Hopper missing from It's Tough to be a Bug.

Thrill

Well-Known Member
Why, oh why, can't WDW management plan and schedule rehabs for their attractions?!? What is it about that basic maintenance concept that is so offensive to WDW management? And yes, there's the fabulous old line about WDW that "REHABS RUIN VACATIONS!!!" , but really, the condition of most attractions is getting bad out there.

Because it's not like things being broken ruins anything.

I'd rather go and have a few of rides closed knowing that when I come back, they'll be almost good as new. It's definitely better than coming back and having everything running in bad condition. I despise this philosophy. Just let people know in advance if something is going to be down. I'd rather know that rides will be down for refurbishment a couple months in advance than get there to find out that there are a few rides closed because things are broken, or worse, go on a ride to find that half of the effects don't work.
 

dramamama

Member
I did not notice anything unusual about Hopper last week when we saw the show. He did come up, but I did not watch him that closely, so I can't tell you whether or not his mouth moved.

On another note, the bridge effect worked great - some in our truck were really caught off guard by the "near collapse".

However, the strobe light on the yeti barely gave enough light to see him at all. Personally, I think it would be a better effect to see his form even if he doesn't move. There are so many first time riders everyday that do not know there was ever more to see. I understand the problem of fixing him would shut down the ride extensively. For me, getting to ride a great coaster trumps the lack of a visual effect.
 

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had no bridge effect on the Safari. The driver stopped a bit, but nothing happened, and on we went.

On a better note--our driver, Michael, was one of the best we've ever had on the Safari. Tons of information, a great speaking voice, and just a hint of Jungle Cruise tone/lightheartedness in there. VERY enjoyable safari, bridge or no bridge.
 

BadTigger

Active Member
Being a former CM of the tree let me interject some of my experience.

As I was told back when I was there in 2001 Hopper is the most expensive and complex animatronic in the parks. And not just due to the number of moving parts but there are lots of small parts and the movements are a bit violent in terms of an AA, lots of swinging back and forth. At least when I was there they worked on him pretty much every night or so, they were constantly tweaking his movements, BTW seeing him hooked up to the controllers and seeing him up close is pretty crazy.
While I was there he did go down a few times, and each time it varied on how long he was taken out of the show. Issues ranged from hydraulic hoses detaching, to the hydraulics going nuts and him smashing parts off himself.
So yeah depends on the severity of the damage on how long he is down.

To answer some of the other "issues" pointed out by others, the smoke effect varies greatly throughout the day/seasons. If the building is dry it dissipates real quick, if it's more muggy the smoke will linger much longer. Again they do tweak it, but it's also up to the CM's in the theater to report changes in show.

I think someone brought up the stinkbug smell. Yeah thats an interesting issue. The way it work is there is a compressed air canister with these smell pellets in them. There is a BIG book of smell pellets and they are used all over WDW and range from nice stuff like cookies to dumpster. As the pellets age they get less smelly and need to be replaced, well when they are replaced the new ones are SUPER strong. So if the smell is real bad that just means new pellets.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
This is a regular occurrence - I've never seen it personally, but I know this happens quite frequently.

It's a shame that impressive features have so much trouble. I think part of it is over engineering, but I assume it has more to do with operations not maintaining things properly.
 

Atomicmickey

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm not calling any body a liar but.....I sorta am going to. I've been in this attraction quite a few times lately and he is working great. Im not saying he is never down but I think some of u posters just stir the pot for the sake of finding stuff to bash.


Hey, it happened to me. And I'm not bashing--the attraction was fun even without him, and we had a GREAT DAY at the park. Even with Yeti in Z mode. I love DAK.

I was just curious, and as the CM said "weeks", I thought I'd share.

It's all good, I'm no basher!

And THANKS to BadTigger for clueing us in on some behind the scenes stuff. Hopper is indeed a complex and impressive AA, I assume he's a handful to maintain.
 

Dinoman96

Well-Known Member
If you ask me why Animal Kingdom's ITTBAB hasn't been rehabed while DCA has been....

I just feel as though Disney doesn't care at all for Animal Kingdom. They won't expand it, and they won't fix its major problems (I.E The Yeti).
 

Captain Hank

Well-Known Member
We had no bridge effect on the Safari. The driver stopped a bit, but nothing happened, and on we went.

On a better note--our driver, Michael, was one of the best we've ever had on the Safari. Tons of information, a great speaking voice, and just a hint of Jungle Cruise tone/lightheartedness in there. VERY enjoyable safari, bridge or no bridge.
Glad you had a great driver! The most likely reason that the bridge didn't tilt is that the vehicle immediately before yours probably was one of the smaller vehicles used on the reserve--either an Animal Programs truck or the Wild Africa Trek truck. As a safety feature, the Tilting Bridge weighs each vehicle before it activates the show. If that vehicle is lighter than a standard safari truck, it activates the B-show (sound effects only). For reasons never sufficiently explained to me, it also automatically does a B-show for the next truck, regardless of that vehicle's weight. Assuming that truck was a safari truck, though, the next safari truck should get the full tilting show. He also could have been driving too fast on his approach to the bridge, which can cause a B-mode as well.

In conclusion, the Tilting Bridge is currently fully operational, and you have about a 97% chance of experiencing the full effect if you go on Kilimanjaro Safaris.
 

Rich1

New Member
I believe you when u say its down but ur wording implied it as a chronic issue which it truly is not. I think at times it may have gone down but I think some ppl on these boards make stuff up to pile on the bashing.
 

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
I did not notice anything unusual about Hopper last week when we saw the show. He did come up, but I did not watch him that closely, so I can't tell you whether or not his mouth moved.

On another note, the bridge effect worked great - some in our truck were really caught off guard by the "near collapse".

However, the strobe light on the yeti barely gave enough light to see him at all. Personally, I think it would be a better effect to see his form even if he doesn't move. There are so many first time riders everyday that do not know there was ever more to see. I understand the problem of fixing him would shut down the ride extensively. For me, getting to ride a great coaster trumps the lack of a visual effect.

I've been thinking about the yeti, and I wonder if WDW could solve the problem if they forgot about making the arm snatch at the guests (an effect I have never seen while on the ride BTW, only on a WDW TV special, darn it), and just deactivate it, then attach it to the rafters so that the yeti looks like he's hanging onto them with both hands, and then just make his head and mouth move? The ride vehicle could be going by, there could be a flutter of light and you'd see his outline in silhouette and his spotlit face turning and roaring at you. He's so big that I think it could be pretty effective. Plus, maybe anchoring the arm would make the whole figure more stable and put less strain on the figure's foundation. I'm no AA specialist but it seems to me that might work...
 

Alektronic

Well-Known Member
Glad you had a great driver! The most likely reason that the bridge didn't tilt is that the vehicle immediately before yours probably was one of the smaller vehicles used on the reserve--either an Animal Programs truck or the Wild Africa Trek truck. As a safety feature, the Tilting Bridge weighs each vehicle before it activates the show. If that vehicle is lighter than a standard safari truck, it activates the B-show (sound effects only). For reasons never sufficiently explained to me, it also automatically does a B-show for the next truck, regardless of that vehicle's weight. Assuming that truck was a safari truck, though, the next safari truck should get the full tilting show. He also could have been driving too fast on his approach to the bridge, which can cause a B-mode as well.

In conclusion, the Tilting Bridge is currently fully operational, and you have about a 97% chance of experiencing the full effect if you go on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

Whoever told you that the bridge weighs each vehicle definitely doesn't know how it really works or he is just pulling your leg.
 

Flip83

Active Member
I do think AK will get attention at some point. Maybe taking a lot of time to do so, sure. I think they are working on many ideas, as they usually do. The imagineers are never sitting back. The Yeti may never go back to "A Mode" or however people on here word it. But, it honestly doesn't bother me that much, I still have a lot of fun on that ride. I am sure AK will expand and make changes. Could be 5-10 years, who knows. I'd honestly much rather see other stuff done to other parks before AK, but that's just me. I think HS is a great park and I think they should expand there before anything. I think after the FLE is all finished, I think the next big project should be additions to HS. I was there in December and I did the Backlot tour for the first time in YEARS. Man, I'll tell ya... that is a total snooze now. I am always a guy talking about nostalgia and all that, but I think clearing that out and either expanding Pixar place (which would make the MOST sense) or whatever other idea they can come up with... but I wouldn't mind seeing the Backlot Tour in the extinct category in years to come. I also wouldn't mind seeing some kinda change to Indiana Jones show. I wouldn't say get rid of it, but maybe change it somehow, add new scenes?... I don't know. I've been bored with that lately. It just seems really stale. I wouldn't mind seeing some changes to Epcot either, I know many people want that too. I'm not a complainer about Epcot, but it could use some new stuff. I think Innoventions could be so much better (I felt that way from the very start of that area), Mission space is ok, I think the UoE needs to change drastically. I go on that ride on hot days or rainy days to take a freakin nap lol. I'm not a complainer about The Seas, I think adding Nemo was a good thing, I think they could have done better with it, but I think adding Nemo was very smart from a business aspect. I think JII could use a good overhaul, but they BETTER NOT take Figment out. He's the Epcot icon, and I've heard some people say to get him out and change it all, which those comments made me sick. How could you possibly say that? I liked them bringing back EO, I am sure eventually they will add a new show, but if they want to keep EO for a while, I am content with that. I thought it was so cool seeing that show again. Really brought back memories from my childhood at Epcot. It was very cool that it was in the theater rather then how it used to be originally back in the day. they could use the effects from HISTA, which was neat.

Going back to early comments I saw about Stitch. They definitely have lightened up on his HARD push they used to give him. Man, they shoved him down your throats. Do they still use him on the Wake Up Calls? I actually haven't used that the last couple trips because it annoyed me. I missed waking up to an original character waking us up. They completely destroyed Alien Encounter for Stitches sake, which is very upsetting. Perhaps in due time, they could change that ride over to anything. I don't care what it is.

Sorry for rambling, I'm sure not everyone agrees with the stuff I said. But it's just my opinion.
 

RandeB

Member
Went a week and half ago with teenage child who was ready to lean back and get 'stung'. Of course, neither of us got stung.
 

PirateFrank

Well-Known Member
Was there in late august and Hopper was not working at all. I was really ed too, given that I had to drag my kids into this show...and will likely never get them in there again....asked a CM about it on the way out, saying I was expecting to see him...
She had no words for me. She just shrugged.
I guess some of the cast members are starting to get sick of appologizing to guests for the failings of management, eh?
:shrug:
 

Zac Skellington

Well-Known Member
I believe you when u say its down but ur wording implied it as a chronic issue which it truly is not. I think at times it may have gone down but I think some ppl on these boards make stuff up to pile on the bashing.

If you read this whole thread, it appears it is a chronic problem...

As for me, I saw Hopper break on Wednesday, Nov. 17th, 2010 during extra magic hours, about 7:30pm, (just giving more facts to support my "lie"...:rolleyes:). The lights came on during the bug spray effect, and we were told a show element wasn't working, and we had to leave. Two days later on the 19th, we went into ITtBaB and Hopper was MIA.

Went back to DAK at the end oh January 2011, and he worked normally.

BTW, the bridge wasn't working on either Nov '10, or Jan '11 trip to WDW.
 

Captain Hank

Well-Known Member
Well, then the OG is wrong it is just based on photoelectric sensors and timing.
Might I ask your source, then? Everything I've heard about the bridge functions through training and working at Safaris is that the final go/no-go for the tilting bridge show is based on the weight of the vehicle. IR beams and timing play major roles in it, but weight does too.
 

Alektronic

Well-Known Member
Might I ask your source, then? Everything I've heard about the bridge functions through training and working at Safaris is that the final go/no-go for the tilting bridge show is based on the weight of the vehicle. IR beams and timing play major roles in it, but weight does too.

My Source? ME!! I have personally worked on everything in the Safari, including Safari vehicles, the dispatch lights and station gates at load, all the various audio triggers throughout the ride, the Tlilting Bridge, the smoke and water effects and the geysers, the Rabbit Rover (poachers jeep), Little Red, the pilot, Ms Jobson, the airplane, all the controls located in the Ranger's Station and even when Little Red was located where your break room is now.
 

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