One of the most unique elements of the most unique Cars Land attraction has been permanently removed. Luigi’s Flying Tires no longer features beach balls bouncing around, a feature that was introduced with the ride when it first opened in June.

Though fans have mixed reactions about this slow-paced attraction, the beach balls added an additional kinetic element that many enjoyed. So why has Disneyland decided to remove them?

In an e-mailed statement, Disneyland spokesperson Erin Glover simply wrote, “We regularly make modifications to attractions to provide guests with the best possible experience.” In other words, Disney has decided the beach balls did not offer riders a good overall experience. And while many have enjoyed leaning and spinning on the floating tires while tossing the oversized red, white, and green balls at each other, anyone who has ever gotten hit in the head with one likely has a different opinion.

But there’s no shortage of fans who feel the removal of the beach balls will suck some of the fun out of the ride. While this leaves the attraction in a much less eye-catching state, Disney does plan to add something new to make up for it. Glover added, “We are looking forward to introducing new creative elements to the attraction in the future, but we’ve got nothing to announce on those elements today.”

The Orange County Register also reports the speed of the tires will be increased as Disney removes around 20 pounds of weight from each vehicle.

In the meantime, guests visiting the highly-successful and extremely popular Cars Land can still enjoy the throwback to Disneyland’s old Flying Saucers attraction from decades ago, gracefully gliding to Italian tunes.



Here’s how the attraction looked when it grand opened, complete with giant beach balls: