Ride Breakdown Fun: Stuck in Doc Hudson's Garage

On a complex ride such as Radiator Springs Racers, occasional stalls and shut-downs are inevitable -- particularly during the first year of operation. In the two dozen rides we've taken on Racers, we've experienced two temporary shut-downs. This time it happened in a favorite location, Doc Hudson's garage, where the delay helped us discover something new about the ride...

At this point of the adventure, the track has split into two lanes. We've just emerged from Ramone's House of Body Art while our opponents have come out of Luigi's Casa della Tires. We got our gruff pep talk from Doc, moved forward a few feet...and then we came to a halt for the unscheduled "intermission" alongside the town's respected judge/physician/retired racing champ.

Doc Hudson is one of the most amazing audioanimatronics on the ride. Until this moment, I'd never turned to look back from this angle.

Looking forward...

...the starting line waits just a few yards away! Here, I'd like to point out a wonderful detail of this ride: During these situations, your car continues to make idling and engine-revving sounds as if it's just as impatient to get underway as you are!

Looking back to the right, I noticed for the first time that the two halves of the garage are themed to whichever shop you've emerged from. We came from Ramone's, so this side is filled with paint samples, stencils and artwork. It's got the rough, hands-on look of someone who likes to create and experiment.

Looking across to the other side, we can see it's themed to Luigi's tire shop and is neat as a pin, in keeping with Luigi's personality.

Temporary Ride Shut-Downs Can Be Fun

Like most complex new rides, Radiator Springs Racers experiences occasional temporary shut-downs due to technical issues. When this happens, the cast members help riders step safely out of the vehicles and escort them to the nearest exit, issuing Fastpasses to each guest who did not receive a complete ride. The park's operators and technicians work swiftly to get the ride up and running again as quickly as possible, usually in less than half an hour.

My family experienced a ride shut-down only once in our eight trips on Radiator Springs Racers during a recent visit to Cars Land. And it was awesome. Why? Because we experienced the best of all possible scenarios: the ride stopped after our vehicle had completed 99% of the adventure; we were literally just a couple of car lengths from the unloading zone. After the friendly cast members helped us step from our vehicles and walk to the exit area, we received Fastpasses good for any DCA Fastpass ride (these special passes admit up to six people in a group).

So, we ended up with a basically complete ride-through, the novel experience of exiting the vehicle in an unusual spot, and a pass to re-ride the Racers again with very little wait once the attraction returned to normal operation (it was functioning perfectly within twenty minutes). As a bonus, the special pass allowed some of our group who hadn't yet ridden to join us.

Disneyland Resort fans tend to embrace the unexpected; sometimes ride shut-downs work to your advantage!