Handrails on Everest Lift Permanently Up?

[T.Will]

Went to Animal Kingdom today and noticed the folding handrails on the big Expedition Everest lift was up. I asked a CM and they told me this is normal now.

And here’s video showing this has been the case since at least July.


Does anyone know why this new change happened? New safety rules? If so, it’s a shame it requires the handrail to be up since it’s designed not to be.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Do you have a picture of what it looked like before? I'm just curious for comparison...
Edit:
Never-ending found a bunch. It looked better with the rails down!

 

[mysto]

My theory is the creeping yeti disease is spreading to the rest of the attraction. The handrail mechanism is now un-repairable due to structural issues.

One bus driver claimed that the yeti broke it while swinging on it in the dead of night but I'm not buying that story.

I suppose they might be cheap and/or lazy?

Rodrigo re-theme imminent?

 

[Patcheslee]

What's the daily inspection requirements? Was railing required to be put up each time? Maybe they wanted to cut down on how long it takes to do them, or even if evac is required, wouldn't guests have to wait for the railing to be put up?

 

[marni1971]

What's the daily inspection requirements? Was railing required to be put up each time? Maybe they wanted to cut down on how long it takes to do them, or even if evac is required, wouldn't guests have to wait for the railing to be put up?

It took seconds.

Other attractions have mechanical safety railings.

 

[celluloid]

Declining by degrees all of the time.

 

[Tom Morrow]

A little insight:

It was designed to automatically come up in the event of any emergency stop. However, it could only be retracted manually by a maintenance CM. Also, any time people would be walking the lift, the railing had to be tied off to ensure it would stay in position.

I'm guessing either the raise and lower mechanism broke and they don't feel it is necessary to fix, or they've decided to just leave it up to avoid the hassle of needing maintenance to tie it off and lower it.

It does look bad though.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Is there any truth to the report that the railing broke when the Yeti rode a really big skateboard on it?

 

[Smooth]

Maybe they will use strobe lights on the handrails?

 

[cjkeating]

Has it been like this since the ride reopened from it's ride control systems update earlier in the year?

Edit... just checked and the handrail was down when it reopened in April.

 

[AndyS2992]

I didn't even notice it when I was there in September, just had to check back through my photos and yes the railing is there and looks bad in pictures as it throws off the forced perspective however I didn't notice it at the time and I guess most guest didn't notice either so they've kept it up for whatever reason.

 

[UKDisney Dave]

Honestly, I’m no defendant of declining standards, and broken stuff really bugs me. But there’s a wacking great big track bridge going between two mountains. I think the forced perspective is already done for. Plus a train going over it ever 90 seconds or so.

I get the argument about lazy maintenance and declining show standards, and totally agree.

But does it genuinely detracted from the look of the ride? The handrail is the least noticeable of the humongous track bridge.

 

[marni1971]

Honestly, I’m no defendant of declining standards, and broken stuff really bugs me. But there’s a wacking great big track bridge going between two mountains. I think the forced perspective is already done for. Plus a train going over it ever 90 seconds or so.

I get the argument about lazy maintenance and declining show standards, and totally agree.

But does it genuinely detracted from the look of the ride? The handrail is the least noticeable of the humongous track bridge.

One was designed as part of the aesthetic. One wasn’t.

 

[Minthorne]

Guests must now privately fun any repairs. You(r wallets) are the Magic.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Honestly, I’m no defendant of declining standards, and broken stuff really bugs me. But there’s a wacking great big track bridge going between two mountains. I think the forced perspective is already done for. Plus a train going over it ever 90 seconds or so.

I get the argument about lazy maintenance and declining show standards, and totally agree.

But does it genuinely detracted from the look of the ride? The handrail is the least noticeable of the humongous track bridge.

With the handrail down it looks passible as a legit train track. With the handrail up it looks like a standard roller coaster lift.

 

[UKDisney Dave]

Honestly, I’m no defendant of declining standards, and broken stuff really bugs me. But there’s a wacking great big track bridge going between two mountains. I think the forced perspective is already done for. Plus a train going over it ever 90 seconds or so. I get the argument about lay maintenance and declining show standards, but does it genuinely really detracted from the aspheric of the ride?

One was designed as part of the aesthetic. One wasn’t.

Totally agree, the attraction was designed with the handrail down, so it should be maintained that way, unles there is a design change for artistic reasons. That’s show standards for me, which I’ve said I don’t defend those declining standards.

What I struggle with is the idea that the handrail being up makes the view less believable. The forced perspective less real, when there’s a huge great track bridge and a train every 90 seconds or so.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Honestly, I’m no defendant of declining standards, and broken stuff really bugs me. But there’s a wacking great big track bridge going between two mountains. I think the forced perspective is already done for. Plus a train going over it ever 90 seconds or so. I get the argument about lay maintenance and declining show standards, but does it genuinely really detracted from the aspheric of the ride?

Totally agree, the attraction was designed with the handrail down, so it should be maintained that way, unles there is a design change for artistic reasons. That’s show standards for me, which I’ve said I don’t defend those declining standards.

What I struggle with is the idea that the handrail being up makes the view less believable. The forced perspective less real, when there’s a huge great track bridge and a train every 90 seconds or so.

It's not about the forced perspective. They took the time and effort to make the coaster track look like an actual bridge. It would just be standard Vekoma track in the air otherwise. With the handrails up it looks a lot less like a bridge and a lot more like a standard roller coaster lift, which is exactly what they put effort into not making it look like.

The handrail also loses some of the thrill effect of being in the air with nothing on either side of you.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

While this alone doesn't worry me, it is not a good sign.

The last time I was at AK, EE was only open for about 30 minutes all day. We happened to be able to ride it, but we were one of the last ones to ride. It made us uncomfortable.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Like folks said, it's probably broke such that they are stuck in the up position.

This being broke doesn't bother me, it's what else in the system is broke or close to be broken.

We can only hope they selectively elected to ignore this and spend money and manpower to keep the critical parts of the system working and safe.