EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
Lol they bring it down for several weeks and still don't fix the attraction! I have a feeling it's not being cheap but rather the incompetence.
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Splash Mountain fall refurbishment 2017
- Thread starter Sped2424
- Start date
Yert3
Well-Known Member
It’s disappointing but other than the bird and the jumping Br’er Rabbit, everything else looked fantastic. It’s also extermely clean at the moment, and I don’t get to say that about Splash Mountain very often.
Yert3
Well-Known Member
Not only looks, but sounds too. Some speakers were definitely upgraded/replaced. Some things that have been bearly audible for years are loud and clear now.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
Refurbs aren't necessary to fix broken animatronics. Refurbs are meant to perform specific work that can't be done unless they take the attraction down, not necessarily fix all of attractions issues. They did lots of work during this refurb with more on the way.
Indeed, @marni1971 has said several times that this last refurb was back of stage, structural stuff. It was not the kind of refurb that fixes show problems.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
Refurbs aren't necessarily to specifically fix broken animatronics, sure. But if a ride does go into refurbishment and there are broken AA's present, they SHOULD absolutely be fixed during the downtime. That should be a given, and there is no good excuse not to.
Going months if not years without addressing the problems even during normal operation is unacceptable. AA's can be taken out, repaired and swapped back in without it taking a prolonged period of time. It was uncommon 20 years ago and before for AA's to remain broken even past a day or two, sometimes they were even fixed within that same day (I witnessed this happen with the hopping Brer Rabbit figure when the ride was new, one ride he might be broken, later in the day he would be working again). Especially during the era that the old guard of imagineers, they actually built rides so that if certain AA figures broke, the ride itself would stop and refuse to run again until the figure was fixed. This created an incentive to be proactive and on-the-ball about maintenance instead of reactive or even dismissive of issues. And they definitely didn't drag out and ignore major problems for months or years. They also kept a better supply of spare parts backstage, and likely had much more qualified engineers on-hand (and more of them).
The issues with Splash Mountain's figures should have been fixed a long time ago. Especially such a tiny one like Mr Bluebird. There have also been some chickens on the Riverboat that were missing for a long while prior to the refurb, and I don't know if they're returned either.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
You are absolutely correct that they should get fixed. Unfortunately however that's just not how Disney works with these things. We all wish that atttactions would go down to give them proper care to keep them looking fresh. In actuality the decision to take an attraction down is made when specific work needs done that requires extended time beyond what can be done overnight. Occasionally some other items will make it on the list of work for a downtime but if an item does not end up on the scope of work it generally will not be touched. The teams involved have their time filled with a tightly scheduled plan to get the planned work done in as little closure time as possible. Usually with pressure from above to beat the deadline and reopen early.
You are correct the bluebirds situation is unacceptable. But as I said it could and should be fixed without a downtime. AA are still often fixed the same day they stop working in the case of certain figures. But they have gotten lazy and more accepting of poor show in many cases and it needs to change.
I'm not personally aware of any instances where ride control systems were directly tied to show control systems to prohibit operation in the event of a show failure. The systems did and largely still do monitor show elements and report their status to operators but the information is not always acted upon.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
I saw footage of Splash Mountain prior to the refurb showed other animatronics broken than the usual three, and those problems seemed to be addressed. The fact that Million Dollar Bunny is physically there is a good sign. He's probably fixed but just turned off. The animatronic was completely absent in August (minus his jaw), so they must've done something to him to have him reinstalled. Another fix I noticed was the speaker in the outdoor section that plays How Do You Do sung by Brer Rabbit (the one inside his outdoor home). That was playing nothing in August, so thankfully that is fixed. Here's hoping they fix the Blue Birds in the January refurb. If not then, hopefully sometime in the future.
And THEN will HoP re-open? (Not trying to start anything here! Just joking!)
larryz
I'm Just A Tourist!
No strobe light?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
The strobe is in B mode.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
@peter11435
I heard originally POTC was set to automatically stop whenever the auctioneer animatronic failed. Possibly Blackbeard was like this too. I don't know if this is also the case with Magic Kingdom's version, and they may have since disabled this mechanic, which wouldn't surprise me if they did (though I've also never ridden POTC with the auctioneer broken or missing).
But that was supposedly once the case in the past. I don't know what other figures in classic rides had this same function (if any). If so, I would imagine quite a few Walt era rides did, like the Tiki Room and Carousel of Progress. I would also imagine this practice was dropped entirely during the Eisner era or perhaps before that. Though they were still very proactive about maintaining their figures even under Eisner up until the mid-late 90s (at WDW at least, this seems to be around the time Disneyland management started going to pot). The parks are somewhat better than the Pressler and Harriss era, but their influence left scars that have never been fully recovered from, and an alarming portion of their maintenance philosophies are still practiced today, at least in Florida.
I heard originally POTC was set to automatically stop whenever the auctioneer animatronic failed. Possibly Blackbeard was like this too. I don't know if this is also the case with Magic Kingdom's version, and they may have since disabled this mechanic, which wouldn't surprise me if they did (though I've also never ridden POTC with the auctioneer broken or missing).
But that was supposedly once the case in the past. I don't know what other figures in classic rides had this same function (if any). If so, I would imagine quite a few Walt era rides did, like the Tiki Room and Carousel of Progress. I would also imagine this practice was dropped entirely during the Eisner era or perhaps before that. Though they were still very proactive about maintaining their figures even under Eisner up until the mid-late 90s (at WDW at least, this seems to be around the time Disneyland management started going to pot). The parks are somewhat better than the Pressler and Harriss era, but their influence left scars that have never been fully recovered from, and an alarming portion of their maintenance philosophies are still practiced today, at least in Florida.
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peter11435
Well-Known Member
I don't believe this was ever actually the case. Just one of those stories that gets spread around.
Shows often can not be run if they detect an issue with critical elements. This is still the case today. But rides are a whole different story. Like I said the show control system will be aware of the problem in many cases and will report it to operators but it won't cause the ride itself to physically stop. It's highly unlikely this was ever the case due to the many issues this would cause.
Certain show elements are considered critical and are meant to require an attraction to be closed if they stop operating. The ride won't physically stop but the cast are supposed to take action to close the attraction. Years ago these guidelines were always followed, now they are often broken.
rioriz
Well-Known Member
It actually looked and SOUNDED crsip tonight! I heard dialogue and sounds i haven't heard in years....The ride is up and working. Mr Bluebird was not working as well as the other issues reported already. Other than that it looked good to me....I still got wet too
Yert3
Well-Known Member
Yup. The better audio was immediately noticeable.
jmuboy
Well-Known Member
Splash Mt is one of those attractions where wdw has put DL to Shame in regards to upkeep
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
I'm going to DL on Tuesday and will update y'all with what AAs are not working/missing.
JediMasterMatt
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, DL's Splash needs a very extended refurb to address the newer DOSH safety guidelines that prevent many of the current operational issues (animatronics and lighting) from being addressed via normal nightly maintenance due to fall protection concerns.
As always, it's on the "to do" list; but, Splash is usually fast tracked in and out of seasonal maintenance as it's a Fast Pass attraction with great capacity.
So for now... it's the most TDO presentation quality of Anaheim's fleet. C'est la vie.
Maybe after SWL's initial rush fades a bit, it can get the TLC it needs.