Splash Mountain falling apart (literally?)

[Tom]

Not sure if the ride is succeptable to cascades in those situations since each vehicle can't stop on its own. I've also heard about rides where the show controls themselves are very manually intense to restart and get synchd.. and not just the ride system itself being the main delay.

I don't know exactly - but it doesn't surprise me from what I've heard from knowledgeable folks on other attractions.

Yeah, I thought about that. But I also know that Splash has MANY sensors and PLCs that track boats and keep them amply spaced between lifts and drops.

I'm not doubting that the system, if completely shut down in an emergency, could take that long to reset (with all the checks and balances that have to happen throughout the building). But I know it didn't used to go down for that long just is someone was seen standing up. I've ridden it many times when "Brer Fox and Brer Bear are causing commotion..." and it resumed within seconds or minutes. I have to assume those incidents were because of guest mischief that wasn't severe enough to e-stop the ride.

 

[articos]

Yeah, I thought about that. But I also know that Splash has MANY sensors and PLCs that track boats and keep them amply spaced between lifts and drops.

I'm not doubting that the system, if completely shut down in an emergency, could take that long to reset (with all the checks and balances that have to happen throughout the building). But I know it didn't used to go down for that long just is someone was seen standing up. I've ridden it many times when "Brer Fox and Brer Bear are causing commotion..." and it resumed within seconds or minutes. I have to assume those incidents were because of guest mischief that wasn't severe enough to e-stop the ride.

It sounds like some of the new/replaced sensors aren't playing nicely yet. Normal for this type of ride refurb. So if a guest did something they weren't supposed to do and e-stopped the attraction, it may take longer than normal to get things reset and running again. They'll get it under control and operating normally within a few weeks.

 

[articos]

Update! Splash Mountain is up and running! Everything is working except the Laughing Place leaping fountains and Mr. Bluebird.

You mentioned the water was off during the reset, not surprised the fountains weren't back. May have just still been coming back on-line, the tech's may have been called away to another attraction during resetting everything and hadn't gotten to the fountains, or they may have needed to been reset after hours.

 

[Killnme]

A friend of mine was on it last night and it broke down. They had to get out of the boats and walk the emergency route. She said it was pretty cool b/c they saw all the behind scenes stuff.

 

[Rob562]

My understanding of the reboot procedure at Splash includes the CM in tower telling the computer how many logs are in each zone. (These counts are relayed to the tower by CMs walking the ride) And when the ride restarts and starts advancing logs, if one of the counts was off (either by input error or physical counting error) and the computer sees a log where it thinks there shouldn't be, it shuts down and the whole thing has to start over.

A simple pause of the ride system doesn't require a full reboot.

-Rob

 

[Alektronic]

Ok. It seems like there is a lot of misinformation or guessing on the how a ride really works (as usual). I'll try and correct some of the misconceptions. First of all, ride computers do not reboot, they are not that kind of computers. There are 2 ride control computers for EVERY ride, one is the Control computer and the other one is the Monitor computer.

Here is the basic scenario for most water rides like Splash, POTC, Kali, Maelstrom (Small World and Gran Fiesta are just basic because it no lifts or drops).

The Splash Control Tower CM is watching the whole ride through the camera monitors. That is their job to make sure everyone is safe and sitting down and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing. So if they see someone standing up, they hit the RIDE STOP button, that stops the lifts and raises the boat stops. Usually they make a PA announcement to that zone and if that person sits down and everything else is good to go, then the CM raises the RIDE STOP button and pushes the reset button and then everything carries on normally.

But what happens sometimes when a log stops and it just happens to be on the edge of sensor and may not blocking it all the way or could be a disagreement, then the ride won't reset if detects a problem. So the tower calls maintenance to look at it to see if it is a sensor failure or just out of position. It used to be easy to fix, all they had to do was switch to maintenance mode and jog the log to the proper position and switch back to normal. BUT now because they worry so much about the LEGAL stuff and somebody suing them from jogging the boat another 6 inches, maintenance is allowed to move the boat in maintenance mode. So what happens is they have to evacuate all the logs, so the first thing they have to do is shut down the water. Once the water is shut down, then all the Operations CM's can RAC(Remote Access Control) out basically by putting an lock on the E-Stop so nobody can start the ride with CM's in the ride. So now they can evacuate each and every log(this is what takes the longest time) and when the guests are clear of the ride, then maintenance can jog that boat 6 inches, then they can start the ride back up, start the water back up and re-enter the boat counts in each zone.

So like I have said before, most of ride downtimes are guest induced, sometimes CM induced, but rarely ever a ride just breaks down, maybe 1% of the time.

 

[GoofGoof]

Ok. It seems like there is a lot of misinformation or guessing on the how a ride really works (as usual). I'll try and correct some of the misconceptions. First of all, ride computers do not reboot, they are not that kind of computers. There are 2 ride control computers for EVERY ride, one is the Control computer and the other one is the Monitor computer.

Here is the basic scenario for most water rides like Splash, POTC, Kali, Maelstrom (Small World and Gran Fiesta are just basic because it no lifts or drops).

The Splash Control Tower CM is watching the whole ride through the camera monitors. That is their job to make sure everyone is safe and sitting down and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing. So if they see someone standing up, they hit the RIDE STOP button, that stops the lifts and raises the boat stops. Usually they make a PA announcement to that zone and if that person sits down and everything else is good to go, then the CM raises the RIDE STOP button and pushes the reset button and then everything carries on normally.

But what happens sometimes when a log stops and it just happens to be on the edge of sensor and may not blocking it all the way or could be a disagreement, then the ride won't reset if detects a problem. So the tower calls maintenance to look at it to see if it is a sensor failure or just out of position. It used to be easy to fix, all they had to do was switch to maintenance mode and jog the log to the proper position and switch back to normal. BUT now because they worry so much about the LEGAL stuff and somebody suing them from jogging the boat another 6 inches, maintenance is allowed to move the boat in maintenance mode. So what happens is they have to evacuate all the logs, so the first thing they have to do is shut down the water. Once the water is shut down, then all the Operations CM's can RAC(Remote Access Control) out basically by putting an lock on the E-Stop so nobody can start the ride with CM's in the ride. So now they can evacuate each and every log(this is what takes the longest time) and when the guests are clear of the ride, then maintenance can jog that boat 6 inches, then they can start the ride back up, start the water back up and re-enter the boat counts in each zone.

So like I have said before, most of ride downtimes are guest induced, sometimes CM induced, but rarely ever a ride just breaks down, maybe 1% of the time.

Thanks for the info. It must be really frustrating for the CMs knowing that there is likely such an easy fix but their hands are tied due to legal worries. Next time Splash is down while I'm there I'll remember to blame it on the lawyers...one more thing to add to the list

 

[Marc Gil]

Ok. It seems like there is a lot of misinformation or guessing on the how a ride really works (as usual). I'll try and correct some of the misconceptions. First of all, ride computers do not reboot, they are not that kind of computers. There are 2 ride control computers for EVERY ride, one is the Control computer and the other one is the Monitor computer.

Here is the basic scenario for most water rides like Splash, POTC, Kali, Maelstrom (Small World and Gran Fiesta are just basic because it no lifts or drops).

The Splash Control Tower CM is watching the whole ride through the camera monitors. That is their job to make sure everyone is safe and sitting down and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing. So if they see someone standing up, they hit the RIDE STOP button, that stops the lifts and raises the boat stops. Usually they make a PA announcement to that zone and if that person sits down and everything else is good to go, then the CM raises the RIDE STOP button and pushes the reset button and then everything carries on normally.

But what happens sometimes when a log stops and it just happens to be on the edge of sensor and may not blocking it all the way or could be a disagreement, then the ride won't reset if detects a problem. So the tower calls maintenance to look at it to see if it is a sensor failure or just out of position. It used to be easy to fix, all they had to do was switch to maintenance mode and jog the log to the proper position and switch back to normal. BUT now because they worry so much about the LEGAL stuff and somebody suing them from jogging the boat another 6 inches, maintenance is allowed to move the boat in maintenance mode. So what happens is they have to evacuate all the logs, so the first thing they have to do is shut down the water. Once the water is shut down, then all the Operations CM's can RAC(Remote Access Control) out basically by putting an lock on the E-Stop so nobody can start the ride with CM's in the ride. So now they can evacuate each and every log(this is what takes the longest time) and when the guests are clear of the ride, then maintenance can jog that boat 6 inches, then they can start the ride back up, start the water back up and re-enter the boat counts in each zone.

So like I have said before, most of ride downtimes are guest induced, sometimes CM induced, but rarely ever a ride just breaks down, maybe 1% of the time.

Exactly what the cast member told me. Well the last part. She said the ride almost never breaks down, it's usually caused by uncooperative guests. Another thing I forgot to mention is that all of the AA's were mostly out of sync. Idk if this is because the attraction just rebooted.

 

[Alektronic]

Exactly what the cast member told me. Well the last part. She said the ride almost never breaks down, it's usually caused by uncooperative guests. Another thing I forgot to mention is that all of the AA's were mostly out of sync. Idk if this is because the attraction just rebooted.

When you say the AA's were out of sync? Out of sync with what?

 

[Marc Gil]

When you say the AA's were out of sync? Out of sync with what?

Their audio and music. For example: Brer Frog at the first lift starting talking about 3 seconds before his queue (no sound issuing from him.), many other animatronics were experiencing the same issue. But like I said I don't know if this is a reboot problem.

 

[Alektronic]

Their audio and music. For example: Brer Frog at the first lift starting talking about 3 seconds before his queue (no sound issuing from him.), many other animatronics were experiencing the same issue. But like I said I don't know if this is a reboot problem.

First, the ride and the show computers are totally independent of each other, so one can't affect the other. There is only a few scenes that are triggered by the boat, most scenes are just loops that keep running over and over. And nothing gets "rebooted"

 

[Marc Gil]

First, the ride and the show computers are totally independent of each other, so one can't affect the other. There is only a few scenes that are triggered by the boat, most scenes are just loops that keep running over and over. And nothing gets "rebooted"

Oh well then I don't know. I'm just telling you what I saw, I don't really know all the ride mechanics.

 

[Nubs70]

Yeah, I thought about that. But I also know that Splash has MANY sensors and PLCs that track boats and keep them amply spaced between lifts and drops.

I'm not doubting that the system, if completely shut down in an emergency, could take that long to reset (with all the checks and balances that have to happen throughout the building). But I know it didn't used to go down for that long just is someone was seen standing up. I've ridden it many times when "Brer Fox and Brer Bear are causing commotion..." and it resumed within seconds or minutes. I have to assume those incidents were because of guest mischief that wasn't severe enough to e-stop the ride.

Would anyone know what type of actuators are in the AA? Are they hydraulic or pneumatic? I would imagine that they are pneumatic. If so, the AA movement failure could be due to water in the instrument air. This would lead me to believe that the desiccators may need some pm work.

 

[Tom]

Would anyone know what type of actuators are in the AA? Are they hydraulic or pneumatic? I would imagine that they are pneumatic. If so, the AA movement failure could be due to water in the instrument air. This would lead me to believe that the desiccators may need some pm work.

I believe all "real" AudioAnimatronics are hydraulic (think back to the famous Abe Lincoln incident, which prompted them to switch to clear fluid). Animated Characters could be pneumatic, but I'm not sure. There's definitely plenty of air-based mechanisms throughout any given ride, which is why so many attractions failed when an MK air compressor died last year.

I imagine the wet environment in Splash is pretty rough on all of the components of the ride....but then you think about Pirates and IaSW, which have been running non-stop since they opened.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I believe all "real" AudioAnimatronics are hydraulic (think back to the famous Abe Lincoln incident, which prompted them to switch to clear fluid). Animated Characters could be pneumatic, but I'm not sure. There's definitely plenty of air-based mechanisms throughout any given ride, which is why so many attractions failed when an MK air compressor died last year.

I imagine the wet environment in Splash is pretty rough on all of the components of the ride....but then you think about Pirates and IaSW, which have been running non-stop since they opened.

If one wanted to get highly technical, they're not exactly Audio-Animatronics as they don't rely on modified audio equipment.

 

[Tom]

If one wanted to get highly technical, they're not exactly Audio-Animatronics as they don't rely on modified audio equipment.

True. But again, I'm not sure what's used in Splash anyway. I mean, there are figures that speak in conjunction with the dialogue. So, technically, wouldn't those be AA's, since their movements are in sync with audio?

 

[lazyboy97o]

True. But again, I'm not sure what's used in Splash anyway. I mean, there are figures that speak in conjunction with the dialogue. So, technically, wouldn't those be AA's, since their movements are in sync with audio?

The Audio had to do with what controlled the movements, not syncing with audio.

 

[WDW1974]

If I ride Splash later this spring and the logs are still mildewy with a strong BO smell dating back a decade since they last were cleaned, then this will still get a FAIL from this Spirit.

Cleaning is part of the cost of doing business, TDO!

 

[Tom Morrow]

I can't speak for every log, but the log I had did not smell and was clean!

 

[Sped2424]

went Saturday I noticed some issues with the logs backing up on one another throughout the ride especially at the drop, the maintenance lights even went up during my ride through once but it was at the waterfall so it was no big deal. The laughing place had no jumping water effects at all but the chicken that people say was down is back up as i looked and all chickens were working at the end scene also Mr blue was not singing at the end other than that it was great I even noticed how that smell that I associate splash with was gone which is a good thing.