Rides breaking down at alarming rate

[DisneyFive]

This same type of thread pops up on a regular basis for the past 10+ years. It's easier to notice down/delayed rides now because the APP makes it exceedingly easy to notice them. Personally I don't feel anything has significantly changed.

 

[meremac]

This same type of thread pops up on a regular basis for the past 10+ years. It's easier to notice down/delayed rides now because the APP makes it exceedingly easy to notice them. Personally I don't feel anything has significantly changed.

Agreed. The problem, IMO, is also compounded by the fact that people have to pay for Genie+ now, though. If you're just paying for admission and something you want to ride is unexpectedly offline, it's a bummer but whatever, it happens. If you're dropping an extra $100+ for a family of four on Genie+ that day, though, it's easy to feel like you've been taken for a ride (no pun intended).

 

[Len418]

We've been going to Disney annually for over 20 years, and were AP holders until the cost got so crazy in 2019. So we have dozens of trips as a baseline. Now, our experience last month may have been an outlier, but we saw far more breakdowns than in previous years. My specific complaint, however, is with rides not being functional at park opening.

Disney makes their guests plan ahead of time, from making park reservations to getting up early enough to be at the park for rope drop of early entry. It is a reasonable expectation, then, that Disney does their part to ensure that rides are operational. If that means dropping an extra $250 in salary so staff can ensure that Space Mountain is functioning then that is what they should do. I go to Disney because they are not like other places, it is a premium experience. In referring to today, it is not unreasonable for a family at DHS who planned their trip for a year to be upset that MnMRR, RnRCoaster, and Rise were all not running at park opening.

On Monday, September 11, my wife and I went to DHS for the express purpose of riding 2 rides: Tower of Terror and RockNRollerCoaster. Both were "delayed opening". Cast members told us it would likely be hours before they were up and running. We've been to Disney enough to know to be flexible. But in this case, 2 headliners down makes the whole park a logjam. No problem, we'll just hop to another park. Except now Disney won't let us do that. So we are stuck in a park we don't really want to be in.

 

[Minnie1222]

No problem, we'll just hop to another park. Except now Disney won't let us do that. So we are stuck in a park we don't really want to be in.

They REALLY need to get rid of the 2pm park hopping.

 

[Anthony1971]

On Monday, September 11, my wife and I went to DHS for the express purpose of riding 2 rides: Tower of Terror and RockNRollerCoaster. Both were "delayed opening". Cast members told us it would likely be hours before they were up and running. We've been to Disney enough to know to be flexible. But in this case, 2 headliners down makes the whole park a logjam. No problem, we'll just hop to another park. Except now Disney won't let us do that. So we are stuck in a park we don't really want to be in.

I 100% agree with this part.
As I said in my other post rides are down more frequently and that is exactly what is causing the longer lines. I could list at least 10 rides I saw down in the 3 days we went to the parks this year, more including the days I looked when we were not at the park. My brother and his family were there the same time they went to the parks everyday and out of 7 with park hoppers the only day they got to ride RoRc and ToT was the one day we went and both went down in the afternoon after we left the park. There was not a day we did not get a free LL for the next day that we did not use because we do not go everyday. I agree rides go down always did just not this many. There was not a park that did not have at least one ride down at any given time HS had 2-3 MK 2-3 Epcot and AK were the best with 1 at most times. This was not one day it was the entire time.... Never experienced that in the 30 years we have been going. I will go back we own DVC so it does not bother me much but I absolutely can understand the frustration of those who go every X years, or maybe this is the new normal some are willing to accept.

 

[FreeTime]

I was so disappointed on Sunday when the American Adventure abruptly ended with a few minutes left. I needed that extra 3 minutes of nap time!

 

[DisneyFive]

Just did a random look. October 4 5:14 PM. In all four parks, one ride was down Winnie the Pooh.

Tons of rides go down when bad weather roles in so that is expected sometimes.

The one that would bother me is rides down at Park opening. That is a staffing and discipline issue in my opinion. If they don’t get there early enough to perform all the checks to get those rides ready for park open, that is on Disney.

 

[jppeek]

I mean, maybe ^^^ is one reason CMs are more defensive lately. Listen, I'm not saying it's ok for rides to be breaking down more often. And if someone paid for Genie+ but ride issues were so pervasive one day that they legitimately could not get their money's worth, they have every right to go to Guest Services and ask for a Genie+ refund. But I also think people need to sometimes check their sense of entitlement. Stuff like yelling at a CM because they let guests in line on MY MNSSHP day an hour before the party actually started...seriously, come on now: they need to grab a Starbucks and go hug a character or something.

For sure yelling is never cool, people should always be respectful.

As far as the entitlement goes though I think there is a certain level of accountability based on the cost of the product.

If I go to Applebees and they over cook my steak, I don’t even point it out cause I just paid $19.99 for a steak and I’m kind of assuming it’s gonna be far from perfect lol. If I go to a high end steakhouse where I’m paying $120+ for that steak I expect it to be cooked properly. If I order medium rare and it comes out well done they don’t expect me to eat or pay for it.

If Disney is going to keep upping the cost, I feel like there does need to be some kind of accountability.

I may book one night on a cash reservation (adding a day to my next trip and nothing available through DVC) and I almost fell out of my chair at what the hotels cost lol. If people are spending that kind of money and the days are filled with hours of waiting on lines only to have it break down before they even get to ride, telling people sorry nothing is guaranteed just seems kinda messed up to me.

Still never ok to lose your mind on anyone though lol those people for sure need to chill out!

 

[meremac]

For sure yelling is never cool, people should always be respectful.

As far as the entitlement goes though I think there is a certain level of accountability based on the cost of the product.

Totally agree. I actually said something similar a few posts up. I was talking about the type of entitlement described in the post I quoted where a guest yelled and threatened a CM because she let day guests in line a few minutes after 6pm on their party day...even though the party doesn't start until 7pm. I mean, first, it's never ok to threaten a CM for any reason. Second, there was no reason to get upset in the first place as letting day guests slide into standby lines at the beginning of the 6-7pm buffer hour is common practice. And finally, it's not just "their" party day. This kind of "it's all about me" attitude has become more pervasive, and that's the kind of behavior people need to check IMO.

 

[HerzerHerrick]

I feel like in MK especially they don't do as much maintence and refurbishment as they do in say Disneyland because the park is always so busy they don't want to close anything down for extended times.

 

[SL6827]

I feel like in MK especially they don't do as much maintence and refurbishment as they do in say Disneyland because the park is always so busy they don't want to close anything down for extended times.

Hopefully this will never lead to a terrible situation that could have been prevented, but it makes me think.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This same type of thread pops up on a regular basis for the past 10+ years. It's easier to notice down/delayed rides now because the APP makes it exceedingly easy to notice them. Personally I don't feel anything has significantly changed.

I think many people have been able to point out the commonality of rides not getting the TLC they need. Some rides are more prone to breaking down due to it others limp along with some features just flat out not working.

Spaceship Earth still functioned while we were there last year the first major scene was super super dark. Splash was in a sad state of affairs for quite a while. People have pointed out issues with it's a small world and many other attractions.

Even with threads in the past it still doesn't mean rides aren't breaking down at a high rate, it actually can be that even more rides are breaking down frequently enough to be noticed by a good amount of people.

 

[NashvilleMama]

This same type of thread pops up on a regular basis for the past 10+ years. It's easier to notice down/delayed rides now because the APP makes it exceedingly easy to notice them. Personally I don't feel anything has significantly changed.

THIS. I think there's just so much more visibility to what's up and what's not, especially for those of us glued to our apps when in the parks.

 

[SL6827]

The only positive thing I can think about this crap is, if we encounter this during our "goodbye" trip in January, it will easily quench my thirst for this place.

 

[Len418]

The only positive thing I can think about this crap is, if we encounter this during our "goodbye" trip in January, it will easily quench my thirst for this place.

Our September trip was somewhere around the 30th visit for us. It was the first visit where we thought "if we had it to do over, we would've gone somewhere else." It was also the first time that we were not planning our return trip before we even left WDW.

The ride breakdowns at park opening were only a part of us feeling this way. So many things factor in, but I guess it came down to this: the Disney we fell in love with over 20 years ago simply doesn't exist anymore.

 

[NickC]

I noticed it a lot more on our last trip. If it's true that the rides have been going down at the same rate for the last 10+ years, it actually makes the optics worse. Not because rides go down, but because people are noticing. 10 years ago, if a ride went down, I probably didn't care because I was in the happiest place on Earth. If I notice things like ride closures, then WDW is doing something wrong with the rest of the experience. Just my opinion.

 

[Len418]

I noticed it a lot more on our last trip. If it's true that the rides have been going down at the same rate for the last 10+ years, it actually makes the optics worse. Not because rides go down, but because people are noticing. 10 years ago, if a ride went down, I probably didn't care because I was in the happiest place on Earth. If I notice things like ride closures, then WDW is doing something wrong with the rest of the experience. Just my opinion.

This may be exactly what we experienced. I don't remember rides breaking down 10 years ago like they do now, but I do remember the quality of the Disney experience being far greater then. Maybe we're noticing the presence of the one because of the absence of the other.

 

[DisneyFive]

Random check again. 2pm on 10-6-23 and only one ride is down in all of WDW (Dinosaur).

Is the issue moreso that they are down at park open?

ETA: I also think some folks don't understand how many rides go down due to bad weather, or even a close threat nearby.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

ETA: I also think some folks don't understand how many rides go down due to bad weather, or even a close threat nearby.

You may want to re-read the thread from the beginning as that topic has already been covered before....

 

[DisneyFive]

You may want to re-read the thread from the beginning as that topic has already been covered before....

Yeah sorry not going to read all 14 pages. If we had quantitative data to prove one way or that rides are breaking down at a greater rate now versus in the past, that would make for a better discussion. As of now everything is just opinion and individual observations, but no hard data. So we can continue to argue one way or the other until we are blue in the face but it’s kind of pointless. . Something to take up some time I guess.