Norway Ride & Rivers Of Light (Disappointing Progress Updates)

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That is true. I will be entering college in the fall to become an engineer. Disney has always gone for the artistic kind. Look at the original imagineers they were animators not actual engineers. That's why in my opinion you can't compare imagineers to engineers in the real world they do different things.

I'm married to an engineer (graduated as aerospace but working as a mechanical)........they can get pretty darn protective of their field no matter what specialty they are in. And this by no means is an insult to the other poster it just is a way to explain why some have a strong thoughts and you may find that too while you're in college for your engineer degree (who knows just speaking from what I've had experience with).

I do agree with others though in that Imagineer likely encompasses thoses across several different diciplines and not just someone who is an engineer and maybe that's why we can be more critical at times of the imagineers as we don't know the ins and outs of all the different roles they have in that department at least IMHO. Also sorry if this posts add nothing of value to the conversation since your above post was on like page 2 of now 7 of this thread

 

[TheMaxRebo]

you don't see real engineers making a bridge that then falls down and people saying "whoops, oh well they were trying to make a bridge unlike something anyone had made before". The first indication that Disney's engineers were not good was the pressure issue in tower of terror that I had heard about (although I can't confirm it happened), the second issue was cracking in the foundation of the Yeti. Those are things that a good engineer would not have had issues with

The Tacoma-Narrows say hi

edit: I see this was already mentioned

so I'll ad the Hyatt Regency ballroom walkways in Kansas City

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I like what Joe has done, but he does seem to frequently go long and way over budget. Not sure that is to blame for the issues at Rivers of Light.

The Rivers of Light thing is pretty odd. It's rare that Disney announces a firm opening date without KNOWING that it will meet it. More typical is what we see with Frozen Fever which is "Summer 2016" and then they'll proabably give you an actual date only a few short weeks before the show - but by then it's usually already in CM previews.

Truly following in Walt's footsteps then

And this does seem to be a bit extreme where they had an official opening date and then had to back out of it (I am sure it has happened before but like you said, more normal there is a season or range and then they adjust within that)

As mentioned it this thread, management often has milestones to hit and I suspect that they wanted this to be open for / around Earthday (which is also a big day in history for the park)and thought everything would be ready but didn't expect these delays

 

[BrittyRo]

Come on May 27 for Froway!! (I gave up hope on ROL)

 

[LeeAndRobin]

...so I'll ad the Hyatt Regency ballroom walkways in Kansas City

Which was caused by the contractor changing the design to make it easier for them to build. In fact the original design wasn't all that great, but at least it was 2x stronger than what got built, and ultimately failed...

 

[Aunt Dani]

1) Norway (Epcot):
. . . the boats FINALLY start to go into the water TONIGHT (4/11/2016)
. . . these are the previous boats and boat designs
. . . many of the CM's don't think the boats can maneuver one of the turns, while Imagineers say, "Yes"
. . . the CM's think even if they navigate the turn, they will "bunch up"
. . . the ride test trials start SLOWLY tonight so we should see
. . . no word on soft or hard opening dates

May I go back to the original post and ask if there are any updates from the testing this past week?

 

[piglet1979]

May I go back to the original post and ask if there are any updates from the testing this past week?

This may not be much help but when I was talking to a cast member (on the phone) she said that she is seeing that frozen should be open by the end of may.

 

[rteetz]

This may not be much help but when I was talking to a cast member (on the phone) she said that she is seeing that frozen should be open by the end of may.

That's what has been rumored and even briefly showed up on the HUB

 

[Aunt Dani]

That's what has been rumored and even briefly showed up on the HUB

Thanks for the update...we'll be there 2nd week of May, I might be a tiny bit relieved that I don't have to try to finagle a Fast Pass

 

[manning]

Now if Disney was smart they would announce opening say October knowing it would open in Aug. Would make them look like they know what they are doing.

 

[PEC]

Let me caveat this with I like Animal Kingdom. I like it a lot. However in its current set-up if you arrive in the morning, by about 5 or 6 you have done most of the Park. With summer and long days approaching what are you going to do while waiting for it to get dark enough for the River of Light show to work? In the middle of summer 9:00 or close to it is the earliest you can have a night time show. I guess you could arrive at the park later or do a super long Table Service Dinner.
That said I believe having this show before Avatarland is built is putting the cart in front of the horse. I believe the new land would have filled the gap to a night show.
All that said my next trip will be late November/early December and they could probably have the show at 6 and it will be dark enough for a night time show.

 

[piglet1979]

Let me caveat this with I like Animal Kingdom. I like it a lot. However in its current set-up if you arrive in the morning, by about 5 or 6 you have done most of the Park. With summer and long days approaching what are you going to do while waiting for it to get dark enough for the River of Light show to work? In the middle of summer 9:00 or close to it is the earliest you can have a night time show. I guess you could arrive at the park later or do a super long Table Service Dinner.
That said I believe having this show before Avatarland is built is putting the cart in front of the horse. I believe the new land would have filled the gap to a night show.
All that said my next trip will be late November/early December and they could probably have the show at 6 and it will be dark enough for a night time show.

If they were going to have ROL open for our trip we were going to go in the morning and then take a break and go back in the afternoon. Since rivers of light is not going to be open we are going to hoop de doo revue instead.

 

[Nancyg56]

But then again, how many engineers that you know are in charge of building fake floating mountains and mechanical dragons? The fact that Disney's number of casualties due to engineering negligence is so low in an industry that is full of them should indicate the quality of their engineering. No apologist here, I just don't think it's fair to question the quality of the engineers because a delayed show. It only shows that they are concerned about quality and safety.

And we don't even know if the ''technical difficulties'' excuse is the actual reason behind the delays.

Or it could be that the Imagineers made a determination in regards to the opening date, but "others" changed that date. My DS creates data bases (or something, I no longer understand a thing he does! LOL) for a large communications company. He will often tell his managers what the reasonable completion date should be, and is then overruled. No matter how many times he explains that he can turn in a "completed" project but it will not perform correctly until has adequate data and tests it, some eager beaver will set an arbitrary date and tell him to make it work. Sometimes he can, other time, no.

Unfortunately, no one works in a vacuum. I agree there is often much more in play than we will ever know.

 

[Nancyg56]

Uhhh, do you work at the same place I do? LOL

My DS says the same thing......all the time!

 

[andyman8]

Regarding the RoL info from the OP, what's their target date now that they've confirmed this interim JB show? Are they looking at the JB show as a month-long engagement, summer-long thing, or what?

 

[rteetz]

Regarding the RoL info from the OP, what's their target date now that they've confirmed this interim JB show? Are they looking at the JB show as a month-long engagement, summer-long thing, or what?

Probably until they get it worked out. It could be a month, it could be all summer. It just depends on how long it takes them to get things fixed.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

The Tacoma-Narrows say hi

edit: I see this was already mentioned

so I'll ad the Hyatt Regency ballroom walkways in Kansas City

Exceptions...not the rules

I'd offer the Plebs that designed the Pantheon in Rome as evidence that engineering and common sense does work.

As far as "imagineering" goes - they need far less "art" and more "design" in their projects. They operate like Josh Baskin and burn through cash.

 

[disneydeal]

Rip ROL. Hello Jungle Book

 

[rteetz]

Rip ROL. Hello Jungle Book

RoL isn't dead...

 

[disneydeal]

RoL isn't dead...

Thank you. I thought I was gonna have to send flowers to Animal Kingdom.