Splash Mountain falling apart (literally?)

[Kristamouse]

So any reports from Splash today? Our family loves Splash so much and my huge almost 3 year old will be able to ride in May...hope there is some progress!
BTW..I could be blindfolded 50 years from now and still be able identify the smell of Splash, if the CM's start washing the seats down will the smell change?

 

[RunnerFool]

So any reports from Splash today? Our family loves Splash so much and my huge almost 3 year old will be able to ride in May...hope there is some progress!
BTW..I could be blindfolded 50 years from now and still be able identify the smell of Splash, if the CM's start washing the seats down will the smell change?

the seats smell more like six flags to me.

 

[disney fan 13]

the seats smell more like six flags to me.

Or a high school locker room...

 

[steve2wdw]

Friday.....water running down BIG drop and the up ramp in the shed. Workmen finishing up work on the bridge in front of the Briar Patch. One lone log (stopped) at the end of the brake run before dropping into the regular flume. It was interesting to hear some guests speaking about it got stuck there with people in it, and that's why it was closed for the day...Some of the grass and plants on the mountain look replanted while other sections look like the old stuff was just mowed down and it's just starting to come back now. The rest of the mountain actually looks pretty good.

 

[PeterAlt]

I find it hard to believe that people take these complaints about a deteriorating attraction to mean that the people here hate Disney. What sort of logic is that? Its a Disney fan site for crying out loud. As MerlinTheGoat stated above, we hold Disney to a higher standard because Disney has always held itself to a higher standard, so when we visit the parks we expect the attractions to meet that standard. So when attractions are allowed to deteriorate and fall apart (literally), we get frustrated because suddenly that high standard no longer matters since the current management doesn't seem to care about it.

Here is a good analogy for you; Say you have always gotten cookie monster cupcakes for your birthday. Year after year you pay top dollar to get them from this famous bakery and they are always perfect, like this:

The suddenly after years and years of perfect cupcakes, you go to pick them up one day and they look like this:

Now tell me you wouldn't be upset by that.

Okay, how's this for analogy...

Hebrew National hotdogs were no longer kosher.

Haagan Daz ice cream were no longer creamy.

Comcast customer service all of a sudden got good.

 

[matt9112]

Okay, how's this for analogy...

Hebrew National hotdogs were no longer kosher.

Haagan Daz ice cream were no longer creamy.

Comcast customer service all of a sudden got good.

you mean when my comcast internet just drops around 2am....oh never mind lets not go there =) lmao

 

[Goofnut1980]

Funny thing, I only want to see the "jumping" fountains working again. I love those things

 

[erasure fan1]

The ride was in a pathetic and disgusting state prior to its refurb and should never have been allowed to operate in such a condition (or allowed to get that way in the first place).

That's exactly it. I think that is what makes me the most upset. Why do things have to get to a state of crisis before they even think to address the problems. I get that things break and they take time to fix, but when the same things are broke trip after trip after trip, that's just them putting profit before show quality. And that is the problem with this refurb, so many things need attention that I would be very shocked to see them actually address them all. Lets say they do get things back to a AAA level, how confident are we that they have a plan to maintain it so in 6 or 7 months things aren't falling apart again?

 

[xdan0920]

The pump broke and was left broken.

This makes me so angry. Such a simple thing, but they leave it. DIsgusting.

 

[monothingie]

That's exactly it. I think that is what makes me the most upset. Why do things have to get to a state of crisis before they even think to address the problems. I get that things break and they take time to fix, but when the same things are broke trip after trip after trip, that's just them putting profit before show quality. And that is the problem with this refurb, so many things need attention that I would be very shocked to see them actually address them all. Lets say they do get things back to a AAA level, how confident are we that they have a plan to maintain it so in 6 or 7 months things aren't falling apart again?

I'm sorry but I hate when people say these things. Without profit you don't get new things and you certainly don't get existing things fixed. Disney does not take all of their revenues and hoard it into a money bin, they reinvest it and return money to the shareholders to promote additional investment. That aside, I understand things break and wear down, so what is the solution? Close the rides down one or two days a week, or a week a month to ensure they're tip top? That would certainly annoy some guests wouldn't it? Every hour one of these E-Tickets is closed, is less time that a guest is spending in the park and that matters. That is why these refurbs are planned long ahead of time and scheduled strategically to minimize impact on the rest of the park. No one is saying let the attraction crumble, but since there is only so much daily maintenance you can do on a ride that has to operate continually for 12+ hours a day 7 days a week, this is the model for maintenance that works.

 

[DarthDisney]

There is an Old saying " If you expect nothing of your Children , that is exactly what you will get." It goes the same with something you pay for, be it food or be it entertainment. If we expect nothing different of Disney as I do the local carnival , then that is exactly what I will get. I am an AP holder and if things stay like this , once both my kids can ride bigger rides regularly, I am out of the DIsney AP business. I can get AP to UNi , Seaworld and Busch Gardens cheaper than Disney. So , for that Money I expect it to be better, and it has fallen way behind.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

You hate when people expect an attraction to operate in show-ready condition? Once upon a time, show quality was held so highly by the company that most rides were designed to shut down if certain show elements broke (and wouldn't be allowed to continue operating until it was corrected). These were again standards set by Disney themselves, not at all unrealistic expectations from fans.

A lot of what is wrong with Splash Mountain could have easily been prevented with just proper overnight maintenance. A decade or more ago, it's well known that Disney did away with many of the overnight maintenance crews that would go around and repair broken elements on rides and even touching up paint and replacing lights. It was even a company policy prior to the mid-late 90's to have a special crew go around every single night with a big box of light bulbs and replace any light bulbs that had reached 80% of their life expectancy (they didn't wait for them to burn out, so the only ones you'd ever see burned out were defective and had died early, and were generally replaced overnight).

Prior to about 1995 or so, the parks were kept in such pristine condition that they looked virtually brand new. You had annual refurbs for rides as well, but a huge amount of work was often done to them overnight to prevent problems from cropping up in the first place. Overnight and annual maintenance have been scaled back if not almost entirely eliminated and the result is blatantly clear.

It has gotten so bad that some elements aren't even broken at all- Disney just deliberately disables them to pinch pennies.

Another issue with why Splash is in the dire state it's in now- the last several lengthy refurbs haven't really addressed anything of importance at all. A couple of years ago (beginning of 2011 I believe it was), Splash closed for a month or so to install lap bars on the boats. Throughout this refurb, nothing about the show quality or mountain structure was addressed whatsoever, they completely squandered all the time the ride was down that could have gone towards fixing things. And things have gone downhill from there.

 

[All Disney All The Time]

Splash Mountain does indeed ultimately go downhill.

 

[PeterAlt]

That's exactly it. I think that is what makes me the most upset. Why do things have to get to a state of crisis before they even think to address the problems. I get that things break and they take time to fix, but when the same things are broke trip after trip after trip, that's just them putting profit before show quality. And that is the problem with this refurb, so many things need attention that I would be very shocked to see them actually address them all. Lets say they do get things back to a AAA level, how confident are we that they have a plan to maintain it so in 6 or 7 months things aren't falling apart again?

Years ago, I was told that letting things get to a crises level is a deliberate strategy to get funds out of corporate because corporate's reaction, when seeing it first hand, has traditionally been to throw money at it. This plays into local park managers who have been lobbying for the next greatest attraction that would take its place.

 

[matt9112]

anybody have updates of everything that was fixed/modified....? besides the obvious repairs...way back didnt somebody state a new ride computer is going in and such? did this happen?

 

[djlaosc]

anybody have updates of everything that was fixed/modified....? besides the obvious repairs...way back didnt somebody state a new ride computer is going in and such? did this happen?

Splash Mountain does not reopen till March 20 2013

 

[afar28]

I also feel apart of the problem with WDW's falling show quality is the guests. Many people either don't notice the broken elements, or don't care.
With Splash for example, me and my mother were talking about current WDW and I told her how I hope they fix many of the broken effects in Splash. Her reply shocked me: "Who cares as long as the ride is still up"
With effects actually working on Splash it's at a whole new level. With many animatronics down, it's just "meh" and with all the effects it's the best water ride anywhere IMO.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

Prior to about 1995 or so, the parks were kept in such pristine condition that they looked virtually brand new. You had annual refurbs for rides as well, but a huge amount of work was often done to them overnight to prevent problems from cropping up in the first place. Overnight and annual maintenance have been scaled back if not almost entirely eliminated and the result is blatantly clear.

It's true, I remember WDW of the 1990's to be a lot more beautiful, though approaching the millenium the place lost some of the magic. Haven't been there for 5-6 years, I was planning on a trip to see FLE, but I'm kinda put-off by all of the maintenance problems. At some point in the 90's we decided that WDW just wasn't worth it in that we felt that we were getting ripped off due to the relatively high prices and poor upkeep I guess, just a feeling that the magic wasn't there.

I'm a Disneyland regular, and so I get the most out of Epcot, Animal Kingdom, when I was going to WDW years ago. MK is my fix for the People Mover, Carousel of Progress, and Country Bears, and I'll do HM, and even Pirates though it isn't as good as Disneyland, otherwise there really isn't a reason to visit MK, I'd spend half a day there.

If they did an FLE that had two exclusive E-Tickets to MK, (not just a Mermaid clone as Mermaid is definitely not one of my favorite rides at DCA because it is so cheaply done), such as a Belle E-Ticket, and maybe a Brave E-Ticket, that would be amazing. 7DMT looks nice, but it doesn't qualify as a full fledged "mountain" like Space, Splash, Matterhorn . . . It just doesn't have enough dark ride scenes to make me want to fly to Orlando, I don't want to ride half an E-Ticket, I want the real deal.

Everybody knows that WDW attendance went down this last year, we'll see how much when the new numbers come out. With TDO's experience with Expedition Everest, they should realize that adding E-Tickets to parks draws in the crowds, then they appreciate the other little offerings.

I think it is hilarious that the advertisements for FLE that Disney is putting up on banner ads with the engimatically annoying "Break the Curse" and concept art, but no photos of the place. BoG looks great, Mermaid's exterior looks like it belongs in front of a Pirate ride and the ride on the inside looks cheap, I kinda feel that TDO thinks that fans are stupid.

I'm not stupid, I go to where the quality is: Carsland, Disneyland, Potterland. Why spend $$$ and risk not having a good vacation?

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

I also feel apart of the problem with WDW's falling show quality is the guests. Many people either don't notice the broken elements, or don't care.
With Splash for example, me and my mother were talking about current WDW and I told her how I hope they fix many of the broken effects in Splash. Her reply shocked me: "Who cares as long as the ride is still up"
With effects actually working on Splash it's at a whole new level. With many animatronics down, it's just "meh" and with all the effects it's the best water ride anywhere IMO.

For many return guests, it is the "magic" of MK, what was the spotless upkeep, rides in good working order, and attention to details. You ride Splash and all of the singing birds on the boat have their heads drooped down, no it doesn't immediately destroy your vacation, it might not even register consciously, but when it comes to setup a vacation next year, or in a couple years, you decide to go somewhere else.

People are, and have, voted with their feet as attendance went down, and I'm sure spending will go down as well.

WDW used to be a great positive experience and the property looked great, they've just let so many things slide that it impacts the fun you have on vacation.

 

[baymenxpac]

i have to say that @PurpleDragon's cupcake post might be my favorite in a long, long time. perfect analogy.