What is with the AC being off on Spaceship Earth?

[Dead2009]

Inb4 people blame it on budget cuts.

 

[alphac2005]

I’ve been to Epcot the past 3 days and every time I’ve been on Spaceship Earth, it’s been hot. Really hot. Not like “the AC isn’t turned down low enough”, more like “it’s completely off.” really uncomfortable. I wonder what the reasoning for this could be. It was also extremely hot in The American Adventure today, but I only ever watch that every once and a while. So I don’t know if it was just a freak thing or if they’re intentionally keeping that off as well.

When we were there a few weeks ago, it we noticed the AC issues in countless rides. In the majority of them, it was clear that they have simply increased the indoor temperatures to the point of it being uncomfortable and humid. Anything from the Soarin' queue to Spaceship Earth as you noticed. Interestingly enough, any food and retail location had that nice cold, crisp AC the way it had been everywhere on property before.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I've never noticed an AC problem on SSE, but it seems like every time I am on POTC, in both the auction scene and the burning city scene, it feels hot and stuffy, but the rest of the ride isn't.

Course it was hot, the damn city is on fire.

Seriously, concerning SSE, though weren't the last few days extremely hot in Florida with incredibly high humidity. It's just a big round globe with the sun beating down on it all day long and a whole lot of airspace to cool. Not to mention hundreds of humans all at 98.6 degrees and motors and machinery running constantly. If I remember my high school lessons hot air rises so by the time you get to the top, it should be broiler time. Nature has a funny way of making all good intentions fall flat. I doubt any AC could keep up with that completely, but, as a side note, one probably should know what it is really like when the AC isn't working.

 

[marni1971]

Course it was hot, the damn city is on fire.

Seriously, concerning SSE, though weren't the last few days extremely hot in Florida with incredibly high humidity. It's just a big round globe with the sun beating down on it all day long and a whole lot of airspace to cool. Not to mention hundreds of humans all at 98.6 degrees and motors and machinery running constantly. If I remember my high school lessons hot air rises so by the time you get to the top, it should be broiler time. Nature has a funny way of making all good intentions fall flat. I doubt any AC could keep up with that completely, but, as a side note, one probably should know what it is really like when the AC isn't working.

The building has quite an ingenious colling system built in. It worked fine for 30-odd years.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The building has quite an ingenious colling system built in. It worked fine for 30-odd years.

So did I, not so much anymore. I cannot speak for all time because I have never been in the middle of a massive heat wave. I assume you must have, however, whenever I have been there it was fine. The vehicles I drive for my part time job, have AC's in them that would enable one to use the bus for a meat locker, however, just the other day the temperature hit 90 degrees F and the humidity was 100%... you could hardly tell it was on. The fact was that it was so cool inside that I had to continuously run the windshield wipers to clean off the condensation that was forming on the windshield of a moving bus. And it felt miserable inside at the same time.

Was it hot, yes... but, mostly it was humid and uncomfortable. That made it feel hot and the air was heavy and made it feel difficult to breath. That may also have been that way since the equipment was new and unless it was experienced when that particular weather situation existed, then there is no way to know if it was able to completely take all that moisture out of a building that almost would be acting like a chimney.

So I'm not saying that there isn't something wrong, but, I sometimes feel that people somehow think that perfection demanded of Disney can overcome a much more powerful force of nature. Just sayin'.

 

[marni1971]

So did I, not so much anymore. I cannot speak for all time because I have never been in the middle of a massive heat wave..

The cooling system was designed to cope with Floridian weather, which as we know frequently tops 100 degrees.

Buildings across property have had their colling thresholds lowered over the past year. SSE and The Land were noticeably warmer than normal last week.

 

[wdwmagic]

The cooling system was designed to cope with Floridian weather, which as we know frequently tops 100 degrees.

Buildings across property have had their colling thresholds lowered over the past year. SSE and The Land were noticeably warmer than normal last week.

And this comes on the back of a huge cooling reduction from a few years back.

There is actually an entire department who's job it was to go through every single building on property to minimize AC cost.

 

[Goofyernmost]

And this comes on the back of a huge cooling reduction from a few years back.

There is actually an entire department who's job it was to go through every single building on property to minimize AC cost.

Before to long they will have groups there that just try and convince people to actually go to a place that cares so little about their comfort. I'm now 9 months away from being 70. I see one more trip to WDW before I decide that there is nothing there worth sweating over. I hope to see Pandora, SWL, and even TSL once before I pack it all in. Then after that I don't care if they take all their bonus money and cram it someplace where the sun don't shine. If they don't care, I'm sure as hell am not going to care either. If you're listening Disney Company management... this is from a life long Disney fan. A place that I begged, borrowed and saved to get to go as often as I could. That should worry you. I know it won't, but, I will no longer recommend WDW to anyone ever again. I'm just one person, but, one tells one, another tells another and the first thing you know you will be able to save a lot of money by not even opening the parks. Hope you are saving your money for the layoffs.

 

[copcarguyp71]

And this comes on the back of a huge cooling reduction from a few years back.

There is actually an entire department who's job it was to go through every single building on property to minimize AC cost.

Lay them off and use the money to turn the AC back up...

 

[Raineman]

Course it was hot, the damn city is on fire.

I knew someone was going to say that - I tossed that softball, and you hit it out of the park. D'oh!

 

[FoodRockz]

I've noticed this on multiple attractions in recent years, and also noted how shops and restaurants are still comfortable. This is coming from someone who lives in FL and maintains 79-80 degrees on the thermostat. The parks up the road still have ice cold A/C in their attractions...

 

[POLY LOVER]

I feel like its fate will be similar to Energy's. Just let it limp until they replace it with the next hot IP...

The day they let it deteriorate so they can replace it with some quick install of whatever that will be my last day in Disney! It's an icon and should have top maintenance priority.

 

[Matty H]

Yup and bring back version 3.0 while they’re at it.

And bring back the old version of Illuminations, while they're at that.
(I know that's supposed to be updated in the next couple of years, and they're allegedly getting rid of that terrible globe. Here's hoping the rest of it goes well, too.)

 

[draybook]

It's not just in the parks. We've been to Disney Springs each of the last three nights and all of the shops we went into had the same problem. Even off site it's a problem. The Wal-Mart's on Vineland and 192 were incredibly warm. Heck, even the rental house we're in can't go below 75 because they said it will freeze the unit. Odd.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

They could use the existing queue and post-show space for a meet-and-greet area without having to devote significant resources to tackling the upper levels.

 

[Matty H]

There aren't any electricity limitations in the Orlando area post-hurricane, by any chance, are there?

 

[englanddg]

There aren't any electricity limitations in the Orlando area post-hurricane, by any chance, are there?

Disney has its own power plants...

 

[Matty H]

Disney has its own power plants...

I figured, but wondered if some of those were out, too. They certainly wouldn't tell anyone if they were.

 

[englanddg]

I figured, but wondered if some of those were out, too. They certainly wouldn't tell anyone if they were.

Well, they don't wholly rely on them...but, I doubt any grid limitations (generated on property or off) would explain why the A/C isn't working on a single ride.

More likely the units froze up, and/or broke and are waiting on replacement or replacement parts.

The thing is, those large industrial HVAC units used for things like this are often custom built anymore. I had a large 20 ton go out on an office building once, and it was three weeks to get a replacement.

I'm sure Disney can work faster...and may even keep spares on property, but...things happen...

 

[danyoung56]

And this comes on the back of a huge cooling reduction from a few years back.

There is actually an entire department who's job it was to go through every single building on property to minimize AC cost.

I've seen complaints about A/C around this time of year over the years. I think Disney just adjusts the thermostat mid-September, no matter what the actual temps are.