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Disneyfreak
06-17-2002, 08:21 PM
I was just wondering when was the last time they refurbed indy. Some things have been braking down.

1.The high power fans in the mummy area dont work.
2. The pole that makes the celing drop is not working correctly. IE replace the pole.
3. when you get to the tunnel where you are about to go through the projection, the music stops. You only hear the car. The music does not work until you get into the ball chamber.
4.The gas is misfiring so it smells like gas in there.

Techie7
06-17-2002, 09:22 PM
Originally posted by Disneyfreak
I was just wondering when was the last time they refurbed indy. Some things have been braking down.

2. The pole that makes the celing drop is not working correctly. IE replace the pole.


The pole worked on Sunday evening. It may be a temperamental thing. I agree with the sound having problems in the spot you mentioned. Sunday night though it too worked fine. What was not working was the projections in the queue. You could hear the sound and the "click" for the projector but no image.

cstephens
06-17-2002, 09:30 PM
Originally posted by Techie7
The pole worked on Sunday evening. It may be a temperamental thing.

The pole also runs on a cycle, so you have to wait a certain amount of time after it's gone off before it'll go off again.

And, not sure if they still do that, but they use to disengage the pole on very busy nights because it was getting so much abuse.

Uncle Dick
06-18-2002, 12:06 AM
Originally posted by Disneyfreak
I was just wondering when was the last time they refurbed indy. Some things have been braking down.

1.The high power fans in the mummy area dont work.
2. The pole that makes the celing drop is not working correctly. IE replace the pole.
3. when you get to the tunnel where you are about to go through the projection, the music stops. You only hear the car. The music does not work until you get into the ball chamber.
4.The gas is misfiring so it smells like gas in there.
None of the above were having any problems on Sunday night. The music does cut out occasionally towards the end of the ride if the jeeps start to back up and have to "idle" in certain show scenes.

One of the ongoing problems I've noticed (for at least the past nine months) is the "bug room", which is, at best, 50% operational. At its worst, none of the effects work. The final "blast" just before entering the dark tunnel before the Rat Room has also been missing for some time.

Aside from the aforementioned projection problems in the queue, the rope that you used to be able to pull on has been gone for awhile. Actually, I think it's pretty amazing how well Indy's held up without any major overhauls in recent memory considering how involved the attraction is.

JoeCanadian
06-18-2002, 12:11 AM
I remember reading somewhere on these boards that Indy was built in such a fashion so as to keep maintenance to a minimum. Feel free to correct me on that one.

However, I would have LOVED the ride had that collapsing roof effect with the dry ice worked. Maybe they could work on a way to fix that...

LIMANDL4EVA
06-18-2002, 04:04 PM
the fans are still there ...
they are VERY WELL hidde, but if you see one, its like RIGHT in front of you, just very well camoflauged
as i recall, i have talked with several imagineers that say the ice machine is broken to an extent beyond repair
i also heard that the rat room had projections on the walls as well but that effect has never worked properly
once again, lets not even go into the problems with audio, and as i remember,, mara used to shoot ACTUAL lasers from her eyes, not just light, i may be wrong, whatever

but what i never noticed bofre the other week was the the fire in mara's eye actually SWIRLS, like that in the backdraft presentation at USH, i just thought that was neat, but ut does definately need a quick tune up

coronamouseman
06-18-2002, 04:38 PM
If they did refurb Indy, I would like to see the following changes:

(1) Take out the big snake and put in a bunch of the animatronic ones like they have on the JC or perhaps ones that are even better - with the right lighting you could really get a creepy and thrilling effect (remember the Well of Souls where the floor moved?)

(2) If you want a great rat effect, put in lots of red eyes and put in some very large tiger-size AA rats which threaten the car from either side ....... (could use the same AA effects that are used on that stupid Carnatauraus in AK)

(3) Eliminate the crummy bug room and put in a room with spikes in the ceiling - have the roof start coming down until you hear Indy say something offstage like "so I have to bail you tourists out again - get moving!" at which time you hear a whining and the roof starts moving back up or something like that .......

(4) Turn up the heat in the "Cavern of Bubbling Death" - would be much better if you were sweating on the bridge when suspended over the lava pool .........

Just a few thoughts - I'm sure others will have their own inputs .....

coronamouseman
06-18-2002, 04:40 PM
Forgot one more upgrade - when in the bug room use the same effect as they use at the Bug show or the Alien Encounter - have a small fiber wiggle around the guest's feet inside the car - everybody loves this effect and imagine how cool it would be if it were somewhat random (only a few passengers in each car got it each time through that room) ..........

tikiboy
06-18-2002, 05:26 PM
Originally posted by JoeCanadian
I remember reading somewhere on these boards that Indy was built in such a fashion so as to keep maintenance to a minimum. Feel free to correct me on that one.

However, I would have LOVED the ride had that collapsing roof effect with the dry ice worked. Maybe they could work on a way to fix that...

There's a thread out there that talks all about Indy. I know it's old that's why I didn't look for it.

But actually, Indy was designed to NEVER have to go into rehab.

But as for the fan in the mummy room. It hasn't worked for a few years. It was built by this old guy, and when the fan broke, the went to look for him, but he had died. True story. But I have no idea why they can't find someone else to fix it...

stan4d_steph
06-18-2002, 05:35 PM
Originally posted by tikiboy


There's a thread out there that talks all about Indy. I know it's old that's why I didn't look for it.

The thread you are referring to is here. (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?threadid=1269&highlight=secrets) It is very long, and contains spoilers for the ride, but has a lot of detailed information on the design of Indy, most provided by LostBoy.

Iceman
06-18-2002, 08:59 PM
Originally posted by tikiboy
But actually, Indy was designed to NEVER have to go into rehab.

That's physically impossible, unless they planned semi-major fixes to take place during non-operating night hours. It's simply a fact of engineering that stuff wears out, there are random failures, and you need to do preventive maintenance every now and then.

Uncle Dick
06-18-2002, 09:08 PM
Originally posted by tikiboy
But as for the fan in the mummy room. It hasn't worked for a few years. It was built by this old guy, and when the fan broke, the went to look for him, but he had died. True story. But I have no idea why they can't find someone else to fix it...
Um, the fans have been working just fine for the past several months.


Originally posted by Iceman
That's physically impossible, unless they planned semi-major fixes to take place during non-operating night hours.
I think that's the idea, that the ride was designed to be fixed during the night and, perhaps, during one or two weeklong "mini-rehabs". Just another reason why Indiana Jones Adventure is such a brilliant attraction.

tikiboy
06-18-2002, 09:25 PM
Um, the fans have been working just fine for the past several months.

I'm talking about the large fan, about 5ft in diameter to the left as you exit the mummy room. It didn't work when I worked there,
and it wasn't working 3 weeks ago when I rode it.


That's physically impossible

Uncle Dick was correct in his post above. The Indiana Jones adventure is an engineering marvel. The only "track" to speak of on that attraction is a guide bar under the floor that a shoe "connection," just sits on. The onboard computer actually tells the vehicle where to turn and when.

That modularizes the attraction so well, that any extensive rehabs only need to be done on certain jeeps. Not all of them.

And the rail under the floor can be replaced a little at a time over the series of a few weeks, after the park has closed.

Uncle Dick
06-18-2002, 09:35 PM
Originally posted by tikiboy
I'm talking about the large fan, about 5ft in diameter to the left as you exit the mummy room. It didn't work when I worked there,
and it wasn't working 3 weeks ago when I rode it.
I don't know about that fan in particular, but I know that at least one of the giant fans in the mummy room is working… I think.

Iceman
06-18-2002, 10:30 PM
Yes, but there's much more to a complex attraction like Indy than the ride track. As indicated by the many arguably minor failures described here, it takes constant effort to keep machinery, computers, and special effects working. Designing it to never need a rehab would be equivalent to designing a car to never need an oil change--you could design it to not need an oil change for a REALLY long time (which would be REALLY expensive), but never is an engineering impossibility.

Maybe I'm being too literal here? :confused:

Uncle Dick
06-18-2002, 11:28 PM
Originally posted by Iceman
Yes, but there's much more to a complex attraction like Indy than the ride track. As indicated by the many arguably minor failures described here, it takes constant effort to keep machinery, computers, and special effects working. Designing it to never need a rehab would be equivalent to designing a car to never need an oil change--you could design it to not need an oil change for a REALLY long time (which would be REALLY expensive), but never is an engineering impossibility.
I don't think the point is that Indiana Jones was designed to be "INDESTRUCTABLE®" but rather that the attraction could be easily maintained without considerable downtime. The most technologically advanced part of the ride is easily the jeep and there's a big ol' shop next to the Indy show building which takes care of those on a rotating basis.

Again, no one's saying that Indy could be run for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but I don't think it's ever going to see the downtime that Splash Mountain typically does (or the poor ol' Rocket Rods did). Only time will tell.

So to use your car analogy, Indy's oil changes can be done very, very quickly.

I'm no expert on the subject though, I'm just relating my limited understanding of "the system".

coronamouseman
06-19-2002, 04:11 AM
When you consider the performance of Indy versus other attractions in the park, it is indeed a marvel of engineering .......

It rarely seems to be down for any extended periods of maintenance like the other attractions and yet does appear to have a large number of effects ..........

tikiboy
06-19-2002, 07:10 AM
Again Uncle Dick is correct.

The biggest headache when it came to running Indy were the Jeeps.

But they are(believe me) serviced EVERY night in that huge shop that's right next door.

But take for instance, for preventative maintenance, they are going to replace all the drivetrains on the jeeps. On any other attraction, this would call for a multiple week rehab. But on Indy, they can do one jeep at a time, while keeping all the others running out on the track.

And to reiterate what I said in an earlier post, all of Indy's rehab work (out in the show area) can be done when the park is not open, over time.

The computer needs upgrading? Based on my professional knowlege instead of D-Land knowledge, they would keep the old system up during the day, and try to run the new system at night. When the new one shows that it can work fine, they'll simply take the old one out for good.

Plus, they've already shown us that they don't really care about the show elements. So they're not going to shut the attraction down for a few days for that.

Iceman
06-19-2002, 08:06 AM
Okay, I surrender! ;)

Seriously, though, wouldn't a rehab take care of all the show element problems we keep hearing about? Maybe they could redesign the dry ice machine and change the jeeps out for the higher-tech, non-hydraulic ones. Perhaps they could update some effects with smmother animatronics or more effective lighting. THESE are the kinds of things that can happen during a lengthy shutdown that you just can't hodge-podge nightly, at least not very effectively.

Ace
06-19-2002, 01:58 PM
I remember reading somewhere (internet, so not reliable at all) that the cars don't really "run on" the track, but instead the tires just go where they're supposed to... I really don't think that's right, but I might be wrong (not likely, though. I'm never wrong). Clarification, please.

Disney Nick
06-19-2002, 02:06 PM
The cars do not need the track at all. The onboard computer on each jeep tells it exactly where to go (sort of like that one hovercraft ride at TDS), but I guess the track is there as an extra safety precaution in case something were to happen.

tikiboy
06-19-2002, 06:06 PM
All the cars need the track for is communication to the main computer and for power.

So don't go sticking your fingers down into that track!! Poof!:eek:

coronamouseman
06-19-2002, 06:24 PM
I thought I had heard that the cars on Indy, Test Track and at TDS's Journey all used wireless communications - they are monitored in a manner similar to how you would track messages traveling on a computer network.

tikiboy
06-19-2002, 06:53 PM
I was told that communication was through the track. But since that's not something an hourly would be concerned with, maybe I was told wrong.

Kevin Yee
06-20-2002, 12:23 AM
I would write these comments in that other, older IJA thread, but this one is more current so I thought I'd just state them here:

1. I have it on really good authority that the ice machine effect of the falling ceiling did not stop because the ice machine rusted and kept breaking. It was the CONVEYER BELT that was the problem. The ice machine is an ice machine; they can replace those pieces pretty easily. But the ice machine is way out of the way; the ice drops on a conveyer belt and is brought over to the drop zone, and it was this conveyer which was a problem to maintain (this also explains why the ice was slightly melted by the time it dropped). All this came from Jim Wallace, the guy who would have to fix the ice machine and conveyer belt when they broke. Normally I don't share CM names, but Jim - the best A/C guy they ever had at DL - died a few years ago of an untimely heart attack, so he won't mind.

2. Everyone, everywhere seems to swear that IJA and Dinosaur (aka CtE) have identical track layouts. I, on the other hand, am ready to swear that this is urban legend. Having ridden IJA several dozen times, I know the turns, so whenever I ride Dinosaur I try to match what's happening with where I'd be in IJA, and it never ever matches up. Am I all alone on this one?