Things not working

[geekza]

Unfortunately income does not equal profit and at this time Disney is far more interested in keeping profits than putting sufficient monies into budgets to properly maintain the rides and the IT division, which in essence runs all of the rides.

Yup. It wasn't until recently that Amazon made a profit, which drove their stockholders crazy. Bezos took the money and used it to grow the company. Now it has gotten to the point where, even with as much as they are spending on growth and diversification, they're so successful that they literally have more money than they know what to do with.

 

[WondersOfLife]

Update - Microphone stopped working for Marlon in Nemo the Musical. Show canceled halfway through.

 

[graphite1326]

I wonder how many of the mechanical issues on these attractions are, or could be, solved by having a good inventory of commonly replaced parts/materials. Any mechanical devices should always have a supply of critical parts available, especially if there are critical components that are common to a number of attraction mechanics. I’m sure that basics like ride tracks/wheels, lighting, electrical, etc have the common repair items, where any AA mechanics may not have a sufficient supply on hand.

They probably do. But each ride has quite a few parts that are unique to that ride. You can't have an entire ride in parts laying around. You need these parts made. Which is what I do and can tell you right now everyone in my business is really backed up. There is a draw back to having such a good economy.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I see your point, but at the same time, the company itself is making millions upon millions every day. I went to Disney After Hours and just for that event, they made $16,000,000 on that night alone. There were a good 3000 people in the park that night, compared to the normal average of 55,000 people. That's in the Magic Kingdom ALONE. It stands to reason that it's not funding problems.

Totally agree, they surely make enough $$ to be able to perform the everyday maintenance that is required on the attractions. Sadly it seems they just let things go until a given attraction closes for major rehab or updates.

Unless there is risk of death, they dont fix it right away anymore..

 

[geekza]

Update - Microphone stopped working for Marlon in Nemo the Musical. Show canceled halfway through.

To be fair, wireless mics are a pain in the behind under the best of circumstances.

 

[daisyduckie]

That’s no excuse given the money that same company now has.

Read the quote in my signature.

Weather is an excuse.

So that list someone posted should be cut down to zero, as all of those rides are outside. The OP had valid complaints. But some are just quick to jump on the Disney is falling apart bandwagon with no real reason.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

IIRC yes

Sorry this is off topic but what does IIRC stand for?

 

[crxbrett]

Sorry this is off topic but what does IIRC stand for?

If I Recall Correctly

 

[marni1971]

Weather is an excuse.

So that list someone posted should be cut down to zero, as all of those rides are outside. The OP had valid complaints. But some are just quick to jump on the Disney is falling apart bandwagon with no real reason.

I’m not quoting about weather:

Disney probably doesnt think it matters to the majority of the guests that an AA's mouth isnt moving or an AA isnt in sync with the music?

 

[peter11435]

I see your point, but at the same time, the company itself is making millions upon millions every day. I went to Disney After Hours and just for that event, they made $16,000,000 on that night alone. There were a good 3000 people in the park that night, compared to the normal average of 55,000 people. That's in the Magic Kingdom ALONE. It stands to reason that it's not funding problems.

I’m curious where your $16,000,000 number came from?

It’s not correct

 

[disneyblondie15]

I’m curious where your $16,000,000 number came from?

It’s not correct

A cast member told us that's what was made on that event. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but that's what he told us.

 

[geekza]

A cast member told us that's what was made on that event. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but that's what he told us.

I don't doubt that you were told that, but that would mean that each person at the after-hours event spent over $5,300 each during those few hours.

 

[peter11435]

A cast member told us that's what was made on that event. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but that's what he told us.

They were wrong. Unless you and everyone else there spent over $5000 each.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I'd rather have the attention paid to the major things like constructing entirely new attractions and lands than making sure a hand is moving on one AA.

Maintenance budget is not going to new construction.

There were less on-show malfunctions before the Eisner era, despite WDW basically doubling in size during the construction of EPCOT, despite being financed by a tiny TWDC mostly reliant on its resorts, despite drastical lower prices.

 

[geekza]

Comparing the cost of single-day tickets between July 1983 and August 2018 is interesting. A single-day, single-park ticket for August 2018 is $116.50 (averaging the different prices for MK and the other parks). In 1983, the first full year of EPCOT Center, the cost was $16.00 (average, taking into account a price hike in Oct 1983). Adjusted for inflation, $116.50 in 2018 has the buying power of $46.18 in 1983 dollars.

Combined attendance at the MK and EPCOT Center in 1983 (the first full year EPCOT Center was open) was 22.7 million. That means that Disney was pulling in $363,200,000 on admissions alone. The parks were spotless and attractions were kept in top condition.

If the cost of admission in 1983 had been equivalent to what we pay today, they would have made $1,048,286,000 on admissions.

In 2017, the four WDW parks saw attendance of around 56 million. If we assume that this year's attendance will be similar, for the sake of argument, they would conceivably bring in $6,524,000,000 from admissions.

The long and short of it is that they could absolutely afford to keep the parks in top condition. They simply choose not to. Guests should expect more from what they're paying for a WDW vacation. Having the money is not an issue. They have money. Until guests start caring and making a fuss and, to be honest, take their dollars elsewhere, there is nothing to convince me that the trend of neglect will stop.

I'm far from a mathematician or statistician and I realize that my numbers are approximations, at best. However, I think that it at least gives a high-level overview of the disparity of the value the average guest received from their ticket price in 1983 compared to today.

 

[WondersOfLife]

FOP broke down at 9:00 pm yesterday. We watched the pre-show 3 times.

Terrible amount of hairbands on Everest.

 

[peter11435]

Terrible amount of hairbands on Everest.

You’d be surprised how quickly this happens again each time they clean it.

 

[disneygeek90]

I think the Nemo glowfish scene has been down for a while. Olaf was working last time I went a few weeks ago.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Maintenance budget is not going to new construction.

There were less on-show malfunctions before the Eisner era, despite WDW basically doubling in size during the construction of EPCOT, despite being financed by a tiny TWDC mostly reliant on its resorts, despite drastical lower prices.

Im aware that the budgeted money is allocated in different areas. I'm just saying Disneys attention isnt going to be focused on a minor issue like one malfunctioned AA out of many in one attraction. And I know theres been a lack of maintenance in the parks from reduction of staffing and money allocated to parks...which is a shame. But I dont fret over minor issues that arent ruining my experience. The majority of guests dont spot that one AA that isnt working and let it ruin their time at Disney so that will affect Disneys need to see a rush to fix an issue. Yes IO think all these things should still get fixed but for some time now Disney has been slow on getting minor things fixed. JUst saying that therse plenty of other major things I find important that I think Disney should attend to than minor AA issues that in the entirety dont affect my enjoyment.

 

[disneyworlddad]

Angler Fish and I'm pretty sure the Shark too, both didn't work last March when I went on.

I have been twice times this summer. One time the Chum was moving (although very slowly) and the other he was not. Same on the Angler Fish. Once he was working the other he was not.