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

[marni1971]

If you are talking price, Disney is in it's own class..

Class? More like greed.

The word went out to increase prices, find new revenue streams and to reduce costs. The constant WDW upcharges and increases would be embarrassing if they weren’t so pitiful.

They could probably throw a pile of money at the "issue" of the one pirate not waving or that plant over there having brown leaves, or the light in the MST marquee being burned out... but the vast majority of guests don't notice, or don't care... they want shiny new rides, and interactive queues, and new experiences..

They used to manage it fine. Catering for the 5% that would notice. And still make a profit.

Show quality on the whole in Orlando currently is very poor. There’s no excuse.

 

[WDWDad2907]

They could probably throw a pile of money at the "issue" of the one pirate not waving or that plant over there having brown leaves, or the light in the MST marquee being burned out... but the vast majority of guests don't notice, or don't care... they want shiny new rides, and interactive queues, and new experiences.

I agree with you, and I guess my point is, I'm wondering if that's really a sustainable business model. If the customer's attention span is attracted to the shiny new thing, then it become an arm's race of who can deliver those and how fast can they do it. And there is no way that growth is sustainable. Eventually they'll reach a saturation point and there is going to be significant diminishing returns on new investments. Again, IMO, the goal should sustaining customers and continuining to build loyalty, and not always twisting towards market trends that may change significantly in 3 years.

 

[donaldtoo]

Simply...
Current Disney management has spent much time surveying what is “just enough” without crossing the proverbial line.
We’ll see how that plays out in the future, but, we have no current plans of returning. I will always respect the vision that Walt had, but, it’s just BS now...Can y’all say...

 

[Maeryk]

Class? More like greed.

The word went out to increase prices, find new revenue streams and to reduce costs. The constant WDW upcharges and increases would be embarrassing if they weren’t so pitiful.


They used to manage it fine. Catering for the 5% that would notice. And still make a profit.

Show quality on the whole in Orlando currently is very poor. There’s no excuse.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. It's like TDO, instead of operating a lot of parks at the same time, juggles them. If one is getting attention, the others languish. I don't know if it's simply because the company is too large, and the beancounters too distant from the plant the beans grow on, or what, but it certainly appears, at least right now, that many of the decisions for the parks are being made by people who don't know what they are.

 

[Stripes]

Show quality on the whole in Orlando currently is very poor. There’s no excuse.

Agreed. Do you have any indication this could be changing. Obviously not immediately, as it seems to be getting worse with all the cutbacks. But, is there a recognition that this is a problem?

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Here's my theory as to why Disney poorly maintains many of their rides..........the state a ride is in doesn't greatly impact their bottom line. I'm sure it may pose a minor impact in some instances - but overall it's like a gnat landing on Bob's shoulder (he'll just flick it off and go about his day).

The condition of some rides hasn't prevented Disney from increasing prices on everything from tickets to parking to hard tickets to food etc.
The data probably says that spending X won't increase Y.....so they figure - "Why bother? Let's get a few paperclips a roll of duct tape and we'll MacGyver it." They'll only do what they feel is inspected (by us) - not necessarily what is expected.

We say: "There are animatronics malfunctioning in the fire room at Pirates"
They say: "Look at the brand new Gondolas"

Now, if the data showed that their bottom line was being impacted due to the condition of the rides.......well, in that case even Yeti would be fixed.

 

[ridetech939]

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 ??

I have a small hypothesis about what might be going on.

To a certain extend WDW has become a victim of their own success. They have grown so large that they have supersaturated the labor market for skilled trades. 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shopping and entertainment district, and over 30,000 on-site hotel rooms. To add insult to injury there is Universal and SeaWorld only a few miles away competing for the same labor pool. Disney has seen this issue coming for a long time and has made some adjustments where they can. Disney outsources now more than ever where ever they can.

Remember that more that 1/3 of the theme park maintenance Team Members are working midnight to eight AM. Furthermore a new Team Member hired in today would need to work approximately 10 years before they would have enough seniority to move to second shift 4pm to 12 mid. Things are probably a little different at Animal Kingdom where their are fewer rides and an earlier closing time. What we could be experiencing is maintenance triage.

The hotels on the other hand do most all of their maintenance during the day.

To put this another way, imagine the Ford Motor Company building all 6.6 million vehicles in one monstrously large assembly plant. The plant would be so big that you would have a really hard time finding enough maintenance employees to keep the place going.

The name of the games is how do they reduces the number off people needed to properly maintain the infrastructure and equipment or increase of number of available Team Members. Disney has union contracts and a work place culture to contend with.

Skyliner might be an attempt to stem the tide of adding more buses and bus maintenance over the long haul. How much more can Disney outsource?

If (and that's a big if) my hypothesis is correct then what can they do about it ?

 

[larryz]

Have to agree. My wide and I think it's very impressive.

LEFT INDEX FINGER! LEFT INDEX FINGER!

And hurry!

 

[OG Runner]

Hello Everyone! I guess I am just the lucky one. I have gone to WDW 3 out of the last 4 years in January. (I like to run the marathon, with my sons.) We have run into larger crowds each year, but I have not run into the types of situations that would lead to the title of this discussion. Honestly, I have never seen the Yeti moving, but we rode just about every ride in the park and did not have a bad time. You do tend to get a quick stop and go on Spaceship Earth & The Haunted Mansion. I have, however, never had Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Soarin, Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or a number of other rides breakdown. Sorry, but
from my prospective the question is worded much too negatively. You make it sound like the park is falling down and that just is not the
case.

 

[geekza]

So yeah, movies now don't do the box office numbers they used to. And Disney has to adapt to that. And people aren't buying DVDs like they used to either. It's all on demand now, and they are trying to take advantage of that as well, with their streaming service next year.

In 2016, box office gross was the highest it has ever been. It only declined slightly in 2017 and a little more in 2018. Actual tickets purchased has been fairly steady for years. Part of the reason there was a decline this year is, frankly, the movies were pretty lackluster overall.

As for the decline in physical media, they're making plenty of money from digital rentals and purchases without the need for physical production costs or distribution. Streaming contracts are a huge source of income, as well, and rarely include brand-new, hit films.

Disney, more than any other studio, is making a ton of money from films, television, and their theme parks. What it comes down to is that they are going to upcharge and drain consumers of every penny they can, not because they have to do so in order to stay afloat, but because they can increase their quarterly profits by doing so.

Just because something is legal and possible doesn't make it anything other than a crappy thing to do. People who mention "industry standards" as an excuse are forgetting the fact that the industry makes the standards. Saying, "that's just how things are done," is in no way equivalent to proof that these practices are acceptable. Corporations rely on the general public's complicity and apathy. Meanwhile, those of us who raise a stink are berated for "living in the past." Insane.

 

[aliceismad]

Does it cost a family of four $500 for a day visit to one of those "other" parks? And that's just the starting point for the spending. The complaint is as much about the value many customers place in these "extra" touches and details we expect from Disney and how lately there has been a much higher disregard by the company in providing that value despite continuous increases in prices. IMO

We priced out just one day at Universal Orlando for our spring 2019 trip because DH wanted to see Harry Potter and we thought our DD would like Seuss. It's $670 for two adults and two kids for a park-to-park (needed to ride the Hogwarts Express). One park one day is only $450 though. So still slightly less than Disney, I suppose.

I can't speak to the deferred maintenance of either Universal or Disney, though. I'm sure a frequenter could do a comparison of sorts.

 

[The Pho]

Hello Everyone! I guess I am just the lucky one. I have gone to WDW 3 out of the last 4 years in January. (I like to run the marathon, with my sons.) We have run into larger crowds each year, but I have not run into the types of situations that would lead to the title of this discussion. Honestly, I have never seen the Yeti moving, but we rode just about every ride in the park and did not have a bad time. You do tend to get a quick stop and go on Spaceship Earth & The Haunted Mansion. I have, however, never had Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Soarin, Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or a number of other rides breakdown. Sorry, but
from my prospective the question is worded much too negatively. You make it sound like the park is falling down and that just is not the
case.

The title has more to do with parts of the rides and not the ride system as a whole. They keep the ride operational, but let parts of it go unrepaired for years. Not repairing animatronics or effects. Sometimes ignoring those can be minimal to the core ride experience (like Space Mountain, although it definitely hurts the overall experience) and sometimes it can be significant but still ignored (like the props, effects, and speakers in Tower of Terror). Then there are entire areas that seem to be forgotten about, like Future World in general.

 

[pax_65]

Something is inherently off with that explanation.

If indeed Disney feels guests don't notice or appreciate broken effects on rides then why put them on in the first place?!?!
Something is sheerly incongruent here.

We have engineering, construction and time costs to get these features(AA's, lighting, sound, set pieces, fire, steam, stationary props.....almost anything under the sun) initially installed. So if they are unnoticed or underappreciated by guests then there would be absolutely no reason to add them in the creation of the project to begin with, no?

Many times guests don't know what they're missing. If they've never done the attraction before, they don't know that an effect is missing or not working properly.

I say this all the time about the Yeti. EE is still a fun ride. If you were riding it for the first time you wouldn't know any better. So those people aren't going to complain or be disappointed in any way.

I think Disney figures between those guests who don't know any better and those determined loyalists who refuse to recognize Disney's flaws, they will have enough attendance even if those people who know and demand better choose to cut trips due to poor show/maintenance issues in the parks.

 

[OG Runner]

Many times guests don't know what they're missing. If they've never done the attraction before, they don't know that an effect is missing or not working properly.

I say this all the time about the Yeti. EE is still a fun ride. If you were riding it for the first time you wouldn't know any better. So those people aren't going to complain or be disappointed in any way.

I think Disney figures between those guests who don't know any better and those determined loyalists who refuse to recognize Disney's flaws, they will have enough attendance even if those people who know and demand better choose to cut trips due to poor show/maintenance issues in the parks.

I agree with almost all of what you say. It really seems like the people that notice the problems are the annual passholders
and locals that go to the parks often enough to ride the rides enough times to notice the smallest details. I did remember, (I forgot to
previously note), in January, when I rode Splash Mountain, some of the fountain effects were not working. It really didn't change the
ride, but even over the years I have ridden Splash Mountain a lot and realized the effect was not there.

 

[spock8113]

Park rides are considered assets. Any facility that functions on longevity will be told that "asset management is crucial to extend the life of those assets keeping capital expenditures at a minimum."
In other words, take care of the stuff you have so it lasts. Otherwise you're gonna pay down the road. And that doesn't even consider any public danger or liability.
This all sounds so short-sighted. I don't see skimping and cutting saving them a whole lot.
Are they that close to the gain/loss line. I'm sure there are no parentheses on their daily tally sheets.

 

[trainplane3]

Show quality on the whole in Orlando currently is very poor. There’s no excuse.

I lost track of how many things were broke/turned off on this trip.

My favorite by far was the earth projection in SSE. It wasn't even broke, they had it turned up too bright (as I heard about before I arrived). But instead of adjusting it, they left it bright enough to illuminate everything. So now regular guests don't even have to try to see the storage area that is 180 top. But hey, very illuminated space station. I guess that's a plus...or something.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Now, if it's "the lava lamps in Studio C are clumpy and not working" that isn't a major issue because a regular guest doesn't give two cares about it but if it's "there's a crack in the track" then the issue gets addressed and while the ride is down for that repair other cosmetic things might get looked at that could be fixed.

BLAH

I'd say this touches on my concern. Trust.
We trust Disney to repair safety issues.

But mounting cosmetic issues eat into our faith. If WDW isn't addressing problems we can see with our own eyes, that erodes our trust.

I've left lesser amusement destinations because I saw a few too many cosmetic problems.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Hello Everyone! I guess I am just the lucky one. I have gone to WDW 3 out of the last 4 years in January. (I like to run the marathon, with my sons.) We have run into larger crowds each year, but I have not run into the types of situations that would lead to the title of this discussion. Honestly, I have never seen the Yeti moving, but we rode just about every ride in the park and did not have a bad time. You do tend to get a quick stop and go on Spaceship Earth & The Haunted Mansion. I have, however, never had Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Rock n' Roller Coaster, Soarin, Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or a number of other rides breakdown. Sorry, but
from my prospective the question is worded much too negatively. You make it sound like the park is falling down and that just is not the
case.

You've been on Space Mountain in the past decade and can honestly say that? My wife can barely ride anymore because it's so rough. My oldest two were down there a few weeks ago and Space broke down while they were in line and they had to be shuttled out the back door. It's happened to us on many rides in the past 4-5 years.

You can look around and find reports of ride breakdowns far more frequently these days than pre-2010. You can ask many people here about the effects that don't work on various rides, the Yeti being first and foremost on many lists. It's not a figment of anyone's imagination, it's real. Just because your particular experience during Marathon weekends doesn't back it up doesn't mean breakdowns aren't happening with increasing regularity.

 

[OG Runner]

You've been on Space Mountain in the past decade and can honestly say that? My wife can barely ride anymore because it's so rough. My oldest two were down there a few weeks ago and Space broke down while they were in line and they had to be shuttled out the back door. It's happened to us on many rides in the past 4-5 years.

You can look around and find reports of ride breakdowns far more frequently these days than pre-2010. You can ask many people here about the effects that don't work on various rides, the Yeti being first and foremost on many lists. It's not a figment of anyone's imagination, it's real. Just because your particular experience during Marathon weekends doesn't back it up doesn't mean breakdowns aren't happening with increasing regularity.

Like I said, I must be lucky. I have gone to Disney since 1986, (Not every year), and in that time have only been evacuated from one
ride. I am not saying the rides never breakdown. There are YouTube videos showing Space Mountain with the lights on and people
walking off of other rides. I am saying last year around 20 million people visited the Magic Kingdom alone, it doesn't seem to be
happening enough to effect attendance.

 

[HauntedPirate]

I am saying last year around 20 million people visited the Magic Kingdom alone, it doesn't seem to be happening enough to effect attendance.

That is absolutely true. In fact, nothing they do seems to affect attendance. It's why they feel they can get away with the price increases.