At parks today 4/28 disappointed w/closed rides

[kaligal]

Everyone needs to strive to improve. Or else how would we have Progress?

The situation described does suck, no question, but there is a limit to what Disney can constrain.

Disney's not capable of bolting guests to the ride vehicle [that is a different type of safety issue] to keep them from leaving the vehicle.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the issues Haunted Mansion was having? OP just said it was having issues, but was it actually down?

[ edit / add ]
Reason I ask, is I could see someone seeing the ride coming to a fullstop to facilitate a wheelchair transition as having issues, especially after everything going boom on them.

As far as I'm concerned, there are no excuses for it. It was too much down on one day.

They don't need to strive to improve. They need to accomplish it.

 

[Hannathy]

As far as I'm concerned, there are no excuses for it. It was too much down on one day.

I agree.

Disney should have without having to be asked, added a day to everyone's ticket.

Wouldn't have cost them much at all when you factor in how many probably wouldn't have used it since they have finite amount of time at Disney. And having you in the park another day buying stuff is where they make their money anyway. It would have been what a company concerned with great customer service would have done.

 

[reiella]

I agree.

Disney should have without having to be asked, added a day to everyone's ticket.

Wouldn't have cost them much at all when you factor in how many probably wouldn't have used it since they have finite amount of time at Disney. And having you in the park another day buying stuff is where they make their money anyway. It would have been what a company concerned with great customer service would have done.

Not really an option for most. Really best course would have been if there was prolonged outages to comp Park Hopping. Disney can't magically change someone's flight reservations [nor necessarily their hotel reservations].

As far as I'm concerned, there are no excuses for it. It was too much down on one day.

They don't need to strive to improve. They need to accomplish it.

BTRR and Riverboat are down for Refurb. [the need to refurb is most likely the exasperating factor when combined with the other Business as Usual for Rides]
Space Mountain was stopped due to a guest leaving the ride vehicle.
Splash, Haunted Mansion, and Peoplemover. Peoplemover probably needs to be retired with as much as it has downtime. That said, it's not a ride I'd miss [to be honest, I'd probably miss a main street vehicle more than Peoplemover], so I may be a bit biased in that regard.

 

[DreamlikeCat]

Our family of five will be there soon... from Winnipeg.

Once in a lifetime, too. Not because of the expense but because there are SO many more horizons in this world than the ones owned by Disney.

I guess all I can do is cross my fingers that most of the rides work & stay working.

 

[Hannathy]

Not really an option for most. Really best course would have been if there was prolonged outages to comp Park Hopping. Disney can't magically change someone's flight reservations [nor necessarily their hotel reservations].

You are missing the point. Yes a lot of people wouldn't have been able to use it but they would have left feeling like Disney cared about their customer and it would have cost Disney next to nothing. It is all about what the customer perceives! Does the customer think the business cares? Do they leave feeling that they are important.

 

[reiella]

You are missing the point. Yes a lot of people wouldn't have been able to use it but they would have left feeling like Disney cared about their customer and it would have cost Disney next to nothing. It is all about what the customer perceives! Does the customer think the business cares? Do they leave feeling that they are important.

And you missed my response . I suggested comping park hopping would have been a better gesture, as it is something that more guests could utilize.

 

[k3chantal]

People who choose to vacation at Disney spend a ton of money. I will not be happy in 27 days if these many rides are down. It has been many years that I have been to DW and it will be many more once my upcoming trip happens. It is important to keep as many rides open and running as possible. With that said, obviously Disney can have a 'bad day'. Their magic dust is only as good as the equipment they purchase and the engineers they hire.

Though I don't think it is practical to refund money; perhaps keeping the park that is having some unexpected difficulties opened additional hours would be the right course of action. As a Californian, I go to DL more. When they have an unexpected surge of crowds or lots of ride closure, in the past, they have kept the park opened longer. They just over the loud speaker announce the additional hours. This additional opportunity gives people a chance to get on rides that the park manages to re-open and makes people feel like they 'got their money's worth.'

 

[maxsmom]

I'm sorry. I must respectfully disagree. While it drives me a little crazy on here when people demand refunds or compensation for the most trivial things, I think the OP has a very valid complaint here. If most of their favorite rides (which are the more popular ones) are down for extended periods/all day (except BTMRR which has been advertised), they should be upset. ESPECIALLY if it was a one or two day trip. As far as computer glitches not being Disney's fault, I'm sorry, but they ARE. Who else would be at fault? There seems to be a lot of problems and malfunctions lately and I suspect that Disney is simply not being attentive to their maintnence as they should be. I don't think many complaints deserve refunds or compensation but if you shell out a couple hundred dollars for yourself and child for a one day trip, and most of what happen to be their popular rides are closed, you ought to be partially compensated somehow. Not saying a refund as you are 100% right that there is a lot of other stuff to see and do, but there should be some sort of compensation in this case. Just my honest opinion. It seems that Disney is taking shortcuts to save money and it is showing a lot more frequently lately and since they already have your money upfront, and a built in fan base (all of us on the dis, for one), they will not adress these issues. Maybe more people need to demand compensation in cases like the OP's and Disney will be forced to make some changes in how they have operated lately.

This happened to us once at Universal's Islands of Adventure. We stopped in Orlandocfor day on our way else where and went there. Everything shut down that day. It was such a waste of $ since we didn't get to do more than a couple of things. There was a VERY long line at customer relations and everyone unhappy about this. They came out and passed out 1 day 2 park tickets to us. That cleared out most of the line and we were able to use them on a later trip to Orlando. There's no reason why this couldn't be done.

 

[Princesca]

I didn't see much pixie dust while I was there, for things like this. On the hottest day of the trip, the fastpass machines for Kali River Rapids were broken. They had a cast member there to answer questions and explain the delay... why they couldn't also have him just hand out fastpasses, I don't know. The time might not have been exactly right on them, but it still would have been better than funneling everyone into the standby line.

 

[DisneyAbsolutely]

I hope it wasn't your only day at Magic Kingdom! What a bummer! I know Thunder Mountain has been closed all along but were the other rides closed all day? That's pretty intense. Rock'N'Rollercoaster was down when we went last year but only for about an hour or so. I'd be really surprised to hear that these MK rides were down all day. Are they back open again? Anyone know?

 

[Ginny Favers]

I didn't see much pixie dust while I was there, for things like this. On the hottest day of the trip, the fastpass machines for Kali River Rapids were broken. They had a cast member there to answer questions and explain the delay... why they couldn't also have him just hand out fastpasses, I don't know. The time might not have been exactly right on them, but it still would have been better than funneling everyone into the standby line.

Yes, our entire trip was lacking in pixie dust, honestly.

I've travelled a lot for business and know what other companies do to make things right or compensate guests when unexpected problems happen.

I thought Disney was tops when it came to making people feel special and having them come home with at warm-fuzzy feeling about their vacation.

This time, with everything that went wrong, we only got the bare minimum. Everything in your room soaked from a burst pipe? We'll move you to another room. Stuck on POC for an hour and evacuated by the fire department? Here are some fast passes. Your daughter bleeding all over the place? Here's a napkin, now go away. Your daughter feels sick? Here's a barf bag, now go away. Even the characters seemed to lack enthusiasm when they were meeting with kids. We didn't complain, but we definitely didn't leave with that warm-fuzzy sensation that would make us want to book a return trip, especially since we'd saved for 3 years for this one.

 

[eliza61]

I agree.

Disney should have without having to be asked, added a day to everyone's ticket.

Wouldn't have cost them much at all when you factor in how many probably wouldn't have used it since they have finite amount of time at Disney. And having you in the park another day buying stuff is where they make their money anyway. It would have been what a company concerned with great customer service would have done.

You know Hannathy, I read a very interesting article last spring in Conde de nast travel magazine about one reason they never rate disney well is because of how they handle mess ups. Now Conde de nast tends to be more into luxury travel so it might have been an unfair assessment but it was a interesting look at disney from the industry.

I thought there was so much wisdom in that, as a long time visitor, that's why I worry about disney sliding into "great adventure" land. It is an wonderful place but lately they have such a horrible track record with handling mess ups.

Yes, the proverbial "stuff happens" but it's how you handle the situation when "stuff happens" is where disney consistently fails. Yes computer glitches are the companies fault, that's why god created IT departments.

The reason I stay offsite when not using points is because I know if I stay at the Waldorf and there is a glitch, I will be treated like royality. Have a mess up at any hotel on the Vegas strip and they will comp you out the wazoo and I'm not talking a major mess up, heck I was moved into a suite one year simply because housekeeping forgot to restock the mini bar.

Have a foul up at a disney deluxe, you will be told that it was "your fault" and you should have researched the trip better.

 

[miami305]

Sorry you were rained out. The weather has been freakishly cool and rainy. It doesn't even rain this much in rainy season! Bizarre weather!

 

[ReneeA]

We are another family who is an annual onsite guest. We plan long trips - normally 9-12 days - and Disney gets LOTS of my money every year. We typically go with another family - close friends - who return to WDW 2 or 3 times a year.

We are going for a 10 day trip the end of the summer to celebrate our oldest kids graduating from elementary school. Both families have decided it's our last trip for at least 3 years. Partly because of the state of the parks, partly because it aggravates me that they are doing so much to expand DVC without also giving at least equal attention to the parks, and partly because there are other places we would love to see.

I will tell you, if the parks were in better shape, we would have a hard time missing out for that amount of time. Not even my 9 & 10 year old kids are raising a fuss about it.

 

[WDSearcher]

As far as I'm concerned, there are no excuses for it. It was too much down on one day.

They don't need to strive to improve. They need to accomplish it.

I agree.

Disney should have without having to be asked, added a day to everyone's ticket.

Wouldn't have cost them much at all when you factor in how many probably wouldn't have used it since they have finite amount of time at Disney. And having you in the park another day buying stuff is where they make their money anyway. It would have been what a company concerned with great customer service would have done.

There seems to be a bigger picture that's missing here.

• BTMRR and Riverboat -- announced closures.
• Peoplemover, Space, Haunted Mansion, Splash -- down temporarily (which means open for at least part of the day)
• Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Carpets, HOP, Small World, Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Snow White, Barnstormer, Dumbo, Laugh Floor, Stitch, AstroOrbiters, Pooh, Speedway, COP, Carousel, Buzz, Country Bears, Mad Tea Party, Tiki Room, all shows, all parades, all fireworks, all character greetings -- operating as normal

Now ... I get that Space, HM and Splash are marquee attractions and that Peoplemover is a must do / must ride for a lot of people. But c'mon. Of course every Disney guest wants everything working at all times. (So, oddly enough, does Disney.) But on the off chance that a couple of headliners go down at once, in this case the OP still had 22 attractions to choose from, plus two parades, 15 other entertainment experiences (shows / atmosphere) and over 25 individual character greetings to keep them occupied while they waited for the attractions to come back on line. Not to mention fireworks, a night parade, and a castle projection show if they stayed late.

 

[Kate and Family]

I have what is probably a stupid question. (I am not one of those who believe that there are NO stupid questions)

Could tying the New Fantasyland expansion into existing systems (IT systems particularly) cause the need to temporarily disrupt the running of some of these attractions? Sort of disconnect this to add that, and reconnect again.

 

[lilmissbehaved]

when i was at MK at the end of month we had a similar situation.. Splash was down, pirates was down, Space Mountain, Hall of Presidents, CoP.. seriously like 10 things!! We assumed they were having some sort of electrical issue it was so bad.. and it was spring break time.. MOB SCENE to begin with.. with all the rides down you should have seen the messes of people everywhere that was open!!!

 

[reiella]

I have what is probably a stupid question. (I am not one of those who believe that there are NO stupid questions)

Could tying the New Fantasyland expansion into existing systems (IT systems particularly) cause the need to temporarily disrupt the running of some of these attractions? Sort of disconnect this to add that, and reconnect again.

Possibly, I don't know specifics, but I'd suspect Construction hitting water would also cause problems due to how many of the rides [in MK] need water pressure to operate.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Now ... I get that Space, HM and Splash are marquee attractions and that Peoplemover is a must do / must ride for a lot of people. But c'mon. Of course every Disney guest wants everything working at all times. (So, oddly enough, does Disney.) But on the off chance that a couple of headliners go down at once, in this case the OP still had 22 attractions to choose from, plus two parades, 15 other entertainment experiences (shows / atmosphere) and over 25 individual character greetings to keep them occupied while they waited for the attractions to come back on line. Not to mention fireworks, a night parade, and a castle projection show if they stayed late.

It's one thing for an attraction to be down and for that to be announced. But to wait an hour in line on an attraction to find out it's down, or to finally get past that hour's wait and then be STUCK on the attraction for an hour only to be evacuated from the attraction-- well, that wastes a lot of time and money. If you have young children who can't be out all hours of the day or night and get very ugly after 4 or 5 hours...well, we felt that with the 2 breakdowns we were part of, as well as waiting on line for 2 rides to find out they weren't working, we lost TWO DAYS. We couldn't use the fastpasses they gave us because we had to go to other parks. This doesn't count the problem that happened to us at WL which put our room out of commission for two days and ruined nap and bed-time for us.

Doesn't matter what else they had going on-- if you're stuck somewhere unexpectedly because of Disney's screw-up, it's not like you can partake in the other stuff. You're stuck.

 

[Hannathy]

I have what is probably a stupid question. (I am not one of those who believe that there are NO stupid questions)

Could tying the New Fantasyland expansion into existing systems (IT systems particularly) cause the need to temporarily disrupt the running of some of these attractions? Sort of disconnect this to add that, and reconnect again.

That is why you plan!! Why you have project engineers.

You plan to do it when the park is closed, if you know it will. And they would know if it would, that is their job.

Same thing with the water thing. They know these things ahead and if it would be some catastrophic fail while doing it and there is an unexpected problem then that is when the company steps in makes it right with their customers.