Video - Splash Mtn finale Jan 22 (all animatronics broken)

KevinYee

KevinYee

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Not sure if this is a long-standing problem at Splash or not, as I haven't ridden much in recent months, but all the robotics were turned off on Jan. 22 (both at 5pm and again at 8pm). The boat itself is rocking, but the characters on it are frozen. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nv_xKKv2IQ

Surely there's a point at which 'enough' robotics break that they'd turn the ride off, right?
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
KevinYee said:
Not sure if this is a long-standing problem at Splash or not, as I haven't ridden much in recent months, but all the robotics were turned off on Jan. 22 (both at 5pm and again at 8pm). The boat itself is rocking, but the characters on it are frozen. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nv_xKKv2IQ

Surely there's a point at which 'enough' robotics break that they'd turn the ride off, right?
Click to expand...

That video is heartbreaking. :(

Certainly things break down occasionally and it takes a few minutes for the CM's to notice and begin shutting the ride down until its fixed. And in the age of iPhones and YouTube, that type of embarassing situation can be broadcast to the world instantly if the right person rides thru before the ride is shut down to fix it.

But... if you went on this ride twice in one day within 3 hours and the robotics were broken both times, and this is your second ride-thru with the broken robotics in the big finale' scene of a marquee E Ticket Attraction, then something has gone very, very wrong with the way the Magic Kingdom Park is being managed. :eek:
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
jmick71 said:
like the headless chicken
Click to expand...

I thought it was headless too, like it had fallen off or something. :lol:

But then you can see one of the other chickens on the bow of the boat whose head has fallen so far back that it sorta falls onto its back behind its torso. Apparently that's what these animatronic robots do when they are broken down and/or deprived of power to operate. The effect is so severe that it looks "headless" from the front.

Really quite sad.
 
SobchakSecurity

SobchakSecurity

Member
I can only imagine what that must be like for someone to ride the first time. Instead of a great ending to a great ride, there's this eerie, motionless let-down.

By now, I think it's gone beyond bad show. It's frankly a bit unsettling and even a bit scary to see those things so motionless, like a perfect setting for a horror story of robotics come to life. If one of them (especially their heads) started moving as my log went by I'd probably be unable to sleep for three days.
 
menamechris

menamechris

Well-Known Member
I really don't understand why this has become such a problem as of late on Splash. I ride it probably once or twice a month, and it is hit or miss. Sometimes, everything seems to be working perfectly (except the water effects in the Laughing Place scene - which is horrible that they can't fix that already), but other times, the finale scene is either turned off - or its at 50%. It seems that the quick fixes aren't doing the trick anymore.
 
jmick71

jmick71

Member
TP2000 said:
I thought it was headless too, like it had fallen off or something. :lol:

But then you can see one of the other chickens on the bow of the boat whose head has fallen so far back that it sorta falls onto its back behind its torso. Apparently that's what these animatronic robots do when they are broken down and/or deprived of power to operate. The effect is so severe that it looks "headless" from the front.

Really quite sad.
Click to expand...

i went on it in november, we saw the "Headless chickens" It was even creeper because there bodies were still moving even though it appeared they had no heads:veryconfu
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Well that's beyond embarrassing, it's disgusting and really creepy. Not to mention unacceptable and shameful. I wouldn't normally do this, but there's really no better expression to convey thoughts on this situation-
facepalm.jpg

:brick:
 
Random Vids Inc

Random Vids Inc

Member
Was it down all day? I mean if it just stopped working in the middle of the day then I don't see why this is such a big deal. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time, just now we've got phones/cameras/etc that can put information out every single second of every single day. Disney's never had to deal with this kind of information rush, neither has any other park, but Disney has a rep because of its past.

Things are going to break down every once in a while, nothing can stay constantly perfect. But with the new technology we have we're not able to give Disney enough time to fix things before we report it as a Disney flaw. (Not speaking of the Yeti, that's sad) But this is obviously just a case of something going wrong, if it's still like this on Wednesday then you have a story.
 
The Empress Lilly

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
There were lots of problems with Splash when I was at Disney in September. Effects were not working, AA's were in 'Zombie Freak Show' mode, and the ride was down too often. Thunder was a complete mess too.

I am happy WDW will fix Thunder the coming months. Possibly, they'll tend to Splash after that. But this will mean a whole year yet with just one of them operational. With all ensuing capacity problems. It will also mean Splash can not receive any downtime for quick fixes either for the foreseeable future - can't have both Splash and Thunder down. This while Splash is at breaking point as it is...

Disney has simply postponed the problems for too long, the current mess is what short-term thinking and incompetence has led too. Declining by degrees has always been not about nitpicking details, but about describing a slow process towards a breaking point.

On the upside, over at Universal, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls is in tiptop shape. And it's the better log flume ride to begin with too!
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
The yeti is one thing, but thing is absolutely insane! If Big Thunder wasn't down for a refurb I would be livid, but I guess I understand that the busiest theme park in the world can't put them both down at the same time. All I got to say is "show ready" obviously doesn't apply to TDO.
 
Thrill Seeker

Thrill Seeker

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
That video is heartbreaking. :(

Certainly things break down occasionally and it takes a few minutes for the CM's to notice and begin shutting the ride down until its fixed. And in the age of iPhones and YouTube, that type of embarassing situation can be broadcast to the world instantly if the right person rides thru before the ride is shut down to fix it.

But... if you went on this ride twice in one day within 3 hours and the robotics were broken both times, and this is your second ride-thru with the broken robotics in the big finale' scene of a marquee E Ticket Attraction, then something has gone very, very wrong with the way the Magic Kingdom Park is being managed. :eek:
Click to expand...

I actually worked Splash yesterday, but didn't get to ride. I heard the issue is that maintenance is waiting for parts to fix the animatronics. Still, Splash needs a refurb every year to keep things like that from happening and for some reason, it didn't get one. Shame...
 
S

sWANNISAX

Well-Known Member
Since August

I was there the third week of August and it was like this. It was so embarrassing. Only two birds were like that in the front row the first time I went on that trip but by my last day at Disney it was up to four. The heads fully back. Some had moving bodies.

This is absolutely embarrassing and I don't see it changing with thunder being down there is no chance of any refurb.
 
pumpkin7

pumpkin7

Well-Known Member
i hate animatronics that don't work at the best of times, even just one, but a boat load? those poor birds always seem to have problems, but thankfully i've only ever seen th boat with one bird not working, but the fact that all of them weren't working... shocking. the only other thing i noticed that didn't work the last time i rode (a year and a half ago lol) was a fish that wasn't jumping out of the water. i wouldn't have noticed if i hadn't of looked down.
splash needs some serious lovin'. lets just hope that it is just that they are waiting on parts.
 

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