Attraction downtime

[steve76]

I’m just wrapping up my first trip to Disneyland (finally crossing the last two Disney parks off my list) but am surprised by the amount of attraction downtime, particularly in the mornings. I know that things happen, but it seems to be worse at DL than I’ve seen anywhere else. Is this normal or was I just unlucky? I stayed at the GC to get EMH, but at DCA Radiator Springs was down for most of the EMH, as was the Incredicoaster that didn’t open until nearly lunchtime. At Disneyland, Peter Pan was down and the Matterhorn broke down after the very first train was dispatched. Indy was down more times than I could count.

With Fantasmic, they didn’t do the finale on the Mark Twain (because it was under refurbishment) but also they didn’t do all the stunts on the Sailing Ship Columbia (they just had a couple of cast on the deck) and they didn’t have the dragon. Is this just because it’s slow season?

 

[Kit Jackson]

I am asking for clarification because I do want to help answer your question. Are you talking about rides breaking down during the course of the day, rides being closed from the start of the day for regular maintenance, or both.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I’m just wrapping up my first trip to Disneyland (finally crossing the last two Disney parks off my list) but am surprised by the amount of attraction downtime, particularly in the mornings. I know that things happen, but it seems to be worse at DL than I’ve seen anywhere else. Is this normal or was I just unlucky? I stayed at the GC to get EMH, but at DCA Radiator Springs was down for most of the EMH, as was the Incredicoaster that didn’t open until nearly lunchtime. At Disneyland, Peter Pan was down and the Matterhorn broke down after the very first train was dispatched. Indy was down more times than I could count.

With Fantasmic, they didn’t do the finale on the Mark Twain (because it was under refurbishment) but also they didn’t do all the stunts on the Sailing Ship Columbia (they just had a couple of cast on the deck) and they didn’t have the dragon. Is this just because it’s slow season?

Eh. I have experienced all of this more than once, and I usually go during peak times. It is not because it is slow season. In fact, I would expect it more often when it is peak season since there is less overnight maintenance time available. RSR and Toy Story are rides that are sometimes not ready when the park opens. Incredicoaster also has that issue sometimes. I have occasionally run into a morning when Peter Pan didn't open right away and Matterhorn more often. Indy goes down multiple times per day. RSR, Toy Story and Incredicoaster often go down for brief periods at least one day of my multi-day visits even in addition to sometimes not being open when the park opens. I don't know the idiosyncrasies of these rides, but I would just call what you are describing fairly normal for DLR.

 

[steve76]

I am asking for clarification because I do want to help answer your question. Are you talking about rides breaking down during the course of the day, rides being closed from the start of the day for regular maintenance, or both.

Sorry I should have been clearer - I’m talking about rides breaking down, or not being able to open in the morning due to technical problems. A few things were down due to scheduled maintenance, which I’m fine with.

 

[dina444444]

If they didn’t do all the stunts it means that there was something weather related going on. And there’s a reason that the animatronic is nicknamed Murphy.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Sorry I should have been clearer - I’m talking about rides breaking down, or not being able to open in the morning due to technical problems. A few things were down due to scheduled maintenance, which I’m fine with.

During a slow season you are more likely to find rides down for scheduled maintenance. There are not as many people in the park, so there are fewer people to be dissapointed if the ride is down while they do some work on it. I do not go that often so I could not tell you how often rides break down. Hope this helps.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

When rides go down during the day, often it is because of guest behavior/misbehavior. There is a reason the safety spiel asks guests to keep "hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle at all times!" Apparently, many guests are not able to understand or to go along with that. When they try to touch things on the walls or ceiling of rides, throw things outside of the vehicles, try to exit the vehicles, etc., sensors are set off and the whole ride can shut down. Guests must be escorted out of the ride and the whole system must be rebooted. Some rides are infamous for their short load/unload cycles, e.g. Space Mt., RSR, Matterhorn, etc. You have less than 30 seconds (well under) to load and unload. When guests decide to argue at the last second about where to sit or to clown around by climbing in and out of rows or to balk at the last minute, it can shut down the entire ride for everyone. And the entire system will have to be rebooted. This can happen multiple times every day.