Disney Rival Theme Park Forced to Close Iconic Ride

Major theme park operators, such as Disney  (DIS) - Get Free Report and Comcast's  (CMCSA) - Get Free Report Universal Studios, maintain their rides and attractions regularly and carefully in order to keep them operating properly and safely for their guests.

Anytime a favorite ride of visitors is temporarily closed for maintenance, repairs or upgrades, many guests are disappointed when they can't ride that attraction. 

For example, Disneyland on Aug. 15 closed its Haunted Mansion ride through Sept. 1 as the theme park redecorates the attraction for its return as Haunted Mansion Holiday on Sept. 2. Disneyland's popular ride is being redecorated in its annual Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas theme, which will continue for a limited time until Jan. 8. Until Sept. 2, Disneyland guests might be a little disappointed that the ride is temporary closed.

Haunted Mansion Fans Can Still Ride the Orlando Attraction

Haunted Mansion fans can still travel to Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando to enjoy the ride while Disneyland's attraction is closed, since the Florida park does not feature a Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Universal Studios Florida closed its Revenge of the Mummy ride on Jan. 7, 2022, for scheduled maintenance and was supposed to reopen the ride in summer 2022. Rumors have been flying around various Universal blogs about predictions of a mid-August reopening of the ride, but fans of the ride will just have to wait until the ride officially reopens, probably sometime in September.

Fans of Six Flags Great Adventure's iconic El Toro roller coaster in Jackson, N.J., are going to be disappointed for awhile as the highly awarded attraction was forced to shut down on Aug. 25 by order of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs after 14 people were injured on the ride with five being sent to a hospital, NJ.com reported. All people taken to the hospital were later released.

Witnesses said that the roller coaster felt like it hit a pothole as many people heard a loud bang and the ride jolted during operation. One person reported a neck injury, two had back injuries and two had mouth or tongue injuries, the Department of Community Affairs said.

"The ride will remain closed for inspection. Any maintenance and repairs necessary will be completed and the ride will be re-inspected by our engineers, maintenance professionals, our third-party independent safety inspectors and the state of New Jersey prior to re-opening," Six Flags  (SIX) - Get Free Report reportedly said in a statement.

Not the First Time the Ride Was Closed

This is not the first time that the wooden El Toro roller coaster has been forced to shut down for serious mechanical difficulties. The ride was shut down on June 29, 2021, after partially derailing as a train on the ride did not return to the station when it stopped a few yards from the ride's brake run, NJ.com reported. No injuries were reported in the derailment. The ride reopened in late spring 2022.

El Toro is 19 stories high with a 176-foot drop at a 76 degree angle that would be the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the country, the Six Flags Great Adventure website said. The ride is 4,400 feet long and hits a top speed of 70 mph for a ride lasting 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

The ride was voted the No. 1 Best Roller Coaster in USA Today's 2022 Readers Poll, No. 1 in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards in 2017 and No. 1 Wooden Coaster in the World in the 2011 Internet Coaster Poll, the Six Flags Great Adventure website said.