Disappointed in Operations Manager

[Computer Magic]

No offense, but what you're saying is very idealistic. Regardless if you paid for "services" or not, they do not guarantee the ride will most definitely be operational when you go. And it's ideal and naive to believe that a ride should be 100% operational 100% of the time...not just in WDW but in ANY theme/amusement park. It's not going to happen...especially in a place that caters to thousands upon thousands of people every single day. Your guarantee is more likely to lean on the side that there WILL be closures. Also, keep in mind that this is EE's first year of operation. They are still working out any kinks and it may take a bit of time before it's operations are running smoothly.

Just because she's a CM doesn't mean she's lost the magic from a guest's view. It means she has a different perspective...and is able to see things that a normal guest would not necessarily realize, understand, and take into consideration (which typically results in jumping to conclusions on the guest's part). Guest perspectives can't only include magic...but need to include reality as well. Otherwise there will always be something to be upset and disappointed about.

no offense taken, we all have different perspective. You jumped to alot of conclusion from my two sentences.....but that happends in email strings.

I don't expect rides to be open all the time that's unrealistic expectations. But communication to why a ride is down is expected especially when the sun is out. I don't know the details as does anyone else.

What does strike me is the OP perspective is a CM and yet she went away unhappy. How many non-CM guests that have no clue about WDW went away unhappy that day.

You have your opinion and I have mine :wave:

 

[peter11435]

But communication to why a ride is down is expected especially when the sun is out. I don't know the details as does anyone else.

You may feel that way. But Disney is under no obligation to tell guests why an attraction is closed. There are a million reasons a ride could be closed but the majority of times they just tell you technical difficulties or inclement weather.

 

[Miss Bell]

I think they run most things in the rain--it's the lightening that is the stopper. I have sat through Fantasmic in the pouring rain, and I have had it canceled due to rain.

There may be more to why the ride was down than just the rain. If they had to shut it down for a few hours, they may have all kinds of re-sets and re-boots before it's guest ready again.

I agree that it is disappointing to not get on a ride, especially a new attraction--we missed Test Track two entire trips after if first opened because it was always down when we were at Epcot. Pirates is going to be down when we go in June--I did not know that when I booked my trip.

Unfortunately, no matter how much we want every attraction to be open every second we're there, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.

Overall, I have found most Cast Members try to be as accomodating as they can be, giving out Fast Passes for later in a day (I know that wouldn't work in this situation) and that kind of thing when a ride is down.

 

[Computer Magic]

You may feel that way. But Disney is under no obligation to tell guests why an attraction is closed. There are a million reasons a ride could be closed but the majority of times they just tell you technical difficulties or inclement weather.

I didn't say it was an obligation.....common courtesy. They don't even have to tell why.

Why would Disney choose to not tell the guests the attracation will not reopen that day....or undisclosed amount of time. I hope it's not to keep guest in the park longer.

Good Customer Service Is not a feelling...I know I Manage it every day.

 

[peter11435]

Why would Disney choose to not tell the guests the attracation will not reopen that day....or undisclosed amount of time. I hope it's not to keep guest in the park longer.

But you don't know the whole story. Maybe the ride was having TD. Maybe they had every intention of reopening the attraction as soon as it was working, but had no idea when that would be.

 

[Computer Magic]

But you don't know the whole story. Maybe the ride was having TD. Maybe they had every intention of reopening the attraction as soon as it was working, but has no idea when that would be.

You may be right.....:wave:

 

[c133125]

maybe the Yeti escaped...

 

[Frank Stallone]

As a cast member, I highly doubt they would close their most popular attraction an hour early, if it was operational.

I work over at EPCOT, and I have seen Soarin' as well as Test Track go down due to maintenance issues during the evening, and open up again as late as 10 minutes before closing time.

Why didn't you stop by guest relations and ask them why it was not opening? You're making accusations against the operations manager, when they probably had a legitimate reason to keep the attraction closed (whether it be due to weather, maintenance issues, an injury, 101 figures in the ride, etc.). Shutting down an attraction early based on wanting to cut back on the cost of paying cast members would probably get a manager terminated, especially at a ride as popular as Everest.

 

[DicksonGR]

Salutations fellow bear

:wave: Hopefully we'll get a good result tomorrow. Loving your sig btw!

 

[imagineersrock]

Hey folks- just an update...

Expedition Everest did not open with the park this morning. Apparently they had lightning storm issues that they were still working out. I hear it opened up about an hour after the park did this morning.

This should put to rest that theory that they simply closed the ride to save on payroll last night and sent all the CM's home..... unless they told all those CM's to come in an hour late this morning as well... to "save on payroll," ofcourse.

 

[BuzzComplexCM]

Clearing you lost the magic from a guest view...We pay for the service you mentioned. It's not OWED to the guest, it's expected in service paid. WDW makes out big time by keeping the parks opened by extra money spent in the park. The guest is what makes WDW $$$. If WDW is to keep the guest entering the park and pay your paycheck, they need to keep itself refresh and the rides moving.

Once again, someone forgot the read the fine print. All tickets, handbooks, guide maps, etc all state "SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE"

As a former CM, I will be taking Disney's side on this one. If there is lightning within a 2-3 mile radius, attracions located outside (Astro Orbiter, Speedway, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc) will be closed until the threat has moved out of the area. I wokred in Tomorrowland and remember days when it was sunny as sunny gets, and Astro Orbiter was closed because there was lightning within the area. I didn't even see it, but the comuter weather monitors picked it up. Trust me, they would not just close Everest and keep it closed if there was no reason. One night while working Space Mountain, they had to Evac the ride (with the help of Reedy Creek which then makes the down time even longer) and reset the ride system. Space was closed for nearly 2 hours, the park's schedule closing was 11pm. At 10:35 they reopened Space for the remaining 25 minutes. They do not send CM's home early from a designated attraction unless they are over staffed for the day.

 

[Computer Magic]

Once again, someone forgot the read the fine print. All tickets, handbooks, guide maps, etc all state "SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE"

Is that like "other duties as assigned". That's another good one big corporate uses to cover their :zipit: :lol:

 

[lamarvenoy]

Sometimes there are many factors which are beyond a "guest". To be open an hour doesn't seem like a waste to you but you are not the one to try and staff a ride with no notice for an hour. The man hours needed to run the attraction may not have been there,it would seem like a waste to keep people around to staff a closed ride. Sometimes complicated rides take minutes to reset and just because the sky is clear that doesn't mean lightning isn't near.Just variables. I'm just saying.

 

[tigger248]

Sometimes there are many factors which are beyond a "guest". To be open an hour doesn't seem like a waste to you but you are not the one to try and staff a ride with no notice for an hour. The man hours needed to run the attraction may not have been there,it would seem like a waste to keep people around to staff a closed ride. Sometimes complicated rides take minutes to reset and just because the sky is clear that doesn't mean lightning isn't near.Just variables. I'm just saying.

I'd put my money on technical difficulties vs. staffing.

Someone else said that EE had lightning issues, which is what I would have guessed all along. Rides at almost any park you go to, Disney or not, will close for lightning and torrential/heavy rain. Simply for safety reasons. Rides are like lightning rods in thunder storms, and heavy rain often makes the track too slick (light rain in comparison is more manageable for most rides to be able to run in). In my experience with theme park (and I have a lot of it), usually when a ride doesn't re-open after a storm is because of lightning damage or some other type of damage from the weather. I can recall other times at WDW where this was the case.

And, disney will pay their cast members to stay at work when rides go down just in case on the off chance they get it back open. One day from my cp stands out because I worked a double shift in the splash mountain photo shop and the ride was only open for a few hours that day due to mechanical issues (I think it was something related to the pumps, but I don't really remember because it's been a few years). I wanted to go home but was not allowed. Why? Because maintenance was working on the ride and they needed to be staffed in case the ride was re-opened.

 

[Magic Maker]

Sorry it took me a while to get back to everyone.

I was an Operation Manager, I know what it takes to run an attraction, one as big as Everest.

The CM I talked to called the Duty Manager of Africa, who then called the duty manager of Asia.

Again, I am only assuming. I just know that it was down for 4.5 hours straight. It originally went down for lightning which I TOTALLY get, I know how that is, I used to have to shut down Jaws all the time at Universal even if it was sunny out b/c lightnight was reportedly within 5 miles. But we would get it back up immediately if we could. And I know Disney would do the same thing.
Again, it may have gone down for ligtning and then they were not able to get it back up techinically. But I know that if it was down for so long, and with one hour left, they may have very well asked the CMs if they wanted to leave early so that 15-20 CMs were not just sitting around for 3+ hours.

I know there could be other reasons. I am simply stating that I hope my assumption is wrong.

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

But I know that if it was down for so long, and with one hour left, they may have very well asked the CMs if they wanted to leave early so that 15-20 CMs were not just sitting around for 3+ hours.

I doubt it... (and having spent some time in similar shoes as MM, and having to be that bad guy that won't let people go home early, I'll share these two examples)

We had closed one night at about 6:30pm at Mission:Space because the hydrolic line broke and spewed hydrolic fluid all over the place. After getting it fixed and cleaned up we tried to re-open a short time later. The only drum of replacement fluid @ Epcot was added and the ride was started again for a test flight. The line again gave way and spewed the new fluid out. Since the system was supposed to be a closed circuit for the fluid a one drum back-up supply was good. Turns out the only other place on property that used the same kind of fluid was Fantasmic! but as they were in the middle of a show there was slim hope that we could get a drum and get the ride up and running again before a 9pm park close.

That said M:S is a larger labor hog then E:E, and we all stayed from 6:30 to about 9:30-10 in the hopes that we could reopen.

another example:

The WDW Railroad at MK, closes each night before Wishes! and hold during the fireworks. It doesn't matter what time the fireworks are at or what time the park closes, until they get a clearance call that the attraction can reopen after Wishes!, everyone sits and waits. We had nights with a 9pm show that we didn't get clearance until almost midnight. Would they send people home... NO, because you could get that call at any minute and need to be up and running. If we got one trip (20minutes) out then it was a success, because more people were able to experience the attraction.

 

[Magic Maker]

I worked near WDWRR. I love those guys.

I appreciate the correction and the insight.

I suppose when you have two very disappointed men with you and they have been waiting all week for it, you have a hard time thinking positively.

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

I worked near WDWRR. I love those guys.

And We Love You Too Remember your licensed:sohappy: , come around and drive a trip :drevil:

 

[sillyspook13]

Everest stayed down for reasons other than weather. They tried to solve the issue until closing time but couldn't.

 

[Thelazer]

I.E. The yeti's falling apart already... (well, not really, maybe it is.. I dunno, just makeing a joke)

Still, even after calling the GM of Africa or whatever, they did not tell you what the "Real" reason is. So this is all just a big guess on your part. With the staffing issues we've had lately, I doubt they just let people go home. They would have sent them to another ride/show/food location to work if they had to. We are that short these days.