An Open Letter to Foamers Like Me

[Californian Elitist]

I absolutely agree with you. I just got back from a week there and at NO point did I feel my excitement levels were worth it. The food sucked, the heat sucked, and the hippo on Its a small worlds eye is out. Simple fix, but not. There were water bottles floating in the water

Splash mountain was down 8 times. EIGHT TIMES. my son and I were stuck on it!

It's frustrating when you spend so much money and realize you could have had the same at 6 Flags. O.O

I am so disappointed. I was beside myself with excitement for this trip and feel totally let down. We're definitely taking a Disney break.

(please forgive typos, I'm on mobile)

I'm sorry to hear about the negatives of your trip! I know you were really excited. The hippo's eye was out? How creepy is that? Seriously creepy. And the water bottles in the water...goodness. I'd freak out if I ever got stuck on Splash. I hope your son was okay.

 

[Alektronic]

Your comparison, although true and with a point, really isn't an equal comparison. A system in a refinery that completely renders that system non-functional as opposed to a make-believe Yeti. Sorry, with all do respect, that is straight silly. I know that it is repairable. Heck, even Disney knows it is repairable. The problem is too what degree is it a necessity to the overall enjoyment of EE. It is still a very popular ride in spite of it having a frozen Yeti for 5 years. Apparently, it is neither a deterrent nor a draw at this point. Can they find a way to fix it without having to close the thing down, thus altering the enjoyment of thousands, just to say it works? Even if it worked is it really significant enough to make a difference.

And who's to say that whomever it was that designed that portion of the attraction didn't get either a lot of flack or walking papers. That certainly isn't something that any large company will broadcast to the world, especially when the lack of it only is prominent for a couple of seconds of the entire ride.

Also, sadly...AK isn't fine without it. It wasn't fine before and is still only marginal in interest. Check some of the other threads and see where if the majority had to pick one park that they would skip, it is AK and that is with 99% of the attraction in working order.

No, I cannot think that this is as simple as "well, just fix it". There are many things to consider in that process and reality wise...since no one is in any physical danger without it working...there is no need to hurry the process.

Let’s compare the Yeti to a new car. You go out a buy a new car, a very expensive car like a top of the line Mercedes. It drives nice and it’s a lot of fun also. Then you are driving it 10-12 hours a day, every day, but you don’t take care of it, change the oil, keep the tires inflated, etc. Then it starts to have problems and you think it shouldn’t have problems because it is fairly new. So you want to take the car back because it must not have been engineered very well, and they say you didn’t maintain the car properly, so you fight about who should pay for the repairs.

 

[flynnibus]

I know that it is repairable. Heck, even Disney knows it is repairable. The problem is too what degree is it a necessity to the overall enjoyment of EE

this is the exact type of attitude that is destroying the company and fans like you feeding the acknowledgement that it's alright. The idea that the product is 'meh, but good enough' is called COMPLACENCY and acceptance of mediocre.

When a company stops taking pride in what they do above all else.. they are already on the downward slide to fighting on price alone. They'll build 'good enough' and sell as long as people don't have a good enough reason to leave the brand. You coast on your brand, not the strength of your product. And when you reach that point.. all it takes is a simple disruptor to knock you off and the floor falls out.

Disney should be EMBARESSED to leave the attraction in this state. If it's too expensive to repair, they should replace it with something less. What company that has any pride in what they do hang a hundred million dollar failure in their lobby simply because its cheaper to leave it, then replace it.

The fact Disney just leaves it there shows who the real master is in the TWDC P&R division.. the Benjamins.

 

[MickeyPeace]

I'm sorry to hear about the negatives of your trip! I know you were really excited. The hippo's eye was out? How creepy is that? Seriously creepy. And the water bottles in the water...goodness. I'd freak out if I ever got stuck on Splash. I hope your son was okay.

The hippos eye has been out for at least a year. Anyone who has video or photos from the attraction go and check. You'll see ol' wonky eye hippo.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Let’s compare the Yeti to a new car. You go out a buy a new car, a very expensive car like a top of the line Mercedes. It drives nice and it’s a lot of fun also. Then you are driving it 10-12 hours a day, every day, but you don’t take care of it, change the oil, keep the tires inflated, etc. Then it starts to have problems and you think it shouldn’t have problems because it is fairly new. So you want to take the car back because it must not have been engineered very well, and they say you didn’t maintain the car properly, so you fight about who should pay for the repairs.

I'm sorry and honestly no disrespect intended here, but I do not understand what your point is. Could you be a little more explicit concerning what connection there is with my post. If you are saying that lack of maintenance is the cause of this and not engineering then you would have to explain why it was stopped because the foundation that secured the Yeti started to crack and it was determined that it was not strong enough to hold the weight and movement and had a real danger of possibly falling and harming someone.

this is the exact type of attitude that is destroying the company and fans like you feeding the acknowledgement that it's alright. The idea that the product is 'meh, but good enough' is called COMPLACENCY and acceptance of mediocre.

When a company stops taking pride in what they do above all else.. they are already on the downward slide to fighting on price alone. They'll build 'good enough' and sell as long as people don't have a good enough reason to leave the brand. You coast on your brand, not the strength of your product. And when you reach that point.. all it takes is a simple disruptor to knock you off and the floor falls out.

Disney should be EMBARESSED to leave the attraction in this state. If it's too expensive to repair, they should replace it with something less. What company that has any pride in what they do hang a hundred million dollar failure in their lobby simply because its cheaper to leave it, then replace it.

The fact Disney just leaves it there shows who the real master is in the TWDC P&R division.. the Benjamins.

I don't think of it as complacency or acceptance of mediocre...I look at it as facing realities. Whether we like it or not the failure of the Yeti is a big problem and it isn't solved by running to Walmart and picking up a box of paper clips. It's a huge problem.

And they did replace it with something less...a stationary Yeti with strobe lights. I'm not happy about that but I do understand enough about business and mechanics to know that whatever means they use to correct it...if it is correctable...is not as simple as everyone seems to think it is.

As far as their leaving it there...well they have made public a number of times the fact that the entire show building is intertwined, the mountain, the tracks and the yeti. One cannot move without having some affect on the other. So take out the Yeti and you have basically demolished the entire thing. What I'm saying is that, for now, at least, we still have EE with everything except a moving Yeti. Any other solution at this point and we have nothing. So even though I am saddened that the Yeti became an epic fail, I also know that it could easily mean an end to all of it, if they don't make sure that the correction isn't also a fail.

 

[Californian Elitist]

The hippos eye has been out for at least a year. Anyone who has video or photos from the attraction go and check. You'll see ol' wonky eye hippo.

Really? Wow. Then again, why am I not surprised? SMH.

 

[unkadug]

I'm sorry and honestly no disrespect intended here, but I do not understand what your point is. Could you be a little more explicit concerning what connection there is with my post. If you are saying that lack of maintenance is the cause of this and not engineering then you would have to explain why it was stopped because the foundation that secured the Yeti started to crack and it was determined that it was not strong enough to hold the weight and movement and had a real danger of possibly falling and harming someone.



I don't think of it as complacency or acceptance of mediocre...I look at it as facing realities. Whether we like it or not the failure of the Yeti is a big problem and it isn't solved by running to Walmart and picking up a box of paper clips. It's a huge problem.

And they did replace it with something less...a stationary Yeti with strobe lights. I'm not happy about that but I do understand enough about business and mechanics to know that whatever means they use to correct it...if it is correctable...is not as simple as everyone seems to think it is.

As far as their leaving it there...well they have made public a number of times the fact that the entire show building is intertwined, the mountain, the tracks and the yeti. One cannot move without having some affect on the other. So take out the Yeti and you have basically demolished the entire thing. What I'm saying is that, for now, at least, we still have EE with everything except a moving Yeti. Any other solution at this point and we have nothing. So even though I am saddened that the Yeti became an epic fail, I also know that it could easily mean an end to all of it, if they don't make sure that the correction isn't also a fail.

That's not true. You got it completely backwards.

They made it public that the foundations are completely separated from one another. A separate foundation for the mountain, the track, and one for the You got it completely backwards.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That's not true. You got it completely backwards.

They made it public that the foundations are completely separated from one another. A separate foundation for the mountain, the track, and one for the You got it completely backwards.

I knew that, but the way it was designed you cannot get one out without removing some of the other parts. There is no way out, or into, the building that won't have a negative affect on the rest of it. That would be Part II of the engineering failure. At the very least it would have to be shut down for the duration of the repair.

 

[flynnibus]

I'm sorry and honestly no disrespect intended here, but I do not understand what your point is. Could you be a little more explicit concerning what connection there is with my post. If you are saying that lack of maintenance is the cause of this and not engineering then you would have to explain why it was stopped because the foundation that secured the Yeti started to crack and it was determined that it was not strong enough to hold the weight and movement and had a real danger of possibly falling and harming someone.

Just a point.. part of the reason you do things like Maintenance is to reduce strain and wear on things. Ponder that. And also remember the 'reason' for it being stopped has never been officially stated. It's only second hand info.

And if it had ANY danger of falling and harming someone it would not be in there today. Especially given the recent falling object scares. It's clear the Yeti poses no fall risk as it stands.

I don't think of it as complacency or acceptance of mediocre...I look at it as facing realities. Whether we like it or not the failure of the Yeti is a big problem and it isn't solved by running to Walmart and picking up a box of paper clips. It's a huge problem.

And big problems in IMPORTANT areas take big resources to correct. It doesn't matter how big the problem is.. if it's in a critical area.. you have to address it. You can't just turn a blind eye to it. Like Microsoft with it's xbox problem.. it was going to ruin their reputation.. so they flat out opened the door to replace any and all systems with the reported problem and even pay back people who had fixed it themselves. It was a MONSTER cost and major hit to the company.. but it had to be done to restore the confidence and reputation.

Not everything in business is about what makes the most money. Facebook is not building their new offices with a world renouned architech because it's the most economical thing, or because it will add monetary value like resale. It's an investment in the company itself and what it finds important to build up and protect in their employees.

You are justifying why turning a blind eye is acceptable financially. I'm trying to tell you in building businesses and culture moves are not about what is more cost effective. Your culture and business are invaluable intangibles that you can't buy.. but you can easily destroy by refusing to spend.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Just a point.. part of the reason you do things like Maintenance is to reduce strain and wear on things. Ponder that. And also remember the 'reason' for it being stopped has never been officially stated. It's only second hand info.

And if it had ANY danger of falling and harming someone it would not be in there today. Especially given the recent falling object scares. It's clear the Yeti poses no fall risk as it stands.



And big problems in IMPORTANT areas take big resources to correct. It doesn't matter how big the problem is.. if it's in a critical area.. you have to address it. You can't just turn a blind eye to it. Like Microsoft with it's xbox problem.. it was going to ruin their reputation.. so they flat out opened the door to replace any and all systems with the reported problem and even pay back people who had fixed it themselves. It was a MONSTER cost and major hit to the company.. but it had to be done to restore the confidence and reputation.

Not everything in business is about what makes the most money. Facebook is not building their new offices with a world renouned architech because it's the most economical thing, or because it will add monetary value like resale. It's an investment in the company itself and what it finds important to build up and protect in their employees.

You are justifying why turning a blind eye is acceptable financially. I'm trying to tell you in building businesses and culture moves are not about what is more cost effective. Your culture and business are invaluable intangibles that you can't buy.. but you can easily destroy by refusing to spend.

I didn't say that the Yeti has a risk of falling as it stands, the problem came with repeated motion thus shifting weight from spot to spot. Yeti was practically new when the problem was discovered...it was not a maintenance issue. It was an engineering flaw problem.

As you say, everything in business is about what makes the most money...but it is also about what will cause us to lose the most money. Microsoft decision to fix the xbox problem regardless of cost stemmed from fear that if they didn't they would stand to lose millions in future sales of even unrelated items. Reputation. Disney is being a business by thinking, this doesn't really do anything that will change the outcome. It is only those that know what it was supposed to do that even understand that something is wrong. I think we can all agree that the decision to either delay or never repair the Yeti...really will not change anything in the cash register. The only ones that will look down on Disney for not fixing it are those of us that know what it should be doing and we represent a very small portion of Disney's business. We are the only ones that know that they are not living up to their own standards.

 

[flynnibus]

As you say, everything in business is about what makes the most money...

Actually that isn't what I said..(almost the polar opposite) and by only acting on what you think people will notice, you again completely missed the point of the earlier post.

Do people see Facebook's HQ building when deciding how much time they spend on the facebook site?

I'm tired of trying to explain the differences between great business culture and poor culture to people here.. it's obvious too many here have zero exposure to what it means and are far too happy to just be a customer of someone else. Which is fine.. but they shouldn't act like they know what works in business or not.

It's fitting tho.. so many companies going down the toilet.. and people blaming all the wrong reasons. It's like trying to swim upstream here and I'm exhausted. Uncle

 

[draybook]

Actually that isn't what I said..(almost the polar opposite) and by only acting on what you think people will notice, you again completely missed the point of the earlier post.

Do people see Facebook's HQ building when deciding how much time they spend on the facebook site?

I'm tired of trying to explain the differences between great business culture and poor culture to people here.. it's obvious too many here have zero exposure to what it means and are far too happy to just be a customer of someone else. Which is fine.. but they shouldn't act like they know what works in business or not.

It's fitting tho.. so many companies going down the toilet.. and people blaming all the wrong reasons. It's like trying to swim upstream here and I'm exhausted. Uncle

Or maybe some of us don't listen to you because you have a very condescending attitude towards others?

 

[ParentsOf4]

Exactly, and that was because they felt that they had something really good. Then it failed due to bad engineering. I'd bet Joe hasn't slept well for a number of years now, especially when they rerun those Modern Marvel Disney shows.

I understand that the Yeti might have been a major engineering miscalculation but does anyone know why the "flying" bird at the top of the ramp (right before you start to travel backwards) is not longer working?

This bird was decidedly low tech yet I remember that thing stopping before the Yeti.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I understand that the Yeti might have been a major engineering miscalculation but does anyone know why the "flying" bird at the top of the ramp (right before you start to travel backwards) is not longer working?

This bird was decidedly low tech yet I remember that thing stopping before the Yeti.

Yea...because it was also decidedly lame and it's perfect circular motion actually took away from the realism. I don't know if they took it down or it broke...either way, not a great loss.

 

[Goofyernmost]

If you need to be coddled before you open up to learning.. I feel sorry for you. Often in life you're gonna have to learn lessons from people that aren't there just to make your day a little happier. And you're gonna have to learn from people you may not even like.. even people who may be in charge of you, that you do not like. But if you aren't opening to learning and understanding even in those situations.. you're doomed to stay what you started as.

Honestly in these cases it doesn't make any difference. It's obvious people are not grasping the concepts so if I deliver it with a cookie at the end.. it's not going to make their comprehension change any.

You are probably correct. I only owned my own business for 14 years before retiring and was in management positions in companies for the previous 30 years. You are correct though I probably am not open to learning or understanding. Thanks for setting me straight!

 

[wm49rs]

oo.. I'm crushed. Did it take you long to figure out I have accounts more than HERE? I've been in online communities since before 1988. I don't hide who am I or what I've said.

Hasn't this thread really run its course?

 

[Tom]

Hasn't this thread really run its course?

It's like the Energizer Bunny.........

 

[wm49rs]

It's like the Energizer Bunny.........

Can we get a survey on that?

 

[Alektronic]

I'm sorry and honestly no disrespect intended here, but I do not understand what your point is. Could you be a little more explicit concerning what connection there is with my post. If you are saying that lack of maintenance is the cause of this and not engineering then you would have to explain why it was stopped because the foundation that secured the Yeti started to crack and it was determined that it was not strong enough to hold the weight and movement and had a real danger of possibly falling and harming someone.

I don't why everyone thinks it is an Engineering problem, if it never worked properly from day one, then I would say it was a problem. Once WDI turns over the ride to Operations, then it is up to DAK Operations and Maintenance to take care. But if it isn't maintained properly or make wrong adjustments or change programming then it can cause different problems down the line. The crack is in the Yeti's frame not the foundation or anypert of the mountain. I'm just saying this because I have seen it many, many different times at CTX/Dinosaur.

 

[Supermatt70]

I'd like to clear up a couple of things...

I never said anywhere that Disneyland or other parks were perfect and that everyone should abandon Walt Disney World. I could have swore that I wrote an open letter to others like me...Walt Disney World Guests that are tired of waiting for things that will never happen!

In fact, I think I said that Walt Disney World is now all about the resort experience and not so much the theme park experience (which is what I enjoy). I also said that I would not want to take away from (begrudge) anyone that still enjoys their Walt Disney World experience. I get that people are excited about Art of Animation, but I'm not. I understand that people enjoy interactive games throughout the parks, but I don't.

The point of my post was not to tell people to leave Walt Disney World! It was to say that I get it! Walt Disney World is not the "Disney" for me. I will no longer dwell on my ideas of what's wrong or should happen at Walt Disney World. I will instead be excited about new projects and events that the Walt Disney Company does seem to be providing for people like me! Projects and events that are at other Disney locations.


It really is apples to oranges. Walt Disney World is very different from other Disney parks. That was my whole point! I'm at a place where I know I prefer apples to oranges and I'm no longer going to about oranges!

As for "Foamer", I didn't invent this term. And while I could not care less about napkins, cups, canopies over Test Track or other such silliness, I do seem to be now labeled a "Foamer" because I expected something different than I got from Walt Disney World. I now no longer expect anything from Walt Disney World...the place is not for me!

I love Disney & I want everyone to have their own best Disney experience. I want those that enjoy Walt Disney World to continue to go & enjoy it! But for those that are looking for the things that I have been looking for and upset that they can't find it...I'm simply saying maybe we've been expecting too much and looking in the wrong places.

And I'm glad that there will be shorter lines for some of you!