EPCOT Test Track evacuation today

[SingleRider]

I was evacuated from Test Track this morning, and apparently some guests in a car ahead of us had gotten out before CMs got to their car. They were making announcements about being able to see us through the monitors, and while we were walking there was an empty car and the CMs mentioned that those people had left.

How would these people have been able to do that? I glanced at the car when we walked by and it didn't appear that the seatbelts had been cut, so how would they have been able to free themselves otherwise?

What would have happened to these people? I'm assuming they would have at least been kicked out of the park for the day.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Have you not noticed that people are awful? Anyway, it might not have had anything to do with the stop. That might have been a car that previously was a participate in an untimely "protein spill" or worse and they just let that one go empty and stopped it where they can pull it off line at that time to reclaim it at the return empty trip. I doubt we will even know.

 

[SingleRider]

Have you not noticed that people are awful? Anyway, it might not have had anything to do with the stop. That might have been a car that previously was a participate in an untimely "protein spill" or worse and they just let that one go empty and stopped it where they can pull it off line at that time to reclaim it at the return empty trip. I doubt we will even know.

I doubt that - if there was a protein spill they could have taken the car off the track at the turn-off right after the seatbelt check. I saw that happen with a car (not this one) that had trouble on one of my previous rides when the CMs were checking seatbelts. They escorted those people off and then sent the car away to the left at the seat belt check.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I doubt that - if there was a protein spill they could have taken the car off the track at the turn-off right after the seatbelt check. I saw that happen with a car (not this one) that had trouble on one of my previous rides when the CMs were checking seatbelts. They escorted those people off and then sent the car away to the left at the seat belt check.

I don't see how that matters as it just could be a car that was left empty for whatever reason or if someone did get off early still had to get back to where it was loaded and they had to find the ones that got out. That could have happened after the seat belt test area and no matter where the vehicle was it still had to get around where the exit area is.

 

[michmousefan]

Not sure if it was related to the shutdown/downtime, but I rode this afternoon about 5:15 and there was no narration at all – just score. Made for a decidedly lackluster experience, particularly after waiting 90+ minutes.

Today was our last day in the parks, otherwise I would have visited guest relations to voice my displeasure. It was really unacceptable.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Another ride just returning after a lengthy refurb and not working as expected…the new and acceptable Disney SOP…from “bent” Eiffel towers to bears off line, to Astro Orbiter not functioning completely, graphics falling off on the Tron queue, to AA’s on Tiana…to ROTR not functioning properly, & of course, don’t even get me started on the Yeti, lol…
I guess the NEW guest expectations should be to experience any new or refurbed rides within the first 30 days to truly see and feel how the attraction was intended to operate…

 

[LittleBuford]

Another ride just returning after a lengthy refurb and not working as expected…the new and acceptable Disney SOP…from “bent” Eiffel towers to bears off line, to Astro Orbiter not functioning completely, graphics falling off on the Tron queue, to AA’s on Tiana…to ROTR not functioning properly, & of course, don’t even get me started on the Yeti, lol…
I guess the NEW guest expectations should be to experience any new or refurbed rides within the first 30 days to truly see and feel how the attraction was intended to operate…

The bent Eiffel Tower (which has been replaced with better footage) was never the result of a malfunction; it always appeared that way.

 

[NickMaio]

Not sure if it was related to the shutdown/downtime, but I rode this afternoon about 5:15 and there was no narration at all – just score. Made for a decidedly lackluster experience, particularly after waiting 90+ minutes.

Today was our last day in the parks, otherwise I would have visited guest relations to voice my displeasure. It was really unacceptable.

Next time tell the CM.at the end....they will fix it and you can ride again right away.

We had this happen on the day it opened, a few times that day.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

The bent Eiffel Tower (which has been replaced with better footage) was never the result of a malfunction; it always appeared that way.

Yes, I know that, it just adds to the ever increasing examples of Disney settling for less than the highest standard of perfection in details that always set them apart . If they knew there was no way the tower couldn’t appear in that position, they should’ve chosen a different scene.

 

[marni1971]

It did…it was just so short and lackluster.

Not sure if it was related to the shutdown/downtime, but I rode this afternoon about 5:15 and there was no narration at all – just score. Made for a decidedly lackluster experience, particularly after waiting 90+ minutes.

Today was our last day in the parks, otherwise I would have visited guest relations to voice my displeasure. It was really unacceptable.

Hopefully you told the CM at unload. Otherwise they may not know and others will have the same issue.

The bent Eiffel Tower (which has been replaced with better footage) was never the result of a malfunction; it always appeared that way.

It was a flaw in design. The original filmmakers were very careful where they placed the verticals.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Hopefully you told the CM at unload. Otherwise they may not know and others will have the same issue.

It was a flaw in design. The original filmmakers were very careful where they placed the verticals.

Speaks to the current state of Disney that attractions rely on real time guest feedback to know what the heck is going on inside.

You'd think having no score would trip a red flag in their "systems."

The bent verticals are a travesty that I believe were missed by key decision makers sitting in the center during testing and the people who knew of the issue knowingly buried it as a problem.

 

[SingleRider]

Hopefully you told the CM at unload. Otherwise they may not know and others will have the same issue.

It was a flaw in design. The original filmmakers were very careful where they placed the verticals.

This happened to me a few times in September and I told the CM and we were allowed to ride again.

Side note - on both my trips since TT reopened (September and November) they have only been using 3 out of 4 of the loading bays - rows 7 and 8 were not being loaded. I asked a TT CM about it and they said there aren't enough cars on the track, so it seems they are running this at reduced capacity as well.

 

[Jon81uk]

Speaks to the current state of Disney that attractions rely on real time guest feedback to know what the heck is going on inside.

You'd think having no score would trip a red flag in their "systems."

The computer may think it is correctly outputting the audio, the only way to 100% know if things like that are working is to ride it, hence letting them know something isn't working at unload is the best system. Maintenance and operations CMs would have ridden at opening but they don't ride during the day just to confirm its all working.

 

[Chef Mickey]

The computer may think it is correctly outputting the audio, the only way to 100% know if things like that are working is to ride it, hence letting them know something isn't working at unload is the best system. Maintenance and operations CMs would have ridden at opening but they don't ride during the day just to confirm its all working.

It's not the best system, though.

1) It's ridiculous ride functionality can't be monitored remotely and only guest feedback can alert them of a failure. Give me a break.

2) If their systems are so inexcusably bad that they rely on "in ride" feedback from paying customers, then CMs should be riding all day and take on that role. How hard would that be?

If I managed a ride, CMs would be reporting failures.

 

[Jon81uk]

It's not the best system, though.

1) It's ridiculous ride functionality can't be monitored remotely and only guest feedback can alert them of a failure. Give me a break.

2) If their systems are so inexcusably bad that they rely on "in ride" feedback from paying customers, then CMs should be riding all day and take on that role. How hard would that be?

If I managed a ride, CMs would be reporting failures.

With only the one data point being discussed, we don't know the system is "inexcusably bad", this might have just been one single car it happened to, so even if a CM was riding in the next car they would still not have known there was an issue. it would be ludicrous to have staff in every single ride vehicle just to report back on very occasional issues.

I rode Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure a while ago, the 3D visuals weren't working correctly for us, something had messed up with the projection or similar. We told team members when we got to the unload platform, they escorted us to loading and we rode again with no issues that time. It was likely a brief issue that only affected us or maybe one other vehicle.

 

[Chef Mickey]

With only the one data point being discussed, we don't know the system is "inexcusably bad", this might have just been one single car it happened to, so even if a CM was riding in the next car they would still not have known there was an issue. it would be ludicrous to have staff in every single ride vehicle just to report back on very occasional issues.

I rode Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure a while ago, the 3D visuals weren't working correctly for us, something had messed up with the projection or similar. We told team members when we got to the unload platform, they escorted us to loading and we rode again with no issues that time. It was likely a brief issue that only affected us or maybe one other vehicle.

It is, because I've heard this ad-nauseam here and other places. "Did you tell a CM it was broken?"

If they have systems, they don't use them or they don't care. Either way, they suck at managing their rides. That isn't surprising because they can't manage the company (see stock).

The issues aren't occasional, btw. It's also not "ludicrous" to have staff ride regularly throughout the day. Are you serious? They work there. The value of that is much higher than talking amongst themselves anyway.

If an attraction is open 12 hours, CMs should be riding at least 12x/day and reporting on an iPad simple working/not working reporting. On thrill rides where iPad isn't possible, you fill it out at the end. This would AT LEAST give Disney data points to track over time and would add nearly 0 cost once implemented. This is called management.

 

[Jon81uk]

It is, because I've heard this ad-nauseam here and other places. "Did you tell a CM it was broken?"

If they have systems, they don't use them or they don't care. Either way, they suck at managing their rides. That isn't surprising because they can't manage the company (see stock).

The issues aren't occasional, btw. It's also not "ludicrous" to have staff ride regularly throughout the day. Are you serious? They work there. The value of that is much higher than talking amongst themselves anyway.

If an attraction is open 12 hours, CMs should be riding at least 12x/day and reporting on an iPad simple working/not working. On thrill rides where iPad isn't possible, you fill it out at the end.

You originally seemed to be implying that staff should be riding all day constantly, which takes capacity away from guests. doing it hourly or something wouldn't always actually solve anything if it is just one vehicle that has an issue on one trip through. Major things would be spotted in morning maintainence (they really should have someone ride every vehicle on rides with onboard audio each morning) or via the CCTV anyway. Smaller issues are likely more localised so would go back to the ludicrous situation of someone almost constantly riding which would just reduce capacity for very little gain.

 

[Chef Mickey]

You originally seemed to be implying that staff should be riding all day constantly, which takes capacity away from guests. doing it hourly or something wouldn't always actually solve anything if it is just one vehicle that has an issue on one trip through. Major things would be spotted in morning maintainence (they really should have someone ride every vehicle on rides with onboard audio each morning) or via the CCTV anyway. Smaller issues are likely more localised so would go back to the ludicrous situation of someone almost constantly riding which would just reduce capacity for very little gain.

Completely disagree. And I think I'm right because the attraction quality is a travesty. I said they should be riding all day, as in at various points - I never said constantly. I also said this is a stupid method for identifying issues, but superior to literally relying on your customers. Vehicle specific problems should be caught with an actual QC system but you acted like that was impossible (LOL).

I will concede they just don't care and more data wouldn't change anything. I take exception to asking guests to not only catch the errors, but tell CMs and expect action as a result. Why waste our time if they aren't fixing it anyway.

"BTW, the Yeti is broken."

 

[Jon81uk]

I take exception to asking guests to not only catch the errors, but tell CMs and expect action as a result.

Disney aren’t asking guests to catch the errors. This discussion started from just telling them that you had a poor experience so you (and others) can then hopefully get a better ride through, as in my example on Spider-Man at IoA where it wasn’t working right, I got straight back in the ride and it was fine.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Disney aren’t asking guests to catch the errors. This discussion started from just telling them that you had a poor experience so you (and others) can then hopefully get a better ride through, as in my example on Spider-Man at IoA where it wasn’t working right, I got straight back in the ride and it was fine.

Disney doesn't care so they don't ask anything. You're not even talking about a Disney ride.

I never said a re-ride was impossible. I'm talking about the notion that "Disney doesn't know it's broken unless you tell them" is ridiculous.