The Unfortunate Reality of Tech Heavy Theme Parks

We have been writing about our trip to Walt Disney World in March 2025, and all things considered, we absolutely loved our times in the various parks and at our resort. Thanks to the wonderful folks at Walt Disney Canada, we were setup with lightning lane passes for our various park days so we could enjoy the rides that are the most technologically advanced in all of Orlando. You can read about the tech marvels of Walt Disney World here . There is a downside to the wonders of what Disney can do – rides being down.

One unfortunate reality of visiting any theme park – and I want to make it clear here, that Walt Disney World is not unique in this regard – is that there is always a chance that a ride you really want to ride is not operating, or is down for long periods of time. This definitely happened to us during our trip, and caused us some disruptions. In some cases – Guardians of the Galaxy and Remy to highlight two – we were able to eventually get on the ride, but not without waiting long periods of time for the rides to reopen.

In other cases, the rides didn’t reopen at all, or didn’t reopen where it made sense for us to backtrack and ride it. Things happen at theme parks, and in most situations you cannot do anything about it. Fortunately, the crew at Walt Disney World get to work quickly on trying to get rides back up and running, but that doesn’t always happen, or might not happen fast enough for guests in attendance at the park.

A really tough situation was one that we experienced. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was down for long periods of our day at Epcot, but we did happen to be in France, fresh off the Beauty and the Beast sing-a-long show, when the ride reopened to guests. Using one of our Lightning Lane attractions, we got on the ride relatively quickly, only to be disappointed that while the ride cards were operating, certain screens on the ride were still not working so we spent a lot of time looking at blank screens where, you knew something was happening, but you were not experiencing it.

This is just a reality of technologically advanced parks, and it can be disappointing. What I will say is that Disney and their staff members are fantastic at dealing with these issues. These lightning lane passes were gifted to us by Disney Public Relations, so I wasn’t overly upset about the situation as I had not personally paid for them. But I decided to do a bit of sleuthing to report back for those who may have paid. Surprisingly – or perhaps not so much – Disney was very happy to provide a return time for the ride so we could experience it again.

I’m not sure if this works on any ride you use a lightning lane pass on, or if staff just knew this ride had some issues. But this story ultimately becomes one of how good Disney cast members are at their jobs. They are fantastic at de-escalating situations – there were some upset forks for sure – and Disney seems to provide managers a fair amount of leeway to resolve situations like this.

So yes, if you plan to visit Walt Disney World in the next few weeks or months, be prepared for some things that are going to happen. Tech fails from time-to-time, and it could happen on your vacation. Take a breath, talk to a cast member, and remember it’s only a small part of your larger family vacation!