Updated list of Refurbs for 2014

[luckycharmaine]

You had got to be kidding me! We are aslo going at the end of april and wanted my parents to see pirates and now this? We booked our trip after seeing the refurb list. Darn you Disney !

 

[Blue32]

I just got off the phone with Disney Dining. After I made some modifications to existing reservations, I asked about Pirates. I just said,, "I'm so confused because its not listed in the park hours calendar, but its still listed on the attractions map, and i don't know which is right." I was told that they just decided to push that refurb back until after Spring Break (she said April, but didn't give specific dates).

Now I get that the dining folks aren't always in the know, but she did say it was a VERY recent decision, and all the dining line folks were super excited about it.

So, I won't relax until I see it changed everywhere, but I just did a total happy dance of joy in my kitchen.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Oh no. I hope Pirates isn't down at the end of April. We booked our airfare already. Since then we've learned Soarin' & Space will be down. If Pirates is also we're pretty much losing a chunk of the things we most wanted to see on our first trip to DL. I don't want to tell my husband. He's gonna flip out. Maybe I can get Disney to call him.... LOL!

 

[Darvans]

I just got off the phone with Disney Dining. After I made some modifications to existing reservations, I asked about Pirates. I just said,, "I'm so confused because its not listed in the park hours calendar, but its still listed on the attractions map, and i don't know which is right." I was told that they just decided to push that refurb back until after Spring Break (she said April, but didn't give specific dates).

Now I get that the dining folks aren't always in the know, but she did say it was a VERY recent decision, and all the dining line folks were super excited about it.

So, I won't relax until I see it changed everywhere, but I just did a total happy dance of joy in my kitchen.

I hope they are correct! Pirates was closed when we went 2 years ago, so we planned our next trip (feb 5-12) around Pirates being open (It was scheduled to be open when we booked flights). The last minute closure was really dissapointing as we had already booked non-refundable flights. My kids will be sooooo happy if they get to ride Pirates!! I did email DL about the closure and our dissapointment in the last minute change, I wonder if they received a lot of similar emails that prompted the change?

 

[pwillunlv]

I just got off the phone with Disney Dining. After I made some modifications to existing reservations, I asked about Pirates. I just said,, "I'm so confused because its not listed in the park hours calendar, but its still listed on the attractions map, and i don't know which is right." I was told that they just decided to push that refurb back until after Spring Break (she said April, but didn't give specific dates).

Now I get that the dining folks aren't always in the know, but she did say it was a VERY recent decision, and all the dining line folks were super excited about it.

So, I won't relax until I see it changed everywhere, but I just did a total happy dance of joy in my kitchen.

Hooray!!!

 

[pwillunlv]

Oh no. I hope Pirates isn't down at the end of April. We booked our airfare already. Since then we've learned Soarin' & Space will be down. If Pirates is also we're pretty much losing a chunk of the things we most wanted to see on our first trip to DL. I don't want to tell my husband. He's gonna flip out. Maybe I can get Disney to call him.... LOL!

Now I feel bad for everyone else, here's to hoping they kick the can further down the road for y'all too!

 

[Darvans]

Now I feel bad for everyone else, here's to hoping they kick the can further down the road for y'all too!

Me too I would suggest sending them a polite email letting them know about your concerns. We did that, and they somewhat made it up to us with some reserved seating at a show. I guess we will lose that if Pirates is now open, but it was a nice gesture on their part.

 

[Disneyluvr]

Oh no. I hope Pirates isn't down at the end of April. We booked our airfare already. Since then we've learned Soarin' & Space will be down. If Pirates is also we're pretty much losing a chunk of the things we most wanted to see on our first trip to DL. I don't want to tell my husband. He's gonna flip out. Maybe I can get Disney to call him.... LOL!

Soarin and space are going to be down too!!! That's terrible if they have 3 major rides down at the same time! I am taking my class and for many of my students this will be their only experience ever. Many have never been to the movies or a real restaurant either so my principal really tries to give them as many experiences as we can.

 

[Jerry Horne]

I will be very angry if Pirates is closed in late April/early May. They need to do these things earlier in the year.

 

[sleepymouse]

Spring breaks across the nation occur throughout March and April. Easter Sunday falls on April 20th this year and many schools schedule their breaks either the week before or the week after Easter. So I have an idea. Let's take down Space and Indy while also doing extended refurbs on Alice, Nemo and Soarin'. This sounds like a great idea, right? Since it is so brilliant, let's consider adding Pirates to the mix. But maybe we shouldn't stop there. Why not just shutter everything except Captain EO, Innovations, and Tarzan's Treehouse.

I have tickets to fly into LAX April 5th and am going to start looking into renting a car and doing a San Diego trip instead. Pirates down in April would be the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[HydroGuy]

Having a favorite ride or show down during a trip is always a bummer. If you are going off-season it is to be expected. Those going during highs season like Spring Break have more reason to be disappointed IMO.

I need to say here that as soon as everyone weighs in here on their disappointments about potential upcoming refurbs, someone else will post a thread about a recent trip about how disappointed they are that so many rides kept breaking down during their trip.

The only way Disney can avoid disappointing folks is to build rides that never break down and never require maintenance and are always running. The next best option (and what Disney does since even Disney has to live in the real world) is temporary fixes to rides when they break down and occasional more long term maintenance so they will not break down as much in the future.

Also, some of the refurbs (at least Space Mtn as I understand it, and the delay in BTMRR re-opening) are there to deal with OSHA-type requirements. For those I guess you can complain to your government officials about the requirements they are placing on Disney. Or you can choose to be glad that there are oversight agencies trying to better protect you and Disney workers.

The person I most want to address here is anyone who simultaneously complains about too many refurbs on their future trips - and about too many rides that break down during their trip. At least choose one or the other to complain about as Disney cannot possibly satisfy both sides.

With all that said, I hope everyone who has expressed disappointment here will have as great a trip as possible given whatever refurbs end up actually happening during their trip.

 

[The Fox Menagerie]

Thanks for the your reasonable point of view Hydroguy. If POTC, Indy and Soarin' are all down when we visit during spring break, we'll still have a blast, although I will really really miss POTC the most as it is my favorite ride of all and I usually ride it at least 10 times per trip (not a complaint, just and expression of sadness). Not sure why I like it so much, I just do! I figure I'll check the ride closure list on our way to So Cal to see what's up (down?) then.

 

[sherilaine]

I agree with Hydroguy to an extent - having a couple of rides down during off season is one thing - having a bunch is another, especially during high season.
I think some people simply expect Disney to throw more of their large piles of money at these issues, as otherwise they are perceived as not delivering the dollar value to visit.

That said, I'd rather have rides break down some during our stay (over a week) than have one down the entire time. It's true that you can't eat your cake and have it too.

However, I think some people on this board are lucky enough to be able to visit several times a year if not a month - there are then those of us who are lucky to be able to visit once a year if not less often. We have a different perspective - it's not like we can just come back when the ride re-opens or gets fixed - and while there is plenty of things to do alternatively, when it is someone's FAVOURITE ride, that is when disappointment can come flying out.

I know if we found out tomorrow that Screamin was going to be down our entire trip, we'd likely have to think of rescheduling as it is mine and my son's all time favourite ride there - so a big part of the excitement is based on it. However, I would not be shocked, I'd just have to deal.

All you can do is cross your fingers, toes and hope you can be flexible!!

 

[NiceOneSimba]

I just want to make it clear that I was reporting what one dining line employee told me. That is something well short of an official statement. I hestitated to even post it, but people had already been talking about the change in refurbs listed on the park hours schedule, so I went ahead.

I think the best course of action is to just realize that over the past month or so, the refurb schedule has been in a state of flux. Things have been added, delayed, and removed. Just because something is listed today doesn't mean it won't change tomorrow. I think we'll only know for sure when all of the information coming out of Disneyland matches.

And, really, why is that so much to ask? (Phone line, park hours calendar, interactive map....why must you mock us with your conflicting information? WHYYYY?)

 

[sleepymouse]

[QUOTE="I think we'll only know for sure when all of the information coming out of Disneyland matches. And, really, why is that so much to ask? (Phone line, park hours calendar, interactive map....why must you mock us with your conflicting information? WHYYYY?)[/QUOTE]
That is what I am wondering. All areas of the Disney site that list refurbs should match. It is not too much to ask. Also, I will take a few breakdowns instead of several e-ticket rides completely shut down. And I am going during a busy time because I will take some crowds for more operational rides (or at least that was my thinking when booking my trip).

 

[sleepymouse]

Sorry for the misquoting in the last post. I don't know what happened. First paragraph is quote and second is my thoughts.

 

[Darvans]

Having a favorite ride or show down during a trip is always a bummer. If you are going off-season it is to be expected. Those going during highs season like Spring Break have more reason to be disappointed IMO.

I partially/mostly agree with your points. For us, we planned an off season trip and saw in advance that a lot of rides would be closed for refurbs and were fine with that. We just wanted to make sure that Star Tours (kids fave) and Pirates (wife's fave) were going to be open, and they were (according to the site). Pirates wasn't added to the refurb list until Dec 21st I think, possibly a day or 2 earlier. My only "complaint" was that they added it to the refurb list so close to the actual closure. We will still have an awesome trip regardless of it being open or closed, but we were really wanting to go on it, and would have planned differently if they planned the refurb further in advance.

 

[HydroGuy]

I partially/mostly agree with your points. For us, we planned an off season trip and saw in advance that a lot of rides would be closed for refurbs and were fine with that. We just wanted to make sure that Star Tours (kids fave) and Pirates (wife's fave) were going to be open, and they were (according to the site). Pirates wasn't added to the refurb list until Dec 21st I think, possibly a day or 2 earlier. My only "complaint" was that they added it to the refurb list so close to the actual closure. We will still have an awesome trip regardless of it being open or closed, but we were really wanting to go on it, and would have planned differently if they planned the refurb further in advance.

I agree with this and in my post I was going to tackle the issue of refurbs posted earlier or later by Disney. Late refurb postings are a PITA and I agree Disney should try harder to not do that.

I ended up not tackling that issue because I thought my post was hitting too many issues at once LOL.

 

[Darvans]

I agree with this and in my post I was going to tackle the issue of refurbs posted earlier or later by Disney. Late refurb postings are a PITA and I agree Disney should try harder to not do that.

I ended up not tackling that issue because I thought my post was hitting too many issues at once LOL.

Thanks! That being said, I did contact disneyland very politely about the lat closure, and they did their best to make it up to us, which we very much appreciated! But, now, it looks like the ride may actually be open, which is even better!!

 

[Mugglemama]

Oh no. I hope Pirates isn't down at the end of April. We booked our airfare already. Since then we've learned Soarin' & Space will be down. If Pirates is also we're pretty much losing a chunk of the things we most wanted to see on our first trip to DL.

I feel the same way. We had plans to go the first week in May....but if this is true, that means that Alice, Soarin', and POTC would be down? (and I'm not sure that's even the whole list for the week I was going - just the ones I cared about the most) They are 3 of our favorites, and it's one thing to miss out on one or two things you love the most...but so many at once makes all the time, effort, travel, and money we extend for these trips just not worth it, IMHO.

I know there are a lot of people who continue to cheer, "Don't let closures bother you! - there are SOOOO many *other* things to do at DLR!".

And that's fine for those who really feel that way. However, for many people, there are very *specific* things that we look forward to in our DLR trips - things that *make the trip* for us. That, coupled with the fact that we only get to go once every couple of years (or less) means that the absence of *several* of those things makes all those hours of travel (24, in my case - which is no picnic) and thousands of dollars not worth it.

First world problems, I know. I guess my point is that I totally understand why these things become deal-breakers for some. Both viewpoints - the one shared by those that can be thrilled by Disney no matter what the conditions...and those who need it to measure up to a certain standard to feel like the time/money are worth the experience - are both entirely valid.

Here's hoping everyone gets as-close-to the trip they were hoping for as possible.