A good update on the Tower of Terror

Rodj

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was watching a new ToT video from this week which they were on Charlie and I heard the bell ding again! For about 2 years, some timing issue caused both ding sounds to play at once when the doors closed at loading and it surprised me that a positive change finally happened. However, I do not believe that was the main reason why they fixed it, I think they did it because it was messing up the Memory Maker video. A few videos I have seen from May to June shown the lights and the video capture starting too late, and Disney cares about the Memory Maker video. Unfortunately, this change did not carry over to the Echo side(Alpha and Bravo).
 

LUVofDIS

Well-Known Member
Isn't it sad that the only motivation Disney has to fix this attraction, is when an issue slightly impedes their ability to make money?

Wait, wait, I believe that this was the OP's assumption, this may not be the real reason why. I not saying it isn't, more, I am hoping it isn't.
 

Rodj

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A bit of a bad thing came a little bit after this. The Tower is back with its bad antics of being stuck on one profile. Foxtrot is stuck on the "Big Drops" profile(the one that starts upwards and drops almost the whole way down) and Echo is stuck on the Fear Every Drop profile.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Isn't it sad that the only motivation Disney has to fix this attraction, is when an issue slightly impedes their ability to make money?

Assuming this is true, it makes good sense, not because of greed but because of bureaucracy. Normal reports about effects being off would presumably come from ride operators and travel up the chain of command from the bottom, so ops could ignore them safely. Complaints about Memory Maker issues would come from a different department and get reported across divisions from higher management and then down the chain of command, so maintenance would be getting pressure from above their level to address a cross-departmental issue.
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Now if only they would restore all the other sound effects that have been out of sync or missing for 10 years. IIRC that was when they changed out the original audio system, and the Tower has had audio issues ever since: either audio tracks are too quiet, missing, or out of sync.
 
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Model3 McQueen

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Assuming this is true, it makes good sense, not because of greed but because of bureaucracy. Normal reports about effects being off would presumably come from ride operators and travel up the chain of command from the bottom, so ops could ignore them safely. Complaints about Memory Maker issues would come from a different department and get reported across divisions from higher management and then down the chain of command, so maintenance would be getting pressure from above their level to address a cross-departmental issue.

I think the yeti at Expedition Everest sort of discredits this argument. Personally I think it's a mixture of both greed and bureaucracy but based on what $hapek is doing to DCA in Anaheim, my money's on greed.

And I thought (don't quote me on this) that Disney had a special team that rode attractions after-hours to see what effects are broken / need to be replaced..? Right?
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
I think the yeti at Expedition Everest sort of discredits this argument. Personally I think it's a mixture of both greed and bureaucracy but based on what $hapek is doing to DCA in Anaheim, my money's on greed.

And I thought (don't quote me on this) that Disney had a special team that rode attractions after-hours to see what effects are broken / need to be replaced..? Right?
Ha! Good one on $hapek, but I would have used the ¢.
 

Rodj

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm not really sure that they did actually change out the sound system. The main reason why the audio is out of sync for the corridor scene, is that the "audio skipper" as I call it doesn't work anymore. What this did back then is that when the doors on the corridor scene started to open, it would skip ahead to the vibraphone part of the audio(after the drums), which made it synchronized. There were some videos of recent times to where once in every few weeks, it decides to start working only a few times, but it did it at a random time in the audio, such as when the stars would come on, I heard it skip ahead in the audio. In late 2009, Disney decided to "fix" the problem of the quiet bit that happened most of the time after the glass broke(due to the timing of each AGV after Tower4) by making Bravo and Charlie play the longer starting audio that Alpha and Delta use, which made it WAY off sync but it meant there was no gap between it and the transition to the 5th dimension scene audio. Disney also made Delta's and Alpha's starting audio delayed a few seconds, to make it match with Bravo and Charlie. This change was reverted sometime in 2013 but I believe they never re-enabled the audio skipper when it was disabled for the change in 2009. There was a time in 2014 where they made Delta(possibly Alpha as well) play the shorter starting audio Charlie and Bravo use, and this made it perfectly synchronized. They also did a sort of better approach of the quiet bit by just making it play the transition audio even if the computer thinks its not ready to head up yet.
The drop profile audio problem is different. When the drop profile initiates, the audio for it plays, but the actual drop sequence for the VVC doesn't begin until seconds after. It is worse on Foxtrot(about 3-5 seconds) than Echo (about 2-3 seconds).
 

Model3 McQueen

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
A bit of a bad thing came a little bit after this. The Tower is back with its bad antics of being stuck on one profile. Foxtrot is stuck on the "Big Drops" profile(the one that starts upwards and drops almost the whole way down) and Echo is stuck on the Fear Every Drop profile.

Do you know if any of the profiles mimic the one from DCA? I believe it was as follows:

small drop
small drop
full ascension - hold at top for the camera shots
small drop
major drop
full ascension then pull for major drop immediately after
small ascension, small ascension, full ascension to top - pause for view
minor shake, full drop

Ha! Good one on $hapek, but I would have used the ¢.

LOVE IT. Wondering why I never thought of that.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
I think the yeti at Expedition Everest sort of discredits this argument. Personally I think it's a mixture of both greed and bureaucracy but based on what $hapek is doing to DCA in Anaheim, my money's on greed.

And I thought (don't quote me on this) that Disney had a special team that rode attractions after-hours to see what effects are broken / need to be replaced..? Right?

Everest is a different situation- bureaucratic gridlock. Because it's a latent design flaw with a multimillion dollar price tag to fix it, neither Ops nor WDI can agree whose problem it is and neither is willing to bite the bullet and wipe out their operating budget to fix something that's not even for necessarily in their side of the court. The only way the showdown gets resolved is if someone much higher up the chain forces the company to earmark funds specifically to "fix" something that isn't officially broken. Because a Yeti fix would not result in either increased revenue/attendance, nor even elevate the stature of the park in the eyes of the rest of the company, you're not going to see, say, a Djuan Rivers burning tons of influence and goodwill to secure that kind of attention.
 

Rodj

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Do you know if any of the profiles mimic the one from DCA? I believe it was as follows:

small drop
small drop
full ascension - hold at top for the camera shots
small drop
major drop
full ascension then pull for major drop immediately after
small ascension, small ascension, full ascension to top - pause for view
minor shake, full drop

The only one that closely mimics the first part of it is the profile that displays the window breaking projection before the last drop.
 

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