Ride refurbishments and temporary attraction closures are a fact of life at the Disney Parks. Ditto downtime and delays, which are 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. (Updated August 15, 2025.)
As reflected in recent updates to the 2025-2026 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 Disneyland should add 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…)
Radiator Springs Racers Refurbishment (Closing & Reopening Dates)
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 headliner will be closed for a little over one month.
Disneyland has now announced that the Cars closure will continue through September 25, and Radiator Springs Racers reopens on September 26, 2025. Note that this return date is subject to change, which often does happen with a refurbishment of this scale and scope.
Usually, Disney gives itself a bit of a buffer and attractions are more likely to reopen ahead of schedule as opposed to be delayed, but we’ve seen both happen in the last year. So if Radiator Springs Racers is a must-do for you, we’d recommend pushing your visit off for a few days–ideally into early October 2025–just to be safe.
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.
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!
Halloween Starts Early at DCA
Although Halloween Time at Disneyland starts on August 22, Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA kicks off on August 17, 2025. Ahead of both, Disney California Adventure has started celebrating spook season even earlier. Halloween in Cars Land is now underway, as the citizens of Radiator Springs don their Halloween costumes and decorate their homes to celebrate “Haul-O-Ween.”
For the Haul-O-Ween overlay in Cars Land, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree becomes Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters transforms into Luigi’s Honkin’ Haul-O-Ween. Both of these attraction overlays are now running daily at DCA through October 31, 2025.
But wait, there’s more! The biggest attraction overlay has also started early, as Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! transforms into Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark each day. This means you can experience two versions of this attraction in the same day.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Monsters After Dark starts daily at 3pm. Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission BREAKOUT closes at 2pm for the switch. The Monsters after Dark B-side version of the attraction continues to run daily through October 31, 2025.
Speaking of those specific rides, we have more to share on stealth refurbishments, downtime & delays at DCA…
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout
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.
In the months since, we noticed that one elevator shaft was down on Mission Breakout with regularity. Along with that average wait times increased for Mission Breakout, and Lightning Lane availability was more difficult and competitive. One day, I was doing Early Entry field testing and made the mistake of starting at Mission Breakout when two elevator shafts were down. Big mistake.
In any case, the above is past tense because, over the last week or so, we’ve noticed that this stealth refurbishment appears to be finished. On both of our most recent visits, Mission Breakout was firing on all cylinders and operating all shafts. The posted wait time was reasonable, and the actual wait was even shorter. (Can’t speak to Lightning Lanes.)
It’s entirely possible that Disney paused the stealth refurbishment due to the end of the ticket deal and last minute rush of that and influx of demand due to the end of blockouts, return of Tier 0 ticket prices, etc. So we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but our assumption is that the stealth refurbishment has wrapped up, with the goal of finishing before Halloween season. Disney starting the ‘Monsters After Dark’ overlay reinforces this notion.
Soarin’ Theater Occasionally Offline
Soarin’ also had a long wait because it is also undergoing a 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.
Walkway Closure
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!).
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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!