan your trips but it's been super fun for our team to research and talk about some of our favorites so thank you for watching as always this is aj for disney food vlog and we'll see you real soon you

Channel: DFBGuide

Views: 417,433

Rating: 4.8977771 out of 5

Keywords: disneyfood, disney, disney world, disneyland, disneyvideo, disneyvacation, food, disney parks, disney travel, disney tips, disney guides, disney planning, disney trip, disney how to, disney vlog, disney vlogger

Id: CQxvGc4IqRo

Length: 23min 51sec (1431 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021