Radiator Springs Racers - the negatives

[waltopia]

I agree with those points.
My peeves are Radiator Springs is already represented when you walk in Carsland, yet, you enter the mountain range and you're there again. And I'm sure the fact that we just entered into a mountain range to go to an outside city speaks for itself...

I really question this creatively too. Why redo the town twice over? Why not take the drive out to Wheel Well Inn and have an amazing driving adventure? Why another replay of the town and characters we've already met getting here? Rendering them neither of them as the "real" Radiator Springs, after actually building it into reality.

[jeannie2252]

I don't know it feels pretty fast to me. It is faster than indy, matterhorn, space mountain ( SM does feel faster than Rsr) and BTMRR. also that second hill near the end can make you feel a good sense of a drop. For me I think the line will even out to the Indy line. in 95 when Indy opened it was a 3 hour wait for 6 months consistently and without FP or single rider it was horrid.

I agree...it felt pretty fast to me too---especially after the semi-slow dark portion of the ride. If people don't like the wait, they should get in the single riders line. My daughter and I did this and the wait was less than an hour (better than a 3-4 hour wait) and we still ended up in the same car both times we rode. You can also go on it more times in the day this way! The only negative about this ride was I wish the racing portion was a tad longer---otherwise, a perfect ride!

---------- Post added 06-22-2012 at 02:33 PM ----------

one thing I noticed the right side always won on my races. is that what everyone is finding? I was on the right side 3 times and won. I was on the left side once and lost.

Both times I rode (once on the left, once on the right) the left side was the car that won!

[Fukai]

Radiator Springs Racers goes 40 miles an hour, that's 10 miles an hour faster than Big Thunder Mountan or Space Mountain.

Test Track hits 65 mph on the banked curve at the end.

[SLUSHIE]

Maybe they should give out little tickets like Mission Space and then you can choose from the normal speed or a FASTER speed!

[What Would Walt Do]

Great ride, the large scale is very impressive, and the work of all the Imagineers is totally appreciated! The AI's, especially Mater and Doc are AMAZING! However, I did come off my first ride with some nitpicky things ...

1) Windshield: Sitting in the first row, obstructed my view of the dark ride scenes. This is the most glaring issue overall ... big time. I wish the windshield would fold down when the ride vehicle enters the indoor part of the ride.

2) Car Horn: Wish there was a real car horn in the vehicle. Cow tipping scene isn't quite as believable or fun when the wimpy 'honk' comes from the 3" speakers behind your head. A beefy realistic honk from under the hood in your vehicle would really help this scene.

3) 1st Indoor Scenes: The scene with Mack and with the train just didn't translate with me at all. The impending head on collision with Mack came on too fast and had no kinetics other that your vehicles forward momentum. The train scene still doesn't translate for me outside of the audio design ... the approaching train in Mr. Toads is way more convincing and tense.

While we all could blue sky armchair imagineer all day long, it's interesting to think how just a couple small-ish changes could completely change the ride experience.

[TylerDurden]

I'll start out by saying I loved the ride. But it's not perfect nor the best at DLR IMO.

The queue is boring...not sure where everyone's comparisons to Indy are coming from...Stanleys Oasis seems pointless to me, and very forced while not being particularly entertaining. And what's so great about the sheds you pass through anyway? Also, the hick music that blares over the queue should be changed or at least turned down, it's very obnoxious.

The beginning portion turns you towards ToT and outside Anaheim for a while,when I feel like they could've hid it with clever track placement. Also the grand reveal to the waterfall is pretty disappointing...it's a small stream of water haha.

I was very impressed with the indoor portion overall. I thought the Radiator Springs recreation worked fine and the animatronics blew me away. But i never forgot I was in a show building like I do with other DL classics...many sets were just painted walls. The space between scenes was tiny and some effects (the train) came off as cheap to me. I feel like this could've been done better. But the animatronics steal the show...that and the changes in acceleration as the story goes--that was my favorite eelement of the attraction (the quick escape from Frank was a favorite of mine!)

The race should be faster. The turns are boring to me. The hills offer a surprising amount of butterflies but no solid air time or even gentle float time. Racing along the rocks doesn't improve the sense of speed at all. Though the ride impressed me for the most part, I still believe 5-10 more mph would do wonders for this ride.

Fun ride, no doubt. But to me it's not the best in the resort or worth more than an hour in line.

[Quentin]

Maybe they should give out little tickets like Mission Space and then you can choose from the normal speed or a FASTER speed!

Absolutely!!!! I actually think this could make a huge difference, that way the wimps and the thrill seekers can have fun.

Everyone said "The sharp turns make up for the lack of speed" Looks like a lot of people think it should be faster. I knew it. 40mph is slow no matter what. That disappoints me.

[Exprmnt626]

It's been said before, but the design of the more modern cars like Sally, Lightning, and Luigi mean that a moving mechanical mouth is not gonna work. Mater has a flatter facial profile as he's a tow truck so that lends itself to more smooth animation with mechanics.

[Monorail Man]

As for the odd story placement, this was explained by Imagineers:

The outdoor Radiator Springs represents the RS of 'today' (post Cars 2), while the indoor RS represents a Cars 1.5 time-frame.

Why two RS? That was never explained, but I have a feeling it was that the indoor RS is very 'portable' - they wanted to create a self-contained story that required no time to spend in the outside RS. Even if you don't explore Cars Land, you still get to enjoy RS inside the ride. Plus, it makes it so that if other parks want the RSR experience, they don't have to fully build another grand-scale RS.

As for the blinking light, some of the Cars Toon shorts still had it blinking, I think that Sheriff turns the light on-and-off when we wants to.

Personally, I would have preferred a longer 'drive' segment than a longer 'race' segment. The Race is fun, but it's not that thrilling.

[DisneyIPresume]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the way they handled the show lighting, especially in the caves. I love how there is rock-work all around you, but they had perfectly round circles cut out of the rock-work wherever they had a show light. This was a bit evident in the load area, but especially glaring in the last part of the ride where Mater and McQueen are located. In other rides such as POTC the show lighting is hidden behind a rock outcropping or maybe they have some barrells hidden behind it so you can't see it. Or the show scenes are in alcoves where it is easier to hide the lights.

If they had to position the lighting from inside the cave walls they could have made the opening more jagged and natural looking instead of perfect circles. It just didn't look right.

[ghosty4]

I guess I'm among the few that really had no complaints at all. I thought it was so well done.

You... were the fifth person to post in the thread. You even had pictures to back up what you didn't like?!

And I agree with you. The Mater animatronic looks wonderful, which makes the projected mouth McQueen right beside him look stupid. During the interior scene when they project on Sally right next to McQueen, it's not as glaring because they both look equally badly done, but they really should have had a moving mouth McQueen next to the moving mouth Mater for the finale.

And, as I've mentioned in a different thread, the audio from inside the ride vehicle overpowers the audio from the show scenes.

[clippers6]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the way they handled the show lighting, especially in the caves. I love how there is rock-work all around you, but they had perfectly round circles cut out of the rock-work wherever they had a show light. This was a bit evident in the load area, but especially glaring in the last part of the ride where Mater and McQueen are located. In other rides such as POTC the show lighting is hidden behind a rock outcropping or maybe they have some barrells hidden behind it so you can't see it. Or the show scenes are in alcoves where it is easier to hide the lights.

If they had to position the lighting from inside the cave walls they could have made the opening more jagged and natural looking instead of perfect circles. It just didn't look right.

I never really noticed it in the outdoor portions, but the way the lighting is exposed inside the show building and that bothers me. I would have preferred better attempts at hiding it like in PotC and HM. I think some of the Fantasyland dark rides did a better job hiding their lighting. Based on Little Mermaid and RSR, I'd say this is no longer a priority.

Also, I think Taillight Caverns is a bit of a disappointing conclusion. It just doesn't look as nice as it does in the concept art probably because it doesn't get dark enough in that room for the effect to really work and for the taillights to not look so plastic. I also wouldn't have mind an instrumental of Life is a Highway playing as you return to the loading station. That's the song I most associate with Cars.

[Bongo]

True, the ride is a fast 40 MPH. I've stuck my head out the window of a car at 40 MPH before and that'd quite fast, but the ride just didn't feel that fast. Take Space Mountain for example. Space Mountain has a top speed of about 35, but it feels much faster due to the wind they blow in your face and the many MANY dips and curves that love to disorient you. Another example would be the Troop Transports over at Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The vehicles have a top speed of about 15 MPH, but the jerkiness of the vehicle can trick your mind into thinking you're going a lot faster.

I like to call it the Bullet Train Effect. The average speed of a Bullet Train is 125 MPH. Now that is FAST, but it doesn't feel fast because it's pretty much a smooth ride. Same with RSR. It goes fast, but it is still a relatively smooth ride, even with the small dips and that huge curve done during the racing portion of the ride. A vehicle may go fast, but the effects of it are not entirely felt.

[frollofan]

True, the ride is a fast 40 MPH. I've stuck my head out the window of a car at 40 MPH before and that'd quite fast, but the ride just didn't feel that fast. Take Space Mountain for example. Space Mountain has a top speed of about 35, but it feels much faster due to the wind they blow in your face and the many MANY dips and curves that love to disorient you. Another example would be the Troop Transports over at Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The vehicles have a top speed of about 15 MPH, but the jerkiness of the vehicle can trick your mind into thinking you're going a lot faster.

I like to call it the Bullet Train Effect. The average speed of a Bullet Train is 125 MPH. Now that is FAST, but it doesn't feel fast because it's pretty much a smooth ride. Same with RSR. It goes fast, but it is still a relatively smooth ride, even with the small dips and that huge curve done during the racing portion of the ride. A vehicle may go fast, but the effects of it are not entirely felt.

Space Mountain is smooth but it still feels fast. Plus it is in the dark and the curves and dips are unexpected and this heightens the thrill. Maybe if they got rid of the windshield on RSR you could feel more breeze on your face making it feel faster, or maybe the race should been extended into a dark cave. idk

[Coheteboy]

You... were the fifth person to post in the thread. You even had pictures to back up what you didn't like?!\

I was quoting someone else's complaint and offering them visuals to help elaborate on their claims.