Just back ~ disappointing trip

[Elmo9607]

Originally Posted by alecshawn

Yep....its like some folks fell here from the moon...Its BUSY during christmas...always has been always will be. If you go then...dont expect to ride much...its more for looking and walking. The crowds are HUGE. Lines will be HUGE. Nothing new.

I disagree. I've been down for Christmas frequently and I've always gotten to ride everything I want, multiple times if I want, and I'm only in the parks mornings and evenings. Meticulous planning does wonders

However, yes, the crowds are HUGE and FP's for most attractions are gone by 10 am, if not earlier. The crowds are bigger in the evenings than in the mornings by FAR. It is not a week to mosey in the parks at 11 am and want to ride stuff. It's not hard to find information on how busy Disney is that week either

[Mad Hattered]

Originally Posted by SyracuseWolvrine

Kings Island and Cedar Point also both close for 4 months out of the year. That gives them a chance to perform major maintenance on their rides, as well as avoid operating them during the coldest months of the year.

Disney typically runs the rides 365 days a year, taking it down for refurbishment maybe once every 2 years. Plus, even though Florida doesn't get as cold as Ohio, there were some days last week when it was in the 30s overnight, and 40s during the early part of the day. That's hard on a ride system.

When I worked in attractions, the majority of the times we had mechanical problems, it was on the colder days.

Yeah.....and how many "inside" rides does CP or KI have? The rides that are breaking down at Dinsey are INSIDE so the "cold" FL weather is a weak excuse. This is happening every single day of the year. Disney is seriously starting to tick people off with this.

Forbidden Journey at Universal is one of the most technical rides in the the history of rides and it has been pretty much running non stop since it opened. Universal apparently takes maintenance a little more serious.

[Lehuaann]

Originally Posted by ~Tinkerella

Too many times, the Cast Members would let 50, 60 or even 70 FP holders through the que and then maybe, if we were lucky, 5 (and most times only 2 or 3) through the que from the stand-by line. They need to have a better ratio for this.

Absolutely agree. We experienced this in Oct and couldn't figure out why the heck the line wasn't moving. After waiting forever - DH noticed the CM was allowing a 5 to 50+ ratio (majority-of-the-time). I want to say the group that was in front of us had either 3 or 4. So the 3-4 of them got to go, and we got stopped because we had 8. Then we had to wait our turn as hoardes of FPer's went by. This was at BTMR, where a 45 min wait turned into double that; and Soarin, where people were literally cursing at the CM and leaving....

[aubriee]

Originally Posted by pigletto

You know what. I am not going to join the "What did you expect?" crowd because I had similar experiences in May.. during a NOT busy week. On our Epcot day Soarin' went down several times but every time it went back up we were warned the fastpass line was over an hour long due to the backlog. We gave up in the morning, pulled new fast passes in the afternoon and the same thing happened AGAIN. Never did get to ride it that day.
Headed directly from there to Figment. Waited in line for 20 minutes while they told nobody the ride was down. Luckily I could see close enough to the front to see they were having a maintenance issue and got out of line. Okie Dokie.. lets head over to Nemo. Oh what's that? It's down..

So that's Soarin', Nemo, and Figment down, and Test Track closed for Refurb.

Sometimes it's just a perfect storm of maintenance issues and it is frustrating. I don't expect everything to work perfectly all the time, but its not just the busiest weeks of the year that this can happen.

Was that the first week of May? If so, I was there the same day and ran into the exact same issues. I kept thinking, is anything running today, then we got stuck on Spaceship Earth for what seemed like forever. I finally gave up on Future World and wandered over to World Showcase at 11:00am, just to find Maelstrom was also broke down that day. Epcot was having a really rough day that particular day. Cap'n EO, Living with the Land, and Dinosaur were the only things we didn't have a problem with that day (oh, and the movies in the different countries of course).

[pigletto]

Originally Posted by aubriee

Was that the first week of May? If so, I was there the same day and ran into the exact same issues. I kept thinking, is anything running today, then we got stuck on Spaceship Earth for what seemed like forever. I finally gave up on Future World and wandered over to World Showcase at 11:00am, just to find Maelstrom was also broke down that day. Epcot was having a really rough day that particular day. Cap'n EO, Living with the Land, and Dinosaur were the only things we didn't have a problem with that day (oh, and the movies in the different countries of course).

Yes!
And I forgot about Spaceship Earth!! It went down while my husband and son were on it that day. I can't remember what dd and I were doing. I missed the Maelstrom fun

[aubriee]

Originally Posted by pigletto

Yes!
And I forgot about Spaceship Earth!! It went down while my husband and son were on it that day. I can't remember what dd and I were doing. I missed the Maelstrom fun

Yep, we must have been there the exact same day. They had several Norwegian CMs standing out in the courtyard area, telling everyone they were having technical difficulties and did not know when Maelstrom would be back up. A man in front of us was really irritated and demanded to know if any ride in Epcot was running that day. lol It's annoying when your favorite ride goes down, but it's really annoying when almost every ride in a park (that doesn't have that many rides to begin with) goes down. At first we were annoyed, but then couldn't help but laugh as we just wandered around looking for absolutely anything to ride. I go to WDW several times a year, so break downs don't normally bother me. I figure I'll just catch that ride next trip. However, that day almost every ride was down. Test Track has been down for my last four trips, so I'm looking forward to finally getting to ride it again in May, but if it happens to be broken down, there should be other rides to ride, unless Epcot has another day like the day we were there last May. lol

Come to think of it, when we were there Feb 4th-12th last year, alot of rides seemed to be down then too (not as bad as last May, but still alot).

[maxiesmom]

I'm sorry you had such a rough time of it. We were at the parks the second week of December, and only had a few ride issues. But at least two of them was because of stupid guests (you could hear them yelling at people on the TTA to sit down). I don't think it will be long before they have lap bars on almost every ride.

I know Everest is a hard one for them to get going when it is cold. We once had a long chat with a CM, as we were in line and only one train was running. They have to make sure the train is at a certain temperature or higher, or else it will not make it around the track. So a chilly day is not the day to run over to Everest.

I'm not sure there is a great solution. When Disney has a ride down for refurb people pitch fits. No way would they close down for a month to get everything into tip top shape. When you have longer park hours and run machinery that is already stressed, you are bound to have more breakdowns. But how many people would like shorter park hours over Christmas?

[Peter Fan]

3 hour wait for space mtn. yesterday! There is no way I'd wait that long!

[livinintexas]

We were in the parks from 12/29 - 1/5. We rode everything w no lines and no issues. We arrived prior to rope drop and used fast passes. We took long afternoon breaks and had relaxed evenings. We never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus and usually less than 10.
Only ride that wasn't open once was big thunder but we rode it later w a fastpass. We were even in MK on 12/31 and rode all the biggies and left by 12:45 after watching the parade. We were in our room at POFQ by 1:15! (Parade started at 12:15).
It was a perfect trip! With a plan and early morning even peak crowds are doable.

[Kona65]

Originally Posted by ~Tinkerella

Just returned from a 5 day trip with my sister just to get away for a break. I will say that NYE at DHS was spectacular and we had a terrific time but otherwise things were just not what we expected.

Have been to WDW many times in the past and we knew going in that it would be crowded since it was the week between Chritmas and NYE ~ that was not the issue.

The main issue was the ride maintenance!!!!!!!!!!! During our stay, at one point or another, Rockin' Roller Coaster, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest, Soarin, Buzz Lightyear, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad were all down at least once. It's so disappointing that all of these major rides experienced issues over a 4 day period (first day we just resort hopped to see the Christmas decorations).

On top of that the Fastpass needs to be discontinued and they just need to run two lines for the rides. Too many times, the Cast Members would let 50, 60 or even 70 FP holders through the que and then maybe, if we were lucky, 5 (and most times only 2 or 3) through the que from the stand-by line. They need to have a better ratio for this. Not everyone can get to the park early enough to get to the FP machines and we shouldn't be penalized because of it. And when the rides break down and they tell you that you can then use the FP at anytime rather than the posted time it makes things even worse.
We heard so many complaints while in line about FP. There was an issue while we were in line for Soarin ~ one of the theatres was down and they let only FP holders through the que for the other two theatres. No one knew what was going on until finally someone in the line went to the front and asked. There is a serious lack of communication. At the very last a Cast Member should come through the line to let everyone know there is an issue and give them the option of leaving or waiting.

And speaking of lines ~ how upsetting when you are standing in a line for an hour and then here come 3 or 4 people to "join their famiily" in the line. I would NEVER think to butt in line in front of others who have been waiting. Go to the restroom before you get in the line; join the end of the line as a group and wait together like everyone else ~ it's just not fair to those who have been waiting. At one point in the line for BTMRR 9 people joined their family (2, then 3, then 2, then another 2) ~ that's almost a train full of people at once!!!!


My DH and 2 DD's and I are booked for a trip in May and I'm seriously considering cancelling. With all the money Disney makes it's upsetting that they can't keep ride maintenance up to par. It's not a cheap vacation and at 80$ plus per day, being able to ride only 2 rides during the course of a day due to breakdowns isn't worth it!!!!

Sorry for the venting but I'm sure a lot of the disers understand what I'm saying. I have been reading other threads about these types of issues. I had been so looking forward to this trip ~ all of our past trips were great but this one sure wasn't up to par.

I knew the moment you put your disappiontments in writing you would start to get flamed. You can't say anything on this web site without the nay sayers coming out. Is everything you said the way it really happend, probably not, but you just needed to vent. Guess I'll be next. You are off the hook. Hope you don't cancel and give Disney another chance. We have been more times then we can count, with both good and bad visits. Good Luck, I'm going to need it after this post. TDBIASWS.

[ttintagel]

Yeah, when I was there in November, I encountered about one ride every day that was closed.

If they can't get maintenance done with the size crew they have during the overnight shift, they need to put more workers on the job. Of course, that would mean spending money on something you can't advertise.

[dapod423]

While attending MNNSHP I went over to Peter Pan and was told by a Cast Member to come back AFTER the party officially started. They do not use FP during the party and it will speed up the line because the ratio is 100 FP people to 4 Standby. So there you go! OP could have been right about the 70 to 3 ratio.

[Tribe]

I wonder if there are official statistics kept on ride closures. This could answer a lot of the questions posed here and even help with planning. I assume Disney would not want to advertise this though.

[mattsdragon]

Originally Posted by dapod423

While attending MNNSHP I went over to Peter Pan and was told by a Cast Member to come back AFTER the party officially started. They do not use FP during the party and it will speed up the line because the ratio is 100 FP people to 4 Standby. So there you go! OP could have been right about the 70 to 3 ratio.

I don't doubt that you were told that, I doubt the source, meaning the CM's credibility. I have ridden this ride many times, and have yet to see a ratio of 25 to 1. This calls for someone with more data regarding the FP distribution system to confirm or refute.

[MHSweb79]

I've never even been in a FP line that even had 50 or 100 people in it. Are they issuing more FP's than they used to? Of course, I've never been during a peak season, either.

I'm going 1/22 - 1/29 so I'll be sure to keep an eye on ride closures AND how many people are in the FP line. I don't consider a delay on a continuous mover like HM, Spaceship Earth or even Buzz a maintenance issue, because they have to stop the conveyor to assist anyone in a wheelchair. I do remember one trip where Space Mountain seemed to be having a lot of issues, as well as Maelstrom.

As for "penalizing" people who don't get there early, I would say that the system is fair- first come, first served. It's the American way! If you know that FP's may run out by 10 am, then get there before 10 am or ride standbye. That seems to me to be a choice, not a penalty. Not trying to bash the OP, just offering my opinion.