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Space Mountain Down
- Thread starter cwoms197
- Start date
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I’ve seen it happen with pirates, rock n roller coaster and American adventure.
BEARSHOUSE4
Well-Known Member
Maybe the ‘ol girl went to sleep and didn’t wake up......
peter11435
Well-Known Member
App shows it open
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
Space breaking down is not unusual. That's why I never wait standby for it
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
It breaks down a lot, but almost never all day.
Seems it needs a major refurb.
Seems it needs a major refurb.
tmthomas52
Well-Known Member
Fixed
Slightly better than the yeti getting fixed once Pandora opens.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
I think it's received tiny ones. I think they need to like entirely rebuild the tracks.It's needed one for over a decade.
Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
I've finally started to do some research, and it's not the yeti that's the problem, it's the foundation underneath.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
He's basically too big and powerful for his platform. Essentially, poor engineering. The machine itself works fine.
Were your sources named Bulda and Pabbie?
No and no.
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...cts-status-watch.171808/page-141#post-7514980
I've been meaning to post this for quite a while, but just haven't had time. Thanks to a recent reminder from @Master Yoda to try and shed some light on the Yeti debacle....
Ok, so back in September I was at a conference at WDW, and the wife decided to book a Dine With An Imagineer lunch at DHS. I skipped one of my educational sessions to do this, and we ended up with a 2-for-1. The main imagineer was a Show Design and Production manager, who was a DWAI veteran (and most recently involved in the Frozen Ever After project); the other guy was a mechanical engineer in charge of show quality, who was a newbie-in-training, at least when it came to these dinners. He explained to us that it was his job to do periodic "reviews" of the rides, and point out areas where show quality is falling below certain standards. He's also heavily involved in maintaining ride systems and animatronics. It was a fantastic experience, and we learned a lot about how things work behind the scenes, but nearing the end of our time, I (obviously) couldn't resist bringing up the Yeti.
Immediately upon my mentioning the Yeti, I could see that it was an obvious a sore spot for him. He stated that there have been multiple proposals put forth for repairing it, but none of the "big shots" have been on board. As for the specific problem, he mentioned that there are a couple of factors: flaws in the original "design calculations" (these were his words), particularly with regard to operational and maintenance conditions on such a large animatronic, and inability to perform proper maintenance on the Yeti. No mention of "shifting/failed foundations" as is often suggested. As a practicing structural engineer, I wanted to know whether this was the problem, and he indicated that the main issue is the animatronic itself.
The other factor is the ability to perform maintenance on the animatronic. I think this is the source of rumors that they "can't replace /fix it without opening up the mountain" rumors, but it's actually much simpler, and this issue ties into the first. He specifically talked about unanticipated stresses in parts of the animatronic due to lack of maintenance in other parts. If one of the motors in the yeti's elbow wears out or isn't functioning properly, but they continue to operate under those conditions, then higher stresses are transferred to the shoulder and chest, etc. My best guess regarding his comments about "incorrect calculations" is that he was referring to fatigue related problems in the robotic parts, and possibly in other structural supports.
The other major factor is that things have changed dramatically at WDW in the last few years regarding their compliance with OSHA standards for maintenance and fall protection. Any new work done to get the Yeti operational means that they have to update the design to meet these standards, so that ongoing maintenance on the animatronic can be safely performed. This would involve major upgrades to allow compliance with fall protection and other things related to maintenance workers.
It was encouraging at least to see how much it bothered him that it didn't work. He brought up the Universal dig re: their Kong animatronic (it moves...) and said that he and his colleagues all read blogs and other social media comments for research and to pick up on things they miss in their reviews. So, there you have it. Take it for what it's worth, but this guy was no bus driver...
Its received band aids and gaffer tape.
No it isn’t. See above.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
I actually remember reading that last year. I guess it's not so much the foundation, but he's too powerful for himself. It sounds like he DOES work fine, but they are concerned about long term maintenance.
The Readers Digest version is they blew it on the shoulder joint. It wore faster than they anticipated and it was believed that an increased maintenance schedule would fix the issue. The problem was the maintenance was so hard to do that what was done did not even meet the original schedule let alone the increased one. When it all came to a head, the finger pointing began and no one wanted to flip the bill for the fix.
Fast forward to today and we have perpetual disco yeti.
Captain Barbossa
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I know it works fine. Like you said, there was some poor engineering. If they were actually going to correct the issue, some of the mountain would have to be taken apart and the platform/foundation would have to be reinforced. From what I know, there's a crack more toward the base.