How often do rides go "down"?

[TulipMom]

We have been home less than 24 hours from our most recent trip to WDW. We had a FANTASTIC trip! So many things went "just right" due to:
1. Great advice from those of you here
2. Good information from Touring Plans
3. Knowing our family and what works best for us, what is a priority for us, etc.
4. Lots of luck! Good weather, transportation arriving at just the right moment, CMs adding pixie dust to our day, etc.

All of that said, we encountered a lot of rides down during our 6 park days. Rides that we personally encountered as "down" (unrelated to weather) for some period of time were: Barnstormer, Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mtn, 7DMT, ToT, FEA and BTMR. These are rides that we personally went to ride and were down. I'm not talking about just seeing them listed as down on an app. In a couple of cases, this was a positive for us as we were running behind schedule and were able to come back later with an anytime FP. All other times, we just moved along to something else.

During our last WDW visit in 2015, we only encountered one ride (PPF) go down. Were we just lucky before? Or particularly unlucky this time? It oddly became a normal part of our trip this time and it didn't really bother me much until I was reflecting on it today.

 

[crostorfer]

In my experience, things do go down more often now than they used to, particularly the Tower of Terror and Big Thunder Mountain.

However, I will say that after that lengthy refurb a few years back, Splash Mountain has been more reliable in the last couple of years than it used to be.

 

[anniemae]

Yes, I also believe it is way more common these days. We were there this past summer and had lots of rides break down. We were walked off Pirates, SM was down for an entire morning, TT was down, Pooh, TSMM, Frozen, just to name a few. I feel that Disney is more crowded than ever and the ride simply can't keep up with the demand. There are more people, the parks are open longer, it's just too much wear and tear.

 

[jvz82]

When we were there in December, we didn't experience any rides down during our two days at MK! We must've gotten lucky! At Epcot, the only ride down was the Pixar one.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Problem is that some of these attractions that go down daily are in need of an actual closure to refurb and actually fix some issues but guests protest that they are not getting their money's worth when rides are closed for refurb and maintenance.
You have to consider that these attractions are running non stop for 12-18 hours per day 365 days per year. They are bound to go down on a fairly regular basis if there is a problem that can really only be fixed with a refurb.
They are only putting a band aid on the attractions when down for an hour or two.
It can become frustrating but in the end I feel like its guests fault for demanding that no ride goes down for a refurb while they are there.

 

[wendow]

We were there in Sept. We'd never seen so many attractions down during a visit. While at Epcot, Frozen and TT were both down a lot. At DHS, ToT, RnR and TSMM were all down at once...and for a park that is really lacking in what they have to offer, this felt very significant.

 

[Nohal]

I have to agree that there are many more ride breakdowns than there ever were. People Mover is also another one that seems to constantly breakdown.

 

[Conno]

I have to agree that there are many more ride breakdowns than there ever were. People Mover is also another one that seems to constantly breakdown.

I have this fear that if they close down the People Mover, it'll never re-open, Disneyland style

 

[Realfoodfans]

Just home too - had a great trip with grandchildren and our DGS favourite thing was when rides broke down! Happened to us on Peoplemover 3 times - he loved us being stopped in the dark! Happened again on Little Mermaid twice. Only one that caused disruption was the Monorail breakdown when we just planned to take a quick look at GF as a consideration for our next trip - someone has just posted it happened a number of times during their stay and that has put us off GF.

 

[Dumbo7]

Don’t let it put you off Grand Floridian! The GF is awesome. The monorail doesn’t breakdown that much. And if it does they have buses.

 

[themerrymagpie]

We just got home last night from spending a week in Orlando. Went to HS last Sunday 10/22 and Tower of Terror was restricted to FastPasses only the whole day (though we did have a FP and were able to ride). Looked like only one side of elevators was running. And it was also down most of the day on Thursday as well. That's my favorite ride and those were our only two days in that park so that was disappointing!

 

[JB212]

Just back and we encountered a lot more downed rides than usual. We stuck them all out but after several in a row my kids were like “um why are all the rides broken??”
We were next to load on R&R and they announced there was a delay so we had to wait a bit.
Then on TOT while we were in line they announced only one elevator was working and waits would be significantly longer.
We hopped to AK where FOP had been down and we experienced the surge of FP holders flooding back in. It was a crazy sight.
The next day the monorail went down while we were waiting.
Then VOTLM went down while we were in line, turning a 10 minute wait into about 40 minutes. Then the ride stopped with us on it for a bit as well.
HM also stopped with us on it. Right in front of a tombstone where a ghost pops out. My daughter screamed so loud and everyone laughed.
We also didn’t ride Pooh because it was down.
ETA: we were also held on POTC at the top of the hill where it takes your picture. After about 10 flashes everyone in the boat was like “stop! Please stop! I’m blind now!” Haha.

 

[Klayfish]

Problem is that some of these attractions that go down daily are in need of an actual closure to refurb and actually fix some issues but guests protest that they are not getting their money's worth when rides are closed for refurb and maintenance.
You have to consider that these attractions are running non stop for 12-18 hours per day 365 days per year. They are bound to go down on a fairly regular basis if there is a problem that can really only be fixed with a refurb.
They are only putting a band aid on the attractions when down for an hour or two.
It can become frustrating but in the end I feel like its guests fault for demanding that no ride goes down for a refurb while they are there.

This, totally. As much as I love WDW, I agree that I've seen a bit of an uptick in rides being "down" over the past few years. I do think some of it is related to the rides aging and more people getting on them. But then if the ride is taken offline to be fixed, there's an uproar about how horrible it is that they take it down, etc... From that perspective it's a bit of a catch 22. Sure, I'd be bummed if a favorite ride was taken down for 6 months for a major overhaul, but if that's what they have to do, then so be it.

I also think rides go down as often as ignorant guests do ignorant things on the rides, causing them to be shut down. That's a major factor.

 

[firefly_ris]

We were there 10/10 - 10/13, and never got on Pirates as it was down for our entire MK afternoon/evening and down again on our departure day. PeopleMover was also down in the evening.... fortunately those were our only 2 experiences, which I was kind of surprised at because it was definitely "level 10" crowds. But I did notice on the app rides in the other parks going down multiple times during the day -- and we had no afternoon storms or anything like that.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We never got on BTRR, just back Oct 15-22. On our 2 MK days, it was down, including during our entire MNSSHP that week. Bummer but we will be back in 6 months. Missed several other rides, just not for closures, so no big deal I guess. (Missed Peter pan, Frozen, the Kilamajaro Safari, just got too busy or lines were too long).

 

[Magpie]

When rides stop for "just a bit", or slows down significantly, especially on continuously loading rides, it's often not because they're experiencing mechanical issues, but rather because they have to stop the ride for a few minutes to allow guests with mobility issues to board. And sometimes, if a guest gets "stuck" getting in or out (or realizes they left something behind and tries to jump back in), they'll have to do an emergency stop, which necessitates a whole different protocol (usually sending the cars through empty once, iirc).

Finally, there's the classic "guests behaving badly" stops, though you usually know when that's happening, because someone will come over the intercom saying something along the lines of, "Please remain in your seats!" or "Keep your arms and legs within your ride vehicle!"

I still remember when one elevator abruptly shut down while we were in line at the Haunted Mansion. We could hear the nearest castmember's walkie talkie informing them that a guest had "lost their luggage" on the somethingth-floor. Yep, it was code for a guest barfing in the elevator. We were directed to a different elevator and that one was taken out of operation.

 

[stinkpickle]

Something is usually down somewhere. This is why I always recommend to new visitors to stay for at least one week and use park hoppers.

 

[Serenebean]

We were there from Oct 17-25 and had pretty good luck with rides. Nothing was down that resulted in us not being able to get on at some point. No issues in MK at all. When we got to DHS around 10am, RNRC was down so we did standby TOT (which was a mess because 5 gigantic tour groups flooded the FP line and majorly pushed back our wait which ended up being about 40 minutes, so not HORRIBLE). As soon as we got off TOT we walked over to RNRC to see what was going on. It was back up with a posted 120 min wait. I talked to the CM who said it was probably closer to 30, so we got in line and it ended up being 20 minutes. Our second day at DHS, TOT was down then when it finally opened they were only accepting FP riders since only one elevator was running. We had an anytime FP, so we got on. As soon as we were done, they opened the line for everyone and we were the second people in line and walked right on! So it worked out fairly well for us. But I saw recently that TOT is still only running one elevator.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

To answer OP's original question, there's no normal number of breakdowns. More or less, they've always been a part of WDW.

The bigger change is WDW's ticket structure and the advent of pre-booked FP.
In the old days, we just did as one poster suggested. If enough rides were down, we paid a few dollars to add hopping, and the impact was minimal.

In 2017, the problem is that we are effectively locked in our FP well before we arrive. Disney's new system is too rigid. It probably looked more profitable on paper, but the marketing department probably forgot to consider ride closures.

The old FP system was somewhat flexible. If you unexpectedly hopped mid-morning, you still had equal access to fastpasses in that park for the rest of the day, though not ADR's. Changing over to non-flexible ADR's ten years ago increased profits, so why not lock guests into non-flexible FP at 60 days?

If I try to hop mid-day unplanned, I give up all of my FP, and any hope of getting any real FP in any other park. No thanks.

What's worse, I can't even save my remaining ticket days for another trip.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Don’t let it put you off Grand Floridian! The GF is awesome. The monorail doesn’t breakdown that much. And if it does they have buses.

ER, yes, it does. And ER, buses aren't remotely the same as the monorail, especially if someone in your party uses a stroller/mobility device.

Without reliable monorail service, GF just isn't worth the price, IME. But don't expect any refund if they don't deliver what they advertise.

Alas, this is another huge problem with WDW in 2017. They aren't accountable for service failures the same way other companies are.

Buyer beware.