captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Engineering or not, it's Disney's attraction. It's their failure. Just like Tower of Terror is their success.
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An Open Letter to Foamers Like Me
- Thread starter Supermatt70
- Start date
Engineering or not, it's Disney's attraction. It's their failure. Just like Tower of Terror is their success.
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
LOL! Very well put! To me, not minding if the Yeti is fixed as long as the ride goes really really fast is akin to not caring if the Stretching Room works in the Haunted Mansion as long as it's, you know, dark in there or something. A signature, key effect that doesn't work IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM. And not fixing it makes Disney look lame and greedy: "Oh well, most of the rubes don't notice it, so why spend the money." I don't GET why some people don't get how much that SUCKS. And how that hurts Disney's reputation as a creator of quality. COME ON PEOPLE.
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Completely agree!
kucarachi
Active Member
Why does one have to be better? They are just different, like two brothers or sisters. You need a few years break from WDW it seems like. I took off 7 years one time to disney world and when we finally went back and all this new stuff popped up, and a whole new park it was like falling in love with disney all over again. You just need space and perspective to appreciate how lucky all of us are to be able to go to disney and that there even is one a short plane ride away.
Magenta Panther
Well-Known Member
Well, and Disney is lucky that so many people want to give it so much money so they can visit the parks. And to me, the best way Disney could show its appreciation for our patronage is to keep the attractions in as good a shape as possible and especially fix them when they're broken! (not yelling at you, I'm yelling at TDO and the bean-counters).
AEfx
Well-Known Member
It's not that one has to be better than the other.
It's that one consistently gets new attractions, and has much better maintenance and upkeep of those attractions.
Yes, WDW is a bigger and therefore more complex to manage, but it also makes a lot more money, too. You have revenue from a couple dozen hotels, four theme parks, and all the ancillary stuff. And we see very little of that reinvested in anything that really adds to the Disney experience as they are traditionally known for. Instead the resort is spending a billion dollars on micro-managing Fast Passes so the cattle can get herded through the poorly kept rides more quickly.
This isn't some fan invention - it's the facts of the matter. Visiting both resorts and comparing them you see the things Disney is known for - wonderful attractions/rides - in much better upkeep and being updated/added more frequently at the CA parks than the FL ones.
It's what Disney is known for. Contrary to what is a message board/Disney fan invention - that people go to WDW for far more than rides/attractions - that is the primary reason people visit a Disney park. You never talk to a member of Joe Blow Public who says, "I really want to go to WDW to relax at the resort". They go because of exciting rides/attractions. And those rides/attractions really haven't been added to WDW in quite some time on that scale, and their upkeep is tragically poor compared to how well Disneyland is now kept. They cleaned up Disneyland (the situation used to be the opposite) but now WDW has slumped down to worse in some areas than Disneyland ever was in the "darker" days of the 90's over there.
The saddest thing is, many people don't know - which is why Disney gets away with it. They don't know there is supposed to be a big moving scary Yeti in EE, or that half the effects on a ride like Splash Mountain or Dinosaur are not working as intended. And Disney skates by on that.
The thing is - yeah, can they skate by because there are more transient tourists at WDW than at Disneyland? Yup. But Disney didn't used to stoop there, they kept it up because it was the right thing to do, and it earned them an incredible reputation.
A reputation that Universal has been stealing away, as they are now known for exciting, boundry-pushing attractions, not Disney. I mean, I still can't get over launching a press event for a few new benches. BENCHES! That just says it all right there. I'd say LOL, if I wasn't so saddened by far things have fallen.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
But they are Disney benches, simply magical.
mousefreak
Well-Known Member
So sorry to hear people miss out on the magic. Maybe we don't see (or miss) what they do. I guess it means one less person in front of me in line, which is is fine with me.We just returned last night from 7 wonderful days of magic. The parks were clean, staff members were friendly and helpful, and we came home with smiles and plenty of memories.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
OK, let me reword that..it is an engineering failure that Disney is getting the heat for. Not an intent based, cut the budget and do it cheap problem, an error of the highest degree with the theoretical blame, if not the physical blame falling directly on Disney's shoulders. That is why I have said that, if they knew the best way to fix it...it would be fixed by now. My hope is that they do find a way to make it work without closing the entire attraction for months on end...but it doesn't look like that is going to happen any time soon.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
I think one of the reasons Disney gets so much heat for Everest is because of the tremendous amount of publicity they asked for regarding the attraction, the Yeti in particular. It was the Imagineers who boasted about how this was the most largest animatronic ever built. Joe Rhode appeared on at least half a dozen different specials bragging about it.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
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.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Modern Marvels was on last week, and I just kept thinking to myself, "Man, has he gotta be embarrassed."
Granted, the percentage of people that know the Yeti doesn't work properly is probably small, but he knows that even that small percentage is still a lot of people.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
My husband works in engineering. When there's an engineering failure I've never heard of anyone shrugging it off and saying, "Well, it was a failure. Can't always be perfect." Um, no. Someone is held accountable. There's no shrugging. So my question is if it's not Disney's fault the Yeti failed, what engineering firm did they hire for that design? Call me crazy but I coulda swore in all those promo shows about EE it was Disney Imagineers standing up taking credit.
To say there's no easy fix for EE and to insinuate that the lack of a simple solution in any way justified the years of flashing lights are in any way acceptable or unavoidable is silly. Straight silly. A refinery not far from my house in Port Arthur, Texas recently went thru a major expansion costing billions. When the new units were started up a single valve failed which caused an entire unit to fail. It was disastrous. The failure caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Pretty much the whole unit has had to be demo'd and rebuilt....current estimates placing the cost over 600 million and about a year or so to complete. Not once did that refinery say, "Weeeell, it happens". And, I'm sorry, if an entire unit can be constructed, demo'd, and constructed again (including the engineering work for all phases) in the amount of time the Yeti has been stationary I have zero pity for Disney. Zero. Zip. Nadda. What they lack is commitment. They build it, they brag about it, but they aren't commited to maintaining it.
The excuse that they can't take the attraction down for long periods because of the guest outrage or compromised crowd capacity would be devastating totally doesn't work for me. How many of us went to DAK before EE opened? It was fine without EE. It would be just fine again.
I feel the OP. I'm taking my proverbial break and it feels wonderful. I don't feel like I'm missing a thing other than disappointment and aggravation. Who knows if I ever go back. There's still plenty of Disney to be had outside Orlando. Might I suggest a Disney cruise? It's amazing! A relaxing vacation with all the magic that comes with a Mickey visit. You don't even have to deal with masses and hoards of other people all jockey'ing to maximize their time & money. Nope. There's a set number of people on a ship and you never feel like 95% of them are even there.
I don't care who labels me what either. Don't like what I say? Don't read it. It's that simple. I know who I am and could care less what others think they know about me. I wouldn't worry too much about being called things like 'foamer' or 'doom-n-gloomer'. It's only a thing if you let it be. I don't.
To say there's no easy fix for EE and to insinuate that the lack of a simple solution in any way justified the years of flashing lights are in any way acceptable or unavoidable is silly. Straight silly. A refinery not far from my house in Port Arthur, Texas recently went thru a major expansion costing billions. When the new units were started up a single valve failed which caused an entire unit to fail. It was disastrous. The failure caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Pretty much the whole unit has had to be demo'd and rebuilt....current estimates placing the cost over 600 million and about a year or so to complete. Not once did that refinery say, "Weeeell, it happens". And, I'm sorry, if an entire unit can be constructed, demo'd, and constructed again (including the engineering work for all phases) in the amount of time the Yeti has been stationary I have zero pity for Disney. Zero. Zip. Nadda. What they lack is commitment. They build it, they brag about it, but they aren't commited to maintaining it.
The excuse that they can't take the attraction down for long periods because of the guest outrage or compromised crowd capacity would be devastating totally doesn't work for me. How many of us went to DAK before EE opened? It was fine without EE. It would be just fine again.
I feel the OP. I'm taking my proverbial break and it feels wonderful. I don't feel like I'm missing a thing other than disappointment and aggravation. Who knows if I ever go back. There's still plenty of Disney to be had outside Orlando. Might I suggest a Disney cruise? It's amazing! A relaxing vacation with all the magic that comes with a Mickey visit. You don't even have to deal with masses and hoards of other people all jockey'ing to maximize their time & money. Nope. There's a set number of people on a ship and you never feel like 95% of them are even there.
I don't care who labels me what either. Don't like what I say? Don't read it. It's that simple. I know who I am and could care less what others think they know about me. I wouldn't worry too much about being called things like 'foamer' or 'doom-n-gloomer'. It's only a thing if you let it be. I don't.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
I think I'd be impressed if the magical benches turned my posterior into an exact replica of Eva Mendes. Otherwise, I ain't bitin'. Ya know?
Britt
Well-Known Member
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)
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)
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
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.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
But that is completely throwing the four keys to the dogs.
Safety
Courtesy
Show
Efficiency
It is putting efficiency before show.
ScorpionX
Well-Known Member
You have single-handedly ruined all my faith in Walt Disney World.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
I dunno. Every time Modern Marvels or any of the miriad of specials that boasted about the Yeti airs it deepens the bruise. Every single time it's an embarrassment. Call my crazy but if it were within my power to save myself a continued embarrassment, I'd do something about it. I whole-heartedly believe in what I tell my boys almost daily: it's not the mistakes that define who you are, it's what you do about them that does. What's been done? Speaks volumes.
I guess in this day & age people are more interested in a cheap thrill than actually learning something. We used to go to DAK even before EE because there was interesting stuff to be learned & experienced there. Still, I have a hard time believing that people will go to a park to experience 1 attraction. Is it really all that realistic to think that a large number of people will skip a whole park because of 1 attraction being closed? Seriously? ((With the MYW structure, free dining, etc. Disney has already sufficiently locked their guests into their property. Even if guests skip DAK they'll likely be in the other 3 parks so what is Disney losing?)) If taking some flack from miffed guests and accepting a period of lower attendance at 1 of 4 parks is the price for the mistake then so be it. Again, it's a level of commitment and acceptance beyond just the cost to make it right that TDO lacks. They'd rather pretend there's nothing wrong and keep on running it into the ground. Personally, I use this practice as a shining example of how NOT to handle mistakes with my teenagers.
Sure a refinery is different than a theme park attraction. The point is that it's not such an impossibility to fix it. It doesn't even have to take more than 3 or 4 months. Again, if it can be done with something that's far larger and more complex, it can be done for the Yeti. It comes back to the level of commitment. Does TDO pay to keep teams working around the clock? Do they pay the premium for overtime, holidays, nights, etc. or do they keep the schedule on the cheap? For a refinery it's a different animal because each hour of every day that unit is NOT running they have zero chance of recooping the cost to construct it. Disney, not so much with their Yeti. However, the OP and myself along with countless others who see the Yeti as one of a whole laundry list of inadequacies (or incompetencies) will take our vacation dollars elsewhere. How many or our friends and family come to us for advice about Disney travel that we don't feel right recommending a WDW trip to? I know I've steered many a person to other destinations. And I'm not just griping and still vacationing at WDW. I'm not going.
I think the OP summed it up very well. WDW is not for me right now nor is it in the forseeable future. NextGen, FP+, Kingdom Keepers, FLE, benches at F!, GF DVC, AoA...all nothing I'm interested in. Avatar-ville: doesn't appear to be going anywhere AND not something I'm interested in anyway. And come on. Do you really think TDO is going to commit to anything even a fraction as complete with Radiator Springs Racers as an entire land comparable to DCA's Carsland? I think the chances of an entire new land even remotely near as complete as what TDA created lie somewhere between "slim" and "none". Or maybe as likely as a fully-operational Yeti for EE.
captainkidd
Well-Known Member
I may be in the minority, but I could honestly care less if Everest closes for an extended period of time so they can fix the Yeti. That ride is all about the story to me. I prefer Thunder Mountain anyway. It would at least show that TDO has some pride left in what they do.