Are the feelings for the Yeti unreasonable?

[FettFan]

From what I've seen the only way to fix it is to close the ride for months, actually have to remove the top of the mountain, lift the figure out for repairs, and also do some work on the mountain itself so that it can properly support the moving Yeti. And to do so is going to cost tens of millions of dollars. Do I have that basically right?

The area the Yeti is in is accessible by way of a couple of garage doors on the back of the building.

 

[docandsix]

Here’s the thing... As Marni said a few pages back, the yeti’s immobility is emblematic of a corporation-wide attitude that prioritizes profits over guest experience. It’s cynical and disrespectful, especially when the company is flush with cash and prices keep rising, almost daily. And this is the reason that I am convinced that we all have two options for experiencing Galaxy’s Edge: Go right away, when the crowds are insane or wait two years until the hype has died down and the crowds are more manageable, at which time a significant number of the effects on the attractions and the features of the land generally will have been neglected into oblivion.

It’s too bad, too, because I’m sure that the Star Wars land will be awesome when it first opens, just as the yeti was (truly breathtakingly scarily realistic) for the first 12 months after Everest opened.

 

[SirWillow]

The area the Yeti is in is accessible by way of a couple of garage doors on the back of the building.

You're late to the game. That correction has been made multiple times already.

 

[danlb_2000]

You're late to the game. That correction has been made multiple times already.

Another time can't hurt.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I saw the working Yeti and I really don't miss it. But the movement was significant even in that split second.

If you don’t miss it, you don’t remember it.

 

[Chef Mickey]

I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of visitors don't even know it's broken. I wouldn't know it was broken if I didn't regularly visit these forums.

That’s not really the point though.

 

[Paper straw fan]

Here’s the thing... As Marni said a few pages back, the yeti’s immobility is emblematic of a corporation-wide attitude that prioritizes profits over guest experience. It’s cynical and disrespectful, especially when the company is flush with cash and prices keep rising, almost daily. And this is the reason that I am convinced that we all have two options for experiencing Galaxy’s Edge: Go right away, when the crowds are insane or wait two years until the hype has died down and the crowds are more manageable, at which time a significant number of the effects on the attractions and the features of the land generally will have been neglected into oblivion.

It’s too bad, too, because I’m sure that the Star Wars land will be awesome when it first opens, just as the yeti was (truly breathtakingly scarily realistic) for the first 12 months after Everest opened.

While I don’t disagree, I go back to my point that it’s a sunk cost. Probably not worth it to them to fix for something that has no actual effect on the ride- not to mention taking it out of the rotation there probably puts even more strain on FoP (which I still don’t get how people look at a 4 hour wait for and think “yeah!”) not to mention the cost. Perhaps in another 10 years when they feel AK has enough other attractions that they can take what I still would say is their signature attraction offline for months on end.

While the loss of the effect means little to me, obviously it means more to others, and as someone who defends and criticizes WDW at times, I understand; and I do hope that so long as there are things they do that are more for shareholders than park goers, there is a vocal group willing to take them to task over it.

 

[spacethunder]

Here’s the thing... As Marni said a few pages back, the yeti’s immobility is emblematic of a corporation-wide attitude that prioritizes profits over guest experience. It’s cynical and disrespectful, especially when the company is flush with cash and prices keep rising, almost daily. And this is the reason that I am convinced that we all have two options for experiencing Galaxy’s Edge: Go right away, when the crowds are insane or wait two years until the hype has died down and the crowds are more manageable, at which time a significant number of the effects on the attractions and the features of the land generally will have been neglected into oblivion.

It’s too bad, too, because I’m sure that the Star Wars land will be awesome when it first opens, just as the yeti was (truly breathtakingly scarily realistic) for the first 12 months after Everest opened.

I think if Pandora is any indication, 2 years on won't do very much at all to make the wait times manageable. Add the fact that Star wars is exponentially more popular than Avatar, you have a recipe for a ridiculously busy land.

 

[GeneralZod]

Imagine this... suppose you didn't know about the attempt to have a big AA when they built it and that they had designed the Yeti to just be a big old hairy monster that created animation with air movement and strobe light illusion. Would it still be poor show. Now imagine the power of numbers. There would be a pitiful few people that would be happy if they shut the thing down for months and massive numbers that would be screaming at guest services for ruining their vacation. If you had to make that decision and convince all those people that they should rejoice that they are unable to ride a perfectly good ride because an obviously disposable movement is no longer... how would you convince them that it is for their benefit? And then if you decided to spend the millions it would take to rebuild it and you had to explain that expenditure to the BoD who in turn had to justify it to stockholders what would you say to make them happy?

I get that there is no ROI on this one. Is it more about the sum as a whole and this should boil down to the "Disney Difference". If you reduce this situation and remove all of the emotion, extended maintenance issues should not exist at this level of operation...not to mention this level of revenue.

Lest we not forget that they initially marketed this AA as a reason to visit the park and then simply forgot about it when it stopped functioning. Shenanigans

 

[Goofyernmost]

I get that there is no ROI on this one. Is it more about the sum as a whole and this should boil down to the "Disney Difference". If you reduce this situation and remove all of the emotion, extended maintenance issues should not exist at this level of operation...not to mention this level of revenue.

Lest we not forget that they initially marketed this AA as a reason to visit the park and then simply forgot about it when it stopped functioning. Shenanigans

We are not talking about a budget cut, or something some one omitted from the attraction to save a dime. We are talking about a mechanical part of the attraction that was flawed and didn't work. What guarantee does anyone have that there was any fix for this failed piece of machinery. What guarantee do we have that even if they were able to "fix" it, it wouldn't create a possible future failure that might harm people on the ride? What guarantee do we or they have that they can spend millions on a rebuild only to have the same or another stress related problem that would once again create a hazard to CM's and guests.

My guess is that there is a whole lot more that we don't know about that engineering then what we do know. Do we know that Disney imagineers didn't just bite off way more then they could chew and something that they attempted to create just didn't and won't work properly and safely. Don't forget they thought it was engineered properly to begin with. It is not anywhere near the same thing, for example, as having one of the Pirates not working. If that went any length of time without being repaired then we have something to be upset about. This not so much! They take a lot of flack for this and it would seem to me that if they thought it could be fixed and be a safe and stable thing, it would have been by now. It just isn't going away and as long as the Modern Miracles WDW show is still able to be seen somewhere, it will always haunt them.

 

[Chef Mickey]

People arguing there is no ROI on fixing it miss the point. There is really no ROI on attractions, period...well, besides attracting people to the parks. If show quality erodes enough, it will impact attendance.

Am I saying a broken Yeti impacts attendance? No. I’m saying the slow creep of a culture of “good enough” eventually will.

Leaving the Yeti non operational is the definition of “good enough.” If you didn’t intend for it to work, don’t include it in the ride. If it’s there, make it work. A broken show element, no matter how small, is a bad show.