What causes rides to go down?

[BriannaRuth]

Something I've always wondered about but really never asked. What are some things that typically cause certain rides to go down in the middle of the day (or first thing in the AM in the case of RSR)?

Mainly just curious, but it also sometimes makes me wonder from a safety point of view. I mean, if something can go wrong to the point they have to shut the ride down, how do we know something isn't going to go wrong while we're on it from a safety point of view? Like the brakes failing or having whatever I'm riding in go flying off the track?

No, this isn't something I really go around worrying about, but sometimes I wonder.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

I know there are many reasons, one that I've read that seems common is if something lands on the track then it shuts down. So if someone's hat flies off their head, or someone drops their sunglasses by accident etc, then the ride shuts down and then they have to go through a certain protocol of checking safety points before it can be deemed safe to start up again.

 

[Gisele]

Normally it's due to Gremlins. They are not easy to negotiate with. If you don't give in to their demands in a timely manner, then all kinds of hell will occur.

 

[tarheelalum]

High winds will cause sensors to malfunction a lot.

 

[mummabear]

I seem to remember talk about the heat causing problems causing problems with RSR

 

[Malcon10t]

One big cause is slow loading. Especially for Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Screamin'. I've watched while on Matterhorn a family try and decide who was going to ride with who at the gate, didn't get in and was changing positions, causing the braking systems to back up and take the ride down. When this happens, they have to evac the ride, then cycle the ride back up. (My daughter was over the Tinker Bell meet and greet and had to be walked off. Took about 30 mins to get everyone off.)

Another one has been mentioned. Hats flying off on RSR. ANd slow loaders.

 

[rootbeer]

When we were there in April, BTMRR stopped while we were riding. Thankfully we were almost to the end when it happened (inside a tunnel at the new TNT blast area). We had to wait to be escorted off. CM said that if the cars get too close together the computer stops the ride. Not a common occurrence, but he thought that's what happened. We recieved a FP with no time limit good for any ride EXCEPT RSR Noticed it was back up running shortly after.

 

[daannzzz]

It is because of the safety systems that the ride stop much of the time. As stated above, people loading to slowly, the cars getting to close to each other, things and people where the should not be and people doing things they should not. The rides are fairly sensitive for safety reasons. Of course there are times when something breaks or there is a glitch as well.

 

[Dot2Vegas]

We were walked off of Pinocchio last week. I'm not sure what happened but the CM that escorted us said that someone was waving for help. The ride was down about 5-10 minutes.

 

[Tommy_B]

One big cause is slow loading. Especially for Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Screamin'. I've watched while on Matterhorn a family try and decide who was going to ride with who at the gate, didn't get in and was changing positions, causing the braking systems to back up and take the ride down. When this happens, they have to evac the ride, then cycle the ride back up. (My daughter was over the Tinker Bell meet and greet and had to be walked off. Took about 30 mins to get everyone off.)

Not quite right. Slow loaders on Matterhorn can cause a problem, but the ride operators have two opportunities to pull a train off the main line to let more trains into the unload area to prevent a "cascade", which is what you call a back up that results in an automatic emergency stop when too many trains are in the station. A crew that let slow loaders result in a cascade would be in a lot of trouble, especially the Lead.

If the reason for the e-stop is a cascade, they won't evacuate the mountain, they will reset the track with the guests in the trains and send them down in the sled. A good crew can reset the mountain in less than 10 minutes, but then a good crew would never let it happen in the first place.

But in general, slow boarders and slow exiters can cause the ride to shut down as an automatic safety feature. It can also be cause by environmental factors like wind, rain, heat, etc. No always, but sometimes.

There can also be operator generated e-stops if the person on the control panel sees something they don't like from a safety standpoint.

Not all e-stops are breakdowns, some are planned (handicapped boarding or exiting), some are automatic safety stops, some are RO generated safety stops and some are genuine mechanical/electrical failures. There have been very few accidents over the years that were due to equipment failure. They are usually human error, either the guest or RO.

 

[llump41]

Last we we had just loaded onto a car on RSR when a kid, probably frightened, jumped out of the car onto the tracks. According to the CM this was going to take 45 minutes to off-load all of the guests on the ride and recycle. 45 freaking minutes!

 

[BriannaRuth]

All interesting info, thank you!

 

[LaLaDisney]

Very interesting thread. We went to DL today and THREE rides were down. We were having the worst luck. First we went to BTMRR and it was down. Then we are the next people to get into the temple entrance at Indiana Jones, and then it it goes down, too. Then we head over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and we get almost to the end and the ride goes down. A cast member got us out of the vehicle and escorted us out. We went home after that. Hopefully no one else had the luck we did!

 

[Gisele]

Very interesting thread. We went to DL today and THREE rides were down. We were having the worst luck. First we went to BTMRR and it was down. Then we are the next people to get into the temple entrance at Indiana Jones, and then it it goes down, too. Then we head over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and we get almost to the end and the ride goes down. A cast member got us out of the vehicle and escorted us out. We went home after that. Hopefully no one else had the luck we did!

Holy shish kabob man! I hope you are able to visit often enough, so as to make up for that day, much sooner than later. Timing, can be such an interesting creature.

Hopefully, you were able to still have a pretty good day.
I say poo on pooh, for having an attitude. Take his honey pot away, I say!
I wonder what happened to Indy? Perhaps a bit of a tiff with Mara? Salah? Professor Higendorfer?
And after so many months that BTMRR was shutdown due to pressing matters of a possible third kind interaction, why does it continue to have meltdowns often?.........
Enquiring minds would love to know.

 

[Girimama33]

I was a little worried for our day on Thursday (5/22) after the reports with rides going down. Fortunately, nothing went down when we wanted to ride..even with the insanely busy Grad Night crowds. We did BTMRR 4x, IJA 2x, ST 2x...as far as the headliners go. I think IJA was down for a little bit around noon, but that was it.

 

[PocahontasLookALike]

I was on space Mtn when it stopped. No malfunction. Apparently there was a timing issue with the 'rockets' being launched. I guess there was someone who wouldn't remain seated or something after they were 'cleared for departure'. This caused the vehicle to be delayed, therefore throwing off the timer of the incoming rockets. does that make sense?

So to remedy, they stopped the entire ride. I always imagined we'd come to a screeching halt. But we didn't. We slowly coasted to a stop. Then all the lights came on.