KBLovedDisney
Well-Known Member
Ah, got it. So, this truly has become a mystery then as to why they are taking their sweet time?
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Expedition Everest effects status watch
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
No a mystery at all.
The fix is expensive and no one outside of a few thousand uber fans even remotely cares. Millions of everyday tourists ride this attraction every year and have no clue that anything is wrong.
KBLovedDisney
Well-Known Member
Ah. I kind of feel bad for the guy who designed/engineered it...He is probably catching a lot of hate right now.
As I understand it, "fault" is being thrown back and forth between departments.
I have a hard time believing that such a huge and complex thing could be removed in a couple hours, monkeyed around with, and reinstalled before 9:00 a.m. the next morning. Sorry, but unless you were an eyewitness to that, I have a very hard time believing you. Plus, why didn't they just remove the wretched beast years ago and put up a projection wall? Instead, they leave the yeti carcass standing there like some shameful plague victim. Why wouldn't they remove it if doing so is so easy?
So . . . the conclusion seems to be that it is an expensive yet easy fix. Okay. That's possible, but rarely are expensive fixes easy. If it's expensive, it is very probably not easy, and will probably take a long time. Fixing the transmission on my car is expensive and complicated. It also takes a comparatively long time. Replacing the spark plugs is cheap and easy. It can be done in ten minutes.
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
Ralphlaw, I like your thinking. There are others here who speak very authoritatively about this, but I've always had a hard time with believing it's an easy fix but Disney is fighting over who pays for it. It will be most interesting to see how this plays out (and will go a long way in increasing or decreasing the credibility of several other regular posters here).
Castle Cake Apologist
Well-Known Member
You're right, several highly respected insiders all saying the same thing can't possibly be right.
The term "easy fix" gets incorrectly thrown around a lot. The solution is easy to come by and say...redesign and replace the yeti. Just like your car analogy...replace the transmission. Easy to say, much harder to do and pay for.
The hard and most expensive part comes first...redesigning and rebuilding the yeti. The easy or more to the point, easier part, is physically removing and reinstalling the new yeti.
Much like an engine in something like a 1960's era Dodge, rebuilding it takes some time, but just swapping out one engine for another can be done rather quickly.
In the case of the yeti, the problem appears to be a design error that requires the AA be redesigned and replaced. All of the redesign work can be done off site. All that needs to be done in the mountain itself is the removal and reinstall. That can supposedly be accomplished in a few days during third shift. At worst the attraction might be down for a few days...not the months/years/centuries that some have claimed.
Multiple sources have confirmed the yetis removal on at least one occasion. What you choose to believe is up to you.
It is my understanding that projection solution has been presented, but rejected in favor of the statue. It would not surprise me if a projection is what we eventually end up with.
Perhaps, but like I originally said, the most reasonable and logical explanation is right about 80% of the time. This indeed may lie in that pesky 20%, even if the respected insiders' versions seem unreasonable and illogical.
Also, the whole notion that the thing was removed, worked on, and reinstalled overnight just seems preposterous to me given all of the countervailing facts. Did anyone on these boards actually see that happen?
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
Very snarky, and not at all warranted. I consider Joe Rohde or Marty Sklar or Bob Iger to be legitimate sources of information. At the risk of offending some here, anyone who doesn't work directly for the Mouse is somewhat suspect. Over the course of time, if someone proves to be reliable, I'll have more of a tendency to believe them. Just saying that someone is reliable or respected doesn't make them so, IMO. And I really don't mean any offense to Martin or others. If they are indeed correct in their information, they should be happy to let nature take its course and have time prove them right and others wrong.
Castle Cake Apologist
Well-Known Member
To my knowledge, Joe Rhode, Marty Sklar, and Bob Iger have not released statements speaking on the veracity of whether the yeti has been removed on third shift, so I'm not sure what they have to do with this.
We have a few insiders here who have a pretty good track record, so they are deemed trustworthy. They've all given the same explanation in some form or another time and again, and most have confirmed that the yeti has been removed before. We've had photographic evidence somewhere in this thread of the empty cavern, when the yeti had been there the day before. So unless they removed it during operations, that really only leaves third shift.
It's fine if somebody wants to believe that an AA cannot be removed and replaced overnight. That's their choice, but it flies in the face of what several highly respected members of this forum have said. Members who have an impeccable track record of correct information and have proven themselves time and again to be legitimate sources of information from within the company.
It doesn't seem illogical at all that a figure who is designed to be removed and worked on, could be removed and worked on. It seems more illogical to me that it wouldn't be able to. It baffles me as to why people think Disney would build a major attraction and not design any way to easily access its main show piece for maintenance.
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
And there's the crux of the problem - you deem them trustworthy, while I don't know them well enough to make a decision. Look, several people can be saying the same thing without it being true. It happens all the time in Onlineland - someone speculates, then someone else picks that up and states it as fact, and now we're off to the races with the truth. In this case, while there are plenty of "trustworthy" people who are basically saying the same thing, I'm with Ralphlaw - something just doesn't add up. I'll wait and see how it all comes out.
Replacing the Yeti is easy. Pull out the old one, and plug in the new one.
Building the new one is hard and expensive.
Fixing the old one seems to be off the table since it is structurally unsound (and not the framework of the mountain) and it isn't compliant with newer more stringent rules about things hanging over guests.
Building the new one is hard and expensive.
Fixing the old one seems to be off the table since it is structurally unsound (and not the framework of the mountain) and it isn't compliant with newer more stringent rules about things hanging over guests.
Castle Cake Apologist
Well-Known Member
How many times do our insiders have to be right about things before you trust them?
I said a few other things too. Like how the yeti was there one day and gone the next and we had pictures of the empty cavern. That seems pretty indicative that the yeti both can and has been removed before after hours.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
The figure is too close to the ride envelope and is viewed from too many angles, especially from below, for a projection scrim to be a suitable replacement. They would have to completely remodel the yeti chamber for that to be an improvement on what they have now. The static figure combined with flashing lights is effective enough to give the illusion of motion. All the false alarms in this thread of people who swear they saw the thing start moving again is proof enough of that.
The fix is only "easy" in that the ride would not have to be taken offline. Basically, an entirely new yeti with a dramatically reinforced internal structure would have to be designed, fabricated, dressed, programmed, and tested. All of this would be exceedingly expensive. Once they had this theoretical figure, installing it would be relatively simple and quick.
BasiltheBatLord
Well-Known Member
I'd be very interested to see this.
For what it's worth in contributing to this conversation, Joe Rhode's response to a question at D23 a few years ago (I think 2013?) about fixing the Yeti seemed to center on the primary issue being accessing the actual figure within the mountain. You can find a video of this on YouTube but his quote was something similar to "You have to understand it's a massive figure sitting on a tall tower in the middle of a finished building, and none of our proposed solutions have gotten to point of figuring that out yet."
danyoung56
Well-Known Member
Obviously, for me, a couple more times . . . . .
This scenario would indeed seem to make sense.
With that being said, it is exceedingly rare for any machine anywhere the size of that yeti to be replaceable within a few hours. A few days maybe. But I cannot think of a single example of an installed machine that big being removed from a working job site and replaced within 24 hours. Yes, cranes and other mobile equipment can be disassembled and hauled away quickly with a new replacement, but that's machinery that is built for mobile tasks. Disconnecting the current installed yeti, removing it, bringing in its replacement, and installing the new one, would be a huge task entailing about 1,000 things that could go wrong. Plus, there would be testing, safety inspections, and many other time-consuming tasks that would have to be completed before the public would be allowed anywhere near it. Perhaps in a week that could be done, yet that is still a pretty significant shutdown.
Two things remain:
1. A strong attraction Czar ala Eisner or Walt would not have let budgetary finger-pointing get in the way of a solution.
2. Truly, has anyone actually seen the yeti removed AND reinstalled overnight, or are we just dealing with rumor on this?
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
If they installed a new figure, they could just do the motion testing after park hours and leave it stationary during the day, just like the current figure. No one would notice the difference.