Any theories on why Disney poorly maintains many of their rides?

[SteveAZee]

I think it's a combination of factors. How many skilled workers do they have at any given time who can work on repairs? It's likely they have folks who are skilled in different aspects of maintenance and repair, rather than a Fix-It Felix (see what I did there?) who can do everything well. These folks have a lot of different attractions for which they are responsible and the work has to be prioritized. Safety is going to come before "show." Also, they have to look at the amount of work that each repair or bit of maintenance requires. Longer repairs are more likely to result in downtime for the attraction. Even if a repair is fairly minor, it is going to cost some money and their maintenance budget has to go toward a lot of attractions. It was easier, back in the day, when WDW only had a single park, to make sure that everything was constantly in tip-top condition. They've simply gotten too large for that to happen any more. It definitely has a detrimental effect to the level of quality in the parks, but it isn't going to change anytime soon. I think in most cases, they let things pile up and wait for a scheduled refurb that may or may not happen when it was originally scheduled. Kick the can down the road, so to speak. The only solution is to pour more money into staffing and maintenance budgeting, but that is definitely not going to happen while they're in the midst of so much construction. The result is that an attraction either 1) keeps falling apart until it becomes a safety issue, 2) keeps falling apart until it becomes a major PR issue 3) keeps falling apart until it develops a reputation as a "lame" attraction and goes on the chopping block, 4) enough of the attraction still functions to the point that most guests don't care, or 5) it lucks out and finally ends up at the top of the list for maintenance and repair. Obviously, the last outcome is the preferable one, but these days it also seems to be the least-likely outcome.

I'm incredibly relieved that SSE has finally been given the go-ahead for a major refurb, rather than a full replacement. I'm sorry that my wife won't get to experience it under optimum operation when she rides it for the first time, but the knowledge that improvements are on the horizon will definitely help me be more forgiving of its current state.

Good points. I would also suggest that in a large organization, the people responsible for the repair and maintenance of the attractions aren't directly connected to those who bear the brunt of guest complaints and park revenue... so mostly their job involves spending as little as possible.

 

[geekza]

Good points. I would also suggest that in a large organization, the people responsible for the repair and maintenance of the attractions aren't directly connected to those who bear the brunt of guest complaints and park revenue... so mostly their job involves spending as little as possible.

Most definitely. Having worked at a huge company, front line complaints would need to go through multiple levels of middle management before making their way to anyone with real decision-making authority. In my experience, you had to gather months worth of empirical data not only showing that complaints were at a level that elevated them to something greater than occasional grumbling, but that failing to fix the problem would result in potential financial losses. Even if you could show that, you had to present your data to your manager, who decided if it was worth presenting to the person above them. If that person gave the okay, the issue had to move to a process whereby stakeholders from every department that could potentially be affected by a change met for a week to decide on what the root cause of the issue was and brainstorm solutions for it. Once action items were agreed upon, individuals in the group then had to reach out to the different departments to try and convince them to make whatever changes were necessary. Even after all that, any potential changes could still take months to put through, if they ever did. Oftentimes, a department would have a reason why they didn't like an individual action item and would veto it, causing the whole project to fail and the problem to continue to exist and, often, get worse.

My experience dealing with that kind of frustration convinced me that I had to run as far away as possible from the corporate world, no matter how much money I was making. Best decision I ever made. I'm a lot poorer, but I'm a lot more fulfilled in life.

 

[justintheharris]

I'd also say that Splash Mountain could use another lengthy refurbishment sometime before 2021. The music isn't working in the background at certain parts, the scene on the lift to the final drop isn't very reliable, Mr Bluebird isn't moving at all in the final scene, the hopping Brer Rabbit animatronic isn't working properly still etc.

However, Shouldigo12 is right. Those issues don't necessarily ruin the entire experience and may only be noticed by people who have been on Splash Mountain many many times. However, as these issues continue to pile up, I'd say that the ride could use a good refurb.

 

[danlb_2000]

Can you give some examples? I know the yet is one thats never fixed (can it even be fixed? I feel like someone once said on here its unfixable and too hard to replace, but I'm not 100% sure on that), but I've never heard of any others.

Martin posted this earlier, and I am sure there are other example people can provide.

I wrote a list in another thread recently.... in brief

Queue displays not lit / poorly lit
Load displays broken
Load ceiling laser projections broken
Lift displays broken
Lift control room lighting broken
Alpha lift wall lighting broken
Omega lift wall lighting partly working
Lift displays broken
All star projectors and gobo projections immobile
Most Ride off ride sound fx down
Off ride music indistinct still
Re entry tunnel audio still out of sync

And it was like this for three weeks. A lot of the issues listed are over a year old.
.

 

[danlb_2000]

A question for anyone in the know? Apparently the maintennance crew isnt doing their job fixing the list of things that are blatently apparent to everyone. We are told that the parks budget has limited money allocated for repairs. It there is personnel who are being paid to do repairs, what is the number of staff being paid to do these types of repairs and what are they doing all day if not doing repairs?

I would assume that most maintenance staff is doing what they are being told to do. If elements of rides have not been working for a long period of time, then that's an issue of management at some level not making the repair happen.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Disney clearly has the money to maintain their rides but in many instances does not. They leave many things broken and wait far to long between overhauls.I wonder if it's not partly do to some internal struggle for funding between different departments. I really find it odd that TDO spends billions on new hotels and infrastructure to draw and funnel guest's to the parks and then don't maintain the attractions the people are coming to experience.
Any Theories ??

If I had to guess, I would be to reduce costs. It seems if a non critical thing stops working, instead paying someone then and there to fix it, they leave it and wait for the attraction big rehab.

They build hotels and DVC because they make money with them no matter what the theme park experience is!

 

[danlb_2000]

Anyway, I think people tend to expect too much from the parks. All problems should be fixed ASAP, but there are some that take time. There Will be animontronics that need more than one night to fix. I think its much better to understand that and not sweat a few things not working perfectly than be upset because the rides can't have every part working all the time.
.

I am paying a premium price to go to Disney World, I expect a premium product, which means thing should be properly maintained. With proper regular maintenance a lot of the down time could be avoided.

 

[marni1971]

There’s a quote in my signature that shouldn’t be forgotten:

"In a Disney park, everything must work. Poor maintenance is poor show" - Marty Sklar

 

[disneyflush]

Optimal maintenance would be more expensive than what they are currently willing to spend.

 

[Mickey5150]

On Friday, the toasters in Dinosaur were not working. On Monday, they were fixed. So they still do repairs, but cant speak for everything else not being fixed.

 

[TwilightZone]

What are the issues on SSE and Space Mountain? I just rode SM for the first time in years the other day so don't know what it should be like.

SSE has a screen issue where the future ending rarely works.
Space Mountain is way more rickety than it should be and has none of the enhancements that disneyland's space mountain has, such as improved audio.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

They got to make sure Star Wars will sell.

Those other rides that need maintenance something fierce?

Ain't nobody got time for that!

"Ludicrous speed, GO!"

 

[Rodj]

It could be the profile with the VVC shaker didn’t shake (it happens) - if this happened then you’ll just sit there looking out of the open doors.

There are actually three profiles that have the shaking in them. The big drops profile and the Fear Every Drop profile do it at the 3rd set of doors, and the profile with the ghost projection does it during that projection.

 

[ChrisFL]

Maintenance also seems to suffer when they lose sponsorship for an attraction, where I guess the income from the sponsor either pays for the maintenance and upkeep OR they have required standards that Disney has to meet to keep their sponsorship.

So I'll expect SSE to get worse, especially if they are going to overhaul it soon, they probably won't be inclined to fix a lot of things.

These reasons are also why I love going to Tokyo Disney, to see how the parks are maintained correctly, as if they just opened yesterday.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Money... yes, but more specifically it’s corporate shareholder mentality & greed. Shareholders want money now and have no concept of long term stability and reinvestment. This mindset trickles down to company accountants and operations supervisors. It’s only about the next fiscal quarter, nothing else matters.

We go to the parks now because of what the parks offered us from years past.

But will my daughter have the same feelings and nostalgia when she has a family?

 

[Raineman]

I'd also say that Splash Mountain could use another lengthy refurbishment sometime before 2021. The music isn't working in the background at certain parts, the scene on the lift to the final drop isn't very reliable, Mr Bluebird isn't moving at all in the final scene, the hopping Brer Rabbit animatronic isn't working properly still etc.

However, Shouldigo12 is right. Those issues don't necessarily ruin the entire experience and may only be noticed by people who have been on Splash Mountain many many times. However, as these issues continue to pile up, I'd say that the ride could use a good refurb.

Splash Mountain has recently undergone two decently-lengthy refurbs, one in spring of 2014 and one late last year (both while I was visiting-thanks for that Disney lol), so you have to wonder why there are still some seemingly regular issues when the attraction has been shut down twice in 4 years for refurbs. On the plus side, when Splash is down the Splash bathrooms are nice and quiet, tucked away there.

 

[tomast]

Part that. Part they keep coming in. And part budget cuts.

@marni1971 you are the expert here so may I ask.. could it be that having the parks open everyday of the year makes everything harder and expensier to fix??

 

[marni1971]

@marni1971 you are the expert here so may I ask.. could it be that having the parks open everyday of the year makes everything harder and expensier to fix??

Never caused a problem in the past.

 

[Mark Dunne]

What are the issues on SSE and Space Mountain? I just rode SM for the first time in years the other day so don't know what it should be like.

I’m not sure anyone knows of problems with SM & SSE as there in the dark lol, I do think SM suffers from fast pass issues , they never use the right hand side of waiting bars fully, plus SSE is in need of some major new animatronics , I dont get Disney , I mean they spend a ridiculous amount on road systems and new ways to move people around ( gondolas) but skimp on updating rides that are in need of looking after, and they should update SM BIG TIME.mr W Disney would NEVER had let a European SM be better than his baby no way , And that’s s fact

 

[networkpro]

Splash Mountain has recently undergone two decently-lengthy refurbs, one in spring of 2014 and one late last year (both while I was visiting-thanks for that Disney lol), so you have to wonder why there are still some seemingly regular issues when the attraction has been shut down twice in 4 years for refurbs. On the plus side, when Splash is down the Splash bathrooms are nice and quiet, tucked away there.

Refurbishments use the "as built" as the standard to meet, its not re-engineering so if a design flaw from a mechanical process action causes an animatronic to not perform then that's not an end objective to address.