Most expensive attractions to operate and maintain

Originally Posted By Anatole69

I am wondering what the most expensive rides are to run and maintain. I just read that Indy is the most expensive one, and I imagine Splash Mountain is near the top, probably along with Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

Anyone know for sure what the most expensive, second most expensive, third most expensive is... and the reason why, along with a general dollar amount?

Also as a seperate category, where do the parades and/or shows stack up? Which is the most expensive amongst all the parks? Fantasmic? Lion King?

Thanks.

- Anatole

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I believe that the Subs are the most expensive to maintain. They used different materials and techniques when they redid them, but it is still pretty expensive. The cholornated water pulls the color out of anything they put in it pretty quickly. To remedy that, they used paint that was made up of tiny pieces of colored glass, which won't fade as easily. They also placed many of the sets on the other side of a giant window, so they are not actually underwater. It also requires a lot of CM's for the capacity of the ride (one inside each sub, and at least another 7 or 8 to work the dock).

For shows, I don't know specific numbers, but I believe the two highest are Fantasmic! at DL and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth at Epcot. I think I hear that F! is about $50,000 per show (much of which is for the stunt crew on the Columbia that has a union-required 8-hour shift), and ROE is around $100,000 per night. I don't know how accurate these figures are, since I heard them a long time ago and things could have changed (or I could just not be remembering it correctly), but that should give a pretty good general idea. I don't know how much Remember at DL costs each night, but the huge pyro crews, lots of explosives, and massive crowd control set up can't be cheap.

 

Originally Posted By utahjosh

What an interesting questions. I'd love to see that list.

 

Originally Posted By Anatole69

I'm not surprised that Fantasmic is so expensive. Anyone know how much the water show, The Legend of Mythica, at Tokyo Disney Sea costs to run? Seems like that is a pretty expensive show too.

I am not surprised the subs are so expensive. It's supposedly why they were originally shut down, though on another thread I read recently, someone claimed Indy was the most expensive ride to run. Know I am wondering how much Indy costs in comparison to the subs.

- Anatole

 

Originally Posted By Anatole69

^^ Should read "now I am wondering", though I am sure that typo didn't effect the meaning.

- Anatole

 

Originally Posted By pitapan16

I would imagine that the Subs, Pirates, Splash, Indy, and Huanted are amongst the most expensive to operate and run due to animatronics, effects, and cast.

 

Originally Posted By EmmaJayne

Wow.. the Fantasmic! stuntman being paid for an eight hour shift seems crazy..yet makes a lot of sense. I wonder if they make them do other work in the park before or after?

 

Originally Posted By dl1956

Perhaps the stuntmen are also responsible for setting up the equipment for their stunts on the Columbia, which I believe occurs an hour or two before the first show? Also for taking them apart afterwards?

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

its a small world probably costs alot to maintain.
i would think the matterhorn costs alot to maintain as well.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

The stunt crew for the Columbia are the people in charge of getting the rigging up for it. That is usually done before it gets dark, so it probably does come close to an 8 hour shift by the time they do the shows and take everything down.

 

Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82

I would think anything having to do with water would be pretty expensive and time consuming because of the upkeep. You have to make sure it's sanitary, the pumping systems are working, the wear the water puts on the ride vehicles (be it a steam boat or a raft like on Grizzly River Run). All that stuff...

 

Originally Posted By smd4

How many attractions have a large staff of *permanent* union maintenance workers who are responsible solely for that attraction? Pirates? Splash?

How many attrations employ 140 full and part time workers? Matterhorn? Indy?

How many attractions burn about $2,500 dollars or more in fuel every day?

I have my own guess about which attaction might be the costliest, but it's just a guess...

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I would guess that the Railroad is pretty expensive as well, thanks to those little hints. I never reall thought about it before, but I guess maintaining and operating antique steam engines can't be too cheap or easy. The track alone has a ton of different things that are always getting worked on, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was by far the most expensive attraction (even if it is listed as 4 attractions on the guide maps).

Anybody know how long the track is? Is it the longest attraction by distance? I would assume it is, which might help them justify the costs.

 

Originally Posted By ImaginingDisney

?>?>?> I would think anything having to do with water would be pretty expensive and time consuming because of the upkeep. <?<?<?

Water rides are inherintly expensive because of pumps, filtering, etc.

In the case of the Submarines, and was the death blow of 20,000 leagues, supposedly, the indicators (for position locations, etc) were hidden under water. any moving parts underwater take a lot of abuse and more prone to corrosion and failures. Pirates could get away with hiding these above water levels which helps eliminate that problem.

Underwater rollers, pulleys, etc are also attacked by water contaminants.

But since Disney used to install water rides like a common attraction, they were (past practice) more or less absorbing the maintenance cost as just part of the attraction costs.

As years have gone by, maintenance expenses are looked at more severly now as the budgets get smaller, so cutting the expensive ones, makes the maintenance cost budget go down, but at a loss of an attraction to the guests.

Rides that do not have water pools or canals are a little less prone to high costs, but wear and tear becomes a big factor.

(comments based on cast member sites and comments about back stage Disney)

ID

MagicKingdom / EPCOTcentre / DisneyMGM / AnimalKingdom

 

Originally Posted By Westsider

Canoes uses the most labor of any attraction on the west side of the park. On an average summer day when Canoes is open from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm and running with six boats, it uses more labor than Pirates of the Caribbean uses all day with 16 hours of operation. Canoes uses more labor than 16 hours of Mansion, Splash or Thunder too.

And Canoes only gets about 500 guests per hour with all that labor, while Pirates gets almost 3,000 per hour, and Mansion and Thunder get over 2,100 per hour.

As our manager who used to be a Canoe Lead tells us when we get too rowdy or a guest complaint or something "It's a minor miracle that the Canoes are still here! Don't screw this up boys!"

 

Originally Posted By smd4

>>>Anybody know how long the track is? Is it the longest attraction by distance?<<<

While most guide books and souvenir pamphlets lsi the track as anywhere from 1.25 to 1.5 miles in length, it's actually closer to 1.1 miles. So, yes, it is one of the longest attractions at the Park. Monorail probably wins the prize, though.

 

Originally Posted By sharpc

I would think Illuminations: ROE.

Fuel Barge, Massive Spinning Globe with tons of LED lights, the most fireworks of any Disney Firework show, people who have to work to set the show up nearly all day?

No question in my mind, although the WDW MOnorail system might get pretty expensive.

 

Originally Posted By cinderella143also

I am curious to know how much matinence Peter Pan and Dumbo need....they always have the longest lines in Fantasy Land and they are suspended...does that make a difference?

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

I would guess that they're pretty cheap all things considered. Dumbo is a pretty simple mechanism with stock parts, so it would be quite easy to fix and replace anything that needed work.

Peter Pan is probably a little more expensive than the rest of the Fantasyland darkrides, but I don't think it would be all that much. It would have taken a lot more work to build initially (because of the extra columns and beams needed to hang a track), but I doubt it wears out any faster than the other attractions. The sets are probably a lot cheaper to maintain, since they are all at ground level, as opposed to the rather tall painted flats in the other darkrides. I'm sure Peter Pan is more expensive than other rides like it to maintain, but nothing compared to bigger attractions like POTC, HM, or any of the Mountains.

And they have long waits because they have a very low capacity. People like them, so they're willing to wait a little longer, which pairs up with the attraction's inability to handle crowds to create long waits.

 

Originally Posted By pitapan16

As our manager who used to be a Canoe Lead tells us when we get too rowdy or a guest complaint or something "It's a minor miracle that the Canoes are still here! Don't screw this up boys!"

- I can see how those whoe look at Disneyland finances, that are out of touch with what the canoes mean as far as being something more than JUST 500 guests on an attraction, would be inclined to want to cut an attraction like Canoes out.