Pandoran problems 4.25.18

[Driver]

Which may or may not mean they expect it to be down all day. They mostly just don't want people hanging around waiting for it to open.

9:30 pm park closed FoP and Navi river still down.

 

[MrConbon]

I've personally never seen them give out a FP to the standby line who had not actually boarded the attraction, ever. I've only ever seen them (attraction does not matter) if you had passed the Tap Point so your FP+ had been redeemed, or if you were on the actual attraction and got evacuated from it. I've never seen them give out free FP's to a guest in the standby line who didn't have one in the first place as a result of the attraction going down. If you had not redeemed your FP, MM+ automatically triggers a 'bonus' FP+ for you when the attraction becomes unavailable. Attractions break down all the time and expecting 'compensation' every time something breaks down seems a little excessively demanding to me.

And before I get the 'you're a local, you don't get it' tag- as I said above, I experienced this condition on multiple days when I was at Disneyland Paris last spring and Big Thunder was down for most of the day on every day of my visit. I never once even considered demanding compensation because the attraction was not available- and that is the absolute best version of Big Thunder ever built (I've ridden them all). And besides, since I can only book FP's 30 days out I can essentially only ride FoP standby anyway.

Big Thunder is not at the same level as all the rides in Pandora being down the whole day. People spend thousands of dollars to go and the one thing Disney is advertising and is a *must do* is broken. That’s not anything like a basic ride like Big Thunder being down.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

There were rumors of foundation issues a while back, hopefully that’s not the issue.

 

[discos]

There were rumors of foundation issues a while back, hopefully that’s not the issue.

That's what I originally thought of when I heard both rides were down since they're both in the same show building.

 

[WisDisneyFan]

I would be frustrated and upset, but I wouldn't/couldn't ask for compensation for these attractions being down. There are still other attractions to experience in the park. I would make lemonade with the lemons.

 

[Casper Gutman]

So because a theme park ride goes down and people don't know how fastpass works, Disney is at fault? Why do people use the strawman first timer guest?

Of course Disney is at fault when a ride goes down. They charge exorbitant amounts for a product, and they have a responsibility to deliver that product. What’s more, Disney has gone to absurd lengths, through advanced FP reservations and highly priced park hopper options, to limit guest flexibility. That makes a major ride being down for a whole day a bigger deal then it might otherwise be.

I honestly have no idea why people want to identify with the multi-billion dollar international conglomerate and not the guests.

 

[ChrisFL]

No, I wouldnt. Stuff happens. There's enough other stuff to do at AK. If you're just going for Pandora, you're doing it wrong.

Disagree...if you're into rides specifically, there is not much other stuff to do at DAK, Safari, Everest and Dinosaur and a poor rapids ride. Yes there's shows and animal exhibits but not everyone goes for that.

 

[ChrisFL]

Of course Disney is at fault when a ride goes down. They charge exorbitant amounts for a product, and they have a responsibility to deliver that product. What’s more, Disney has gone to absurd lengths, through advanced FP reservations and highly priced park hopper options, to limit guest flexibility. That makes a major ride being down for a whole day a bigger deal then it might otherwise be.

I honestly have no idea why people want to identify with the multi-billion dollar international conglomerate and not the guests.

Somewhat agree, especially since FOP has 4 separate theaters. In many attractions, they can operate on other theaters/sections if one is down, so why didn't they build FOP to do that?

 

[marni1971]

There were rumors of foundation issues a while back, hopefully that’s not the issue.

Somewhat agree, especially since FOP has 4 separate theaters. In many attractions, they can operate on other theaters/sections if one is down, so why didn't they build FOP to do that?

If one fault can bring the whole land down (as seems to have happened again) you have to look again at the wisdom of building both rides in one building. The fire detection system has proven to have issues. If an alarm goes off the whole building has to be cleared, taking both rides with it. And if it can’t be reset and run reliably the building can’t open. This is one building that especially needs a fire detection system given the simulator ride system is known to run a little warm.

 

[drizgirl]

I've personally never seen them give out a FP to the standby line who had not actually boarded the attraction, ever. I've only ever seen them (attraction does not matter) if you had passed the Tap Point so your FP+ had been redeemed, or if you were on the actual attraction and got evacuated from it. I've never seen them give out free FP's to a guest in the standby line who didn't have one in the first place as a result of the attraction going down. If you had not redeemed your FP, MM+ automatically triggers a 'bonus' FP+ for you when the attraction becomes unavailable. Attractions break down all the time and expecting 'compensation' every time something breaks down seems a little excessively demanding to me.

And before I get the 'you're a local, you don't get it' tag- as I said above, I experienced this condition on multiple days when I was at Disneyland Paris last spring and Big Thunder was down for most of the day on every day of my visit. I never once even considered demanding compensation because the attraction was not available- and that is the absolute best version of Big Thunder ever built (I've ridden them all). And besides, since I can only book FP's 30 days out I can essentially only ride FoP standby anyway.

Not even close to the same thing. You didn't get up early to schedule that BTMRR FP 60 days ago. And if you went back to DL the following day you still could have done BTMRR by FP since the FP inventory would be 100% available. Not so on a WDW headliner.

 

[Nubs70]

So because a theme park ride goes down and people don't know how fastpass works, Disney is at fault? Why do people use the strawman first timer guest?

Yes

 

[drizgirl]

And? They MADE them pick FPs? You aren't MADE to do anything. In fact, if you don't want to do a FP you've booked, amazingly you can just skip it.

So true. You can walk into a park and never do a single attraction. Nobody is going to make you. But the truth is that if you want to ride FOP without a long standby wait, I'm pretty sure the "go to" advice is to jump through the hoops necessary to get a FP.

 

[jakeman]

Interesting takes on this issue.

Seems like folks are talking a bit past each other.

1. It sucks that essentially the whole land closed down for the day. That is a major issue and the correct business decision is to compensate guest appropriately. What's appropriate is an individual decision. Some would be fine with no compensation. Others won't be satisfied until they have some of Joe Rohde's ear bangles to take home. Is the compensation adequate is a valid discussion to have.
2. Blaming FP+ though is, quite frankly, dumb. Knowing you are going to Animal Kingdom 60 days out is no different than knowing you're going to be there the day of. You are there, the land is down. How you got there is immaterial.

Good talk everyone.

Carry on.

 

[GhostHost1000]

building 2 attractions in the same building to save money... may end up costing them more in the long run

 

[mikejs78]

Disagree...if you're into rides specifically, there is not much other stuff to do at DAK, Safari, Everest and Dinosaur and a poor rapids ride. Yes there's shows and animal exhibits but not everyone goes for that.

That's your own opinion though. There's plenty of other stuff (the shows, the exhibits, the entertainment).. Rides break down. Yes this was a bad one, yes it sucks, yes Disney has some blame here, and yes guests should be compensated, but not with a full refund - that's taking it too far. What if the only ride I wanted to go on at MK was Splash, and it went down. Should Disney give out refunds every single time a popular ride goes down?

 

[tnemgif]

That's your own opinion though. There's plenty of other stuff (the shows, the exhibits, the entertainment).. Rides break down. Yes this was a bad one, yes it sucks, yes Disney has some blame here, and yes guests should be compensated, but not with a full refund - that's taking it too far. What if the only ride I wanted to go on at MK was Splash, and it went down. Should Disney give out refunds every single time a popular ride goes down?

Disney was actually much more willing to give complimentary tickets, rather than change a fastpass. They were practically begging people to take free day tickets at guest relations.
I told them I wasn’t mad and didn’t want anything free. They still pushed me to take free tickets (which I declined).

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney was actually much more willing to give complimentary tickets, rather than change a fastpass. They were practically begging people to take free day tickets at guest relations.
I told them I wasn’t mad and didn’t want anything free. They still pushed me to take free tickets (which I declined).

Free admission is better because it doesn’t further strain capacity in the same way that adding FastPass+ inventory does.

 

[larryz]

Nevermind the fact the existence of people that actually want to plan their vacation and aren't exactly being forced into it.

Ah, but there's a difference between "plan a vacation" and composing the campaign plan required for optimal outcome of a WDW vacation these days...

There were rumors of foundation issues a while back, hopefully that’s not the issue.

Maybe the strobe light on the Shaman AA burned out...

 

[larryz]

If one fault can bring the whole land down (as seems to have happened again) you have to look again at the wisdom of building both rides in one building. The fire detection system has proven to have issues. If an alarm goes off the whole building has to be cleared, taking both rides with it. And if it can’t be reset and run reliably the building can’t open. This is one building that especially needs a fire detection system given the simulator ride system is known to run a little warm.

 

[MisterPenguin]

At 8:30 AM, FoP showed a 60 minute wait.