I think what's fascinating is some of the tech they're using is accessible to the average hobbyist, so a lot of us who do our own stuff are geeking out over the hows and whys of what's going on with their installation at Epcot.
We found a split in the LED cover so they're definitely accessible.
These are custom made fixtures. Most LED fixtures like this don’t have user replaceable parts. So the only repair option is replace. It will degrade to the point where they’ll be forced to shut it off.
I know when we were there, I bought up the notion of be being an epoxy resin but they could be Acrylic, Polycarbonate or epoxy resin. Ultimately I am leaning towards frosted polycarbonate as it would have a higher tensile strength.
add another entry to the list of bad decisions made by disney
It’s the arrogance of imagineering trying to show off how incredible their ideas and concepts are, but falling on their face in the execution.
It is definitely broken, and it appears to be getting worse as the days go by.
To basically have the literal symbol of your park not working on day 2 is inexcusable. Whether it is due to lack of foresight by Imagineering, or budgetary limits forced people to use cheaper material, or both. I personally think the idea of a light up symbol in the concrete that changes color in sync to the light show on SSE is a great idea. But if you don’t make it sustainable, what is the point.
Old EPCOT Center had fiber optics in the concrete for decades, they were very cool to see at night.
My guess would be that this was installed by a third party vendor, and for whatever reason there is a delay in the fix.
Lets hope Disney treated this third party vendor OK so they will come back and fix it sooner rather than later.
They had a deadline of Walt’s Birthday. 12/5. They rushed it. Aside from the building not being done, you can tell there are missing components and other things not working, not tested, or broken that needed more time.
They cant win, this is a black eye for them too.
There’s no easy fix anytime soon. The various issues are also not something you can easily fix in one evening. It would be incredibly bad optics to have cut concrete and construction walls back up in your “brand new” centerpiece.
I don't think it's a cut concrete fix. I would be amazed if there was no consideration given to maintenance of the lighting system. If it is a controller, and not the LED itself, that is very likely in another location that is accessible. Either way, it will get fixed, most likely overnight, and without any disruption.