Shutdown and attraction maintenance

[rickdrat]

With the parks operating with bare bones staffing, does anyone have any thoughts on the effect of attractions being inoperative for an extended period of time? I realize that they go down, often for months, for refurbishment from time to time. With so many mechanical systems sitting idle for so long you'd have to think that there would be some problems when they eventually open up again. I wonder if they come in and cycle a few attractions every few days just to keep everything moving?

Likewise what of all the unfinished construction projects on property? Long term exposure to elements will reek havoc on exposed structures.

 

[note2001]

Six flags and the like shut down from November through to May every year in my area. They don't seem to be any worse off due to the closures. Of course Disney will put all the rides through their runs and let every animatronic perform it's calisthenics so that any issues can be identified and resolved, but they'll be fine.

The one place I wonder about is Blizzard beach. They've had so many ongoing issues with summit plummet that the extended down time will do them some good to address the issues once and for all, hopefully. I don't expect to see the water parks open up this year at all, it's not a water issue but rather a social distancing one as well as keeping entry/exit rails clean as well as all the chairs.

 

[WondersOfLife]

I feel like WDW's attractions are much more sophisticated than Six Flag's...

 

[note2001]

I feel like WDW's attractions are much more sophisticated than Six Flag's...

Yes, and your point is _____?

 

[WondersOfLife]

Yes, and your point is _____?

Sharpened.

 

[note2001]

Sharpened.

Wrong answer. Correct answer is insubstantial.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Wrong answer. Correct answer is insubstantial.

Oh ok. Ya got me there. Shoot.

 

[marni1971]

With the parks operating with bare bones staffing, does anyone have any thoughts on the effect of attractions being inoperative for an extended period of time? I realize that they go down, often for months, for refurbishment from time to time. With so many mechanical systems sitting idle for so long you'd have to think that there would be some problems when they eventually open up again. I wonder if they come in and cycle a few attractions every few days just to keep everything moving?

Likewise what of all the unfinished construction projects on property? Long term exposure to elements will reek havoc on exposed structures.

Attractions aren't sitting idle.

 

[Goofy213]

I live in Ohio and Cedar Point shuts their rides down for 6 months every year. They also disassemble, repair, and reassemble every ride in that 6 month period. Once the rides are put back together each ride goes through a 100 hours of testing before receiving guest. This is speaking from 3 years experience of working there.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I live in Ohio and Cedar Point shuts their rides down for 6 months every year. They also disassemble, repair, and reassemble every ride in that 6 month period. Once the rides are put back together each ride goes through a 100 hours of testing before receiving guest. This is speaking from 3 years experience of working there.

Every ride? If so, that's impressive.

I worked at an amusement park when I was a kid. Their season was March - Labor Day. During the off-months they'd fully break down a few rides, completely sandblast it, repaint it, and rebuild it so it was ready for operation when the season started. There was a ride rotation so any particular ride would be rebuilt in this way every 5 years or so.

There was also an end-of-season shutdown procedure for each ride and they'd be covered, etc. for the off season. They'd, of course, test the rides before opening each year and all of that seemed to work really well.

I'd expect Disney to have similar procedures in place.

 

[Goofy213]

These photos were from Cedar Points Winter Chill Out a behind the scenes tour held in Febuary. I the photos you can see the cars have been removed off all the rides including the farris wheel. The small round ride at the base of the wheel is completely disassembled. In the other photo a small game booth has been shrink wrapped for winter. This occurs every winter. All coaster trains are removed, disassembled, have all bearings and seals checked greased and replaced as needed, and new wheels put on. In some cases they are repainted if needed. With over 20 coasters and 72 attractions this is quite an amount of work. I have taken the train tour at Disney and this tour 5 times, I am still in owe of how Cedar Point manages all this in just 6 months, not to mention adding new attractions, new shows and restraunts every year while preforming maintance on everything else. It takes a small army, but they never miss a deadline.

 

[note2001]

Attractions aren't sitting idle.

I live in Ohio and Cedar Point shuts their rides down for 6 months every year. They also disassemble, repair, and reassemble every ride in that 6 month period. Once the rides are put back together each ride goes through a 100 hours of testing before receiving guest. This is speaking from 3 years experience of working there.

As marini said, I'm positive Disney has not thrown the power off switch on all the attractions for this shutdown. While the rides may not be circulated nearly as often as they are in use they will keep what they can moving enough so that the force of returning maintenance and operations people won't have to start from scratch, but be sure that Disney's workforce is very large compared to other amusement parks and their dedication to safety is unsurpassed.

My bet is the animatronics are the attraction elements that will need the most attention. Would not surprise me if Disney did not already have a handful of people on staff running these through their motions right now. It would be an insurmountable task to have to adjust them all at the same time upon return to full operation with a smaller staff than what ride maintenance has.

 

[NelleBelle]

I thought I read in another thread that all water attractions were drained (except JC)?

All boat rides (with the exception of Jungle Cruise) are either currently being drained or will be soon..

Not surprising I guess. Keep them dry to keep stagnant water from becoming a problem. But from what I understand all the water based rides will be drained, except Jungle Cruise for some reason, until the parks are about to re-open. So when they do open again, fresh, clean water on all the rides.

forums.wdwmagic.com

 

[Jrb1979]

I thought I read in another thread that all water attractions were drained (except JC)?

All boat rides (with the exception of Jungle Cruise) are either currently being drained or will be soon..

Not surprising I guess. Keep them dry to keep stagnant water from becoming a problem. But from what I understand all the water based rides will be drained, except Jungle Cruise for some reason, until the parks are about to re-open. So when they do open again, fresh, clean water on all the rides.

forums.wdwmagic.com

There was an article out when the shutdown started that most attractions had their hydraulic fluid drained.

 

[NelleBelle]

I understand why Disney chose to do this but it’s just too bad that some of the rides couldn’t have had a quick little clean-up/refurb, make sure all animatronics were working, etc.

 

[note2001]

There was an article out when the shutdown started that most attractions had their hydraulic fluid drained.

Given that Disney had no idea how long the shut down was to be for, I'm skeptical of any report that claims Disney removed the hydraulic fluid from most rides.

Draining the water is more feasible, not just to prevent stagnation, but simply for saftey sake they would not want to run pumps while unattended.

 

[Heppenheimer]

These photos were from Cedar Points Winter Chill Out a behind the scenes tour held in Febuary. I the photos you can see the cars have been removed off all the rides including the farris wheel. The small round ride at the base of the wheel is completely disassembled. In the other photo a small game booth has been shrink wrapped for winter. This occurs every winter. All coaster trains are removed, disassembled, have all bearings and seals checked greased and replaced as needed, and new wheels put on. In some cases they are repainted if needed. With over 20 coasters and 72 attractions this is quite an amount of work. I have taken the train tour at Disney and this tour 5 times, I am still in owe of how Cedar Point manages all this in just 6 months, not to mention adding new attractions, new shows and restraunts every year while preforming maintance on everything else. It takes a small army, but they never miss a deadline. View attachment 467348View attachment 467349

Just looking at these pictures provides some quick perspective on why Walt only very briefly considered building his second resort in the Toronto area (similar, if not even colder climate compared to Sandusky).