Yeti is indeed being fixed! Update 8/4/2014

cspencer96

cspencer96

Well-Known Member
boufa said:
While we are discussing unknowns... It also could be that there is not a suitable replacement option for whatever is broken. These guys spend millions of dollars inventing things that you can't buy on a shelf. Who knows if they even have any practical idea for a long term repair. Could be that the money needed to develop the repair itself could be the hold up. There is no Yeti-Mart where spare parts can be ordered.

Despite what the arm chair, never actually seen the equipment experts may think.
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It has been said several times that a plan was developed for repair, it just became a question of who the bill was to go to.
 
montyz81

montyz81

Well-Known Member
boufa said:
While we are discussing unknowns... It also could be that there is not a suitable replacement option for whatever is broken. These guys spend millions of dollars inventing things that you can't buy on a shelf. Who knows if they even have any practical idea for a long term repair. Could be that the money needed to develop the repair itself could be the hold up. There is no Yeti-Mart where spare parts can be ordered.

Despite what the arm chair, never actually seen the equipment experts may think.
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My guess is that the force of the Yeti's movements can't be contained in such a small space. (I believe the force is that of a 747 engine). In other words, the movements would need to be stabilized with a much bigger stand which would ultimately impact the ride track.
 
boufa

boufa

Well-Known Member
cspencer96 said:
It has been said several times that a plan was developed for repair, it just became a question of who the bill was to go to.
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Like most of the other said many times parts of this conversation, its missing enough details that the arm chair experts make it sound easier than it is.... How much is the bill? and of course they have a plan.. what stage of development is the plan at.

Look at this with some logic. They inspect the Yeti and find a flaw, a break, wear, whatever. So it rolls up the food chain..
"Hey boss the Yeti isn't right"
-"What's wrong with it?"
"(Fill in the blank here)"
- "Can we fix it"
... here is where there is obviously a plan at least of some depth.

Then the money conversation comes up. If it was cheap, I'm sure they would have done it already. If the repair is going to be a noticeable percentage of what it cost to make the thing in the first place... then well, strobe lights would be o.k. Then there is down time for the ride... would you accept a 6 month rehab of the ride just to fix the Yeti? (If that is what it would take.. again who knows, but its a factor) I am certain Disney wouldn't. My wife is completely certain that she saw it move... I know she didn't. So is "b Mode" a failure for the average guest... would a closed ride for repairs, be a failure for the average guest?!?
 
Mawg

Mawg

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
In Disney the issue of who is going to pay becoming a hindrance is not some oversimplification.
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I could see this argument at first happening but a 7 year old argument with management changes. By now someone is going to say sure we'll take the bill it's not like it was my fault it was some manager before me that caused this. I have to believe it is one or more of the following 3 issues.

1. No viable plan with past or present day materials
2. Outrageous cost (fix the Yeti or fix countless other things or build new stuff)
3. Unacceptable length of down time to fix

Most likely a combination of all 3, maybe I'm putting too much common sense into this.

But, I do think you make a good point. I can see a conversation going on each year.
Ok, here's the budget for this year, we have a list of maintenance issues to address. We were not given a big enough budget to fix everything so we can fix 90% of the issues or we can fix the Yeti and only fix 10% of the issues. Let's fix the 90% and leave the Yeti in B mode after all it's not a maintenance issue it was an implementation issue so it really should not be in our budget anyways. The blame game comes into affect after it's decided it can't be fixed. Hopefully at some point the list of issues becomes small enough or the budget big enough that it can be fixed or a percentage of the budget is earmarked for the Yeti and the decision to fix it is forced down their throat. Maybe next year, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Mawg said:
I could see this argument at first happening but a 7 year old argument with management changes. By now someone is going to say sure we'll take the bill it's not like it was my fault it was some manager before me that caused this. I have to believe it is one or more of the following 3 issues.
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There have been no significant changes in management or culture.
 
I

intheATL

Member
Alektronic said:
It is not the Engineering that was the problem. The problem is who maintains it, once it is turned over to DAK Operations the DAK Attractions Maintenance dept takes care of it. There is no engineers there, mainly mechanics and electricians who work on Ride and Show equipment. A lot of the mechanics are old auto mechanics or airplane mechanics who have crescent wrenches and hammers. So they have to take care of a sophisticated piece of machinery. So the problem is really with management, making you have the right people working on the right equipment.

It was the same way over at CTX/Dinosaur, they didn't use the experienced people right, when you have Audio-Animatronic experts with 20 - 25 years of experience, they didn't use them. They just used a lot of inexperienced mechanics with no animation training because they figured it was the same thing as a forklift or front end loader. So they made all of the adjustments and replaced parts, sometimes the wrong ones or in the wrong position or didn't pay attention to the settings. Mostly, creating more problems than they fixed.
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My brother is a mechanical engineer in Atlanta. He has been flown down to WDW and Universal many, many times to work on maintance issues on numerous attractions and he actually laughed at "old auto mechanics" and said that was an insult. You may be confusing that with working in the auto industry as many of the engineers at the parks have worked on the automation at car factories. According to my brother, the same mechanisms used at say, a Ford or GM plant to move large vehicle parts through the assembly has a lot of similarity to some theme park rides.

He is retired now, but was called down there when the issue had to do with the parts/programming that had to do with things installed by his company. He says both WDW and Universal have "Highly skilled teams". In other words, they CAN fix it, but whether they choose to is another story.

Another interesting note: my brother worked on Maelstrom when it was being built!
 
Mawg

Mawg

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
There have been no significant changes in management or culture.
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In that case it could be a finger pointing game but only if someone above the finger pointers agrees that it is not worth fixing and doesn't care to take sides. As soon as it does matter it won't matter who is pointing the fingers it will get fixed. There might be finger pointing going on but it's not the reason it's not fixed, the reason comes from above the finger pointers and the decisions they have made.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Mawg said:
In that case it could be a finger pointing game but only if someone above the finger pointers agrees that it is not worth fixing and doesn't care to take sides. As soon as it does matter it won't matter who is pointing the fingers it will get fixed. There might be finger pointing going on but it's not the reason it's not fixed, the reason comes from above the finger pointers and the decisions they have made.
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And there have not been any changes at that level either.
 
erasure fan1

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Mawg said:
I believe/assume (opinion) that if a fix was available that could be done in a timely manner, they would have done it prior to now. And, that a lack of E tickets in AK weighed heavily in their decision (not that it should have).
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I Believe there are more than a few reasons why the yeti is still not working but this is the heart of the problem in my eyes. What would happen to AK attendance if Everest was down for 6 or 7 months, maybe more? I just don't think that when all is said and done they are willing to sacrifice the park attendance. I doubt it will change either until another E-ticket opens. No matter how you cut it, its shame on Disney.
 
G00fyDad

G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
erasure fan1 said:
I Believe there are more than a few reasons why the yeti is still not working but this is the heart of the problem in my eyes. What would happen to AK attendance if Everest was down for 6 or 7 months, maybe more? I just don't think that when all is said and done they are willing to sacrifice the park attendance. I doubt it will change either until another E-ticket opens. No matter how you cut it, its shame on Disney.
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And why does the ride have to be down for 6 or 7 months? They can remove the yeti and fix the issue with very little disruption to the ride. And most guests have no idea the yeti is there right now anyway. So why do you think the ride have to be down for so long?
 
Nick Wilde

Nick Wilde

Well-Known Member
G00fyDad said:
And why does the ride have to be down for 6 or 7 months? They can remove the yeti and fix the issue with very little disruption to the ride. And most guests have no idea the yeti is there right now anyway. So why do you think the ride have to be down for so long?
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It's not easy to remove the Yeti. I heard in a documentary about the ride, that they would have to almost completely dismantle the ride to fix him.:(:(:( That's why it would take some 6-7 months.
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
erasure fan1 said:
I Believe there are more than a few reasons why the yeti is still not working but this is the heart of the problem in my eyes. What would happen to AK attendance if Everest was down for 6 or 7 months, maybe more? I just don't think that when all is said and done they are willing to sacrifice the park attendance. I doubt it will change either until another E-ticket opens. No matter how you cut it, its shame on Disney.
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But as one of our regular members has said a number of times, there is a plan to repair the Yeti that doesn't require downtime.
 
erasure fan1

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
G00fyDad said:
And why does the ride have to be down for 6 or 7 months? They can remove the yeti and fix the issue with very little disruption to the ride. And most guests have no idea the yeti is there right now anyway. So why do you think the ride have to be down for so long?
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I wish that was the case but there has to be more to it than that. I know TDO doesn't make a lot of good decisions but if all they had to do is what you say I think they would have done it by now. If it doesn't have to be down a long time and they still won't fix it, than its a pretty safe bet to say WDW is doomed.
 

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