Rumors overheard at restaurant....

[roymccoy]

I feel just like Matt Drudge! My wife and I were having lunch at a restaurant right outside of DL (we eat on the way to DL and DCA now, since there really isn't any place to eat at DCA) and they sat us next to three guys who were involved in the construction and maintenance of the parks. They were older "suit" type guys. They were talking loudly and we couldn't help but over hear their conversation. They said the following:

1. The bubble machines that make the "snow" at X-mas time aren't working and the brass is pushing them to get them fixed because the commercials have already been filmed for this season and they have snow in them.

2. They requested that the Haunted Mansion "gear boxes" not just be repaired at this refurbishment but replaced with new ones. They made their case months ago and everyone agreed with them. Simply repairing them again would last about two-three years where new ones could last 20-30 years. They were positive that they would receive a budget that included new gear boxes. What did the budget include for gear boxes when they got the final plan? You guessed it....repair the old ones! They were really mad about this! One of them said "you know I told so-and-so about this and I said that if Walt were here he'd never stand for all of this budget cutting and the guy said "well Walt isn't here, is he?" They also said that the Mansion may not open up on time since the refurbishment of the gear boxes is taking longer than expected.

3. The new DCA Tower of Terror will have no replacement motor in stock. He said that WDW has TWO back-up motors for their ToT and the ride would only be down for about two weeks if the motor gave out. Without a back-up motor for DCA's ToT, the ride would be down at least 6 MONTHS waiting for a new motor to be "built-up".

4. The elevator that takes employees up from the bottom of the Pirates of the Caribean hasn't worked for months. They were complaining that they have to take a long flight of stairs with all of their equipment in tow. He also said that a lot of thing in the POTC "cabs" are not working.

5. When one of them mentioned that Walt might have had to do the same thing with the budgets if he were in charge today, another one of them countered with this story. Walt was still alive when the Haunted Mansion was being planned. He insisted that all parts have spares in stock so that they would not keep the ride down for long AND (very wisely) that the companies that made the parts couldn't kill them on the price for a replacement because they knew they needed them in a hurry. Walt ordered two sets of the inch thick tempered glass that makes the "ghosts" appear in the ballroom. The glass has been stored in the DL warehouse for the last 30 years. The boxes have never even been opened. No one knows the condition of the glass sections. It was brought up a few years ago that maybe they should change the glass (someone had shot a bullet-hole in one panel) but it was determined that the only way to get the glass in was to remove the roof of the mansion and lower it in by helicopter or crane. They decided to put a spider over the bullet hole!

Anyway, I wanted to pass this on to you guys. The overall attitude of these guys was just as frustrated as we all feel about some of the things going on at the parks right now.

Roy

 

[SueEllen]

4. The elevator that takes employees up from the bottom of the Pirates of the Caribean hasn't worked for months. They were complaining that they have to take a long flight of stairs with all of their equipment in tow. He also said that a lot of thing in the POTC "cabs" are not working.

I don't know about the rest of this, but this statement is not true. That same elevator is used by guests using wheelchairs at the exit of Pirates. I happen to know for a fact that it is still working.

Sue Ellen

 

[roymccoy]

I don't know....I think that he was talking about an elevator that goes down into the lower levels of POTC...guests in wheelchairs wouldn't go down there and he kept saying "the employee elevator." Maybe you're thinking of the Haunted Mansion?

Roy

 

[airlarry!]

Which POTC? WDW or DL? Might explain the rumor.

 

[Bob O]

I hope all these rumors arent true, because if they are things are in a sad shape!!

 

[roymccoy]

All of the rumors were concerning Disneyland and DCA. We were at a restaurant frequented by DL/DCA employees for lunch, on Harbor Blvd.

Roy

 

[Planogirl]

someone had shot a bullet-hole in one panel

Interesting rumors and unfortunately they fit.

 

[Another Voice]

New Orleans Square at Disneyland served as something of the prototype for WDW’s Magic Kingdom – the “ground level” that the guests sees is really the second floor. At Disneyland, the “underground” area contains a central kitchen for all of the area restaurants, some employee support areas, storage, and the maintenance for ‘Pirates’ and other “back stage” activities. There are a few elevators I can think of in the complex and it’s impossible to know which one the maintenance people were talking about. As a group they can be somewhat overdramatic, but I always found them to be very truthful and always had the best interest of the guest at heart.

And yes, there is a bullet hole in a window at Disneyland’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ and yes they did paint a spider web over it instead of replacing the glass. That isn't a rumor at all.

 

[larry_poppins]

Hey RoyMcCoy!
What restaurants on Harbor Blvd. do you reccommend?

Thanks,

Larry

 

[roymccoy]

the Mimi's on Harbor is good....the Acapulco restaurant was really good too but they closed it.
Can't really go wrong with Mimi's. They have the BEST french onion soup in the world!

Roy

 

[jlima]

OK, I rode the Haunted Mansion 2x this weekend & found the bullet hole on the 2nd time around . . . not only is there a spider web but there's also a fake spider stuck on it too!!

When did this happen & how . . . would love to hear the story!!!

 

[daber]

Things really are in sad shape at DL. When I was there last month, I was talking to a security guard who told me that the castle has some serious problems with both the electricity and the flooring that makes it unsafe to do the Sleeping Beauty walk thru. I knew about the Carosel before, but was unaware that the park icon was being left to rot as well.

 

[Another Voice]

The bullet hole at Disneyland’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ is more than a decade old. It was done by a guest, but no one knows who or why. The hole is lined up with the Dueling Pictures so the speculation has always been it was from someone how thought it would be “funny” to shoot back.

The hole is in a massive piece of specialty glass that’s about three stories tall. It was installed by helicopter during the Mansion’s construction in the late 1960’s. It’s rumored that there is another pane in storage, but because it is so large the only way to replace it would be to remove the roof – too expensive for the current budgets. It was decided it was much cheaper to make disguise it rather than fix it. And it actually doesn’t look all that bad. Most people would never see the bullet hole unless they were specifically looking for it.

The castle is basically in the same state of wood rot that the carousel was in as well. And the fort on Tom Sawyer’s Island is now rotted beyond repair and will be torn down (according to the rumors) starting in January when the river is drained. ‘Splash Mountain’ is rumored to have structural problems as well – and the sub lagoon, the PeopleMover/RocketRods track, Main Street buildings, Frontierland, just about everything has suffered as the result of slashed maintenance budgets.

Most of the work going on right now is safety related. They’re the only ones getting the budgets.

 

[curtisl]

Now that I have lots of time on my hand, (being an unemployed IT worker in Silicon Valley does that), I've been thinking of going to DL. I live in California, so it's much cheaper than getting to WDW. However, I'm afraid too.

You see the last time my wife and I were there was in 1995. We'd been married for only 2 years then and spent a full 5 days there! It must have been cheap back then, because I certainly wasn't making very much working part time for the University of California system. We had a blast! Indy had just opened, Toontown was relatively new, and the Lion King parade ran several times a day. Fantasmic was enchanting and also recently added, the food everywere was wonderful, and we could sleep late in the morning and stay in the park WAY LATE into the evening. We explored all the nooks, crannies and bridges of Tom Sawyer Island, and I enjoyed sharing the Tiki Birds with my wife that I had enjoyed during all of the other trips I had taken with with my family as a child and teen. We spent the last day just shopping because there was so much unique stuff to get.

Now, just 7 years later I'm afraid to go just because I know I'll be disappointed, because of the not so wonderful changes that have happened since then. I do not want my memories tarnished.

So I'm going to WDW in December. Paid for an off site timeshare from a friend before the layoff, so I'm forced to go. How horrible. Went to WDW last January and stayed at the WL. Had a magical time! Now lets hope I get a job real soon so we can take our hoped for Disney Cruise to celebrate our 10 anniversary in December 2003.

 

[jlima]

Originally posted by Another Voice
The bullet hole at Disneylands Haunted Mansion is more than a decade old. It was done by a guest, but no one knows who or why.

Are you saying that this wasn't discovered when it happened; that CMs "found" a bullet hole in the glass one day?

How could anyone miss a report from a firearm that would make a bullet hole that big . . . and where's the bullet?

This is too weird!

 

[Testtrack321]

Originally posted by curtisl
Now that I have lots of time on my hand, (being an unemployed IT worker in Silicon Valley does that), I've been thinking of going to DL. I live in California, so it's much cheaper than getting to WDW. However, I'm afraid too.

You see the last time my wife and I were there was in 1995. We'd been married for only 2 years then and spent a full 5 days there! It must have been cheap back then, because I certainly wasn't making very much working part time for the University of California system. We had a blast! Indy had just opened, Toontown was relatively new, and the Lion King parade ran several times a day. Fantasmic was enchanting and also recently added, the food everywere was wonderful, and we could sleep late in the morning and stay in the park WAY LATE into the evening. We explored all the nooks, crannies and bridges of Tom Sawyer Island, and I enjoyed sharing the Tiki Birds with my wife that I had enjoyed during all of the other trips I had taken with with my family as a child and teen. We spent the last day just shopping because there was so much unique stuff to get.

Now, just 7 years later I'm afraid to go just because I know I'll be disappointed, because of the not so wonderful changes that have happened since then. I do not want my memories tarnished.

So I'm going to WDW in December. Paid for an off site timeshare from a friend before the layoff, so I'm forced to go. How horrible. Went to WDW last January and stayed at the WL. Had a magical time! Now lets hope I get a job real soon so we can take our hoped for Disney Cruise to celebrate our 10 anniversary in December 2003.

GO! I dosn't matter. It lived up to my dreams and I've never been! Wear rose-colored glasses as our friend Baron says!

Have a blast! Don't let AV, Scoop, or Baron pull you down. Go, have fun, because they knew what things could have been, things we never knew.

 

[hopemax]

It was more than a decade ago, it was the summer of 1974. The same guy also fired the gun in Primeval World (there's a hole there too).

 

[Another Voice]

There have actually been several holes shot through over the years. There’s always a fairly high level of vandalism throughout all of the rides. Most of it is taken care of through routine maintenance. There have been (and are) several hits to the Mansion reflective glass. Some were ground out, most can’t be seen – the big one was turned into a spider web.

It’s one of Disneyland’s dirty little secrets that there’s no where near the level of surveillance as people assume. For a lot of years, there was no way of knowing what was happening inside Disneyland’s Mansion. If the staffing levels allowed (on rare occasions), a cast member would be assigned to wander through the attraction just to keep an eye on things. A lot of things happen inside a ride…

 

[ohanafamily]

Originally posted by Another Voice
It’s one of Disneyland’s dirty little secrets that there’s no where near the level of surveillance as people assume. For a lot of years, there was no way of knowing what was happening inside Disneyland’s Mansion. If the staffing levels allowed (on rare occasions), a cast member would be assigned to wander through the attraction just to keep an eye on things. A lot of things happen inside a ride…

Great, I guess it's good that they now search your bag for firearms and other nasty things...