TDO light maintenance becoming a joke!

rob0519

Well-Known Member
Easy. They have no excuse, just a reason: they are too cheap to replace them.
Simple as that.

Things such as this, which used to set Disney apart from lesser parks, have fallen by the wayside in the name of saving money.
Ruin a trip? No.
Symbol of decline? Yes.


Wake up people, this is about way more than light bulbs. This is a systemic decline in what was once on of the standard bearers of maintenance and guest services in the industry. The light bulbs, the cups, the napkins, the reduction of EMH, the removal of Splash Mountain from EMH, fewer employees and even fewer full time employees that receive benefits, the list of cuts goes on and on.

New guests who have never been to WDW before will not notice the changes and will continue to return. Those of us who remember the good old days will accept the cuts and return because there is still no other place like it.

Yes,I do know about operations and maintenance schedules of larger facilities,but no, not the size of WDW.

In today's corporate America, this is indeed the situation. Reduce or maintain expenses. Period. Everything rides on the quarterly bottom line.

I don't expect a bulb to be replaced each time one burns out, but it appears that where there used to be a maintenance schedule that was worthy of a premier resort, there is now just do as little as possible to save as much money as possible.

With a rack rate for some rooms over four and five hundred dollars a night this type of maintenance is shabby by any definition. Ruin a trip, nope. Symbol of decline when you announce record quarterly numbers? You bet.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Wake up people, this is about way more than light bulbs. This is a systemic decline in what was once on of the standard bearers of maintenance and guest services in the industry. The light bulbs, the cups, the napkins, the reduction of EMH, the removal of Splash Mountain from EMH, fewer employees and even fewer full time employees that receive benefits, the list of cuts goes on and on.

New guests who have never been to WDW before will not notice the changes and will continue to return. Those of us who remember the good old days will accept the cuts and return because there is still no other place like it.

Yes,I do know about operations and maintenance schedules of larger facilities,but no, not the size of WDW.

In today's corporate America, this is indeed the situation. Reduce or maintain expenses. Period. Everything rides on the quarterly bottom line.

I don't expect a bulb to be replaced each time one burns out, but it appears that where there used to be a maintenance schedule that was worthy of a premier resort, there is now just do as little as possible to save as much money as possible.

With a rack rate for some rooms over four and five hundred dollars a night this type of maintenance is shabby by any definition. Ruin a trip, nope. Symbol of decline when you announce record quarterly numbers? You bet.

I either have incredible luck or you folks have the worst luck ever. I hardly ever see a light bulb out and if I did I'm not sure that I could tell that it has been out for days and is being ignored or if it went out just as I turned the corner and looked up. Ask yourself this question if you had light bulbs that numbered in the millions how would you keep up with them burning out. Would you replace them before they actually went out, even though you have no way of knowing when that might be? Would you be able to justify the incredible waste of money and natural resources that would come about by making this the procedure? Would you send a maintenance person up to replace the light bulbs right in the middle of the evening while paying guests were there? Wouldn't you think that this process would be even worse then occasionally seeing a light bulb out? And lastly...have you documented the locations to make sure that the same light bulb is out the next night that you saw the previous night?
 

rob0519

Well-Known Member
I either have incredible luck or you folks have the worst luck ever. I hardly ever see a light bulb out and if I did I'm not sure that I could tell that it has been out for days and is being ignored or if it went out just as I turned the corner and looked up. Ask yourself this question if you had light bulbs that numbered in the millions how would you keep up with them burning out. Would you replace them before they actually went out, even though you have no way of knowing when that might be? Would you be able to justify the incredible waste of money and natural resources that would come about by making this the procedure? Would you send a maintenance person up to replace the light bulbs right in the middle of the evening while paying guests were there? Wouldn't you think that this process would be even worse then occasionally seeing a light bulb out? And lastly...have you documented the locations to make sure that the same light bulb is out the next night that you saw the previous night?

As usual, stop focusing on just one thing... IT"S ABOUT WAY MORE THAN LIGHT BULBS!!! There are ways to deal with preventative maintenance of any facility, whether it be WDW, a hospital, a factory or an airport. No one will wait until fifteen runway lights burn out before replacing them. It's all a matter of priorities; legal, regulatory or simply internal policy. Time, Cost and Quality are the constants. If you want quality, you will spend time and money to get it. If you want to save time, you may need to spend more money and sacrifice quality. If you want to accumulate money you sacrifice quality.

Yes, you can replace light bulbs during the day. WDW does numerous projects while the parks are open, or haven't you noticed that either?

Your narrow scope of making it about only light bulbs shows a lack of understanding for a system that is in slow, but sure deterioration from the quality product it once was.
 

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Yes, you can replace light bulbs during the day. WDW does numerous projects while the parks are open, or haven't you noticed that either?

Yup, but it is hard to notice burnt light bulbs that aren't turned on isn't it? Also whether or not it's day or night, do you want to see maintenance people propped up on roof edges while you are touring the parks. I would think that the complaining about Disney's lack of Magic would be much louder during that situation.

I focused on light bulbs because that was what the post was talking about. Each individual item can be classified in a few ways. One would be regular maintenance that is done after the park has closed and the other would be things that are left to deteriorate over time with no attention. I agree that I am less likely to point a judgmental finger at items that are out of anyone's control, such as a light bulb burning out, then one that has been completely ignored over time. In some thread here, don't remember which one, I pointed out the banner identifying Imagination Pavilion as being left for months faded and almost unreadable. That was, in my mind, an indication of the possible dropping of quality in the parks. Light bulbs out...not so much. That happens instantaneously and cannot be responsibly dealt with until it happens or haven't you noticed that?
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Its simple. They used to be able to keep up with replacing the lightbulbs. Even with four parks to maintain when DAK first opened. Now they don't bother or can't.
 

FettFan

Well-Known Member
Take a look at how bad these pictures are. I know Tower is suppose to have one o out of the hollywood, but not 3 letters out and half the T. The Grand Floridian lights are becoming an absolute joke. I mean at this point I pray they just strip the GF of the popcorn lights it would look better without lights than with half of them blown out. I seriously hope TDO changes it's ways very soon. It's getting scary.

So your complaint is that a ride themed to an abandoned building....looks a bit more like an actual abandoned building. :p
 

Goofnut1980

Well-Known Member
I usually don't see too many out when I visit. With the Osborne lights and Cindy's castle having all LED's, When will they start swapping out the regular bulbs with LED's around the resorts. I know it saved them a lot of energy by switching to the LED's. Just wondering.
 

menamechris

Well-Known Member
I was at the Magic Kingdom Sunday night. I didn't think Main Street or the train station looked bad. Grand Floridian (especially Narcoossee's) is an absolute joke. It looks ridiculous. I don't know how this isn't embarassing to anyone who works there.
 

xdan0920

Think for yourselfer
Was at the world last night and the GF still has a ton of lights out everywhere. Same with main street as well although not as bad as the GF of course.

Almost a year later. Same issues.

Any corporate defenders want to stand up for TDO here?
 

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
Are light bulbs a big deal...not really. Will it ruin your trip...no

But don't we expect better from Disney. Light bulbs are a microcosm of the more recent ineptitutde in TDO management. For a company that claims to care about show quality above all else(except safety) they sure on not living up to their word.

I know if I have a light bulb out in my house I go and get a new one and fix it. If there a light out in my work, we call maintenance and they come and fix it right away, and actually even if we don't call they inspect every few weeks.

For one of the top vacation destinations in the world and the most photographed place in the world, what is their excuse?

There is not an excuse. Disney of yesteryear fixed ascetics like this overnight in their classier years gone bye.
 

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hate to even bring it up, but the Liberty Belle had quite a few popcorn lights out as well. Just throwing that out there.
 

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Hate to even bring it up, but the Liberty Belle had quite a few popcorn lights out as well. Just throwing that out there.

My goodness. Not something a fan wants to hear. It's terrible they won't have someone go in and replace the bulbs. It shouldn't be that hard, I replace my broken lightbulbs at home all the time. SMH.
 

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
Personally, I want to thank Scuttle and Lee and WDW1974 and others here for their straight talk about the light maintenance issues at WDW, and for their unflinching stance that it does matter. When I visited WDW last December, there were lights out all over the place at DHS, on the Tower and on the shops, and you didn't have to have each area memorized in order to notice it; it just looked bad. Really, it makes me wonder: just how bad is business at WDW that basic maintenance is left begging like that, and how bad does it have to get and how many fans have to complain before TDO gets shamed into getting the maintenance back up to par? Frankly, I'm not very hopeful that anything will change. I'm sorry to sound harsh, but I have to wonder whether TDO HAS any shame. Remember that embarrassing article in the Orlando Sentinel a while back about the broken yeti? It was pretty scathing, and I loved it, because I was so thankful that a major publication finally brought the issue into the public eye. But to date, has anything been done about the yeti? NO! And that sucks. If WDW will continue to run a broken ride in the belief that the basic thick-headed tourist won't notice or care, why would it concern itself about light bulbs?
 

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The GF dvc has added its popcorn lights and there is already a few out. I will say thins are slightly improving because Narcoosses lights have been replaced, well some have, not all.
20130826_200753.jpg
Blurred shot, but you can still tell.
 

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