buckaroo234
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Posts posted by buckaroo234
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i currently do 3rd Shift facilities maintenance at DCA as a sound mechanic, meaning our crew fix all the show and the ride control. I mainly work the east side of the park, flicks fun fair, cars land (except Racers), Hollywood and soarin. My current home attraction is Tower of Terror, and on the weekends Monsters for half the night.
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drunk people on Tower of Terror = Code V Piles and nonworking collector shoes.
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right now compliance is looking at mitigation factors, or keeping you away from making a fall without having to make structural changes and training the crews on how to do the new mitigated procedures. That involves going through the attractions and looking at fall hazards and how they can be done differently and more safely. In terms of why this was not addressed sooner, remember we had 2 big accidents involving cast and contractor one right after the other, and most of the compliance and safety staff was focused on ride path issues due to the cast member being struck by a train at Space. Disney is a slow moving ship, and quick changes to massive amounts of policy is not what they do quickly. I have a feeling as engineering goes through they will find other ways of doing things and retrofitting the attractions so its safe for us maintenance staff.
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and if they really wanted to do a stage show following the Meme theme the park decided to use, this would probally connect with their customer base better than most other shows they have tried.
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I beleive it is now time to rename the flash pass the "aint nobody got time for dat' "pass
aint nobody got time for that
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There is no grace period with the return times here at Walt Disney World. If you arrive after your FastPass time, you're not allowed in the queue. DEAL WITH IT! YOU'RE LATE! Personally, this is the way it should be. There's a time printed on the ticket. Everyone has a watch or a mobile phone that tells you what time it is. The moment you start allowing any sort of "grace period" you're back to where we were the last 10+ years of people abusing the system.
I wasn't saying that there should be a "grace period", I was saying that there should be some kind of actual system put in place so that if you're out spending money at an expensive on-property Walt Disney World restaurant and your window is while you're at your meal, they can stamp your pass with an official time extension (sort of how we have re-admission cards) so you can go right from your restaurant to the ride. I wasn't saying that's a free ride to be able to just come back at your leisure 30 minutes late and site "Oh, I had a dinner reservation" as an excuse. I forget that people will just try to be obnoxious and abuse that system too, so forget what I just said. I'd rather the system be "fair" for everyone.
Leave it up to the typically late Californians to try to further abuse that system and feel they need a "grace period" because no one can possibly get to where they are supposed to be on time. Pathetic.
Also: If you go to DCA and hate the new blue color of Tower (like i do) please make it known in the park (as in go to guest services and fill out a feedback card).Yes, because that's exactly what California needs more of. More obnoxious Disney people going around complaining about stupid pointless things like animatronic hair and colour of paint. Really? You guys just got a brand new, fantastic looking land in DCA, one of the best new rides on property in almost 20 years, so many improvements to a park that really needed it, and you're even getting decent stuff for Limited Time Magic, and you're complaining about the colour of a building?!?! Really? REALLY?!!?! *facepalm*
Here's an idea - How about NOT complaining about something for a change, and just be happy you're at a Disney Park and not at Magic Mountain.
--Robb "These are just examples of why I can't stand going to the California Disney parks anymore!!!" Alvey
As to the first point you make: 1. there was no reason to fly off the handle. I was simply saying it seems like for the first few months of the system there will be a 30 minute grace period which is something you will continue to get as a person who ate on property and 2. perhaps maybe you can amend your statement as WDW has a 15 minute grace period for their fastpass system instead of using it as another reason to hate on Californians (we give you enough reasons, dont try and stretch for them)
As for the second point lets remember a few facts. 1. I work on Tower of Terror and those complaints would allow management to actually order the right fucking parts. As it stands right now a dick of a middle manager told us to change the color of the tower WITHOUT WDI approval. I tried to keep that part a secret as it kinda violates that whole "dont discuss internal issues" thing. However its not a matter of paint, its a matter of lighting, which with an attraction like Tower is an uphill battle when your short staffed. And im sure you can understand that when you work your ass off all night long to make an attraction like Tower show ready every day and then have a directive to lower show quality when we cant even get parts to make the attraction effects work that I would ask the people i trust, TPR members, to complain to guest services (and really just submit a feedback card) with proper restraint so that 1/ I can get the tower working 100% as is my job and 2. circumvent the bean counters who make that task nearly impossible.
I also get pissed when i am called a fanboy for the trouble of giving a shit about what i do for a living. So maybe you could amend your statement as well to maybe not fly off the handle at me on this one as well?
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As to what Robb is saying it seems like CM's are going to give people a 30 minute grace period for things like that. Thus far i dont think it will be too much of an issue with restaurants, but not having gone through the Fastpass training im not 100% sure what they will do, just hearing the scuttlebutt at handoff.
Also: If you go to DCA and hate the new blue color of Tower (like i do) please make it known in the park (as in go to guest services and fill out a feedback card DO NOT CHEW OUT A CM!!!!!!!!!!!).
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When yall run ill see if I can be outside tower cheerin yall on! Sometimes it passes right in front sometimes it doesn't. I imagine you will know more about the route than I will till the 3 weeks prior
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i will say at last WCB SFMM disapointed while Knotts shined bright. I ended up dropping the cash for a Season Pass to knotts right there at the park. SFMM was just depressing.
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im sorry but this 'no work has been done' thing is pure fiction. the brakes for the Windseekers are inside the tower, and most of that work is going on at night without uplights on since the work is happening inside the tower. Thats like saying 'no work has been done on tower of terror' because you dont see it. Most parks have their maintenance crews loaded at night, and so most work is going to happen on their normal shifts. And if an electrical contractor is involved, the theme park ones all specialize in third shift as to not disrupt park operations.
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Congrats bro! Hope it works out awesome for you bro, and remember at the end of the day with all the stress and everything this industry throws at you, at the end of the day its about having fun.
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And I definitely hope it works out as well. I just don't see a full 180 happening with current management and the facts the parks are still making money
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My first for the year was Monte... Showing the old girl some love
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so today i had to go process my season pass at knotts, so i took along my trusty cell phone and decided to make a nice quick Hit and Run trip report.
Stats: time in park 1:54
Rides ridden:
Monte
Xcellerator
Supreme Scream
Silver Bullet
Quick Impressions:
It always confuses me to be in a park with lots of children and not have them screaming, not having strollers hitting my ankles and generally not being a clusterfuck. I need to stop being at Disneyland all the time. But furthermore, the park is cleaner than ive ever seen it, the planters in Ghost Town look amazing, and generally the park looks great.
And now on to what yall came for, 12 pics of my 2 hour trip to knotts!
Its still such a sight to see
The Calico Mine trains are looking really good. Looks like they got a fresh coat of paint.
Looks like Log Ride work is ongoing. Great time to do it with the cold we have had
they even took off the belt!
thank god that all wheels extreme show is done...
I wish we had this at Mad T Party... then i wouldnt have to dodge lifts at night
Womp Womp
And now what you all came here for!
Ohhh, look! portholes!
You can see the footers for Coast Rider getting put in
And some steel in the former dock area
but otherwise... groundwork continues!
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im fully on board with the goal of the program... not so much the current execution. But i hope you are right and this is just growing pains, and not a sign of whats to come.
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This whole argument is predicated on the notion that they are going to tier FP+ for resort guests, something that hasn't been announced or discussed besides fans fearmongering.
this argument is almost as bad as MiceChat when it was announced the DLR would be re-evaluating the Guest Assistance Passes to stop abuse. The changes made were really quite needed and made the system a better balance for everyone. If the past has been any indication people staying in resort or out of resort should be treated the same, other than early entry perks that onsite people already have. And really if the resorts are feeling strong enough on up time (such as if your FP+ time happens when an attraction is broken down) i really don't think they are going to screw everyone into a tiered system with onsite people getting treated better than others. Onsite guests already get a magic hour and the parks do magic moments randomly, i don't see how someone with an RFID is going to be singled out for those really awesome things more than they already are. Its a cash grab, not a quality destroyer.
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^I would venture to say that you answered your own question. If both resorts just accept the status quo of "it's specific to us, it has to be done this way because..." neither resort is actually developing the best practice. Are there resort specific things? Absolutely. Are there going to be things that don't work across both resorts? Absolutely. But if both resorts are working together to find a best practice, the end result will actually be a best practice, which I imagine from my outsiders prospective is the whole point of OneDisney.
unfortunately it ends up with us getting MOG's specific to one attraction because the FL management ignored the fact that the DCA version is VERY different. A few choice issues we had with our inspector:
Seatbelts: FL is electronic lock, CA is pneumatic lock
HVC Docking Bracket: FL doesnt have one (vehicle is powered), CA does (the HVC needs to grab the passive vehicle)
Cab Lockdown Latches: FL they are in front, CA they are in rear
Dockside Latches: FL has 2, CA has 1
Air Accumulator: FL doesnt have one (electronic locks), CA does have one (for evacuation unlocks)
PLC Valve Control: FL doesnt have any, CA has 5
Wheels: FL has ruberized tires attached to a drive motor, CA has polyurethane wheels for passive operation
Collector Shoes: FL has 1 set of 6 shoes that keep vehicle in constant contact with RCS and power motor control systems, CA has 1 set of 4 shoes for communication at dock only
This dosent even break down part number discrepancies, incorrect paint colors, the wrong kind of callouts on sensor positions. Our inspectors started to laugh at the whole thing after a bit, and its since been fixed. But its part of the laziness of "one disney' when the MOG writers in FL cant even look at the WDI drawings (which btw are freaking public record!) to come up with our safety policies that make our cast in CA sound like the petulant children we sometimes sound like at this. Why should we follow safety procedures when they call out anchor points that DONT EXIST. Or a change out procedure calling out the florida version of construction not the CA version (which happens all the time at soarin). Its one of these things that sounds great in theory but doesnt work in practice unless you have individuals who are willing to go the extra mile. Unfortunately the cubicle farms dont have those people. Especially when its too much to ask that once a month they help serve 3rd shift by coming in at 4am instead of making us wait till 8am, 50 mins after we are supposed to leave (another One Disney decision).
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As for the Florida thing we have alot of strange maintiance directives come from the Florida offices that rarely make sense, like the holiday party being taken away and maintaince procedures that are written for Florida versions of attractions applied to the very different California attractions (our books have a section for tower vehicle motors, when our vehicles are unpowered) that contibute to that at a cast level. As a fan, get over the Florida stuff.
But good news, apparently someone saw this and we got an extra custodial person today. Yet another reason TPR wins
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Mostly due to shift issues. Its not just 1 person you need to do that with, its about 5 (main, support and call in coverage). Not to mention the fact that 3rd shift custodial is (along with every trade except electricians) chronically short staffed. Custodial really only has the manpower to do selected areas in the attractions. In reality it would make sense, but beancounters in florida are what they are.
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Why doesn't the custodial team do that?
I doubt that custodial is allowed into the show scenes.
thats actually exactly it. We have to tape off where they can go since someone on custodial cleaned some of the dust that was supposed to stay, and left some dust that was supposed to leave. Not to mention faceplanting into some of our effects
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Sorry to kick it back to the rude Southern California people... but i kinda need to vent after my day at work.
For those who dont know, i work at the Disneyland Resort on the world famous "Crappy Tower of Terror". One of the biggest issues we have is gum in the scenes. However its not just a little bit. apparently there is a game of seeing how far you can fling change and gum into the room. The problem with this (besides a REALLY??? gross...) is the fact that this can mess with effects in both scenes. That means i have to spend time cleaning gum instead of doing valuble things with my time, like fixing the lighting, broken speakers and other things that need maintenance or leave the gum, both which are bad show. Its sad that people do things like this... and its worse that i have to spend time on it instead of real maintenance that would improve the attraction or the park as a whole.
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Based on how the rides are built there are a ton of times, even in normal operation with guests, when you have to cross the ride path. The easiest way to see it is at Matterhorn, where the break room is inside the mtn. They have a special break that is engaged when there is someone crossing the path. Thats normal. When we do our maintenance checks at Disneyland we are required to cross the ride path a lot. Even in attractions like Tower of Terror where we don't have very much horizontal movement we still are back and forth in the ride path. We manage our risk with communication and not being idiots. Like Robb says we have to be careful and use common sense. When we don't, we end up like the poor schmuck who got nailed by a train on Space because he wasn't paying attention and got into the ride path.
Obviously parks take aim at minimizing times when it happens, and normally the safest way is to do it when there is a train in the station or the ride is stopped, but the simple fact is, if you are careful its not a big deal.
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the biggest change is in the PLC. With Siemens (teeheee) taking over as the PLC supplier from Allan Bradly new installs require entirely different sensor configurations. That means on a coaster like Screamin new sensor bars welded to the structure. On thunder they cant do that without making changes to certain track sections. Add in the fact that the LIMs used on it are getting harder and harder to get and the time ironworkers are spending on it and with all their expense tracking in the TDA building, a big refit/refurb/rebuild becomes a good option. Much like what just happened at Indy, it also gives Safety a good chance to get in and poke around on fall restraint/fall arrest and Ride Access compliance. Not to mention the ADA access problem thats already been announced (widening the exit platforms so there is more room for wheelchairs).
And if any of that sounded dry and lame to you, welcome to every meeting we have in Facilities at the resort.
Alton Towers Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Just to add this in: bolts on steel coasters, especially in that area (the track joint bolts) break fairly commonly. This was why CA Screamin at DCA replaced the entire loop not long ago. It usually ends up a material defect or a grade 2 bolt being put where a grade 3 is required. Or just stress, as these bolts are hard to inspect for wear. And as ST says, on busy weekends inspections are somewhat rushed, sometimes a small indication gets missed. Thankfully the ride was stopped and no further issues happened (although the most that would happen is a kinda rough ride and some damaged road wheels).