Disneyland Closes These Popular Rides as Summer Crowds Approach

After Disney revealed plans to lay off 7,000 workers companywide, the company's Disneyland Resort has more bad news for its guests.

Trips to Disney World and Disneyland Resort theme parks are always ideal when every ride on site is operating. It gives visitors an opportunity to get on their favorite ride at some point during the day or night if they plan it right.

Lately, the theme parks have been on a campaign to refurbish or retheme various rides around the parks. Currently at Disney World, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is closed at Hollywood Studios for refurbishment. Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom closed on Jan. 23 to be rethemed as Tiana's Bayou Adventure and reopens in 2024.

Splash Mountain at Disneyland is still operating and is set to close on May 31 for retheming to Tiana's Bayou Adventure and reopening in late 2024. Tarzan's Treehouse in Adventureland closed in September 2021 for refurbishment, remains covered from public view, but no reopening date has been revealed. The Matterhorn Bobsleds are also listed as temporarily unavailable.

Disneyland closed its popular Indiana Jones Adventure ride in Adventureland on Jan. 9, 2023, for refurbishment and reopened it on March 27.

Disney on April 24 said it will begin 7,000 companywide layoffs in all of its divisions, but they won't affect front-line theme park workers, the company told workers. 

Disneyland Closing 3 Popular Rides 

Just in time for the summer crowds, Disneyland Resort will close three popular classic rides at Disneyland and one ride at California Adventure for refurbishments, beginning June 5. Disneyland Resort has not revealed on its website when the rides will reopen, since the parks' calendar notations end on June 6.

The Disneyland Resort did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Among the rides set for closing on June 5 is the ever-popular Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland at Disneyland, which often has long lines requiring 30-minute to hour-long waits, and sometimes longer on the busiest days. The ride has a historical average wait time of 34 minutes with a recorded maximum of 90 minutes Thrill Data reports.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, located next to the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland, will also be closing June 5. It has a historical wait time of only 16 minutes with a maximum of 55 minutes. The Mr. Toad and Peter Pan attractions are original rides that began operating at Disneyland on Opening Day, July 17, 1955. 

Another popular ride set for June closing in Fantasyland is Alice in Wonderland, which has a historical average wait time of 26 minutes, with a recorded maximum of 90 minutes, Thrill Data estimates.

California Adventure Shuts One Ride

Next door to Disneyland at California Adventure, Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure is the only ride closing in June at that park. The ride usually doesn't have much of a wait at all, with a historical average of a 10 minute wait, but often the wait time is about 5 minutes. The longest recorded wait time on the ride was 2-1/2 hours on March 8, 2022, Thrill Data said.

Guests planning a visit beginning June 5 should check the Hours & Events Calendar on the Disneyland website to see if their favorite attractions are operating.