Updated list of Refurbs for 2014

[HydroGuy]

Okay, seriously? I understand there are a billion things to do and see at Disneyland, but I have two kids 40" and under. We will be there the first week in May with 10 family members. It truly is a once in a lifetime trip for all of us to be there together, but I have been trying to stay reasonable about my disappointment of so much being down. But there are only so many rides my kids can do to begin with due to height. With the current refurb list now, I think, 6 rides they could normally do, we can't do now due to refurbs. I got over Little Mermaid (my dd's fav), I got over Pirates (my dad's fav), Small World (sister's fav), but the coaster is seriously the ONLY RIDE my dd has been wanting to do since we told her Little Mermaid is down. Thunder Mountain is not one she wants to do, but GoGo was perfect. I am so upset. I get it, there is a ton of stuff to do, there are bigger issues in the world, but considering how much we are spending on this trip, and my kids will likely never have the chance to ride any of these rides with their grandparents, aunt, or cousins ever again, I am just heartbroken.

I am not sure how to respond here. Having a great multi-generational trip is of course very meaningful. And when rides are down for refurb it is disappointing. And there seems to be a particularly large number being planned for refurb this year which is impacting a lot of people. And the refurb schedule is shifting on an almost daily basis.

But isn't it a bit risky to plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip for early May when it is well known that numerous refurbs do happen as it is off season, and then refurbs happen, and then be heartbroken as a result?

I hope everything else for your trip pulls together in the best way possible.

 

[adykate]

Very fair question Hydroguy . We have a few people in our family who do not do well with large crowds, so we did plan our visit during non peak time for that reason. We completely expected and understood there would be rides down for refurb. I could never have imagined there would be so many at once, many of which are ones that kids of any age can go on. I understand they try not to have the "major" rides down at once. But for people with young kids (under 40" crowd), the "major" rides for us are the ones with minimal height restrictions. To have 8 actual rides down (not just attractions), most of which are rides young kids can do, just seems ridiculous. I know there is nothing I can do, and things need to be fixed and maintained, but it just seems to get worse every time I check. And I just found out the departing flight for my sister's family just got moved up 1.5hrs. So we will have to cancel the Mothers Day brunch we had planned to do before everyone left at the end of the trip. Just the way it goes sometimes.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Very fair question Hydroguy . We have a few people in our family who do not do well with large crowds, so we did plan our visit during non peak time for that reason. We completely expected and understood there would be rides down for refurb. I could never have imagined there would be so many at once, many of which are ones that kids of any age can go on. I understand they try not to have the "major" rides down at once. But for people with young kids (under 40" crowd), the "major" rides for us are the ones with minimal height restrictions. To have 8 actual rides down (not just attractions), most of which are rides young kids can do, just seems ridiculous. I know there is nothing I can do, and things need to be fixed and maintained, but it just seems to get worse every time I check. And I just found out the departing flight for my sister's family just got moved up 1.5hrs. So we will have to cancel the Mothers Day brunch we had planned to do before everyone left at the end of the trip. Just the way it goes sometimes.

We will be there the same time as you (give or take a few days) so I completely understand your frustration! We are traveling with 8 family members and TWO OTHER family friends groups. There are a ton of kids amongst us and a lot of their favorites are going to be down (and mine! Indie!)

We've already booked and paid for everything, so at the moment we are just going in with the perspective that there's nothing we can do and it'll be a blast anyways

 

[Chrisfilm]

I'd be mad too, and anyone who says you shouldn't be is just flat out wrong. These trips aren't cheap and smart planners have them booked well in advance. So when refurbs are scheduled within less than 2 months, it's frustrating especially when the list is already long. I know they'd never do this, but discounted tickets based on percentage of rides unavailable would be nice.

 

[Aladora]

I'd be mad too, and anyone who says you shouldn't be is just flat out wrong. These trips aren't cheap and smart planners have them booked well in advance. So when refurbs are scheduled within less than 2 months, it's frustrating especially when the list is already long. I know they'd never do this, but discounted tickets based on percentage of rides unavailable would be nice.

I'm not going to say that this is going to happen, but I posted this on Jan 9, 2014:

This is where I've ended up. I've already bought our tickets for the flights from Seattle as well as the ferry from our little island to get to Seattle so cancelling is not an option.

But, it looks like we are going to miss:
Nemo
Alice
Space Mountain
Indiana Jones
Soarin'

It sucks that my favourite (Soarin'), DH's favourite (SM) and DS's favourite (Alice) are all going to be down while we are there. In fact, IJ and SM close the day before we get there so unless they delay the refub, we are out of luck. This will be the second trip that SM has been down, we were there last year when it was shut down due to the OSHA issue.

I'm not going to get all first world problem whiney but I am disappointed and I don't want to tell DH that his favourite ride is going to be closed again!

We went March 8 and the only one of that list that was actually closed our entire trip was Nemo. Alice closed in the middle of our trip but the others were open the entire time.

All I am saying is that things change and refurbs get rescheduled. This can go both ways, a ride that is supposed to go down can have the refurb cancelled and a ride can go down with short notice.

So, do not give up hope or give in to anger yet!

 

[Brewmeister]

I don't have an issue with them taking rides down for refurb, I have an issue with how little notice they gave for the late changes. I want to plan my vacations for the times that are off season before my kids enter school. Travel is easier and cheaper than trying to deal with the crowds of spring breakers that I will have to endure once my kids are actually in school. I accept that rides will be down, but for this one ride to suddenly get scheduled three weeks out from our trip shows a lack of respect that Disney has for non-locals that have to actually plan trips and book in advance.

I did use the Disneyland website's "contact us" section to leave a polite expression of my disappointment in a change three weeks out. I pointed out that while most visitors may be locals with the ability to change their plans at a whim, many are in fact not locals and need months of planning and booking for these trips, and that Team Anaheim needs to learn a thing or two on planning from Team Orlando.

I don't know anyone who makes decisions will ever see such feedback, but I figure the more people who remind them to think of the non-locals, the better.

 

[crystal1313]

Where is that at? I'm not sure I could convince him to go to a different place for them or not... even if they are the same. He is strange about that kind of stufff. It has to be from the original place. His favorite pizza place has 2 locations near us. He will only go to the older run down one. He says its better because its the origninal and its worn in.

Sorry! Just saw this....it's on the side of the Golden Horseshoe. You can get fries with your corn dog instead of apple slices too.

 

[Casey's Mommie]

We're going May 4 for 6 days and I'm so disappointed they just added Gadget's Go Coaster. Normally I wouldn't care, but it's the first time my three year old will be tall enough to ride it and that's the only roller coaster for kids under 40" (He's 39" with shoes on).

It would be nice if they gave more notice, I'm just glad we're getting annual passes so we get to go again in November. I really feel sorry for the people who don't get to go as often and have planned far in advance. To have Pirates, Small World, Alice, Little Mermaid and now Gadget's Go Coaster down all at the same time is disappointing for those of us with young kids!

 

[jibada]

any idea when the refurbs for mid November will be posted? Or is it a random sort of thing when it gets published?

 

[amdgoogles]

Ugh! I agree with what's being said, not that complaining about it is going to make anything change, and of course there is a lot to do, and things can and do always change BUT when you close down 5 or 6 headliner under 40" attractions can you imagine what the lines for Dumbo, Peter Pan and the other headliner zero hight limit attractions is going to be? Again as we're not locals we can't change our plans, but it would be nice to have one of the boat rides open if nothing else!

 

[Minuet888]

Ummm was just there last week and Soarin Over California was open but Small World was closed

 

[mystic95]

Ummm was just there last week and Soarin Over California was open but Small World was closed

I believe the Soaring refurb has been pushed back to like Nov or something like that

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I believe the Soaring refurb has been pushed back to like Nov or something like that

Is this it's short refurb? The long refurb to upgrade to HD has been postponed indefinitely, correct?

 

[mystic95]

Is this it's short refurb? The long refurb to upgrade to HD has been postponed indefinitely, correct?

I believe the refurb was pushed back because of the HD issue... I think they are going to do the HD refurb at WDW and test it before doing it was DL... I think I heard there will be a small refurb in Nov, but the HD refurb isn't going to happen until sometime in 2015

 

[Minuet888]

ok its just different than what is posted on the first page
they are reopening small world for a week because of its anniversary then shutting it back down and completing the refurb, when we went last week both small world and Nemo were fully drained, they are doing a lot of work on Nemo just wonder why that is a LONG refurb

 

[mystic95]

ok its just different than what is posted on the first page they are reopening small world for a week because of its anniversary then shutting it back down and completing the refurb, when we went last week both small world and Nemo were fully drained, they are doing a lot of work on Nemo just wonder why that is a LONG refurb

That really sucks that they were fully drained.... Bet it was an eye sore..... I am really hoping that POTC isn't fully drained (at least the bayou part by the Blue Bayou restaurant) next month when DH and I have our reservations for there....

 

[smithfamilyof7]

I may have missed this somewhere because I only read about 10 pages of this thread... but can anyone tell me when they put out the refurb list for 2015 dates? We're going in January...

 

[mafpi]

I'd be mad too, and anyone who says you shouldn't be is just flat out wrong. These trips aren't cheap and smart planners have them booked well in advance. So when refurbs are scheduled within less than 2 months, it's frustrating especially when the list is already long. I know they'd never do this, but discounted tickets based on percentage of rides unavailable would be nice.

Terms and conditions state that the entertainment is subject to change. You agree to those terms when you buy the tickets. Be disappointed. Even upset. That is fine. But suggesting a discount is flat out laughable

 

[junmatno]

That really sucks that they were fully drained.... Bet it was an eye sore..... I am really hoping that POTC isn't fully drained (at least the bayou part by the Blue Bayou restaurant) next month when DH and I have our reservations for there....

You can't see Nemo because the fence is blocking it completely, only from Matterhorn. Are they still doing BB reservations when POTC is closed? That's cool!

 

[Minuet888]

That really sucks that they were fully drained.... Bet it was an eye sore..... I am really hoping that POTC isn't fully drained (at least the bayou part by the Blue Bayou restaurant) next month when DH and I have our reservations for there....

Finding Nemo has fences up around it but you can see it from the monorail (that's how I knew it was drained)
Small World didn't have fences up but I could see was drained from the train.
When they do Pirates they will no doubt put up fences or walls by the Blue Bayou.
The weird thing was to be was that there wasn't a single worker working on these refurbs while we were there, do they do all the refurb work at night because of noise maybe? I just literally never saw anyone the multiple times we were on the train and monorail.