Originally Posted By trekkeruss What it comes down to is the expectations of guests and the show factor of the monorail. We think of the monorail as show as much as transportation, and as such, we expect the show to be perfect. Disney on the other hand seems to have stopped seeing the monorails as show, and almost strickly as transportation. It has a track record of safety, and as long as any delays don't show up on guest dissatisfaction surveys, they won't likely change the way they're operated.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 trekkeruss,Yes it was a half hour, 4th of July, tons of people, heavy wear and tear on equipment, lots of things broke down that night. But the fireworks show more than compensated us. Jungle Cruise boat in front of us broke down, there were several behind us. They had to wait for all the ones in front to get back to the landing before they could send a tow for the brokendown one. Disney being what it is, and Jungle Cruise guides being what they are, we had a fun time listening to his jokes and stories while we waited. When Muppet 3D broke down, employees came in and entertained us. Does anyone know where and when Kim Possible will be?
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Jungle Cruise boat in front of us broke down, there were several behind us. They had to wait for all the ones in front to get back to the landing before they could send a tow for the brokendown one.>> So it was the Jungle Cruise, and not It's A Small World? Or did you get stuck on both? I am confused.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I have posted here about my understanding of some general maintenance practices in response to others who simply complain about poor maintenance and budget cuts without providing any solutions to those problems. >>> In this thread, I haven't made the claim that it makes financial sense to maintain them better. My point is just to say that it most definitely is a financial matter that's causing the service interruptions that many people report. The notions that some people have put forth that suggest that the problem lies elsewhere, such as (paraphrasing) "They're old, so they're going to break down" just aren't true. Well, it certainly is true if you don't pay to maintain them properly.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 trekkeruss, yes both broke down. Disney usually handles those things well.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<In this thread, I haven't made the claim that it makes financial sense to maintain them better. My point is just to say that it most definitely is a financial matter that's causing the service interruptions that many people report. The notions that some people have put forth that suggest that the problem lies elsewhere, such as (paraphrasing) "They're old, so they're going to break down" just aren't true. Well, it certainly is true if you don't pay to maintain them properly.>> SuperDry, I think you have a perfect grasp of the situation. And I agree with Mr. X about post 70 ... your earlier post should be printed out and framed and hung on the wall of any/every WDW manager who still cares about exceeding guest expectations. It is also true the frequent guests can well be part of the problem if they keep accepting (or simply not acknowledging) the dumbing down of the product. I actually got attacked on another site (amazingly not here) for descibing how I saw graffiti in a DL restroom advocating the murder of illegal aliens, reported it, was assured it would be dealt with immediately, came back eight days later to find ... yep, nothing had been done. We all know that 15 years ago, no one would have ever had to report because a custodial CM would have seen it and it would have immediately been dealt with. But I got attacked for having a problem with this sitting on the walls BY DISNEY FANS. When Disney's biggest fans start becoming management apologists, you've got to wonder if 'Just better than Six Flags' is the standard they want for all the complaining they do when someone like Paul Pressler utters a phrase like that in a meeting. Because the WDW experience has been so watered down people just think that dirty, smelly, broken climate controlled monorails are SOP ... they don't remember or care that they used to be cleaned nightly and would immediately be taken out of service is anything that could affect guest/cast safety or show was an issue. It's a very sad state of affairs when so-called 'fans' justify marginalizing the magic.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< SuperDry, I think you have a perfect grasp of the situation. >>> Great minds think alike I guess. I think you're really going to like my more extensive analysis of the situation that's coming soon to this thread.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I find it quite astonishing--in this day and age with the Enron Company cover-ups--that there is anyone left who thinks any company--including Disney--is above being deceitful in regard to the monorail issues Spirit of 74 has mentioned. And if the American Government can be corrupted beyond words, why is it so difficult to believe that Disney is also corrupted? With that in mind, it's very easy to believe profits would be put ahead of safety. ORWEN: That was already proven out in California with Disneyland when a memo from Mr. Pressler was found, which said 'we have to ride these attractions to failure'. Then look what happened with Big Thunder Mountain. ORGOCH: Some of ya's better git yer heads outta the sand, if'n ya asks me. ORWEN: By the way, TDLFAN, duckling. Us Cauldron girls heard about the monorail fire you were talking about from years ago. But we weren't around at the time to get any of the details. We can only imagine how scary it had to have been.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost ^^^Basically, I agree, however, one must remember that Disney sees what happened to places like Enron and since, presumably, there is still cash in the registers at Disney, their stake in financial liability if something happens is ginormous. I won't say that there isn't more that Disney or any company can do to prevent breakdowns but I will say that since I am not an expert on the mechanical workings of the monorails I am not even qualified to make broad statements like...it's all in lack of maintenance. Quite frankly, I do not know and I suspect that most of you folks don't know either. But everyone knows what the problems are and how simple they are to solve. (Yes, that was sarcasm) I can only judge by my own experience and since I live in Vermont my experiences are relatively view compared to those of you that practically live there. The only delay I have ever experienced on the monorails or any other Disney ride for that matter was the brief stop before the stations with the announcement that we are waiting for clearance before proceeding and I know it never has exceeded one minute ever. So I will defer judgment to those of you with the expertise in this matter.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>Disney usually handles those things well.<< Best laugh I have had all day.
Originally Posted By DramaMama07 Is poor maitenance the reason that Splash Mountain has all of those pauses in the ride experience? The last two or three times I have been to MK we couldn't go through one scene before "Looks like Brer Fox and Brer Bear and makin' some trouble up stream...". In fact, we were stuck climbing the hill to the big drop, listening to the vultures "laughing place, I'll show you a laughing place" for well over 5 minutes. Is this issue what we are running into?
Originally Posted By fundog58 One of my favorite things about the other three WDW parks is that you don't have to ride a monorail or boat to get to them from the parking lot. If you time it right (and have enough energy) sometimes you can even avoid the trams.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 ">>Disney usually handles those things well.<< Best laugh I have had all day." I guess some of us have better luck than others. Glad I'm one of them.
