Major 2015 Pirates of the Caribbean Refurbishment Watch/Rumor.

[PhotoDave219]

so what happened? I was of the understanding it got weathered pretty bad and rather than repair/reuse...they junked?

Sorry if I jumped down your throat too

 

[The Visionary Soul]

Again, Youre 100% wrong with Spectro.

How many times to I have to correct people about that?

Spectro had termites. The wood replacement costs (and new electrical work) would have been extravagant. Disney would have needed to spend a million dollars to get the thing back up to par. It wasn't stored properly.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

It seemed like Disney did more preventative maintenance back in the day & there seemed to be more rehabs. Generally in the off-season. When we had an off-season.

The flip side to that is when you have 50-60k guests a day going to MK, they're going to want to ride POTC, HM, iasw, etc. A lot are first time/ once in a life time guests and they want to ride that one ride.

Disney can't win either way, but when things are ignored/pushed back over and over, they run into problems like the way POTC is today.

I have an idea, build copies of every single attraction next to each other, then you can always do rehab when needed, and when it's not needed, you can use the extra capacity! We'll start with Soarin' and Toy Story Midway Mania and work from there...

 

[PhotoDave219]

Spectro had termites. The wood replacement costs (and new electrical work) would have been extravagant. Disney would have needed to spend a million dollars to get the thing back up to par. It wasn't stored properly.

The termites were overblown.

The electrical work on the other hand… That's where the cost come in the play.

 

[JohnD]

So, I just got through riding. I could tell you about it except the flash imprint hasn't yet left my eyes from the at least three people on my boat taking flash photos.

 

[eddy21]

Some rides I get that.

I completely understand why lots of Jungle Cruise would be very difficult to do regular maintenance on.

But, for a ride like Pirates? I don't understand why they can't keep it up better throughout the year. Even doing it in "sections" with shorter "outages" instead of multi-month downtime. They only reason why I think multi-month downtimes should be required is if they need to drain the sucker and do track work.

All of those animatronics should have test programming for articulations (I know the animatronics I supported did). It's a lot easier to replace a cylinder early as it starts to fail rather than later, when you run the risk that it starts to wear the frame and joints.

I'm sure maintenance does the best that it can, but I wish it was a bit more pro-active. It seems to me they basically "refurb" for several months, then allow the thing to more or less rot for 3 - 5 years before it gets so bad they can't ignore it anymore, and they "refurb" it again.

And, to your other point, I am a bit sad it will be closed during my trip. PoTC is a must do for me.

Doing things in sections is not feasible. The ride has to be ready in the morning. By the time things are set up scaffolding etc it would be time to open.Draining the sucker is required this go round.

 

[Mike S]

So, I just got through riding. I could tell you about it except the flash imprint hasn't yet left my eyes from the at least three people on my boat taking flash photos.

 

[NearTheEars]

So, I just got through riding. I could tell you about it except the flash imprint hasn't yet left my eyes from the at least three people on my boat taking flash photos.

That is the absolute worst. Especially when it's just some jerk with a point and shoot and you know those photos will be dark and blurry.

 

[Martiyoman]

So, I just got through riding. I could tell you about it except the flash imprint hasn't yet left my eyes from the at least three people on my boat taking flash photos.

God I hate the flash photos. Idiots, all of em. This last week I had a woman taking a flash picture of her sleeping friend over and over again in carousel of progress. Guhh

 

[JohnD]

So, I got in the queue for Jungle Cruise. It closed due to thunderstorms. Not upset. I get it. But 0 for 2. Let's try Tiki Room.

 

[JohnD]

That is the absolute worst. Especially when it's just some jerk with a point and shoot and you know those photos will be dark and blurry.

One even pointed backward from a lady in the row directly in front of me. Right into my eyes. Ugh.

 

[Sage of Time]

I don't get how the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion can looks pristine and fresh and modern... and POTC looks terrible. CC @marni1971

 

[JohnD]

Got back in POTC queue again. Now "experiencing rough waters." So we're waiting... Good thing I'm killing time until my first FP for 7DMT at 7:45.

 

[englanddg]

God I hate the flash photos. Idiots, all of em. This last week I had a woman taking a flash picture of her sleeping friend over and over again in carousel of progress. Guhh

When it happens once, but not again later in the ride from the same "general place" I spied it before, I give it a pass. That's just someone not thinking and forgetting to turn the auto-flash off...anyone can have a derp moment.

But, when it's every show scene, from the same "car" or "buggy"...that annoys me. That's just blatant selfishness and disrespect.

 

[englanddg]

Doing things in sections is not feasible. The ride has to be ready in the morning. By the time things are set up scaffolding etc it would be time to open.Draining the sucker is required this go round.

I strongly disagree. While I've never maintained anything of the scope and scale of Pirates, I also only had a 1 man crew doing it (along with all his other duties), and I have maintained animatronics and show pieces.

Not everything requires draining or complex scaffolding. And, they could take it down for shorter periods (unless it needs to be drained, when then you'd have to do the whole ride) instead of 4 month long refurbs every 2 - 3 years.

 

[Victor Kelly]

I never said it was perfect. It does need maintenance even if nothing ever broke. It is long overdue. I just, personally, get tired of constantly hearing things like it's a mess, or the monorails are disgusting or some other thing is almost ready to junk, when most of that opinion comes from that moment in time that I mentioned. The Monorails are smelly. Funny, you know that one of the first things I noticed on the Monorails back in 1983 was that particular odor that they had. You know what, when I get on them like I did this year, that same odor hits my senses and flashes me back to then. What people are describing as "awful" are their scent. Something inherent to the rails. When they find some garbage on the trains, it's Disney doesn't do a good job. The consideration that the group that got off the train as they were getting on might have left whatever they see. No, it's Disney has failed when the chances are it is the Guest that has failed and created the problem that is now blamed on Disney. That's just one example, there are many.

In some cases they are correct. PoTC is pushing 40 years old and it has been running almost constantly for all those years. It needs to have stuff replaced that has worn out with time an usage. It has nothing to do with the neglect unless you consider the uproar that happens on this very board when it gets closed for repair. You'd think someone had just had a kid taken away or something. There was a post earlier about how upset people, the same people that complain about the condition of things, are because of the construction going on. Yet, Disney isn't doing anything. There is a major conflict involved with all of that. It just gets tedious, is all!

Yup you can never make people happy. Excellent explanation, and it is all to true of many many people on several different forum sites.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I don't get how the Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion can looks pristine and fresh and modern... and POTC looks terrible. CC @marni1971

Just a guess here, but, water trapped inside a building can cause a great deal of damage in corrosion and mildew. HM doesn't have water and Jungle cruise is outside plus I've seen JC looking pretty awful in the past. On top of that, although looking old and tired, PoTC looking terrible is a bit overstated.

 

[janoimagine]

It wasn't stored properly.

Get out of here? Disney World Management not properly maintaining something? Surely you jest.

 

[bhg469]

I have an idea, build copies of every single attraction next to each other, then you can always do rehab when needed, and when it's not needed, you can use the extra capacity! We'll start with Soarin' and Toy Story Midway Mania and work from there...

Only a company that was run by morons would do something that utterly stupid.

 

[englanddg]

Just a guess here, but, water trapped inside a building can cause a great deal of damage in corrosion and mildew. HM doesn't have water and Jungle cruise is outside plus I've seen JC looking pretty awful in the past. On top of that, although looking old and tired, PoTC looking terrible is a bit overstated.

Standing, untreated water does. Mist does. Water alone does not.