I noticed in our 2019 October trip that they had shortened the pre-race sequences -- shaving a few seconds here and there: less time to linger when you emerge out of the tunnel onto the vista from the mesa (with that great music!), when Doc Hudson is talking to you (you used to get the whole speech while you sat there, but now it's still going as you pull through the room), when you meet Mater before the cow-tipping (again you got to hear the whole speech *before* he backed away into the bushes, which now is still going as you drive past), when you're in Ramon's or Luigi's getting prepped for the race (you had more time in the prep, and more time to look at yourself in the mirror before exiting the room), etc.
People who hadn't ridden RSR as much as my family (we rope-dropped early entry, and gamed the heck out of FastPasses and MaxPass, riding it as many as five times in a day) might not notice, but to us it has been really obvious -- it's rushed, you don't get the whole story in any of the segments, and if you're only riding it the once, you might not even understand what's going on (
e.g. wait, what did Mater say? why are we honking at tractors??). I blamed it on some 27-year-old MBA figuring out just precisely exactly what they could shave and not get any blowback, all to squeeze like three more cars an hour through the ride.
And now, with lines never dipping below the 120-minute mark, I doubt it'll ever return to the old way.
Thinking about my TT experiecne though, I do think it's possible that some kind of failsafe activated on thier ride causing it to move that way. RSR has WAY more room than TT does though, but the basic operation is the same.
