Disneyworld maintenance is a joke

[Model3 McQueen]

Alright, let's do this.

Haunted Mansion has been closed for emergency repair, and continues to struggle
Space Mountain is how old again?
Tower of Terror is constantly being critiqued for several broken effects
Why is Peoplemover closed now?
Dinosaur & Everest can both greatly benefit from a multi-month refurbishment
Pirates of the Caribbean mixes with Jungle Cruise as a boat is sent to Davy Jones locker

Anyone have anything else to add?

My post is a little sarcastic, because there are still several rides still running at an acceptable level. But some lack of maintenance, mixed with some of the most recent events occurring, is a cause for concern. How much longer until we have another BTMRR (DL) incident?

Oh, and now that park prices can amount to over 200 a day.. why is the lackluster maintenance okay?

 

[Rosanne]

The reality is - there are just too many people in the parks. They cannot handle the people or the maintenance.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

The reality is - there are just too many people in the parks. They cannot handle the people or the maintenance.

Come on, that's such a bad excuse for a company that's price gouging you.

 

[rk03221]

I worked at Disney for a few years and it’s mostly because everything is old and they won’t update it. Here a secret I always tell people; Disney world is the cash cow of all the parks around the world, no matter how dumpy or outdated it seems people will always spend money to go there. That’s why the wife and I aren’t going back until they update everything. The capacity is also a factor too, there are so many guests the rides go through a ton of wear and tear

 

[Rosanne]

I agree. Capacity is one of the problems. So many millions of people tramping thru day after day. It has to have wear & tear on the rides & attractions. As far as price goes - I really believe the $ 125 gate fee is not so bad considering you are going to be entertained from 9 am to 9pm. The problem is, with so many people and long lines, you can only get on 4 or 5 good rides. That's when people object to the price and I dont blame them. It used to be people enjoyed their day at Disney. Now people are leaving angry and upset because they paid a big fee and had to wait in line for hours for a few good rides. I know they limit how many people can be in the parks, maybe they should drop that limit lower. Of course, less revenue - but less wear & tear, happier guests that will come back & more time to update the park.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Disney World's no good, very bad week of ride accidents points to a bigger issue at the Orlando resort

In less than a week, the Magic Kingdom saw a Jungle Cruise boat sink, an incident on the PeopleMover, and an unexpected closure of its...

www.orlandoweekly.com

Disney World's no good, very bad week of ride accidents points to a bigger issue at the Orlando resort

In less than a week, the Magic Kingdom saw a Jungle Cruise boat sink, an incident on the PeopleMover, and an unexpected closure of its Haunted Mansion. The no good, very bad week for Magic Kingdom points to a more significant issue facing Walt Disney World – and no matter how Disney chooses to address it, many guests will be left unhappy.

While every attraction faces unplanned minor issues from time to time, the back-to-back-to-back major issues at the Magic Kingdom shows something bigger is happening. The Magic Kingdom remains the most visited theme park in the world, and many of its rides are some of the most ridden attractions ever built. The constant daily grind means these attractions see more unexpected downtimes than similarly-functioning attractions at other parks, in part because those attractions incorporate more planned downtime.

At Disneyland, many high-demand attractions, such as Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, see multiple closures per year as the attractions receive holiday-themed overlays. These types of overlays are not as common in Orlando, where more the majority of guests visit the park once every few years, unlike the passholder-dependent California parks.

"Refurbishments generally aren’t felt as much at Disneyland as they can be at Disney World because each of Disneyland’s parks have more attractions than each of the parks at Disney World," explained Dusty Sage, CEO of Disney watchdog site MiceChat.com. "That means the temporary closure of an E-Ticket at Disneyland doesn’t cause as much impact on guests (or the wait times of other attractions) as the closure of a major ride at Animal Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios."

"Due to Walt Disney World’s size, there are far more facilities at Walt Disney World to maintain than at Disneyland, and spread out over a vastly larger area," says Sage. "That makes the effort infinitely more difficult to accomplish in Disney’s Orlando resort."

The story is in the numbers. Here are the numbers of official rides at the Disney parks in Orlando and California:


Walt Disney World Rides: 51
• Magic Kingdom: 25
• Epcot: 9
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: 8
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: 9

Disneyland Resort Rides: 54
• Disneyland Park: 36
• Disney California Adventure: 18

"All rides have a regular refurbishment schedule that is budgeted. But from time to time, show conditions require that those schedules be sped up or possibly slowed down," says Sage, to accommodate the closure of other nearby attractions. He also notes that many of Disneyland’s attractions are older, some working since 1955, and require much more upkeep. Then there is Florida's extreme weather, which requires more exterior refurbishment.

Many current and former cast members have shared their concerns with the universal budget cuts that have riddled Disney Parks, despite their record-breaking profits. It’s still unclear if former Disney Parks president and now CEO of the Walt Disney Company Bob Chapek will continue the cost-cutting initiatives he’s been credited with up until this point. After a round of budget cuts in 2016, Robert Niles of Theme Park Insider stated, such cuts will continue until guests begin voting with their wallets.

"The only way that Disney will back off cuts at its U.S. resorts will be if those cuts result in losses for the company," said Niles. "Ultimately, the parks' direction is ... determined by the decisions of Disney's theme park customers."

The issue in Orlando also seems linked to a decrease in preventative maintenance. From animatronics having their parts fall off during the middle of a show, to having multiple rides break down within the same week, its clear that the Orlando parks aren’t seeing the same level of maintenance quality they once did. This is also despite the parks operating for fewer hours per day. Many have faulted Chapek for the budget cuts across the parks division.

For attractions to operate at full capacity with all of the parts fully functioning, it means many of the rides people plan their vacations around will possibly see more downtime. That means more angry guests.

Disney insider Jim Hill has pointed to Spaceship Earth’s rumored two-and-a-half-year downtime now being bumped up to only a few months, as Disney becomes more unwilling to see iconic attractions, like Haunted Mansion or the monorails, being down for the months to years required to address many of the issues they face.

Without that willingness to close the attractions for extended downtime, it will likely mean park attractions will see more shorter, unscheduled downtimes as a band-aid. With shareholders more worried about the next quarter versus the next decade, that type of piecemeal approach will likely continue – until it becomes financially clear to Disney that it cannot.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

^^^ recipe for disaster, folks.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I agree about the rides wholeheartedly. I don't believe they are unsafe, but the show quality on so many WDW attractions, such as Tower of Terror, is embarrassing.

I do, however, think that Disney still maintains the parks themselves and their beauty better than the competition. WDW is always refurbishing facades and walkways, for example. They also deploy a third shift cleaning army that is bigger than the competition. Universal, by comparison, generally has much better attraction show quality but the parks themselves look somewhat dumpy and rundown.

 

[Lilofan]

You would think the mechanics would have more time to maintain the rides and the theme parks. Does anyone remember when the parks would close at 11pm,12,1,2,3am and re-open at 7,8 am? Parks are closing earlier now... When the parks expanded, did the staffing increase or due to budget restraints, more work was given to existing staff?

 

[Rosanne]

You would think the mechanics would have more time to maintain the rides and the theme parks. Does anyone remember when the parks would close at 11pm,12,1,2,3am and re-open at 7,8 am? Parks are closing earlier now... When the parks expanded, did the staffing increase or due to budget restraints, more work was given to existing staff?

Yes. I do remember when the parks closed at 11 pm. And it was fun being there in the evening. All of the outside theaters had music and dancing. After riding the rides all day, it was nice to relax & listen to the music & dance. But, now Magic Hours has put a crimp in that.

 

[Raineman]

These kind of situations are really a no-win situation for everybody involved. If you shut down attractions for extended periods to do the necessary preventive maintenance or to repair, then you have some visitors whining & complaining that they can't ride their favorite attraction. If the attractions are kept running, despite maintenance needs, then you have some visitors complaining about bad show and the perceived reasons for the lack of maintenance. Personally, if I was a Disney executive, I would rather have people complaining about shutdowns due to maintenance needs to ensure the attraction runs like it should when it is not down for maintenance. You can never eliminate both types of complaints, so go with the one that makes it look like the effort and $ are still there.

 

[dreamfinder]

Pretty sure PM has been rolled back. Believe that in house maintenance employee head count has gone down. And also think they used to keep a spare of any part on hand, but that has since been changed. This is over the last 5-10 years mind you, not a sudden recent change.

Please correct on any of those, but those things alone are just as bad for upkeep as a lack of any regularly scheduled long term refurbs.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

These kind of situations are really a no-win situation for everybody involved. If you shut down attractions for extended periods to do the necessary preventive maintenance or to repair, then you have some visitors whining & complaining that they can't ride their favorite attraction. If the attractions are kept running, despite maintenance needs, then you have some visitors complaining about bad show and the perceived reasons for the lack of maintenance. Personally, if I was a Disney executive, I would rather have people complaining about shutdowns due to maintenance needs to ensure the attraction runs like it should when it is not down for maintenance. You can never eliminate both types of complaints, so go with the one that makes it look like the effort and $ are still there.

Great point.

Contrary to many of my headstrong approaches, I think there are points to both closing & not closing attractions for extended refurb.

1. TDO might be using the "well we aren't as stacked as Disneyland" excuse to NOT spend money. It's true when comparing individual parks to individual parks.
2. But they're also raising the prices every year, lowering the hours of operation, and cutting staff.. there should be zero tolerance for their BS
3. It could also be why they're opening up new attractions at a respectable pace? The more there are, the less impact a temp. closure will have.
4. But investing more in shows or other people eater events for the general ticket price, that aren't attractions, would help too. I feel like Disney again just doesn't want to spend the money.

 

[wendysue]

All of this has just reinforced our families letting our AP's expire and moving on. Maybe someday it will be worth it again, but I just don't see it. Of course, if this virus thing gets worse, we may not even use our AP's again....

 

[eliza61nyc]

one other problem I think is that Disney has left upgrades and maintenance issues go for so long that it's now in an impossible game of catch up.

maybe this last month of meltdowns will shine a light on the problem to management. I've got 2 trips planned for this year so I'll have to see if there are any issues.

 

[Giss Neric]

Amusement parks like Six Flags, where their rides are mostly rollercoasters and flat rides and not as complex as the dark rides and some other stuff at Disney, yet they close multiple rides for the whole day or even more. They do not even get the crowd that Disney has.

I do not think their maintenance is a joke. It's just not consistent but it's probably way better than how other non- Disney parks maintains their rides.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Amusement parks like Six Flags, where their rides are mostly rollercoasters and flat rides and not as complex as the dark rides and some other stuff at Disney, yet they close multiple rides for the whole day or even more. They do not even get the crowd that Disney has.

I do not think their maintenance is a joke. It's just not consistent but it's probably way better than how other non- Disney parks maintains their rides.

True. Six Flags is performing awful though. Didn't they go bankrupt? Disney is having record years at record prices.

 

[wombat]

I worked at Disney for a few years and it’s mostly because everything is old and they won’t update it. Here a secret I always tell people; Disney world is the cash cow of all the parks around the world, no matter how dumpy or outdated it seems people will always spend money to go there. That’s why the wife and I aren’t going back until they update everything. The capacity is also a factor too, there are so many guests the rides go through a ton of wear and tear

I guess you will never be going back, expecting everything to be updated at the same time is an impossibility

 

[MissViv]

When they close the parks due to the Corona Virus, maybe they can do some refurbishments. It's coming folks!!

 

[EricsBiscuit]

WDW maintenance is certainly not a joke. If you’ve ever been to central shops you know exactly what I mean. It’s a large scale war against the effects of time and weather on the parks. Sure, budgets can be increased, but in the overall scheme of things the cast in the maintenance department does a great job. They are the untold heroes of WDW.