Malfunction! Malfunction!

[yensid354]

Dead ride

MK and POC was my biggest breakdown.

Just loaded, through the queue, and stuck on the end of the belt just before the 'slide' into the ride. 25 minutes of boredom and wondering if it was broken, or just accomodating a 'special needs guest'.

Would be nice if they just let the ride know if the 'temporary' stop is mechanical, or to accomodate the needs of a guest!

 

[Mr.Nutz]

Re: Spaceship Earth

Originally posted by sigsegv
Almost every time DW and I ride Spaceship Earth, it stops at some point. For a while, it kept stopping longer and closer to the start every time we rode. Once, it even stopped right after you get on and start going up. The longest stop was right at the end of the initial incline. We sat there for about a 1/2 hour, then the lights came on and they eventually (after about another 10 minutes) had CMs come by and lead us to the exit.

I quickly snapped a pic as we were heading down the stairs and out: http://www.pbase.com/image/595926. It's kinda dark and grainy, but it's interesting.

-sig

Usually the stops are to load guests with disabilities into cars from the exit area, if they can't do it when the ride is still moving. Same with stops on Haunted Mansion etc. But that long stop you had was obviously something else. Cool picture though, at least you got to snap that.

 

[sigsegv]

Originally posted by Sailor Mouse
And after we got off, it just kept playing over and over in my mind. :dazzle:

How is that different than riding Small World without a breakdown?



-sig

 

[jaimjaim25]

We always seem to be on Spaceship Earth when they are having "technical difficulties" We got stopped in front of the screen with the fake kids looking at the big TV screen for about 20 mintues. "There's no water in space.. AWESOME!" yeah, i know that whole script too. And where we got stopped was while we were leaning backwards to go down hill.. that was fun.. hehe

 

[JLW11Hi]

We got stopped in front of the screen with the fake kids looking at the big TV screen for about 20 mintues. "There's no water in space.. AWESOME!" yeah, i know that whole script too

Wow, 20 minutes of that! :hammer:

"How about a bee? Ever seen bees build a hive?"

That happens injust about every one of the "people mover" rides, like the haunted mansion and the TTC. I'm guessing that it happened to just about every one of Epcot's original rides that had the same set up.

But then it just wouldn't be Spaceship Earth without the traditional momentary stop!

 

[disneytati]

Something ridiculous happened to me in IOA last year. I was riding spider man, when the ride broke down and the lights turned on. We saw the grey walls and movie screen,and lots of grey doors, stairs, walls, everything. Then the ride started again, and we thought we would ride, but it broke down again. They decided to take us out of there, so we had to go all the way to the end (we were in the second room) with the lights on. As it is a simulaor, we stayed there, for a long time, shaking with the lights on, in front of grey screens, and grey ceilings, and grey walls, until the end of the ride. It was ridiculous!

Kisses from Brazil!!!
:kiss:

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

Originally posted by Sailor Mouse
My family and I have gotten stuck on Small World numerous times, the longest of which was about 10 minutes. The song just kept playing and playing. And after we got off, it just kept playing over and over in my mind. :dazzle:

that happened to me once too. for 30 minutes. I though I was going to cry. Ithink I did. horrible. :lookaroun

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by joROurA
Ever Been On A Ride That Malfunctioned? Tell About, How Long? What Ride? Did You get To Go In The Back Rooms?

When I Went On Test Track, The Guy Who Was Loading Us In The Cars Told Us That It Was Now A Water Ride Because It Was Raining. The Ride Went Very Slow Up Thoose Hairpin Turns. I Was Confused. When The Car Went Up The Hill (With The Hairpin Turns) It Stopped For Like 10 Seconds. Then The Ride Flew Out The Garage Thing, And Went Flying On The Outside Course. It Was Wet, And We Didn't Get Too Wet On A Count We Were Moving So Fast. By This Point We Didn't Know It Malfunction. But Right Before It Goes Back Inside The Buiding.... IT STOPED! A Lady On The Ride Insisted That During The Preshow The Ride Stops Outside. It's Not Supossed To. The Annoncement Went On Saying That Test Track Had Malfunctioned And Will Be Going Shortly. It Rained Soo Hard, Everyone Got Soaked. 20 Minutes Later It Was Still Raining Hard And I Felt "Straped" To This Thing, And That Annoncement Still Went On And On. Finally THe Car Moved, 15 Feet. But That Was Enough To Get Us Out Of The Rain. Good Thing That Thermo Thing Was THere. That Was Entertainment For The 10 Minutes We Were Stuck There! Then It Moved Another 5 Feet, Revealing That The Ride Was Over, Since So, I Unuckled My Belt...... AHHHH Freedom! Then A Later Told us Where To Go And Handed Us A Pass To Go On With No Wait, Kinda Like A Fats Pass, But With No Time Limit.

Wow! How Can You Type Like That????!! :hammer: :dazzle:

There is not more fun than having to evacuate guests from El Río del Tiempo! Try to pull those boats to the nearest emergency exit without the engines! Ouch! :animwink:

I also have a question for those who have been stuck for a while in a ride: have you really checked the length of time you are stucked in there in your watches? Sometimes it feels very long, but it is not really. I remember when I worked at the mexican boatride, that we had about 20 seconds to load a boat (I might be wrong though, can´t remember exactly). There was a counter in the console and we knew the decent time when to dispatch it so people inside were not getting stuck in any part of the ride and just kept moving... but people sometimes took their time getting on the boat or switching seats and if they were not fully sat, we couldn´t dispatch it, while you had a whole line of boats waiting to be unloaded... stressful... specially when you had wheelchairs waiting for the special boat and in many times, it was faster to load the wheelchair yourself than to wait for the family to do it... :animwink:

 

[Married@WDW]

Originally posted by Sailor Mouse
My family and I have gotten stuck on Small World numerous times, the longest of which was about 10 minutes. The song just kept playing and playing. And after we got off, it just kept playing over and over in my mind. :dazzle:

That is, literally, my worst nightmare. I've had dreams where I'm stuck on the ride and I jump out of the boat and try to swim out. The further I swim, the louder the music gets, until I wake up in a sweat. Happens everytime we go to Disney with my neice and nephews, 'cause I know I'm going to have to go on it!

 

[Timekeeper]

Get off

First - people criticize those who decide to leave their ride vehicles when it stops for a period of time.

Then - those same people - express how horrible it is to remain in their seat when their ride vehicle stops.

Regardless, WDW needs a new policy for those trapped on rides for unreasonable periods of time. And when I think unreasonable periods of time, I think being stuck for over 10 or 15 minutes is unreasonable.

People pay $50 to spend TIME in a park. If a ride stops, a guest's time is taken from them against their will. Giving them a voucher to visit the same ride is not valid consideration. It may make more sense to issue a voucher for any attraction of the guest's choosing. Suppose it's 6:30 pm and a guest is stepping into a ride vehicle on Test Track. That guest has not yet visited the boat tour in The Land. Test Track breaks down for 30 minutes. The guest, who carefully calculated their schedule for the day - is now "out of luck" because The Land closes at 7 pm. If it weren't for the malfunction, they would have been able to visit The Land in time. Whose fault? WDW's. Does the guest get to visit The Land? No. Does giving them a fastpass back to Test Track enable them to visit The Land? No. Thus, is this fair compensation? I believe not.

They also need to do a better job of informing guests in the que of technical problems in the ride. If the line is moving slower than it should be, or not at all, they need to notify guests in que right away. Guests may have other obligations and it is not fair to mislead guests with approximate wait times and then extend significantly beyond that.

When guests pay $50 each - often coming in large groups or with friends/family, more need be done to accomodate those guests for the malfunctioning and other operational problems of the product provider. Customers have reasonable expectations that need be met. If WDW is unwilling to provide better compensation for guests with such bad experiences regarding ride problems, then they need to place clear warnings/disclaimers at ride entrances that display something to the effect of,

"This ride attraction commonly breaks down causing lengthy time delays in the waiting line and within the attraction itself. If you are not willing to get stuck on this ride for possibly 30 minutes or more, you should not ride."

Tk

 

[jaimjaim25]

yup and how could anyone forget "you're time machine vehicle has made an unscheduled stop. please remain seated" that just adds fun to it..
Actually, my cousins had to walk out of spaceship earth once because of the technical problems. THey said it was really cool to walk though!

 

[Maria]

Re: Get off

Originally posted by Timekeeper
If WDW is unwilling to provide better compensation for guests with such bad experiences regarding ride problems, then they need to place clear warnings/disclaimers at ride entrances that display something to the effect of,

"This ride attraction commonly breaks down causing lengthy time delays in the waiting line and within the attraction itself. If you are not willing to get stuck on this ride for possibly 30 minutes or more, you should not ride."

Tk

sure... that´s what I had in mind...

If rides break down, I think most times it happens is for guest´s safety. We are all aware that we might be the lucky ones who get stuck for a while. I don´t see why I would have to ask fro compensations if I had no time to get on all the rides. I would never do that! It´s understood that I won´t obviously have time to do ALL anyways! That´s why I will have to come back...

If I didn´t live in Mexico and earned in pesos (10 pesos for 1 dollar now) meaning that everything costs me ten times more than you in the US earning in dollars, I wouldn´t have a problem to pay $50 for a whoooole day in a park full of attractions and shows that don´t cost me more to attend. To give you an idea, it costs around the same to get into a natural park here in the mayan riviera and you still have to pay extra to swim with the dolphins, rent snorkelling gear, etc.

I don´t think $50 is a lot of money for all what you are given in the parks. Of course, there is always the annual or seasonal passes that are a great deal, imho.

 

[Main Street USA]

Re: Re: Get off

Originally posted by Maria

Of course, there is always the annual or seasonal passes that are a great deal, imho.

Yes, the Annual Passes are the best thing going down there! They are an incredible deal. If you are only there for a week, it's basically a pass to do whatever you want whenever you want. ALL of the parks, ALL of the water parks, Pleasure Island, etc. all included in the cost of the pass.

Not only does this save you money, but more importantly it gives you the piece of mind and relaxation we all need in WDW. Buying 7 day hoppers, or any hoppers, mean that you can't just go into the parks to ride one ride and then go back to your hotel, or go into a park to eat. It uses up a whole freakin' day! With the AP, it doesn't matter. Do what you want, when you want. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[jaimjaim25]

Actually.. you dont need an annual pass to go to as many parks as you want during the day. YOu just need the ultimate Park hopper length of stay pass.

 

[jwbeck3]

I got stuck right at the beignning of buzz light year when u tunr around that corner.........it was my car that was the problem and i was there for 15 min and i ahd to keep hearing......to infinity and beyond or w/eit says at that part over and over and over again. It was kind of cool to see the guy crawl behind my car and trying to fix it though----------guess its better than ebing stuck in It's a Small World

 

[jwbeck3]

Someone I know got out at like the roman scence on spaceship earth and they immediately shut the ride down and went and got him and almsot threw him out the park-----i definitely think it was a stupid decision of him to do get out

 

[Becky]

I love malfunctions.

Let's see, Test Track once and we got to ride it again without waiting, Big Thunder once and again we rode a second time without waiting Plus we got to chat with a wonderful Cast Member.

TTA, we had to walk out. Of course since there is never a line riding again when they fixed it was no problem. Hum, seems like it never broke down when it was Wed Way.


Over 20 some trips and I think that is about it.

Some of the stops have been when they are loading wheel chairs. It always seem that we are at Rome burning when that happens.

I loved to stop on Horizons when you were at the scene looking down at NYC.

All in all, I'd say WDW does a great job at keeping things running. :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[Becky]

Oops, throw an s on the end of seem.

 

[gjpjtj]

Multiple times on SE, however I think it was either to load/unload guests, or someone got out. Fortunately it wasn't for more than a few minutes.

 

[hca4nj]

My longest time stranded on a Disney ride was on the World of Motion. Actually, it was the ride's last operating day (night) prior to it being dismanted for its transformation into Test Track. My friend and I waited until the last possible moment to enter the queue and board the ride for one "last journey" through the "wonderful world of motion". Our car made it up the ramp and into the show building up to the part of the Roman chariot auction scene and stopped dead. At first we heard the familiar, "please remain seated.. your vehichle will being moving at any moment. After about 30 times all sound and audioanimatronic action stopped and the house lights came on. After about 20 minutes and several pass throughs of cast members, we were escorted to walk out of the ride back down the path we had already completed in our vehichle. The CMs said they had a "major breakdown". Interestingly enough, the next morning there was an article in the Orlando Sentinnel that stated that the World of Motion became Motionless after a severe ride breakdown occured. Supposedly, the breakdown was big enough that the mechanics decided to call it quits with the ride, rather than fix it and start it up again for its last 15 minutes of glory. That next morning we returned to the park and by 9AM they completed the construction wall around the ride, removed the glass sides to the circular uphill track, and had several dozen ride vehichles hoisted off onto flatbeads. The end of an EPCOT era.

Harry in NJ