Liberty Square River Boat Refurb

[mpaul32001]

I have heard from a very good source that they are now just waiting for the water level to rise more and the boat will be back on the water.

 

[marni1971]

I have heard from a very good source that they are now just waiting for the water level to rise more and the boat will be back on the water.

No dry dock? Do you mean move back onto Rivers of America? That`s good news.

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

The Liberty Belle is still in the water at the dry dock area. The sled to move it into the dry dock building is prepped and ready. She hasn't left the water yet, so I'd say don't get your hopes up yet. She looks so lonely over there and with out her smokestack :-( Indications point to her return in time for the MNSSHP cruises, but not much sooner then that.

I'd hate to be the crane operator this time around.

 

[marni1971]

I didn`t know she was at dry dock already! Must have missed this one. No pics I don`t suppose....

I`m sure the crane operator has the Fowler at the very front of his mind!

 

[speck76]

Yes. Had its upkeep been up to standards, it wouldn't need a 2-year renovation, and a renovation of a boat that takes easily three times as long as it would take to build a new ship is bad show.

Umm....I disagree there....no matter how often it is refurbished, every attraction needs the occasional overhaul. Considering the boat is over 30 years old, I am sure replacement parts are not easy to come by. To toss in any weather related issues that slowed it moving to dry-dock (we have only had 25% of the normal rainfall amount since Jan)....I hardly think that the company can be held responsible for those.....

Ride construction, not refurbishments, should be the only thing occurring in the summer, for example--and Disney used to follow that not too long ago. A good quality refurbishment would be like the one going on at DL's HM right now--work takes place at night so the ride doesn't have to close and the effect on guest experience is minimal--Matt Ouimet seems to understand the concept of good show better than the folks running the Magic Kingdom, which is why the only things closed at DL right now are attractions being completely rebuilt--and Pirates, but no one was really given a choice on that due to the required tie-in to the movie (the same can be said for having to close all of Rivers of America and cancel Fantasmic! late next month for the premier........)

I have never noticed any major refurbishments going on during the summer....but again you freak out from the "exception".....

Furthermore, the seasons in Orlando are not as clearly defined as those in Anaheim.....October through December is QUICKLY becoming a busy season, June-July is busy, yet August and September as very slow now (due to the press the hurricanes of the last 2 years have seen). Two of the busiest times fall during 1 week in Feb, and 2 weeks in March or April, and then May is fairly slow.

So, to complete a long rehab, but not rehab attractions over the busy time periods, the rehab would have to start and stop a lot....which is less feasible, and on most attractions, impossible.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Umm....I disagree there....no matter how often it is refurbished, every attraction needs the occasional overhaul. Considering the boat is over 30 years old, I am sure replacement parts are not easy to come by. To toss in any weather related issues that slowed it moving to dry-dock (we have only had 25% of the normal rainfall amount since Jan)....I hardly think that the company can be held responsible for those.....



I have never noticed any major refurbishments going on during the summer....but again you freak out from the "exception".....

Furthermore, the seasons in Orlando are not as clearly defined as those in Anaheim.....October through December is QUICKLY becoming a busy season, June-July is busy, yet August and September as very slow now (due to the press the hurricanes of the last 2 years have seen). Two of the busiest times fall during 1 week in Feb, and 2 weeks in March or April, and then May is fairly slow.

So, to complete a long rehab, but not rehab attractions over the busy time periods, the rehab would have to start and stop a lot....which is less feasible, and on most attractions, impossible.

I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept a 1-year timeframe to refurbish a little boat as reasonable. They can build cruiseliners in a year. I could probably build a Liberty Belle ON MY OWN with a year's time. I find it about as acceptable as having Pirates of the Caribbean closed until early July because someone didn't have the brain power to realize that opening an attraction with new effects PRIOR to the release of a movie based on it would be smarter than opening it the day of release, to drive up interest in the film. At least John Lasseter understands there is some value in opening attractions before movie releases. I don't think it is "freaking out at the exception" when two rides are closed in one park in June. If it were impossible to complete refurbishments in the off season, I must have been living in some imaginary world years ago when I visited during peak seasons (e.g. Presidents Week), and, surprisingly, everything was open and yet they managed refurbisments. If they can completely switch the Haunted Mansion over to HMH in 3 weeks, they can refurbish a boat in less than a year.

 

[speck76]

I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept a 1-year timeframe to refurbish a little boat as reasonable. They can build cruiseliners in a year. I could probably build a Liberty Belle ON MY OWN with a year's time. I find it about as acceptable as having Pirates of the Caribbean closed until early July because someone didn't have the brain power to realize that opening an attraction with new effects PRIOR to the release of a movie based on it would be smarter than opening it the day of release, to drive up interest in the film. At least John Lasseter understands there is some value in opening attractions before movie releases. I don't think it is "freaking out at the exception" when two rides are closed in one park in June. If it were impossible to complete refurbishments in the off season, I must have been living in some imaginary world years ago when I visited during peak seasons (e.g. Presidents Week), and, surprisingly, everything was open and yet they managed refurbisments. If they can completely switch the Haunted Mansion over to HMH in 3 weeks, they can refurbish a boat in less than a year.

So....your ed because you refuse to believe what could be reality......I get it now...

 

[year45]

Bad News, Looks like Disney has pushed the refurb back to Thurs Sept 21, 2006 Reopening Friday Sept 22, 2006 making it longer than one year, that thing better work and look great for taking so long.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Bad News, Looks like Disney has pushed the refurb back to Thurs Sept 21, 2006 Reopening Friday Sept 22, 2006 making it longer than one year, that thing better work and look great for taking so long.

It better be able to fly to Tomorrowland, too...and travel through time. Maybe that's why this has taken so absurdly long--they are installing a flux capacitor.

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept a 1-year timeframe to refurbish a little boat as reasonable. They can build cruiseliners in a year. I could probably build a Liberty Belle ON MY OWN with a year's time.

I'm sorry but point me to a cruise ship that was built in under a year from keel laying to maiden voyage. Even the Disney Magic was several weeks late for her own party. As for building a boat on your own... mayebe it's possible you could, but is your ship building crew also working on enhancing a classic attraction. Does your waterway have the proper water levels, to accomadate the work that needs to be done. Are there any other projects that your might have competing for funding with your "little boat"?

This is not a bass boat that you slap an outboard engine to. It is a working steam boat. Finding the right team to oversee a rehab of this scale is not an easy task, you can have a great team to maintain it, but do you have that same team rip it down and rebuild. I might trust Wal-Mart for an oil change, but there is no way they get to rebuild the engine.

And yes the Belle does close twice a year already for a short "refurbishments"... those includes teaking the decks and the insurance required boiler inspection.

The WDWRR trains also have to go out for about a week each 2x a year for boiler inspections, you just don't notice because there are 4 of them. Even for them, their refurbishment after rotting in the mexican jungles took over 18 months. And when they when out for they're rebuilds in the late 90's and earlier this decade they went off site, to have the work done by a team of experts.

If they can completely switch the Haunted Mansion over to HMH in 3 weeks, they can refurbish a boat in less than a year.

Actually the switch takes on average 6 weeks at the same time as the "it's a small world" holiday overlay. Is it ok to close two attractions at the same time if its only for a short period? Closing IASW & HM at the same time is in a much different class then PotC & the Liberty Bellle. The Belle carries at most 900 people per hour and most hours maybe pulls half of that.

As for PotC and the movie tie-in. I think there is enough excitemtent around this movie that opening early doesn't need to happen. Your plan puts the movie second to the attraction. People ride the attraction and then get around to the movie when they get a chance or when it comes out on DVD ,becuae they have an idea of what they are going to see in the theater. Open the ride with the movie and give them an element of surprise in the theater, leave them wanting more (in either a sequel or a more invloved experience) and you drive up attendance to the attraction.

:hammer: :hammer:

Bad News, Looks like Disney has pushed the refurb back to Thurs Sept 21, 2006 Reopening Friday Sept 22, 2006 making it longer than one year, that thing better work and look great for taking so long.

That sounds inline with the dates I heard yesterday. Gives the crew a week or so for (re)training and shakedown cruises, before the MNSSHP's start.

 

[phishken]

Glad to hear she'll be running for my late September visit. We missed it last year and its been probably 20 years since I was last on it.

Whats its use for the MNSSHP?

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

It's used for storytelling cruises and there is also usually some musical entertainment, the one group I remember was the "Departed (Dapper) Dans"

Bummer it wasn't open for Grad Nite this year. The Riverboat dance party was a big hit the last couple of times it was open.

 

[jmvd20]

I understand the fact that the refurb. for the Belle is not a simple one. I however do feel that WDW could have planned it out a little bit better. Then again as a project manager some of my best plans have been completely destroyed by something out of our control, normally adverse weather conditions can be to blame for these situations. If this is the case the water levels due to lack of rain may be a good explanation now, but what about last fall when it wnet down. Florida wasn't in a drought then were they?

 

[Tracks N Slabs]

Not really in a drought last fall, no. But there were already scheduled projects that had the drydock area all tied up. Once those projects were complete it freed space for the Liberty Belle, but by that point we were into our current drought and the lake levels were too low.

I also want to point out that just because the Belle is just now moving to drydock does not mean that she has been sitting unattended to since last fall. A lot of above the waterline work has been done while she was sitting in wet dock. Even the sign the goes over the paddlewheel was sent out for a new paint job (or replacement) I didn't get a close enough look to tell.

That said there is still a lot of work to be done and a September timeframe should allow that work to progress nicely, even though a lot of labor is being thrown at the PotC rehab at the same time. I would expect progress to move faster once PotC reopens in July.

 

[tink rules]

Atmosphere... darling... atmosphere....

Watching the boat pull around every once in a while adds to the theme of the areas...

Also, it may be boring to some... sentimental to others and a good place to rest also...

 

[tink rules]

same place they put Champ...

 

[tink rules]

Had a feeling it would be at night...

wouldn't want to ruin the magic....

 

[lnsemsf]

I hope they don't push the Sep 22nd date back again. It's not that I ride it much, maybe 2 times in nearly 30 years, but I sure like to see it steaming around the river. Not the same with it missing.

 

[jmvd20]

Not really in a drought last fall, no. But there were already scheduled projects that had the drydock area all tied up. Once those projects were complete it freed space for the Liberty Belle, but by that point we were into our current drought and the lake levels were too low.

I also want to point out that just because the Belle is just now moving to drydock does not mean that she has been sitting unattended to since last fall. A lot of above the waterline work has been done while she was sitting in wet dock. Even the sign the goes over the paddlewheel was sent out for a new paint job (or replacement) I didn't get a close enough look to tell.

That said there is still a lot of work to be done and a September timeframe should allow that work to progress nicely, even though a lot of labor is being thrown at the PotC rehab at the same time. I would expect progress to move faster once PotC reopens in July.

Good point, I also didn't realize that they were using the drydock for other reapairs. I think I am just complaining about it because I like the boat ride and it has been down for our last 2 vacations now. I guess we'll just have to plan another trip after the first of the year

 

[ToTBellHop]

Actually the switch takes on average 6 weeks at the same time as the "it's a small world" holiday overlay. Is it ok to close two attractions at the same time if its only for a short period? Closing IASW & HM at the same time is in a much different class then PotC & the Liberty Bellle. The Belle carries at most 900 people per hour and most hours maybe pulls half of that.

6 weeks? That's pretty incredible--apparently Disney has learned how to time travel, considering it was closed September 12-29 last year for installation, which by my count is 2½ weeks, and since that is during the off season, yes, it is okay.