"Behind The Scenes" Staff In Parks

[Chef Mickey]

I am always curious about the biz side of Disney and how they staff up is no exception.

Does anyone know how many people are "at the ready" for ride breakdowns? Do they just drive all around WDW when needed for a job or do they stay at one park or even one area (Tomorrowland for example)?

When a ride breaks down such as Tower of Terror, are there special people just for that ride or can "WDW Maintenance" fix anything essentially?

Are there any special maintenance tasks that only certain people can perform?

How much management is in the parks on a given day? Are there "land managers" or "ride managers" that are responsible for 1 show or one land? What are their duties?

Was thinking @marni1971 and others might have some insight. Any info would be appreciated!

 

[Rinx]

I did a CP at Mission: Space and I can tell you for certain that it has it's own maintenance crew. Usually I've seen one or two on a shift at a time but you may occasionally see one in a gray or blue shirt walking around. They do routine checks and resets throughout the day. Their department is in plain sight. In the circular room where you hand the CM your launch ticket and get placed in a bay, if you are looking straight ahead, that large door that looks like a for show maintenance bay actually is the maintenance room.

 

[mitch-fishguard]

I was on a backstage tour in 2010 and "Turk" fell ill on a parade in AK. A replacement was out in what seemed minutes. Id forgotten how amazed at the commitment to the Disney cause, it was.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm not an expert, but I do know there are not just different teams, but entire different departments. There are certain things that regular maintenance / facilities teams take care of, but when it comes to certain show elements, those repairs need to be done by WDI themselves.

 

[marni1971]

Going back a while now, depending on what's needed there are a limited amount of technicians available on call to fix anything that's within their remit to fix. Outside of that it's upto management to decide to run an attention with the fault if safe to do so and wait for third shift, or to close and work on a fix. How "assigned" they are to an area or to a park I don't know.

Simple things can be done relatively quickly. I've had a ToT projector bulb fixed within an hour. But if a brake jams on BTM and refuses to budge the attraction could be down for hours or until the following morning.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Going back a while now, depending on what's needed there are a limited amount of technicians available on call to fix anything that's within their remit to fix. Outside of that it's upto management to decide to run an attention with the fault if safe to do so and wait for third shift, or to close and work on a fix. How "assigned" they are to an area or to a park I don't know.

Simple things can be done relatively quickly. I've had a ToT projector bulb fixed within an hour. But if a brake jams on BTM and refuses to budge the attraction could be down for hours or until the following morning.

Would they close the attraction for a projector bulb typically? Since I see stuff not working all the time, I feel like they let pretty much everything run as is unless it's a safety issue or it makes the physical ride not work.

 

[marni1971]

Would they close the attraction for a projector bulb typically?.

Not any more. My point being it was fixed in a timely manor.

 

[Chef Mickey]

Not any more. My point being it was fixed in a timely manor.

Like Phantom Manor? Oh, you mean manner...LOL, j/k. Just giving you a hard time.

Does each ride have a "manager" or is there a land/area manager that overseas the entire area? And by manager, I just mean someone not necessarily responsible for maintenance, but responsible for show experience, checking things out, guest safety, etc.

 

[marni1971]

Like Phantom Manor? Oh, you mean manner...LOL, j/k. Just giving you a hard time.

Does each ride have a "manager" or is there a land/area manager that overseas the entire area? And by manager, I just mean someone not necessarily responsible for maintenance, but responsible for show experience, checking things out, guest safety, etc.

The hierarchy for management of lands / areas recently changed. I'll try and remember what it is now if I'm not beaten to it.

 

[Phonedave]

Aside from what was said above, I'm sure there are also people that hold the required certifications to do certain work. Electricians are one group that jumps to mind. I also don't know what Disney's releations with the unions are, but if something is bargined for work, and somone who is not in the union does it, then there will likely be a greivance. So if pipefitting is bargined for, and something breaks that requires a pipe repair, a regualr "repair person" cannot do it, you need to get in a member of the pipefitters union.

-dave

 

[Liberty6]

I am always curious about the biz side of Disney and how they staff up is no exception.

Does anyone know how many people are "at the ready" for ride breakdowns? Do they just drive all around WDW when needed for a job or do they stay at one park or even one area (Tomorrowland for example)?

When a ride breaks down such as Tower of Terror, are there special people just for that ride or can "WDW Maintenance" fix anything essentially?

Are there any special maintenance tasks that only certain people can perform?

How much management is in the parks on a given day? Are there "land managers" or "ride managers" that are responsible for 1 show or one land? What are their duties?

Was thinking @marni1971 and others might have some insight. Any info would be appreciated!

The following is specific to theme park attractions. Typically all the theme parks have maintenance team that are called "Engineering Services". This is a business unit under the Facilities and Operation Services (FOS) which is completely separate from operation teams and WDI. Each theme park, except MK, has two attractions maintenance teams. (MK has 3.) There are typically called East and West. They have 3 shifts of workers and managers. 1st shift (5am) tends to work on any issues on ride paths before park open and assists operations teams with powering up attractions and moving ride vehicles from storage to ride path. Once attraction opens they work backstage on elements of the ride that have been pulled or on ride vehicles. 2nd shift (least staffed shift starts 2-3pm) continues with any backstage work and then typically assists operations with removing ride vehicles. 3rd shift (overnight) with inspect every part on every ride vehicle and ride path. During park hours if an attraction goes down every ES cast member drops everything and responds to attraction. I say it's similar to a fire department getting a 911 call. In some rare cases the problem may be bigger then the amount of cast members on duty. In that case yes they may have to wait under the next shift comes in. There are also specialized Area Mechanics that are more senior and have more expertise. Typically 1st shifters they will go overnight to fix major ride elements.

Each East/West unit will have an Area Manager and typically 2-3 ES managers for each shift.

Even though Disney is a big company each local area is responsible for a certain budget and payroll. That is why you might see effects turned off or not fixed for a while. For any manager they need to beg and plead for funding for a project.

For any project to be approve a process needs to be followed. Typically it has to be approved by legal, WDI and Finance before FOS cast can be scheduled. As with any big company this can take a long time. For example there was an area when cast members had to stand that got hot during the summer. After CM complained to management about getting a fan, Operations Managers had to contact the safety and legal team to justify need. They then have to get WDI to design "themed " fan and then have cost approved by Finance. Then FOS could build and install fan. Entire thing took a year!

Hope this answers your question. I wrote this on phone so hopefully it makes sense.

 

[Liberty6]

The hierarchy for management of lands / areas recently changed. I'll try and remember what it is now if I'm not beaten to it.

This is true only for the Operations unit which is separate from Engineering or WDI.

Aside from what was said above, I'm sure there are also people that hold the required certifications to do certain work. Electricians are one group that jumps to mind. I also don't know what Disney's releations with the unions are, but if something is bargined for work, and somone who is not in the union does it, then there will likely be a greivance. So if pipefitting is bargined for, and something breaks that requires a pipe repair, a regualr "repair person" cannot do it, you need to get in a member of the pipefitters union.

-dave

This doesn't affect Florida as Florida is a right to work state. While you need to have state certifications you don't need to join the union to work in Florida. It's not the best situation to work not being in a union as you could be targeted by union members for not being in the union.

 

[Phonedave]

This is true only for the Operations unit which is separate from Engineering or WDI.



This doesn't affect Florida as Florida is a right to work state. While you need to have state certifications you don't need to join the union to work in Florida. It's not the best situation to work not being in a union as you could be targeted by union members for not being in the union.

I thought most of WDW was unionized. Even though you are free not to join a union (as Florida is a right to work state) I thought most in WDW did (for many reasons, including the pressure you mentioned). If that's the case, most union members make it a point not to so work that other unions are supposed to be doing. Sort of the same thing when it comes to crossing an other unions picket line. They are supposed to honor it, but you see a lot of fast and loose interperations of that rule - especially in today's economy.

-dave

 

[OliveMcFly]

When I worked at Tower we had our own maintenance crew, such an awesome group. Our one guy sounded just like grandpa from COP. It took me months to get him to say "when I was your age we didn't have a house phone". Small but still a victory in my book
We got along with them really well and they passed on some great tech info on the ride building, even some hands on knowledge.

 

[Patcheslee]

Seems like a fun job description to me. But I work in old CNC machines that like to break down lol