Seas with Nemo and Friends: anglerfish not working

[raven]

The issue is not 'parts availability' for the night crew.. and if its flawed, is 4 years not enough time to fix it?

It isn't a part at all, it's simply the machine. Kuka's are prone to constant break downs. When I worked in an automotice testing facility near Detroit they would break every week. Sometimes enough to have to fly over someone from Germany to fix it.

 

[LordHelmut]

um..... soooo.....

I'll be back to FL in Oct for a well deserved break from DC. Be glad to stop in after hours with tools....

Heck, I'd even start learning Kuka in my spare time between now and then....


One other point on show.... My five year old daughter has been going to the parks since about 18mo old on a regular basis, on both coasts. (Helps when you have to travel for work)

When your daughter (whom I do shield from any comments about show/quality/effects...) notices that there are dolls missing from ISAW and then is genuinely concerned as to WHERE THEY ARE, and you have to repeat several times over several days that they were just out visiting their other homes or something.... That is my standard as to when maintenance/show is having a problem....

 

[flynnibus]

It isn't a part at all, it's simply the machine. Kuka's are prone to constant break downs. When I worked in an automotice testing facility near Detroit they would break every week. Sometimes enough to have to fly over someone from Germany to fix it.

Ok - so again.. why not after all these years has Disney not addressed the 'design flaw' in that it's unreliable? That is on Disney's shoulders... not 'there isn't enough time' or 'maintenance focuses on something else'. It's unreliable, and not up to the task of operating in the park. It should be replaced.

I honestly don't remember it doing anything more then lunging at you.. and maybe some side to side motion. Why not just replace it with a ram on a acuated pivot plate. No need for the kuka.

Heck, do anything is better then the dead fish effect we have now all too often.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Ok - so again.. why not after all these years has Disney not addressed the 'design flaw' in that it's unreliable? That is on Disney's shoulders... not 'there isn't enough time' or 'maintenance focuses on something else'. It's unreliable, and not up to the task of operating in the park. It should be replaced.

I honestly don't remember it doing anything more then lunging at you.. and maybe some side to side motion. Why not just replace it with a ram on a acuated pivot plate. No need for the kuka.

Heck, do anything is better then the dead fish effect we have now all too often.

You say that now, but I have a feeling that reactions would be different if the technology actually changed from Kuka. I can see the thread now (not necessarily from you) about how big of a decline this is.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

A change in technology wouldn't matter much if the end result still looked the same. That's a little unfair to say that everyone would complain about such a technology change. As long as the end result looks the same in action, it wouldn't matter about what was powering the effect. Perhaps if it were substantially worse, there would be an issue.

I'd agree also that any movement would be better than having it not move at all.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

A change in technology wouldn't matter much if the end result still looked the same. That's a little unfair to say that everyone would complain about such a technology change. As long as the end result looks the same in action, it wouldn't matter about what was powering the effect. Perhaps if it were substantially worse, there would be an issue.

I'd agree also that any movement would be better than having it not move at all.

I never said everyone would have a problem, but I would almost put money on it that there would be people who would. I would assume that the Kuka arm was used because it simulates the effect better than something else would. It certainly isn't cheaper than putting the AA on a platform and moving it around. So I guess that there would be a negative reaction from some people if the effect was changed altogether.

 

[disneyfan168]

OMG! Why can't they fix everything right away?:fork:

 

[marni1971]

Just a point on the angler fish. There seems to be a lot of arguing about this, but the reality is we don't know what the issue is.

I was told by someone I trust that this particular Kuka Arm is of a design that wasn`t designed for continuous operation 12 hours a day, every day.

But why they can`t pull the black curtain over the scene when it goes 101 is beyond me.

 

[marni1971]

HUH? They most certainly did not ALMOST go out of business in 1984.

I`m afraid they did. EPCOT Center almost brought the whole company to its knees, TDL stretched its abiity even more, and a series of poor box office productions added to the problems.

 

[devoy1701]

OMG! Why can't they fix everything right away?:fork:

This is not the point of the argument. No one is asking for things to necessary be fixed right away. But as Flynn has pointed out, the issue with this Kuka Arm has been plaguing this attraction for 4 years now.

I remember how "impressive" it was supposed to be when this attraction first opened that Disney had utilized the Kuka Arm and it's amazing technology...flash forward 4 years later and I'm left underwhelmed as I've only seen it working a handful of times.

To Evan's point, making it work somehow is better than it not working at all. They can easily used simplified tech to still give the Angler a swimming motion. But keeping the same problematic Kuka Arm around for 4 years is depressing. Almost as depressing as replacing the "black tarp" on Big Thunder with a stationary rock.

Since we all know that the tech is Kuka anyway as well as everyone in the theme park industry and probably robotics industry, you would think that Kuka would replace this model with a more reliable one as well so we all don't go "hey, that's a Kuka and it's not very reliable..."

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Raven, what is the the major malfunction with Kuka technology? Why is it so prone to breakdowns? I know that Fj at WWoHP breaks down a lot too because of its heavy use of Kuka arms. Is the technology just so young that they haven't worked out the major kinks yet?

 

[CJR]

Does Harry Potter at IoA have problems breaking down? It's not something I go on often for obvious wait time reasons. I know it did when it first opened, but what about now? It's the same system, I believe.

While I do think the arm (when it actually works) would be missed, the bad show it has when it doesn't work is such a problem that I'm willing to bet the majority of people would rather lose it. It was a nice try for a great effect, but it sits there doing absolutely nothing way too much.

I wish OLC would buy Disney Parks and make them all good. WDW is a great example of what Disney is and TDL (and TDS) is a great example of WDW should be. If they were running these parks instead of TDO, this wouldn't be an issue right now.

 

[wdwmagic]

I was told by someone I trust that this particular Kuka Arm is of a design that wasn`t designed for continuous operation 12 hours a day, every day.

But why they can`t pull the black curtain over the scene when it goes 101 is beyond me.

Wasn't it one of the "test" arms that Disney obtained?

 

[CaptainJackNO]

Seriously! They so would not play around with this.

If the Chinese purchase the parks, they'll find a way to fix that.

Here we go again.

Okay, so let's say one monitor goes out during a busy day. I can hear management now, "Let's shut down Star Tours totally, so we can fix one monitor. Who cares if The Great Movie Ride will have a 2 hour wait?"

As far as the Anglerfish, every time I have ridden it, it has worked. The anglerfish not working would be a problem, for me. The monitor, however, could have just gone out and you are not going to shut down an entire ride, or even simulator due to one failed monitor. That can be fixed at night.

As far as the parks being sold, are you serious?

Not gonna happen.

Over reaction, maybe???

 

[CaptainJackNO]

I`m afraid they did. EPCOT Center almost brought the whole company to its knees, TDL stretched its abiity even more, and a series of poor box office productions added to the problems.

Right, the hostile takeover bid that saw Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law) ousted, and brought in Eisner and Wells. I believe, somehow, a Disney HAS TO BE on the board of directors. I hate the fact that the Disney Family do not, any longer, own controlling interest in the Company. I think that was a major mistake on the Disney Family's part. Someone should have been left in a position to maintain Walt and Roy's Legacy.

 

[devoy1701]

Right, the hostile takeover bid that saw Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law) ousted, and brought in Eisner and Wells. I believe, somehow, a Disney HAS TO BE on the board of directors. I hate the fact that the Disney Family do not, any longer, own controlling interest in the Company. I think that was a major mistake on the Disney Family's part. Someone should have been left in a position to maintain Walt and Roy's Legacy.

There is currently no Disney on the BoD.

I do think however that Roy's family does still own quite a stake in the company.

 

[tirian]

I was told by someone I trust that this particular Kuka Arm is of a design that wasn`t designed for continuous operation 12 hours a day, every day.

But why they can`t pull the black curtain over the scene when it goes 101 is beyond me.

Wasn't it one of the "test" arms that Disney obtained?

It would almost be better to put the thing on a circular track, similar to the running pirate turntables in POTC. At least it would hardly ever break—and it wouldn't be a noticeable difference from the other mechanical effects on the ride.

I guess the angler fish was never really special to me because you could always see the Kuka arm gleaming in the darkness.

 

[dxwwf3]

It would almost be better to put the thing on a circular track, similar to the running pirate turntables in POTC. At least it would hardly ever break—and it wouldn't be a noticeable difference from the other mechanical effects on the ride.

Exactly! With this effect, if they can't keep it running regularly, change the effect. What you described would be much better than the stationary eye sore that some of us usually see.

 

[EvanAnderson]

Does Harry Potter at IoA have problems breaking down? It's not something I go on often for obvious wait time reasons. I know it did when it first opened, but what about now? It's the same system, I believe.

It did break down a lot when it first opened, and still does occasionally now, still a lot better than before. My roommate works there and somedays he'll come home saying the ride didn't go down a single minute. Most of the time, he says, that it's someone getting sick. If someone throws up and it lands on the moving belt, then it has to be stopped to clean it. If it's just on the vehicle, the vehicle can be sent to it's secondary/disabled access platform where it can be fully cleaned without having to stop the entire ride.

He said the most common fault that the vehicles get is something to do with the degree of movement the arms have. He said something along the lines of that the vehicles have a 3 degree margin of error to go when it stops or turns in it's directions and it it's over, that vehicle will fault. He said the fix for it is to send maintenance out onto the track to the reset the vehicle, then it's fine. The part that puts it into a longer downtime would be if the vehicle doesn't reset, then it take longer. Anywho, that whole ride really interests me haha, sorry to be on a tangent.

 

[raven]

Raven, what is the the major malfunction with Kuka technology? Why is it so prone to breakdowns? I know that Fj at WWoHP breaks down a lot too because of its heavy use of Kuka arms. Is the technology just so young that they haven't worked out the major kinks yet?

I can't answer that. But automotive factories have been having the same problem for years.

Not at you emilykawaii123, but I still don't understand why people on here are so upset when I read left and right that people hate the ride anyways. Even if it were working fine on a daily basis (as it was at least yesterday), people would find something else to complain about. I'm sorry, complaining about effects issues get's old. People have been complaining on here for 15 years about something they don't like but it still hasn't stopped anyone from visiting the parks.