Lionel Disney Chase Gondola - Frozen II

Pull straight up on the 2 rectangular pads on the crate load.

Thanks, Chuck - you mean these two pads ?

Yes those 2.

Before you do that may I ask are you running the car in the correct direction? If you look at the metal bar that holds the figures you should be running the car so bar is facing backwards  when the figure is moving. Then if the figure catches on anything it just pushes in and keeps going. If you run it the wrong direction if you hit a bump in the track and the figure wobbles and catches on one of the gondola ribs that are along the side of the car this will jamb it up the figure gets stuck and the tape slips on the cogs and wears out. If you do need to remove those tabs to check turn the car over, see the 2 oval shaped holes you will see the tabs sticking through the body,  use a pair of needle nose plyers to pinch the 2 small tabs together and push down to get it pop out of the gondola. Do both sets of tabs and the cover will come off the top. Lionel does offer replacement film belt things that hold the figures they are fragile and can wear out with lots of use. Be careful when putting the cover back on to be sure all the pieces are in the correct position so you do not damage the film tape when installing the cover.

It is running in the correct direction. I did see the two plastic tabs underneath and pinched them to remove the cargo load, but it did not readily move and I didn't want to force it w/o checking on the Forum first.

Now that I know it's part of the correct approach, I will re-try tonight and report back.

Just an update - I was able to remove the cargo load by squeezing the two tabs underneath and pushing up on the load to remove it. You can see it sitting on the work table in some of the pics.

The perforated tape that revolves around the two end posts is about 1" wide and you can see where the figures attach to the tape. They are actually pinned and suaged to the tape by a thin metal tab. One of the posts moves freely and has a horizontal spring attached so that it keeps tension on the tape. Importantly, the bottom edge of the cargo load fits over the top of the tape and holds it in place. Without the cargo load, the tape would bend and fall away towards the edge of the gondola from the weight of the two figures.

In my case, the tape was getting held up and stopping because it was rubbing against the inside of the cargo load at one end. I suspect that as the figure was going around the post it's weight was pulling the tape up against the inside edge of the cargo load and getting caught. I got out my Dremel and sanding disc and lightly sanded the inside edge of the cargo load in the area where the figure was stopping and removed enough material so the figure no longer gets hung up and it operates now as it should - problem solved and pics below - thanks to all.