Rocket Rods

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Rocket Rods
The entrance to Rocket Rods.
Disneyland
Land	Tomorrowland
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Manufacturer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Theme	Futuristic
Opening date	May 22, 1998
Closing date	April 2001
Music	"Magic Highways" by the Sherman Brothers
Vehicle type	The Rocket Rod
Cars per vehicle	1
Guests per car	5
Ride duration	3:00 minutes
Maximum speed	35 mph (56.3 km/h)
Height requirements	46" (117 cm)
Sponsored by	Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (3 weeks in 1998)

Rocket Rods (otherwise known as informally The Rods) was an attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

[edit] The Ride

Opening on May 22, 1998 as part of the New Tomorrowland, this high-speed attraction ran on the former PeopleMover track. Riders entered the attraction at the former Circle-Vision 360 building at the front of Tomorrowland. In the first room, huge blueprints of old and current Tomorrowland attractions hung on the walls, along with actual former Tomorrowland attraction vehicles, which were repainted blue with an orange grid to make them appear like blueprints. The ride vehicles included were four PeopleMover cars, two Rocket Jets, a Space Mountain rocket, and the front of a Mark III Disneyland Monorail. After viewing the blueprints, guests passed "proposals" for extending the Rocket Rods highway all the way to John Wayne Airport and other nearby destinations. The next room of the queue was the nine-screen CircleVision theater, where guests watched old transportation videos, excerpts from the CircleVision films "America the Beautiful" and "The Timekeeper" put between a Walt Disney narrated video, and a video depicting the evolution of General Motors cars, featuring an electronic version of the Steppenwolf hit Born to Be Wild, composed by former Oingo Boingo member Steve Bartek. Guests then continued down an ex-Cast Member tunnel (that at one point was filled with noxious gas) leading to the elevated Rocket Rods station in the center of Tomorrowland.

Guests then boarded an unusual 5-seat Rocket Rod before moving forward to a staging area similar to one used for drag racing. Anticipation was built by the lights changing from red, to yellow, to green, and then having the vehicle zoom down a straightaway toward the entrance of Tomorrowland while performing a small wheelie (which was removed during the course of its life). The Rocket Rod took riders through the Star Tours building, and then into a tunnel where riders experienced the effect of nearly colliding with an oncoming Rocket Rod (in reality, this was only the vehicle's reflection in a mirror). Afterwards, the Rocket Rod took guests through Space Mountain, offering a very brief to no glimpse of that attraction. The vehicle then took riders back outside again before entering the Carousel Theater, home of the Innoventions attraction. This was one of the spots the Rocket Rods could maintain their speed. After going through a semicircular trip through Innoventions, the Rocket Rod took riders through a series of turns and dips above Autopia and the former Submarine Voyage lagoon. Finally, the Rod passed next to the Disneyland Monorail station before entering the Rocket Rods queue building, where the riders would be hit with flashing lights and an blast of air. The vehicle then traveled back up the straightaway to the station.

Rocket Rods were the first attraction to house a Single Rider lane due to its long lines and limited capacity.

[edit] Music

The attraction featured its own theme song, "Magic Highways," composed by the Sherman Brothers, which played in the attraction's queue and exit area. Another song from the attraction is an instrumental version of Steppenwolf's Born To Be Wild, arranged by Oingo Boingo's Steve Bartek.

[edit] Demise of the Rocket Rods

Rocket Rods leaving the loading platform. Cars paused before being flung down this track at high velocity and then slowing down to make the sharp corner toward the end.

The Rocket Rods closed in September 2000 for a refurbishment that was to last until Spring 2001, but no work was ever seen on the attraction. In April 2001, the Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register reported that Rocket Rods would never reopen.^{[citation needed]}

There are a number of reasons that the Rocket Rods closed. The Rocket Rods completed the course of the 16-minute PeopleMover in only about 3 minutes. Because the Rocket Rods project was not given a large enough budget to bank the track's curves, the Rocket Rods had to slow down substantially to maneuver most of the turns. The support structure and track originally built for the PeopleMover was not meant to be used for a high speed attraction and began to weaken. Tires were also a problem for Rocket Rods. Disney had a contract with Goodyear Tires, who sponsored the PeopleMover during its entire 28-year run. Disney would advertise for Goodyear in exchange for tires for the attraction. The deal only lasted three weeks. The reason is that due to high speeds and turning the tires wore quickly and had to be replaced within 4-7 days. The constant changes in speed caused the vehicles' onboard computer systems to fail, shutting down the entire attraction. The attraction broke down at least once a day, causing queues of up to three hours. It was not uncommon for guests to receive rain check passes to ride on another day.^{[citation needed]}

Most of the Rocket Rods vehicles were scrapped after the closure, but at least two survived. One was placed in front of the Hollywood & Dine restaurant at Disney's California Adventure, where it remained for only a few months. It was gone by 2002. Another Rocket Rod is in the hands of a collector. The track is moderately rusted and very overgrown with foliage after almost 6 years of sitting unused. However, Disney did repaint it at one point, suggesting they are still maintaining that structure.

After the closure of Rocket Rods, hopes arose that the PeopleMover would be reinstalled. Rumors still circulate today, usually stating that the PeopleMover will return, possibly as a copy of the still-running Magic Kingdom version: Tomorrowland Transit Authority.^{[citation needed]} The equipment used for the PeopleMover only still exists on the Rocket Rods track in some places, which would require much of the equipment to be reinstalled again.

Rocket Rods' queue area, which was formerly Circle-Vision 360, is now Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, which opened in March 2005. Many Disney theme park attractions pay homage to the attractions that preceded them^{[citation needed]}, but there is no indication of any tribute to the Rocket Rods in the new attraction.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] "Proposed system expansion"

In the queue area, near the stairway to the boarding area was a fictional map reading titled Rocket Rods Proposed System Expansion, showing guests where Rocket Rods was to expand to in the future. The map was just for fun, but had real life locations on it (as well as ambiguous ones), including Tomorrowland attractions already bypassed by the Rocket Rods' route, such as:

• Star Tours
• Space Mountain
• Innoventions
• Disney's California Adventure
• Disneyland Resort Hotels
• Edison International Field
• Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
• The Walt Disney Studios
• Hollywood
• Airport
• The beach
• The mountains

[edit] References

• Simulated dragster ride - Patent #6,227,120. US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved on November 16, 2005. - Patent for the 'wheelie' effect. Includes a breakaway view of the Rocket Rod vehicle

Trivia:

Pre-show music for the attraction included the song "Detroit" by Robert and Richard Sherman from the 1967 Disney film "The Happiest Millionaire." The composer for the attraction, Steve Bartek, created a new arrangement as part of the waiting area entertainment.

[edit] See also

• List of past Disneyland attractions

[edit] External links

• Ride-Through on YouTube[1]