Rides breaking down at alarming rate

[kathy884]

That kind of thing can really alter your experience in a negative way. Not WDW, but two years ago March (March 2022) I paid for expensive one day park hopper tickets and fast passes for four of our 20 somethings for Universal / IOA. One of the rides that wasn't covered was that Hagrid's Motorcycle one (big popular one everyone wanted to do) and they stood in line 90 minutes for it, were just two rides away from boarding, and it broke down and they were advised to leave the line which after about another 10 minutes they did. It took about an hour and then it came up again, but they did not have it in their heart to stand in line again -- line when they noticed it was back up was running about 65 minutes long, but after having already invested 100 minutes, they passed. No compensation or special passes were given for that breakdown. They were happy to have the one time FPs to do other stuff (made for short waits for other things) as after a long line without riding it just kind of kills your spirit. I think there was one other ride which they really loved that they didn't have the FP for (the new Jurassic Park water ride) -- wait about 50 minutes and they loved that one.

Rides are getting more and more complicated and new ones seem subject to breakdowns.

Just saying OP that I feel your pain.

 

[wabbott]

I think if the weather were solely to blame, then we wouldn't be seeing quite as much of an increase as we have in days when multiple rides are down, versus years ago. The weather has grown more unpredictable over the years, but I don't think it's changed enough to explain away the current situation.

Lack of preventive maintenance, and putting off timely repair of small issues before they turn into big ones, seem more likely to me. Then again, I don't have a degree in fungineering.

It's not the weather. Many of the outages reported were in the morning.

Typically, Florida thunderstorms are afternoon phenomenon. They can happen in the AM, but not usually. Afternoon heating, combined with the high humidity are the ingredients. I say this as a lifelong resident of the Southern US.

 

[Mickey & Minnie Mom]

At DHS EEH this morning, SDD, TSM, RNR & TOT all were all down within minutes of opening.

SDD & RNR still down 20 min in. TOT at 40 min wait, TSM only 5 min but AS2 is also now down. RISE decided to wake up today but that is listed at 125 min and there’s still 10 min until open to regular guests.

Weather is not an issue.

Premium pricing without the premium experience — or even a basic expectation in this case — can’t be anything other than a disappointing scenario for guests.

 

[loves to dive]

It is an issue but a sort of catch 22 for WDW. Some of the older rides are in desperate need of refurbs but if they take them down properly to refurb them you bet they are going to get complaints about them being down during someone's once in a life time trip. So they limp along fixing what they can on the spot when it breaks down so at least the ride is open part of your once in a life time trip. I don't know the solution. I was there one trip and every single day of the trip stood in line for a ride for a hour or longer only to have the ride go down and was told they had no clue when it would come back up. Even had to be evacuated from Frozen (which was fun since it's a boat so they had to drain the water then put boards across). Thankfully, the other people in the boat had a good sense of humor and we had a great conversation during the hour wait to get taken off. Happened every-single-day of the trip. I got to the point that all I could do was laugh about it and make bets with myself on which ride was going to go down that day.

 

[Jacq7414]

Kinda makes G+ more appealing when most stuff turns into experience credits…

It sucks in Epcot though. If you get an experience credit, you can’t use it on Remy, test track, or frozen. So we had a test track LL and it went down - I only wanted to use it again on TT when it got up again because the other rides didn’t really even need a LL. When TT reopened we got on the line and then it went down while we were waiting, so we had to walk out of the ride and they gave us another experience credit. Remy went down when we had a LL reservation as well. Then it went down while we were on line, they had us wait in line until it went up again. Was so irritating. I kind of felt like I wasted my money on Genie+ that day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

It sucks in Epcot though. If you get an experience credit, you can’t use it on Remy, test track, or frozen. So we had a test track LL and it went down - I only wanted to use it again on TT when it got up again because the other rides didn’t really even need a LL. When TT reopened we got on the line and then it went down while we were waiting, so we had to walk out of the ride and they gave us another experience credit. Remy went down when we had a LL reservation as well. Then it went down while we were on line, they had us wait in line until it went up again. Was so irritating. I kind of felt like I wasted my money on Genie+ that day.

Yeah I’d have been stopping at guest services on my way out for a refund or LL passes for the next day for my next park. Unless the line was a mile long which it probably would have been on a messy day like that

 

[Smugpugmug]

It's not just weather related. It's definitely a case of mechanics and engineers being stretched too thin in terms of maintaining the rides. Disneyland is also seeing multiple rides go down for hours and California doesn't experience daily thunderstorms on the regular. So many rides in the parks need a refurb but Disney won't give them the work that they need. Look at Dinosaur. Half of the animatronics no longer work and instead of fixing them, Disney makes the show scenes darker so you won't notice them.

If Disney wants to charge a premium rate for tickets, their product needs to reflect that.

 

[goofyernmost]

Also remember that just because it is an inside ride doesn't mean that the queues are primarily outside. People can get hit by lightening too you know. Water based rides are also likely to be stopped if lightening is close by. Lightening is attracted to water no matter how many lightening rods might be disguised as Mickey Ears. Even Peoplemover has at least 60% of its ride sheltered only by a roof, no walls, leaving the rest actually open to a strike.

 

[musicguy856]

Also remember that just because it is an inside ride doesn't mean that the queues are primarily outside. People can get hit by lightening too you know. Water based rides are also likely to be stopped if lightening is close by. Lightening is attracted to water no matter how many lightening rods might be disguised as Mickey Ears. Even Peoplemover has at least 60% of its ride sheltered only by a roof, no walls, leaving the rest actually open to a strike.

Interestingly enough Safari at AK doesn't close when there is lightning in the area. Neither does TTA. Having an outdoor queue doesn't mean the ride closes.

At ToT and RnR I've seen the CMs move from the entrance to a point under cover farther in the queue to check LLs.

 

[Jacq7414]

Yeah I’d have been stopping at guest services on my way out for a refund or LL passes for the next day for my next park. Unless the line was a mile long which it probably would have been on a messy day like that

Unfortunately, it was our last day in the parks. We had a late flight out and stayed at BWI, so we decided to do Epcot on the last day to end the trip. We were getting picked up at 430 pm for the airport, so I was extra annoyed.

 

[musicguy856]

It is an issue but a sort of catch 22 for WDW. Some of the older rides are in desperate need of refurbs but if they take them down properly to refurb them you bet they are going to get complaints about them being down during someone's once in a life time trip. So they limp along fixing what they can on the spot when it breaks down so at least the ride is open part of your once in a life time trip. I don't know the solution. I was there one trip and every single day of the trip stood in line for a ride for a hour or longer only to have the ride go down and was told they had no clue when it would come back up. Even had to be evacuated from Frozen (which was fun since it's a boat so they had to drain the water then put boards across). Thankfully, the other people in the boat had a good sense of humor and we had a great conversation during the hour wait to get taken off. Happened every-single-day of the trip. I got to the point that all I could do was laugh about it and make bets with myself on which ride was going to go down that day.

RnR just went through a refurb and is still breaking down...

 

[VeronicaZS]

Looking at the app at 11:02 on 7/14 and Rock & rollercoaster, Slinky, and RoR are ALL down at HS and I see no nearby storms. Its really unacceptable.

 

[musicguy856]

Looking at the app at 11:02 on 7/14 and Rock & rollercoaster, Slinky, and RoR are ALL down at HS and I see no nearby storms. Its really unacceptable.

And Slinky is the only one that would normally close for storms anyway.

 

[Bellagirl]

We were thinking of visiting next week with a one day park hopper, genie+ and 2 paid ILL. It was going to be expensive but we were excited. I started watching wait times last week and this week and I too, could not believe the amount of rides that appeared to be going down. There was one time when all the coasters were down and I could clearly see that that was due to a passing storm, but the other times it clearly was problematic. Maybe the intense heat has something to do with this?? In any event, we decided to save our money and save ourselves the headache of trying to have limited riding since we would only have one day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Looking at the app at 11:02 on 7/14 and Rock & rollercoaster, Slinky, and RoR are ALL down at HS and I see no nearby storms. Its really unacceptable.

Note to self: Guest Services at DHS is not a job I ever want

 

[TheDailyMoo]

We were thinking of visiting next week with a one day park hopper, genie+ and 2 paid ILL. It was going to be expensive but we were excited. I started watching wait times last week and this week and I too, could not believe the amount of rides that appeared to be going down. There was one time when all the coasters were down and I could clearly see that that was due to a passing storm, but the other times it clearly was problematic. Maybe the intense heat has something to do with this?? In any event, we decided to save our money and save ourselves the headache of trying to have limited riding since we would only have one day.

This is what I'm saying. We had an easy going 10 day trip so if something was down...oh well. But if you're gambling on just one day and all these problems keep occuring? I dunno...it's a lot of money to gamble that they're going to be able to keep the band aids on long enough to get you through the day!

 

[RedHead0186]

And Slinky is the only one that would normally close for storms anyway.

RotR has an outdoor component to it, yes (the actual ride, not the queue)? I just assumed that would close down the ride if there's weather, but maybe not?

 

[sg11]

I'll echo this report. We were there in late June. Spaceship Earth broke down 4 times when we were on it. Under Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid broke down 6 times when we were at the front of the line and then riding. RotR also broke down of course and had a number of features not working properly: BB8 in one of the pre-show rooms, the transport ship didn't seem to have as much motion as our previous rides, Kylo Ren animatronic, and of course the laser cannons. I get when the complicated rides break down, but Spaceship Earth and Litter Mermaid are omnimover rides! Doesn't get much simpler!

 

[musicguy856]

RotR has an outdoor component to it, yes (the actual ride, not the queue). I just assumed that would close down the ride if there's weather, but maybe not?

The outdoor part where you get off the ride is covered so it doesn’t shut down for weather.

 

[RedHead0186]

The outdoor part where you get off the ride is covered so it doesn’t shut down for weather.

Ahh, thank you. I didn't remember that part, that makes a lot of sense!