Jim Hill: Animal Kingdom Draining Away

[wdwmagic]

I have recently been contacted by someone close to this, and have been assured there isnt any truth to this rumor. There are no plans to spend those vast sums of money on re-engineering to that extent.

 

[marni1971]

4 words why I doubt this is true - The EPCOT building code.

 

[Yen_Sid1]

What we have here is a perfect example of some rumors that were started by some CMs or guests who were ignorant on the subject of construction, and saw a galvanized steel corrugated culvert pipe that was smashed on one end because an elephant walked on it, or a truck drove over it - then they told their best friend Cletus who told his uncle-dad Jeb who told everyone down at the factory which eventually spread to Jim Hill's 3rd cousin, twice removed and then to Jim - who used some elaboration and "creative license" to fabricate a National Enquirer worthy story.

All joking aside, I'm fairly confident that this is what happened. I am a Project Manager for commercial construction project, and work with engineers and architects on a daily basis. No matter HOW BAD a client wants to cut money out of the budget, an engineer or architect will not put their stamp on something that will not hold up or is a violation of building code. Corrugated metal pipe is NEVER used or specified for subsurface drainage - only for culvert pipes that run over short distances (like under driveways). Concrete is the standard, with cast iron or thick-wall PVC as a distant alternate.

There are far too many holes in this story to actually be true. If there is any validity to it, it stems from people who saw them digging up one culvert pipe and over-reacted and assumed the WHOLE system was bad. So many people know so little about construction practices and materials, but assume they know it all, that mistakes like this are made all the time. Silliness

It's funny when people are out of state and think they know what is going on by just a couple of people's posts.

But when people actually see it everyday and drive by the construction everyday, you would think they would be more reliable source.

I tell you one for sure, AK drainage has major problems and has had it for a long time, they have already replaced major sections on the perimeter of the park, but of course they can't tear up the park to replace the drain lines, so instead they are going to try to use some of a liner to insert inside the piping so the lines won't collapse any further.

I'm not claiming to be expert on anything, but outside contractors do pretty shoddy work especially here in Florida, and then they have many problems usually sued and end up going out of business. The old saying is true, "You get what you pay for!" so if you use the low bidder and use cheap labor and cheap materials. You are going to have to constantly rework it or end up replacing it. But then it comes out of a different budget. The project manager is gone and working on another project, or got promoted because he saved so much money on the earlier project, or got fired for incompetence.
And now it is someone else's problem.

I'm not sure which budget the money is going to come from, but I doubt it will stop them from building new attractions, maybe just slow down the time table a little.

 

[monothingie]

I'm not claiming to be expert on anything, but outside contractors do pretty shoddy work especially here in Florida, and then they have many problems usually sued and end up going out of business. The old saying is true, "You get what you pay for!" so if you use the low bidder and use cheap labor and cheap materials. You are going to have to constantly rework it or end up replacing it. But then it comes out of a different budget. The project manager is gone and working on another project, or got promoted because he saved so much money on the earlier project, or got fired for incompetence.
And now it is someone else's problem.

So this illustrates an even larger and more alarming systemic set of failures in the entire process. Everyone from the customer, engineers, pm, sub contractors, material manufacturers and the building officials were complacent in letting this happen.

So....
Will DAK sink into the Florida Swamp? No.
Are there drainage problems at DAK? Yup
Are steps being undertaken to correct the problem? YES.
Will attraction development suffer? Probably Not.
Did Jim Hill blow things way out of proportion? Absolutlely

-ADN