Off-Hours Attraction Maintenance/Cleaning

Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This is a question for any past/current CMs, or anyone else who may know. What kind of daily cleaning/maintenance is done inside of each attraction when the park is closed? Having had years of experience working in manufacturing facilities, I know that there is preventative maintenance done at certain intervals on machinery-daily, weekly, monthly, etc. What would be a typical night of upkeep?
(Oh, and I have to say that the thought of working on these attractions at night when everything is quiet and no one is around kind of creeps me out lol-kinda like being in a museum when no one is there. My overactive imagination can get the best of me sometimes.)
 
copcarguyp71

copcarguyp71

Well-Known Member
I believe I read that a lot of the actual ride cleaning besides normal sweeping up is outsourced but perhaps others "in the know" can chime in on this.
 
rct247

rct247

Well-Known Member
Based on what I see as a Guest, they only have limited time, money, and people to get the basic stuff and maybe a small side project done. Everything else gets pushed to the side for later and that list is very long now. That also would mean that everyone is a hard worker and productive through their entire overnight shift. CM friends who arrive early to open often find people sleeping so I don't think that is always the case.
 
FettFan

FettFan

Well-Known Member
I remember way back when, there was a "Dateline Disney" segment on the Disney Channel that featured a team of mechanics in scuba gear who would actually climb into the Jungle Cruise river each night to inspect all of the mechanics on the hippos and elephants.

Though now I'm pretty sure that was all staged for television...the rivers are only what, thigh-high at their deepest?
 
MarkTwain

MarkTwain

Well-Known Member
Inside the attractions itself? From what I understand, some basic checks and safety stuff maybe, but very little in the way of show. Custodial may go in and clean out the garbage thrown from vehicles, etc. but it's not as if mechanics are oiling up animatronics every night or anything.

I know at a major AA-heavy ride I worked, it was almost as simple as closing off the attraction, cast going home and the third shift coming in to inspect the track and make sure the house lights were functional. Judging by the state of the animatronics every morning (which ran throughout the night), it didn't look like they were doing much with them.

But yes, in terms of cleaning out litter/foreign objects, I think that was done fairly consistently.
 
landauh

landauh

Active Member
It differs with each attraction. Splash Mountain has someone walk the track and remove hats, trash, etc. every night. Space Mountain checks the brake zones and maintenance will inform attraction CMs which trains are to be placed in specific locations for regular PMs which includes inspection of wheels and the lap bar mechanism. Stitch has the carpets vacuumed and sometimes steamed clean while every night his costume is removed, maintenance run a diagnostic program and a new clean costume is put on. All attractions get a track walk before opening every day and anything that appears abnormal is given to maintenance to determine if it is a problem that needs to be worked on immediately or can be deferred to that evening and also custodial cleaning (carpets, walls, railings, etc.) Dinosaur, as all attractions, has a set schedule for testing of AAs that maintenance follows.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
landauh said:
It differs with each attraction. Splash Mountain has someone walk the track and remove hats, trash, etc. every night. Space Mountain checks the brake zones and maintenance will inform attraction CMs which trains are to be placed in specific locations for regular PMs which includes inspection of wheels and the lap bar mechanism. Stitch has the carpets vacuumed and sometimes steamed clean while every night his costume is removed, maintenance run a diagnostic program and a new clean costume is put on. All attractions get a track walk before opening every day and anything that appears abnormal is given to maintenance to determine if it is a problem that needs to be worked on immediately or can be deferred to that evening and also custodial cleaning (carpets, walls, railings, etc.) Dinosaur, as all attractions, has a set schedule for testing of AAs that maintenance follows.
Click to expand...
I was wondering if there were any diagnostics going on, given the amount of computer control most of these rides must have. I was on HM once and the ride stopped just after I got on, and I was able to watch a CM on the computer screen at the control desk beside me which was pretty cool.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MarkTwain said:
Inside the attractions itself? From what I understand, some basic checks and safety stuff maybe, but very little in the way of show. Custodial may go in and clean out the garbage thrown from vehicles, etc. but it's not as if mechanics are oiling up animatronics every night or anything.

I know at a major AA-heavy ride I worked, it was almost as simple as closing off the attraction, cast going home and the third shift coming in to inspect the track and make sure the house lights were functional. Judging by the state of the animatronics every morning (which ran throughout the night), it didn't look like they were doing much with them.

But yes, in terms of cleaning out litter/foreign objects, I think that was done fairly consistently.
Click to expand...
The animatronics run all night? Wow, I would have assumed they would be powered down at night, to reduce wear and tear. So it sounds like there's more reactive maintenance when there are problems on a ride, rather than preventative maintenance. Sounds like some factories I've worked at lol.
 
raven

raven

Well-Known Member
All depends on the attractions. But most of the cleaning and maintenence goes on at night. Not so creepy where there can be around 500+ people working in the park at night and all of the works lights are on. Animatronics are not touched by these crews as that goes to another team entirely who start at 5am and walk through each attraction and do a visual check.
 
Taylorkuck

Taylorkuck

New Member
Does anyone know about minor maintenance projects? Example: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers Spin has multiple drywall dents and gashes in the queue. Does it take and entire refurb to get those fixed or is that something that they would do overnight?
 
P

Prog

Well-Known Member
Taylorkuck said:
Does anyone know about minor maintenance projects? Example: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Rangers Spin has multiple drywall dents and gashes in the queue. Does it take and entire refurb to get those fixed or is that something that they would do overnight?
Click to expand...
I can't speak to Disney ops, but that would require several hours of patching, drying, sanding, and repainting. I can't imagine that the paint would be sufficiently dry by rope drop.
 
peter11435

peter11435

Well-Known Member
Prog said:
I can't speak to Disney ops, but that would require several hours of patching, drying, sanding, and repainting. I can't imagine that the paint would be sufficiently dry by rope drop.
Click to expand...
This type of work can be done without a refurb. Often done in stages where patching and sanding may happen one night with painting happening another.
 

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