Ride refurbishments and temporary attraction closures are a fact of life at the Disney Parks. Ditto downtime and delays, which happen throughout the day and can be frustrating because they’re unplanned and unannounced. This update covers a mix of these problems, with an emphasis on the upcoming Radiator Springs Racers refurbishment at Disney California Adventure.
As reflected in recent updates to the 2025 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar, increased maintenance has been occurring after a few years of lighter refurbishment schedules. This winter was jam-packed with closures–including high profile attractions during the heart of Spring Break season–as Disney attempted to get the parks in tip-top shape before the start of Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary celebration.
This probably isn’t going to win me any friends, but I think Disneyland should be adding even more attractions to the closure calendar. There are numerous rides that have been experiencing above-average downtime, and others that are operating but not show-ready. The reason for this is that preventative maintenance was not occurring as it should–which is the ‘best of both worlds’ solution, as it means overnight work that has minimal impact to guests. I guess that’s what happens when you let go of a bunch of old-timers who held the institutional knowledge and lived-experience necessary to maintain and fix so many of these legacy attractions! (But I digress…)
Anyway, today’s big news is that the top-rated Cars Land attraction at Disney California Adventure will be temporarily closing in a couple of months for routine maintenance. The Radiator Springs Racers refurbishment will start on August 18, 2025 and the Cars Land attraction will be closed for a little over one month.
Unfortunately, Disney has not yet specified a reopening date yet, meaning it’s possible the actual duration of the closure is not yet known. You also might note that the refurbishment has not yet been added to the official attraction page for Radiator Springs Racers. It’s unclear why this has yet to happen, but this closure is very much on the internal calendar. This has been officially confirmed with Disney–it’s not simply a rumor.
The refurbishment of Radiator Springs Racers is said to be a standard one, with a scope of work including but not limited to track resurfacing, lighting upgrades, and audio/visual updates. Late last month, Disneyland filed a construction permit to upgrade all show lighting to LED fixtures for Radiator Springs Racers, and also upgrade other audio, video, and network updates throughout the attraction.
Since 2022, Radiator Springs Racers has closed for 4 separate refurbishments, including 2 in 2023. The Cars Land headliner last closed for a brief refurbishment from February 26-March 1 last year, and was down from August 18-27 in 2023.
Prior to these 4 refurbishments, Radiator Springs Racers only had one scheduled closure–a three-day stretch in 2013–during its first decade of operations. Of course, it’s not uncommon for newer rides to not need as much maintenance, but the change is nevertheless notable.
The refurbishment of Radiator Spring Racers would be notable no matter when it were happening. There’s a reason why it’s our #1 ride in DCA and #5 in all of Disneyland Resort on our List Ranking All 68 Attractions at Disneyland & California Adventure. Honestly, #5 might be a bit too low, but it’s hard to beat the OGs at Disneyland.
Radiator Springs Racers is one of the few attractions I make a point of doing every single visit. That’s happening a bit less now that we have a toddler, but the Single Rider line is a huge win for us, especially during tourist season when lower tier APs are blocked out.
In this case, the closure of Radiator Springs Racers is even more notable because it’s happening right before Halloween Time at Disneyland starts on August 22, 2025. Granted, that seasonal event has been moved forward strategically so that it now starts as schools go back into session during what was previously off-season, but what we observed last year was elevated attendance throughout August and into early September due to Halloween Time and ticket deals. Thankfully, the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Ticket Deal ends August 14, 2025…but the Crazy-Good Costco Ticket Deal doesn’t!
Due to the RSR refurbishment, it’s possible that ‘feels like’ crowds will be higher during the first month of Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party dates. Radiator Springs Racers helps tremendously with soaking up crowds during that hard ticket event, and unless Disneyland adjusts ticket sales downward, that could present an issue. Just something to be aware of when choosing your dates for that event.
On a similar note, the same will occur with wait times throughout Disney California Adventure during daily ops. It’s not just us–Radiator Springs Racers is far and away the most popular ride at DCA. During this refurbishment, wait times will increase across the board by a few minutes, with a disproportionate impact at Incredicoaster, Soarin’ and Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!
Speaking of those specific rides, we have more to share on stealth refurbishments, downtime & delays at DCA…
You might recall that earlier this year, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! was closed for about a week during Spring Break.
While the scope of work was never revealed, we know what it was/is based on a permit Disney filed for the project. That involved the replacement of brake and drive control cabinets across all shafts, as well as additional work in one of the shafts. It’s unclear how long this will take, but based on the description, it sounded to us like a project that could last several weeks–if not months. Despite that, it was scheduled for a closure of less than a week. Something didn’t add up.
We also cautioned that work could continue to be done in phases while the ride is operational. It’s entirely possible to take one shaft down at a time for a ‘stealth’ refurbishment, which is exactly what Tower of Terror at Walt Disney World received a couple of years ago. It decreases ride capacity, but it keeps the attraction operational. It was possible that operations wanted Mission Breakout open for the busy spring break season, so they did a week of downtime followed by however long it takes of a stealth refurbishment.
Now we know this was accurate. During the last few weeks, we’ve run into a few issues with delays at Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! Honestly, I’m not sure when, exactly, this started. I spent a lot of time in Florida in March and April, so we hadn’t been going to Disneyland as much until the 70th started.
Since then, I’ve noticed one elevator shaft has been down on Mission Breakout with regularity. The reason I want to bring this to your attention is that so you know why average wait times have increased for Mission Breakout, and along with that, why Lightning Lane availability is more difficult and competitive. Not only that, but posted wait times are likely to be accurate and not inflated.
If anything, posted wait times actually might be understated. Just yesterday, I was doing Early Entry field testing and made the mistake of starting at Mission Breakout. When this ride is firing on all cylinders and operating all shafts, this is the way to go. You can walk right on and potentially be done quickly enough to then do Web Slingers before beating the rope drop rush to Radiator Springs Racers. (This requires luck and speed–try at your own risk.)
Despite being towards the front of the Early Entry pack yesterday, Mission Breakout most definitely was not a walk-on. This is because one elevator shaft has down for the stealth refurbishment, and another had broken down. Ouch.
Instead of being a walk-on, it was an almost 30 minute wait, and my group wasn’t off until almost 8 am. When we got off Mission Breakout, the posted wait time had ballooned to 65 minutes. That means on-site guests who got up early were “rewarded” with a wait time on par with some random time in mid-afternoon.
If continuing to Radiator Springs Racers, we would’ve been behind the rope drop rush, so this stealth refurbishment threw a serious monkey wrench into the morning plan. And unfortunately, there was no easy pivot. Web Slingers probably would’ve been the best play due to proximity.
Soarin’ also had a long wait because it is also undergoing a stealth refurbishment to one of its theaters.
This isn’t really a new development, and honestly, I’m not even sure whether “stealth refurbishment” is the right term here. It seems like Soarin’ has frequently had one theater out of commission for the last two years. I remember when formulating our original Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Rankings at DCA, we placed Soarin’ near the top due to this. It’s hard to say whether maintenance teams are actively working on the theater or what, exactly, is happening.
Either way, it’s again worth drawing your attention to because Soarin’s wait times can balloon as a result. It also means they’re more likely to be accurate, and that LLMP availability is likely to be lower. Finally, I’d just add that–subjectively–Mission Breakout and Soarin’ are two of the more excruciating rides to experience at reduced capacity. Even when both are at 100% capacity, I feel like the line can move glacially slow, with unexpectedly long waits (including via the Lightning Lane) if you get unlucky with load cycles. Perhaps I’m just incredibly impatient, but this feels interminably long when they’re in ‘stealth refurbishment’ mode. I won’t be doing either until they’re operating at full tilt.
Bringing things full circle, my Early Entry and rope drop run approach at DCA yesterday was to (try to) hit the mid-morning lull at Radiator Springs Racers. Another awful idea!
Instead of hitting a lull, I encountered the longest posted wait time of the day–125 minutes–and Cast Members closing the queue to new guests entering (but not dumping it) due to technical difficulties. I’m not sure how this played out after I left (the rope drop run was an irredeemable lost cause at this point, so I just gave up), but it sort of underscored the why of this Radiator Springs Racers refurbishment.
It was a rough morning at DCA, albeit one redeemed for us by Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live!, two attractions that are quickly rising up our Disneyland power rankings. Regardless, hopefully this unofficial ride refurbishment and the stealth ones address those issues and make for a smoother guest experience.
Finally, in a tangentially-related Cars Land news, the walkway between Radiator Springs Racers and Avengers Campus is blocked by two sets of construction walls. The area between the two lands is out of commission for the expansion of Avengers Campus that’ll add two new attractions. The walls blocking this path are expected to remain until sometime in 2026.
The path in question connects Avengers Campus to Cars Land right by Radiator Springs Curios and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. It’s also near the new-ish Red’s Community Garden overflow seating area for the Cozy Cones (trying to cram as much previously-uncovered news into this one update!).
In even more vaguely-connected Cars land (lowercase “l”) news, Imagineers have finally pulled back the curtain on the Inspiration for Cars Land in Magic Kingdom, which is set in Piston Peak National Park (from “Planes”) as opposed to Radiator Springs, and will be based on the Rocky Mountain National Park. It’ll also feature a deep cut character with a DCA connection: Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Radiator Springs Racers ride refurbishment? Disappointed that it coincides with the start of Halloween Time at Disneyland, or do you think the post-summer “off-season” is the best time for such downtime? Have you experienced stealth refurbishments at Soarin or Mission Breakout? Run into downtime & delays at DCA? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!