This comment at least gives me some hope. So we're possibly nearing a point where WDW starts cleaning its act up? I agree it can't come soon enough if that's what's going to happen. I very much hope this happens before anyone actually ends up getting seriously hurt or even killed (like what happened with DL).
I think at least people have begun to realize that WDW has reached a tipping point. It's something I had a feeling would happen sooner or later. Maintenance cuts always escalate when they start to rear their ugly head, and they appear to have finally been slashed to the point that the cuts pose a very real danger to the health and lives of park guests. It's no longer just cutbacks like lightbulbs and chipped paint, nor even broken animatronics and other show issues. We're now witnessing a truly unacceptable lack of guest safety maintenance. And it's continuing to escalate as time goes on. It took people getting hurt and dying at Disneyland before they cleaned their act up on that coast (and they seem to have learned their lesson there at least thus far). Do WDW guests have to pay such a prce before anything is done on the east? I would hope not, but it has become an unfortunate possibility unless better leadership happens right now.
There's really no excuse anyone can try to give Disney here either. The fact that someone even attempted to turn this very serious discussion into a Disney vs Universal ride debate shows how completely immature and ignorant certain people are. I've always been a diehard Disney fan, but you would never see me defend any corporation for deliberately putting guests in danger. Continually putting customers in harms way to make more money is simply evil. It's an absolute sign that you're failing as a business when your greed literally endangers the health and lives of park guests.
I am now convinced more than ever that what WDW1974 and myself have been saying for some time now is true. The Splash Mountain refurb is not going to cut it. Big Thunder went down for 5 months and still managed to open with a considerable amount of its broken show elements still broken. While I'd love Disney to prove me wrong, I will be absolutely shocked if the Splash refurb actually manages to fix the majority of the broken show elements. Though i'd wager that most of the budget will be going to fixing inherent structural damage of the mountain's infrastructure. Splash is a far more complicated ride than Big Thunder is and it's receiving far less time for its refurb. It'll be quite interesting to see just how much ends up being fixed. And yes I will eagerly admit to being wrong here if the mountain opens with the overwhelming majority of all of its issues fixed. I do not enjoy constantly seeing Disney fail to amount to their own standards they once took pride in (especially in regards to guest safety).
I'm not trying to be dramatic here either, I find putting guests in actual danger is no laughing matter and shouldn't be taken lightly.
