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ShirleyFilms
10-17-2007, 09:20 AM
How often do rides break-down during an average day?

This past weekend we were escorted out of the line when multiple rides had to be shut down.

I realize this kind of thing happens, but it happenned A LOT while were were there.

Pirates Island closed at different time on sunday AND monday
Space Mountain - ecorted out Sunday night AND AGAIN on Monday morning (fire alarms blaring)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - shut down on Saturday night
Soarin' Over CA - escorted out on Saturday
Grizzly River Rapids - shut down on Saturday
Railroad 30-45 minutes for a pick-up
Railroad stopped behind IASW from dead battery
Mullhullond Maddness - shut down on Saturday AND Sunday.
Indy - closed the entire weekend (opened up Monday)

Is this typical? I know these things are bound to happen, but we are only ONE group and we had all these things happen to us in a weekend. Maybe we just had really bad luck.

Bytebear
10-17-2007, 09:50 AM
Sounds like you had a gremlin in your group. Given that list, I would say it would take me about two or three years of frequent visits to pile up all those issues. I will say that when it rains it pours, and I have usually had breakdowns come in bundles, often in the same day. You definitely hit some bad luck.

oohykitten
10-17-2007, 10:14 AM
is it wrong I am jealous? You were escorted out of some rides? I say that your lucky

dawnid
10-17-2007, 11:18 AM
How often do rides break-down during an average day? This past weekend we were escorted out of the line when multiple rides had to be shut down.Holy Moly! I'd say that isn't typical, I've been going for the past 40+ years and I've only been escorted out of one ride (Matterhorn). I've had them be down for scheduled maintence but that doesn't seem like what happened to you.

tigger08
10-17-2007, 12:49 PM
Wow I would say you had some bad luck. I've only been escorted off one right and that was Space mountain a few years back.

bloodnswash
10-17-2007, 01:28 PM
Dang, I think you are right...that is really bad luck. We've had our own bad luck with rides at the park, but not like you guys experienced.

tinker3
10-17-2007, 01:35 PM
Wow, I would guess your experience is not the norm. In my 30+ years of going to DL I can only remember being escorted off Winnie the Pooh & Indy. I wonder what was going on to have that many rides down.

PanFan
10-17-2007, 04:36 PM
Yup, looks like you had some pretty horrible timing! Speaking only from my experience in FL, it's typical for me to have an average of one downtime per day. Some days we won't have any, others we'll have more than one. There was one day when I managed to be at Mr. Toad, Snow White, Peter Pan, and Pinocchio for downtimes in my little 6 hour shift. What typically happens for these types of rides is that we get backed up and the system realizes there's something wrong and shuts itself down, though at other times zones can randomly lose power. At Mr. Toad and Roger Rabbit, they have skirts on the vehicles and when the sensors on them are tripped while the vehicle is in motion, the ride shuts itself down. These downtimes are usually an average of about 20 minutes or so (though I've been able to get them up in less than 10 before).

When IASW breaks down, it's usually something we can fix quickly (5-10 minutes) like a bottomed out boat, a jam at the key (where the track switches before the station), or an automatic E-stop.

When SBL breaks down, it's usually because a boat derails. Once maintenance gets there and fixes it, we're back up very quickly. If a boat dies on the canal, we just need to tow it in and back into storage. Neither takes very long or happens terribly often (we might get one derail per day--please all stand together on the count of three!).

Matterhorn typically breaks down when we back up. If it's just a simple backup, we could be up and running in 15-25 minutes. However, if it's an auto-emergency stop or something like that where we have to evacuate the whole mountain, it will take 45 minutes to an hour.

Don't worry when a ride is broken down about it being safe for operation when it reopens. Usually the problem is something dealing with the situation with the vehicles on the track at the time of the breakdown. For example, if the entire station at the Matterhorn is filled with bobsleds and another sled comes down into the pond, it has nowhere to go. So the ride shuts down and stops it before entering the station. This in turn stops the other sleds on the track so they don't go careening into the one stopped near the end. The downtimes usually involve getting people out of the ride vehicles currently on the track (be it Matterhorn or Mr. Toad) and beginning the cycling of vehicles. If there was an issue with the security of the ride path or a particular vehicle, trust me, maintenance would not give us the green light to reopen.

DizneyMommy
10-17-2007, 05:41 PM
In 12+ years of having an annual pass, and many trips as a child before that, I have never been escorted out of a ride. I think we are in the park so often (sometimes more than once a week) that breakdowns don't even phase us or we don't really notice. The only thing I ever really notice happens a lot (and this is probably more due to loading/offloading of special assistance guests) is that we seem to come to a complete stop and sit for a few minutes at least a few times a year on both Buzz and HM. To be honest, I don't think we have even been in a line when a ride broken down ever, other than one time my husband brought a friend and they tried to ride Space Mountain.
I have always wanted to be on Peter Pan when it breaks down. I just can't visualize how that ride looks with the lights on and would love to see inside it!

Now I have probably cursed myself for the next month and every line I get in is going to have a breakdown! :p

tchatters
10-18-2007, 06:54 AM
WOW! A lot of bad luck... We've only seen that bad of luck when the old Rocket Rods was still running... or sort of running. We were escorted out twice in one weekend and also had it break down while we were in line a third time.

We've only been escorted out once- on the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. It was actually a little creepier getting escorted out- all those things are staring at you!

disneyhound
10-18-2007, 07:11 AM
is it wrong I am jealous? You were escorted out of some rides? I say that your lucky

LOL; I was thinking similar thoughts. I have never been escorted off a ride, at least that I can remember! Where are the photos? :p

I heart Disney
10-18-2007, 11:23 AM
We were there last week. Soarin on Mickeys Halloween Treat night we were excorted to the other theater and then almost escorted off, then got be on. But the re-ads they give you for those closures are awesome.

aznewsboy
10-18-2007, 02:49 PM
I personally like being stopped for a few minutes on the Buzz ride. It helps me try to beat my high score! And no, I don't care if I got a really high score by being on the ride longer than I should have been!
We got stuck on POTC last year right underneath the talking skull for about 15 minutes last year. They said we would be taken off but then it got going again. I'd rather be stuck somewhere else on that ride.

Mark1962
10-18-2007, 04:34 PM
I just wanna say that, for the 1st time in 40 years of MY Ridership, the newly revamped Pirates Ride did indeed go into "failsafe" mode and the boats just kept going like it always does...c'est la vie!!!

DizneyMommy
10-19-2007, 06:52 AM
I'm curious to know how they walk people out of pirates when you are in the flooded rooms that don't have a curb, like the pirate ship scene. How the heck do you get out without wading in the filthy water?

karebear
10-19-2007, 07:33 AM
I have only been escorted out of one ride...Thunder Mountain. It was so boring though because we were on the little bend right before pulling into the station at the end. They made us wait for 30 minutes before letting us get off. I don't understand it because one of the CMs came by and told us that we should sit tight, but it might be awhile. There was a walkway right there and we were maybe 20 feet from the unload area. We got the re-ad passes, but it was such a waste of time when you could see the exit and it was so tangible to get there.

One ride I would love to be escorted out of would be Space Mountain. I want to see it with all the lights on.

Jim Dear and Darling
10-19-2007, 07:43 AM
In 80+ times at the DLR for full days, I've only been escorted off Splash Mtn once and Roger Rabbit once. Sounds like you had some bad luck. :(

DizneyMommy
10-19-2007, 08:06 AM
One ride I would love to be escorted out of would be Space Mountain. I want to see it with all the lights on.

You might get your wish... I heard a RUMOR ** I said RUMOR - not substantiated fact*** that they might do Rockin' Space Mountain again this year and run it with the lights on for the Spring. I can't remember where I read that though, could be totally false.

pixar
10-19-2007, 11:08 AM
I've never been escorted off a ride, but I did get stuck on the indiana jones ride once. it stopped for maybe 20 minutes. the lights came on, and that place looked totally different. everyone who got stuck basically stayed on the ride for another round.

Wobble
10-19-2007, 12:30 PM
That does sound like bad luck. :S I've never been escorted off a ride and I've never had one breakdown while I was on it.

However, last year, during Christmas, I was on Space Mountain with my brother and when it came to the time when we were supposed to get off, a CM accidentally pressed the wrong button or something and we got to go again!! They forgot to stop our car. Then a CM was running after going "ANYONE WHO DOESN'T WANT TO GO -" But then we went into the ride again before we heard what he said.

That's the only time when something could have theoretically gone wrong or the ride had to be stopped.

oohykitten
10-19-2007, 12:36 PM
I have been stuck in POTC for 40 mins once...during Fantasmic to boot...they didn't escort us off, so I have always wondered what the cut of point time wise it is to get people out of there. Lucky for me my 3 month old was a gem, and full. I have been stuck on Space once too, in break zone 11...so I say that was my son who passed away giving me my dream. :) They let us go once with the lights on, powered down, and then with them off...total dream come true, on mother's day no less.

Mermaid
10-19-2007, 04:41 PM
I have been stuck on Pirates for 30-40 minutes twice. Once was at the last part where the guys shoot at the barrels. They turned the music off but the guys kept shooting. The guy in the row in front of me kept yelling (loudly) that he was gonna pee his pants. Then when we finally got to the dock, he asked if he could go again since it broke down. Uh, didn;t you have to go to the bathroom?

The second time we were the next boat to unload. Talk about annoying. One more boat and we could have gotten off!

CookieBandit
10-20-2007, 09:53 PM
I've been to DL 4 times this year (in the summer and just today) - I haven't been on a ride that has broken down... Splash Mountain was down twice today - first thing in the morning and then again around 7pm. So I guess some people had to be escorted out during the evening breakdown...

Burnt Toast
10-21-2007, 02:16 PM
Funny thing is, I've been at the Parks many times since I was a little kid and before I worked for Disney I had an AP for years... I've never been evacced from an attraction. At all.

I've done evacs as a CM, but I've never been in one as a Guest.

Also, downtimes can be caused by a lot of things. A lot of them technical (like recently with Indy), but quite a few of them are caused by Guests themselves. Lots of times you'll get fire alarms pulled by Guests who think it's funny or even stupid things like standing up on a coaster or Guests getting out of ride vehicles... those all cause downtimes that affect your fellow Guests.

Today the high winds played a part in one downtime that I know of today.

samkj
10-21-2007, 04:13 PM
We were escorted out of Winnie the Pooh two years ago and the kids(who were 4 and 5 at the time) still talk about it, apparently this was a trip highlight for them! They definitely have the makings of a true Disney fan. We've also been escorted off Grizzly River Run. Luckily we were one of the first boats evacuated. Some of those people had a LONG wait.