How would you say TDO compares in refurbs to TDA? It seems Disneyland has a pretty consistent system with different attractions. The only one that truly seems to have missed the mark in Disneyland more than a few times is Splash Mountain. Does TDO need to look all the way to Paris, or can its neighbors to the west shed some light? Or is TDA turning into TDO?
I'm fortunate enough in life that I'm able to take trips to DLR and WDW a couple times each year. I still love both places; but, WDW has become more and more detached from the Disney Parks standard as time has elapsed in the last decade plus. While you will still find examples of bad show at both resorts, the issue is only systemic in Orlando. I would encourage anyone that can visit both, to try to notice the little details and its in those that the differences seem to magnify. Focus on an attribute like maintenance and compare and contrast how they are dissimilar. Things break. It's the theme park business after all. What's important is to see how failure is handled. Is it left to fester or is it resolved?
Ask yourself, if Radiator Springs Racers were in Orlando - would the tractor tipping effect ever operate? It's quite common to see it fail in Anaheim; but, it's equally common to see it back up and working later in your vacation.
Ask yourself, how many times on a vacation in Orlando do you see an AA on Pirates sit inoperable for more than one day and compare that to a trip on DL's?
After you pay attention to the more obvious things like "broken vs. working", you can then compare and contrast more Disney different types of things like cleanliness, audio balance, and lighting.
Comparing "itsm" at either park is a very good example of all the above.
It doesn't take 20/20 vision to notice the layers of dirt on Pan in the MK versus DL.
That's not saying DL is perfect. Splash needs a major, major refurb in Anaheim. Unfortunately, California's occupational safety laws have become so strict that the current show sets inside of the Mountain aren't compliant. They will need to be reworked in order for maintenance to do their jobs. This will require a multi-month closure just to re-engineer the interior sets, so coming out of the refurb - they can keep it working. Unfortunately, I think it's going to fester until SWL is operational.
I will say this: they just had BTM down for an extensive refub not too long ago in DL (like 2 or 3 years ago) where some updates got added. When I was there in Jan it was down most of the day for 'technical issues' and when we finally caught it up and running we then got stuck on the 1st assent for 20 minutes and had to wait for the fire dept to come get us off. So that one might need a re-visit....lol
Just keep in mind that complex attractions, like roller-coasters, are always going to have good days and bad ones. It sounds like you caught DL's BTM on a bad day. Something as simple a guest taking too long to get in or out of the train could cause a cascade backup on track and then it might have needed a reset, which requires a visit from maintenance. For the 7 days I was there in August and the 6 days in January, it was open each time we either rode or went by the attraction.
