Mark VII Monorail - The Problem Discovered

The following has been taken from Mice Age.com....
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It's been several weeks since our last update, and there have been some surprising changes around Disneyland. Some of them are good, some are not, and some still hold promise for the next few years. We've also got some news that will likely keep fans of DCA's upcoming Extreme Makeover: Theme Park edition excited, while other plans for the original Anaheim park will strike fear in the hearts of most die-hard fans. In addition to a few other news items, there's also the groaner of a new marketing campaign that will soon be announced as a successor to the bewildering Year Of A Million Dreams. (Before I forget, most of the photos here today were taken yesterday by yours truly.)

Got that decadent cupcake (with the heap of rich frosting) plucked out of it's paper cup? Have that mocha latte picked up from the barista already? Well then, let's get going; we have a lot to cover today! - Al

Monorail Blew

Let's start by getting some of the bad news out of the way, most of it centered on Disneyland. Things had been looking up for the original park in 2008, what with the new fleet of monorails arriving on property and some major refurbishments planned for favorite attractions. The first of the new monorails arrived to media fanfare and plenty of online chatter back in December, and we had told you that the original plan was to have the new train finished with testing on the beam by the busy Presidents Day weekend. Well, Presidents Day has come and gone and the new train has only made it around the beam once, and even then the trip was only accomplished by towing the train with the maintenance tractor. As it stands now, it might be many months before anyone is allowed to actually ride on the new train, while the remaining trains undergo major redesign at the factory up in British Columbia.

It looked good, until...

What happened? Things began to go wrong just a few days after the new train arrived and was gingerly set down on the beam back at the roundhouse adjacent to Harbor Blvd. The arrival and installation of the train onto the track went fairly smoothly, with the exception of some scuffed up paint caused by the shrink wrap used for shipping. After securing the train inside the roundhouse, and ordering up some additional metallic reflective paint at a cost of over $1,000 per gallon, things were progressing smoothly on Disneyland's first new monorail in over 20 years. By the first of the year it was time to take the train out for a spin and begin the official test and adjust phase.

When the train was being moved out of the roundhouse and towards the track switch that leads to the mainline at the back of Tomorrowland, the front of the train began to ease through a gentle S-curve that leads from the roundhouse towards the track switch. It was at that point that a grinding and crumpling noise was heard from under the train itself, and the horrified engineer immediately brought the train to a stop.

Much alarm and consternation surrounded the initial cursory inspection of the damaged train, and eventually the monorail was eased back on to the straightaway and reversed back inside the roundhouse. A more thorough inspection of the underside of the train revealed a shocking discovery; that major portions of the cars chassis had failed to make the clearance in the gentle S-curve the train had slowly moved through. The structure of the chassis itself was heavily damaged, and the underside of the exterior body panels had been impacted as well. The response to this discovery was utter shock and disbelief amongst the assembled Imagineers and Disneyland maintenance team.

A look under a current train.

A further assessment of the situation revealed a fairly simple problem, that the chassis superstructure and suspension system had been incorrectly constructed in such a way that it was not making the clearance between the chassis itself and the cement beam. To make matters worse, this damage was only caused on a gentle S-curve of a turn that is far more mild than some of the sharper twists and turns the monorail would need to make out on the tightly wound beam way in and around Tomorrowland and the Matterhorn. If this much damage was caused by a very gentle curve at slow speed, then the Imagineers knew there was no way the train would be able to navigate the rest of the 49 year old bowl-of-spaghetti beam way at a normal pace.

While the new train sat silently inside the roundhouse awaiting repairs, a few weeks of furious meetings and finger pointing between Imagineering and the contractor up in Vancouver took up most of January. There is still a formal investigation yet to be completed, but the smoking gun now appears to be the original 1980's blueprints that were maintained by Disneyland and WDI. Apparently some changes to the chassis were undertaken back in the 1980's prior to entering service, but they never made it onto the blueprints kept on file back in that less technologically savvy time. When one of the old trains was dissected and used in a form of reverse engineering, the difference between the actual chassis and what the blueprints called for helped cause a miscalculation in the dimensions of the new trains chassis. The result is a new train that now has structural damage to the chassis and that still hasn't been able to make it around the track on its own.

Plastered with ads, just like your local public bus

After the reconfiguration of some of the support arms on the chassis that were supposed to be a temporary fix, two weeks ago the new train was towed around the beam late at night by the biodiesel powered maintenance tractor used by the Disneyland Facilities Department. With some of the chassis structure removed and reconfigured, the train was able to make it around the track without crumpling body panels. While there was no major damage to the train itself, the reconfigured train still couldn't make the tighter clearances through turns and it ripped out dozens of brackets that hold the electric bus bar to the cement beam. It took hours to reattach all the damaged brackets to the beam and restore power to the track, and the Disneyland Monorail System remained closed to passengers well into the next day while the frantic repairs took place. Presidents Day weekend then came and went without the new monorail in operation.

Obviously a permanent fix will eventually be made and a new chassis structure will be fitted to the new train. But in the meantime, all work on the remaining two trains has been stopped up in Vancouver until a permanent engineering resolution can be found. As of this writing, there is not an estimate on how long it may be before the new monorail on property makes its debut. And with construction stopped on the rest of the fleet, there is also no longer an estimate for how long it may be before the second and third trains arrive from Canada. The original timeline called for all three trains to be up and running by Christmas, but that is looking very doubtful now. About the only thing that is certain at this point is next month's arrival of the snazzy new costumes for the Monorail Cast Members that were designed to match the new trains.

Unfortunately, there is still plenty of finger pointing going on and even the hint of legal action lingering in the air, so the arrival of the actual trains may be an ongoing story we'll have to keep updating you on in 2008. The fact that the original track layout and construction of the first two trains only took 12 months back in 1958-59 hasn't been lost on some in Imagineering. It's very disappointing that in this modern age of computerized design and instant global communication a simple oversight like this is causing further delays and cost overruns in what has already been a four year, big budget project.

Where's Bob Gurr when you need him?
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http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al022608a.htm

Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Goat Missing

The following article was taken from the La Times....


Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain goat missing



Missing since November, the beloved dynamite-chewing goat on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster is expected to wander back to his exposed butte in the next few weeks, according to Disneyland officials.

The extended and unexplained disappearance fueled speculation on Internet chat rooms about the bleating goat’s demise and led to more than a few instances of baa-baa-bad humor.

Officially, the nameless, genderless goat is “on vacation.” Unofficially, the audio-animatronic animal is getting a new fur coat in the Anaheim theme park’s maintenance department after years of exposure to the wind, sun and rain.

Disney fans fondly recall the legendary “goat trick” — where riders at the crest of the second lift hill train their eyes on the goat throughout the subsequent sharp turn to greatly increase the sideways G-forces (watch the video).

My 7-year-old daughter, Hannah, worries about the death-defying creature’s fate as she waits impatiently for the “goat ride” (as she calls it) to return to its full and explosive glory. In the meantime, Hannah bides her time on the “a-bob-di-bull snowman” ride (a.k.a. Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster).
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http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/?p=1338

Subs = Zero: Will the Submarines Ever Sail Again?

The answer is yes, they will sail again. In fact, they are sailing at this very moment. Walt's 8th Largest Submarine Fleet In The World were brought out of decomission and set sail on June 11'th, 2007.

NOTE: This article was posted 28 months after the 1998 Tomorrowland Refurbishment.

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David Koenig
Subs = Zero
Will the Submarines ever sail again at Disneyland or Walt Disney World?


The sub lagoon in better days

Too bad Disneyland's New Tomorrowland of 1998 doesn't have a time machine. Then we could travel back to the days before the area's grand reopening. Behind tall construction fences, workers busily added the finishing touches. Giant signs and artwork advertised the dawning of a whole new world of wonder. The excitement was reaching a fever pitch—as was the pessimism.

In his first three years as president of Disneyland, Paul Pressler had become synonymous with cutbacks. It was no secret that he rejected many of the Imagineers' more ambitious—and expensive—suggestions for the New Tomorrowland. No matter how exciting the project would prove, Disney watchers would always wonder what could have been, if Imagineering hadn't been so hampered by budget constraints.

Despite the area-wide overhaul, one corner of Tomorrowland was ignored: the Submarine Voyage. Rumors, naturally, began circulating that the attraction's days were numbered. So in April 1998, when Pressler finally consented to an interview for the Orange County Register, he was asked about the subs. Pressler was adamant: the ride would not close until—and unless—a bigger, better replacement was in the pipeline.


The former Disneyland sub loading area is now an Autopia themed shop

Less than five months later, Disneyland closed its 40-year-old voyage through liquid space—with no concrete plans for a replacement. Just be patient, the company assured us, be patient. Now, after 28 months and counting, the question has become not so much when will the attraction reopen but if the attraction will reopen.

Pressler's not completely to blame. Long before he arrived, the attraction had been earmarked for drastic changes. In fact, in 1994, while Pressler was still heading the Disney Stores division, Florida's Magic Kingdom closed its 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction because of the same maintenance, capacity and labor problems that torpedoed its California counterpart.

"The subs offered low capacity, but required high labor," said a former Walt Disney World ride operator. "Operating the maximum of nine subs, you needed nine drivers plus breakers, six loaders, two greeters, and one person in the queue."

He said there also were problems with the water filtration system and, not a leaky lagoon as was the case at Disneyland, but leaky subs. "The subs leaked so much that eventually they had to turn the falls way down," the cast member recalled. "They tried a lot of quick fixes, like replacing the hatch areas, but that never worked."

Inside the company, everyone knew that the closure was permanent—something Disney refused to admit in public. In fact, the company demanded a retraction from Reuters after the news service reported that 20,000 Leagues was closing for good. Disney hoped that, in time, the public would forget there ever was such an attraction.

A Little Mermaid meet-and-greet area was built in front of the lagoon. The subs were stashed away in the caverns and the back dock area. One by one, they began disappearing. Disney put the top of one sub in the Water Tank at the Disney-MGM Studios. They took two subs to Castaway Cay, the Disney Cruise Line's private island, and sunk them to make a reef. They reportedly removed the console from a sub to auction off as a collectible. The rest of the fleet sits outside the Shops area, rotting.

The chances of a submarine attraction reopening at Disney World are, optimistically speaking, microscopic. Many still hold out hope for Disneyland. Top Imagineers such as Marty Sklar and Tony Baxter have gone on record to voice their support of keeping a submarine attraction alive, in some form. It's not for history's sake, they argue, but for its uniqueness and entertainment potential. Every other amusement park has roller coasters and flume rides, but where else can guests take an undersea adventure in a real, live submarine?


The former loading area, as viewed today

When the Submarine Voyage closed at Disneyland, management refused to acknowledge that it was a financial decision. The reason, they insisted, was that the ride was:

(a) unpopular (untrue, as evidenced by often full queues) and

(b) outdated (sadly, true. The primitive plastic fish and hackneyed recorded spiel had become laughable. Watch a film like Attack of the Crab Monsters sometime. Special effects circa 1959 don't hold up any better in theme parks than they do in the movies.).

Nonetheless, Imagineering took Disneyland executives at their word. The designers were convinced that the park would reopen the ride if it could be improved. After the Submarine Voyage first closed, Imagineering devoted months to designing—and even testing—countless concepts, ranging from a modest update to turning it into a full-scale, E-ticket thrill ride. One idea was rigging the submarines with Alien Encounter-type effects to simulate an attack by a sea creature that could rock the boats and even smash through portholes. The most probable scenarios seemed to be those tied into the upcoming Atlantis animated feature.


The turtles are still visible from lagoonside

But, as Imagineering soon discovered, it didn't matter how good the ideas were. Disney was in no hurry to reopen the Submarine Voyage, especially with all the money the company was sinking into Disney's California Adventure.

The hope still remains that after DCA opens and Disneyland goes a few years with no major additions, attention again will turn to the original park. Yet, if that means salvaging any of the old Submarine Voyage, some cast members say the company had better act quickly.

At first glance, the area still looks like a shimmering blue lake. Closer inspection reveals neglect. It's not unusual to see trash or a stray plastic fish floating in the lagoon. The submarines themselves currently sit in the caverns, hatches raised, decaying. "The subs were moved out of sight because management was getting tired of guests asking about the attraction," alleged one cast member. "The subs are berthed inside the caverns. However, because of the damp conditions in there, the subs are rusting faster than anything else. They are just sitting in there. If no action is taken to fix or rehab the subs within two years, they will be unsalvageable."

"These facts are essentially correct," confirmed a Facilities worker. "I can't comment on the time line for the end of restorability, but my guess is it's not far off."


The former docking area next to the Autopia shop shows how it is used as a trash recepticle by visitors

Structural problems also plague the lagoon. The maintenance worker said, "The main reason the subs were closed was the fact that the tunnel was collapsing. In at least one place, the guide rails had broken free, and the repair costs were deemed too excessive. At least one sub had damaged its sail when traveling across this section. The water level in the lagoon has to be maintained to prevent a large sinkhole from collapsing underneath Innoventions, which would take out Autopia and Rocket Rods as well. Attempts to seal this hole have all failed, mostly due to the porous soil, so Disney pumps something like 50,000 gallons of water per day into this mess to keep things 'stable.' Each year, the amount of water necessary grows, and nothing can or will be done about it."

Certainly with the opening a brand new park, Disney figures it has more pressing concerns than polishing up a creaky, old attraction that's been closed for years. Hopefully, someone soon will find the time at least to check up on the subs, before they're too far-gone to restore.
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Alright, when I found this, I was in absolute shock. If only David Koeing knew that the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage would be opening, almost a decade, 8 years 9 months to be exact after the Submarine Voyage carried it's last passenger.

R.I.P. Fort Wilderness 1956-2007

As many of you know, since the 2003 refurbishment of Tom Sawyer Island, Fort Wilderness has been closed off to park guests due to safety reasons. The fort was still used however as a changing area for Fantasmic! peformers and for Cast Member parties. However, the fort was still a safety hazzard, and everyone knew that it would be demolished, but no one knew when. Well, on May 16, 2007, Mice Age editor Al Lutz posted the following "Editor's Daily Note" item:

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5/16 BREAKING NEWS: R.I.P. Fort Wilderness 1956-2007 Team Disney Anaheim has just decided to demolish Fort Wilderness after years of trying to ignore the looming problems with the aging wood structure. With Pirate's Lair debuting next week the demolition will be handled overnight for the next 30 days. A cement log stockade for Cast Member use only will replace the Fort in the same area that the original stood. Stay tuned for all the details in the next update. - Al Lutz

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The elements and the termites have won.

And with that news, yet another Disneyland Resort attraction packs it's bags to Yesterland....
Speaking of Yesterland, this breaking news now has allowed Werner Weiss to add Fort Wilderness onto his website Yesterland, a website for discontinued Disneyland attractions. You can view Fort Wilderness by taking a trip to Yesterland at the following link.
http://www.yesterland.com/fortwilderness.html

While the good news is that Fort Wilderness is currently being reconstructed, the bad news is that it will most likely stay CM-only. This shocks me and other Disneyland die-hards, considering that Fort Wilderness is a park legend. Why rebuild this classic if they have no plans to re-open it? If this plan goes forward, it's a waste of money in my eyes...


-Brandon

Submarine Voyage Resurected: Tony Baxter’s Story

I just recently finished reading this article and I thought it was a very good read, worthy of posting. It talks about Walt Disney Imagineering's Tony Baxter and how he was one of the ones responsible for resurecting the 8th Largest Submarine Fleet in the World. If you are a fan of Disney, a Submarine Voyage fanatic, or simply like to read about park/ride history, this one is for you.
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Imagineer Tony Baxter brought Disneyland's classic sub ride back from the depths

In nearly every classic animated Disney film, a young character is separated from his family, often under tragic circumstances, and has to endure an heroic journey to reunite with his loved ones--a young character such as the plucky clownfish from Finding Nemo. The wildly popular Pixar computer-animated movie is the inspiration for the high-profile ride that debuted in 2007 at Disneyland. Well, it didn't debut as a new ride, exactly. Disney's Imagineers, the creative wizards that develop the company's parks and attractions, added a "Finding Nemo" overlay to the classic Submarine Voyage, a beloved ride that opened in 1959. And almost sank for good in 1998.

The Submarine Voyage ride itself is like the main character in a Disney movie. At one time it was a shining beacon of Disneyland--the park's first actual E-Ticket ride, in fact.

After years of indifference, however, it was shunned and nearly left for dead. Incredibly, the evil villain in this Disney melodrama was the Disney company itself. Wallowing at the time in a bottom-line mentality that embraced corporate profits over creative integrity, Disney played the big, bad daddy by pulling the plug on its child. Citing high maintenance costs for the subs, it decommissioned them--literally--and left an empty lagoon and a gaping hole in Disneyland's attraction mix.


Thankfully, this story has a happy Hollywood (OK, Anaheim) ending.

Another major character in the Submarine Voyage saga is Tony Baxter.

As a young boy growing up in Southern California, he was a frequent Disneyland visitor who loved the sub ride and grew up to be the white knight who helped save it from certain death. I sat down with Baxter, now senior vice president, creative development at Walt Disney Imagineering, in early 2007 to learn about his long and intrigue-filled voyage with the submarine attraction. Baxter, it turns out, is as plucky as Nemo.

Baxter Dives into the Subs
While he rode and adored Disneyland's Submarine Voyage as a child, it was during the summer of 1969 that Baxter really began developing his fervent stewardship of the attraction. As a teenager, the avowed Disney geek got a job at the park that eventually led him to a ride operator position for the subs. Nearly forty years later, he can still recite the pre-ride spiel without missing a beat. "General Dynamics, builders of the Nautilus welcomes you aboard...." He worked at Disneyland for five years.


Immediately after college, Baxter returned to the Mouse by way of Walt Disney Imagineering. As fate would have it, his first assignment as an Imagineer was to help install the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine attraction at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Florida. "They knew I had worked on the California ride," he says. "The field experience gave me a good sense of what we could do at Imagineering." Foreshadowing the hard times both submarine attractions would face, Baxter says that he was often called in to help repair the Florida ride. "The caustic nature of maintaining anything that's kept under water can be very demanding," he notes. And expensive. For example, Baxter says that instead of standard maintenance and repair crews, the parks had to use trained divers.

Walt Disney World's sub ride opened soon after the Magic Kingdom park debuted in 1971. It closed in 1994. Although nothing has replaced it, 20,000 Leagues' fate was sealed when the Florida park filled in and paved over its sub lagoon. When the cost-cuteers set their periscopes on California and closed its sub ride a few years later, they at least left a glimmer of hope by leaving the lagoon intact. Why, however, did Disney want to sink either of the popular attractions?

Back in the days when the Disney parks used ticket books, Baxter says that each attraction had direct, attributable revenue. The expense to operate and maintain a ride could be balanced against the income it generated in ticket sales. Since an E-Ticket attraction like the Submarine Voyage brought in beaucoup bucks, its high cost of operation could be justified. Once Disney switched over to a pay-one-price format, however, the perception changed. There wasn't a clear revenue impact from any one attraction, and a high-maintenance ride like the subs could be viewed as an expense drain. According to Baxter, the Submarine Voyage suffered during a difficult period when the company worshiped at the altar of maximized profits. Michael Eisner, who was Disney's CEO at the time, had been the company's savior at the start of his tenure, but had seen his halo fade when its fortunes started to falter. Eisner appointed Paul Pressler as Disneyland's president in the mid-1990's. With an intense (some might say ruthless) focus on trimming expenses and wringing profits, Pressler slashed the subs' maintenance budget. That led to its slow, sad decline. With little support and the Florida fleet gone, the Submarine Voyage's days were numbered.

"The Worst Day of My Life"
The ride closed in September 1998. Baxter says he has vivid memories of the infamous day. With a flourish of pomp (even if the circumstances were difficult), Disneyland brought in a military band and an admiral to officially decommission the boats. Pressler cornered Baxter, told him that he thought the event was exciting, and wanted to know whether he felt the same way. "I said, 'I'm sorry. This is one of the worst days of my life.' "

During its final day of operation, Baxter overheard a wide-eyed little girl ask her father whether the subs' mermaids were real. He says that he realized the attraction was still working despite its 1950s vintage and its shoddy maintenance. Baxter stayed at the Submarine Voyage the entire day and rode the last boat.

As it docked, he vowed, with a hint of Scarlett O'Hara, that tomorrow would be another day for the forsaken ride. "I decided then and there that, as long as I'm still working for this company, (the subs) would open again."

What fueled Baxter's passion for the subs in the face of such adversity? Surely, his childhood memories planted the seed, and his years as a ride operator cemented his allegiance. But there is more behind his evangelical fervor. Baxter says that he used to cite three rides that he felt formed the park's triangle and best exemplified Disneyland's diversity and unique appeal: visiting with a president and hearing the inspirational presentation of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (which has had its own difficulties; closed as of 2007, Disney has said that the attraction will reopen), soaring on Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and journeying beneath the polar ice cap on the Submarine Voyage. "The more it comes down to roller coasters, the more 'normal' Disneyland becomes," Baxter says. "I think the subs are critical to (the park's) health."

Subs Get Swept Up into a Perfect Storm
Once closed and no longer maintained, the health of the orphan ride deteriorated even more rapidly. Baxter watched and waited for an opportunity to resuscitate the subs. In 2001, Disney's animated film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire provided a false start. Based on the mythical underwater city, the movie offered an obvious tie-in for a re-imagined ride. Baxter's team developed a mockup attraction. Then the film was released. The less-than-enthusiastic box office killed the ride project. The following year, hopes were raised and dashed again when the animated movie Treasure Planet, based on the classic novel, Treasure Island, offered another possible theme for a revived ride, but failed to add much treasure to Disney's chest. Four years after it closed, it seemed that the ride's subs might remain in dry dock forever.


Then a series of events converged, a perfect storm of sorts, to get the subs back into the lagoon. The special effects folks at Imagineering developed a groundbreaking projection technology that "everybody absolutely flipped for," says Baxter. It set the stage to incorporate animated characters into an "underwater" environment. Around the same time, another gestating sub-worthy movie, Finding Nemo, appeared to have great potential. And Matt Ouimet brought a more open mind--and checkbook--to his role as Disneyland's president than his predecessors, Pressler and Cynthia Harriss. When Nemo took the world by storm after its release in 2003, the Imagineers relit the smoking lamps and fired up the Nautilus engines in earnest to bring the subs back.


"At that point, I was savvy about the way things worked in the Internet era," says Baxter. (Hey! What does he mean by that?) He had a team build a Nemo-adorned sub and placed it by the lagoon at Disneyland where anyone riding the monorail could see it. "I knew it would get buzz," Baxter says with a laugh. "And it did get buzz." (OK. Guilty as charged.) Disney management got excited about the interest Baxter's stunt had generated. To keep the momentum building, the Imagineers created a mockup that included the new projection technology and staged a presentation for Ouimet. "I really didn't want to like this," the Disneyland president said after experiencing the sub demonstration, according to Baxter. "It's fantastic...but, it's going to be SO expensive."

Baxter says that even though he told him that the ride would include dry effects, Ouimet was convinced the entire ride was underwater. (You would likely be fooled as well. Most of the ride takes place in a waterless show building, but you'll swear you're under the sea the entire time.) The enormous price tag notwithstanding, Ouimet was sufficiently wowed. He became a champion of the re-imagined ride and was critical in advancing the proposal to the powers that be. (Ouimet has since left Mouse House.)

With a mostly new regime of powers that be, the Nemo-enhanced subs got the green light. It was the first major theme park project for Disney CEO, Bob Iger. It was also the first major project for John Lasseter in his position as Imagineering's creative advisor. Lasseter heads Pixar's creative department as well and was the executive producer of, yep, Finding Nemo. And it has been, by all accounts, an unabashed success for everyone involved--including Tony Baxter. "Compared to where we were in 1998, when we had a company that could hardly wait to close (the subs) down, it's been especially exciting to me to see the commitment and support," he says.

The resulting attraction is a joy for both baby boomers like Baxter who grew up with the classic ride and today's kids who are fully conversant in all things Nemo. It embraces the original subs' charm and utterly unique storytelling mode, while it incorporates a highly sophisticated dose of 21st-century razzle-dazzle. For more about the attraction, see my Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride review.

"I've come full circle," Baxter says, as the subs are back circling Disneyland's waters. Nine years after he attended the grim decommissioning ceremony, Baxter was back at the lagoon to help recommission the subs. (See picture above.) And it's likely that he can be found aboard the ride from time to time, inevitably sporting a huge grin as he overhears some wide-eyed child ask his parent whether the fish swimming outside the portholes are real.

Article taken from:

http://themeparks.about.com/od/disneylandattractions/a/NemoBaxter.htm

DLR & WDWR Haunted Mansion Cast Member Spiels To Be Scripted

The following has been taken from Jim Hill Media...
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A PC Haunted Mansion ?! Now that's scary
Jim Hill talks about the new script that the Imagineers have written for this attraction's Foyer area. Which is reportedly being added to the stateside versions of this classic attraction because a handful of guests complained about the macabre remarks that a few Disney cast members have made over the years



Forget about "Grim Grinning Ghosts." Get ready for "Prim, we-don't-mean-to-offend-anyone Ghosts."

That's the word coming out of Glendale these days. Reportedly in response to guest complaints about goofy but ghoulish lines like "Drag your wretched bodies to the dead center of the room," the Imagineers will soon be revamping the script for the Haunted Mansion. Deliberately changing lines that Disney cast members on both coasts have said for almost 40 years now in favor of less objectional material.

"Why make this change now?," you ask. Truth be told, those macabre remarks that all of those "butlers" and "maids" have made to Disneyland & Walt Disney World guests over the years were never actually scripted. They were just ad-lib lines that got laughs that -- over time -- then became the pro forma dialogue used in the Foyer and the Portrait Gallery.

Well, that's all about to change. According to my sources at WDI, in order to prevent squeamish guests from being offended by semi-improv-ed remarks like "Please follow the blood red carpet into the Foyer," the Imagineers have now written an official script for the Mansion's entrance area. What's more, the cast members who work at both the Anaheim & Orlando versions of this attraction will soon supposedly be asked to attend acting classes. Where they will then be taught the official staging & blocking for this new script.

As you might imagine, once the news of this proposed change started making the rounds among Disney cast members who work at the Mansion, the grousing began. As one Disneyland vet put it:

Copyright 1964 Disney. All Rights Reserved

"Half the fun of working in the entrance area at the Mansion is that you got to play a character of your own devising. You could put a silly or sinister spin on the butler or the maid. It was all up to you. But now with this official script and the new blocking, that's all going to change. It won't be nearly as fun as it used to be to work at the Mansion."

Of course, Imagineering has an entirely different take on this tale. According to my guy in Glendale, this proposed change isn't about stifling cast members' creativity. But -- rather -- making sure that guests who visit the Disneyland & Walt Disney World versions of the Haunted Mansion get a consistent quality product. As he explained:

"First of all, please let your readers know that we're not touching anything that Paul Frees did for the Mansion. His Ghost Host will remain just as it always has. We'd never dream of touching that recording. It's a crucial component of what makes the Mansion so popular with Disney theme park guests.

As for this new script that we're putting together for the cast members ... It isn't so much that WDI is responding to specific guest comments about offensive material at the Mansion. It's more about 'plussing' the guest experience. Giving Disneyland & Walt Disney World visitors something entertaining & new to view as they move from the Mansion's Entrance Hallway through the Foyer into the Portrait Gallery.

Trust me. Once people hear the new script and see what the cast members are doing now, no theme park guest is ever going to complain again. They're just going to think that this is a clever addition to a classic Disney attraction.

Photo by Jeff Lange

Well, that's what the folks at 1401 Flower Street have to say about this proposed changes at the Mansion. As for the people in Ops who have to safely load a new group of guests into those stretching rooms every 90 seconds so that this attraction can then meet its 2400+-guests-an-hour target ... They're admittedly a little leery about all this talk of an official script for the Haunted Mansion's entrance area as well as classes to teach cast members new staging & blocking. They're worried that any changes made here could then have a significant negative impact on the smooth operation of Disneyland & Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansions.

"So when does this all actually go down?," you query. Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely. I'm told that WDI will officially be handing the new script that they've written for the Mansion's Foyer over to the parks sometime later this month. What's more, Imagineering will then be sending an acting coach to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World to help teach cast members the staging & blocking for this new scene. Though that's not scheduled to happen 'til late January / early February.

So what you folks think? Does it bother you that you'll soon no longer be told to " ... drag your wretched bodies to the dead center of the room" ? Or are you genuinely looking forward to hearing the new comical remarks that WDI has cooked up for cast members to say?

More to the point, how do you feel about the idea that -- just because a handful of squeamish guests complained -- Walt Disney Imagineering then felt it was necessary to revamp the Haunted Mansion's script? Eliminating gags that have entertained Disneyland & Walt Disney World visitors for nearly 40 years now?

Your thoughts?

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/01/03/a-pc-haunted-mansion-now-that-s-scary.aspx
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Alright, seriously, this is where I draw the line. I can understand
Disney not wanting to have guest complaints, but it's called the HAUNTED
MANSION for christ sakes. Sometimes I think that religion,
jackassery, or just plain stupidity comes into play when park guests make
complaints like these. People need to lighten up, and actually start thinking
instead of having people think for them. Cast Members have been saying lines
like "drag your bodies to the dead center of the room" for 40 years and Disney
management hasnt said a thing. Hell, I've heard much, much more questionable
things said by Jungle Cruise cast members, and we all know how far most of the
Jungle Cruise cast members take their jokes.

The question remains, why
now is Disney decididing to take action after 40 years? And, why is Disney even
taking action against something as small as this?

My final thought on
this is that Disney needs to learn to stop pleasing the minority and stick with
the majority.


-Brandon Anderson

A Statistical & Factual Comparison - PeopleMover and Rocket Rods

I posted this on Roller Coaster Pro (you can find a link to the post at the bottom of this blog) in the Disneyland Resort Future Thread, and I felt like I had to post it as a blog. What you will be reading is a exerpt of the post I mentioned above, with parts reworded to fit the context of this blog. Enjoy and if you like what you read, be sure to comment and drop some kudos! If you feel like you dissagree with this blog and/or are one of the people I talk about in the first sentence of the exerpt below, feel free to comment as well.
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I just absolutely love it when some people contradict themselves when it comes to the PeopleMover and Rocket Rods. They bash the PeopleMover, which was a success, saying that it was pointless and yet, they praise Rocket Rods, which was a failure, like it was the best ride in California, which in fact, it was far from that. Lets look at the facts here about the Rocket Rods and compare them to the PeopleMover.

-Rocket Rods was a source of noise pollution, something that local residents complained about constantly, as opposed to the PeopleMover's near silent ride.

-Rocket Rods had 3 hour long lines and a horrible capacity. The PeopleMover was dubbed a "PeopleEater" where the ride had excelent capacity, drew in tons of guests at a time, while maitaining a wait time of about 15 minutes, usually less.

-Rocket Rods load/unload times were horrid, because of the fact that the ride vehicles stopped at the platform, whereas the PeopleMover kept moving at the load/unload platform, thus increasing capacity and decreasing wait times.

-Rocket Rods had seatbelts, which added to the loading and dispatch time nightmares. The PeopleMover had no restraints, adding to the good loading and dispatch times.

-Rocket Rods broke down many times daily, and at times, would litterally break down every 5 to 10 minutes. The PeopleMover usually broke down once every two to three days.

-Rocket Rods' maximum speed was around 35mph, had a ride duration of around 3 minutes, and had a height requirement of 46". The PeopleMover's maximum speed was around 2mph, had a ride duration of around 16 minutes, and had NO height requirement, making the ride perfect for every member of the family.

-Take into account the above statistics. The Rocket Rods did these things on a track that was built to handle a top speed of 2mph, not 35. It was also built to have ride vehicles complete the course in 16 minutes, not 3. Because of this, Rocket Rods was a potential death trap, and this has been proven. Upon inspection it was found that the track was severly damaged, and if the ride was to have kept operating, that death trap scenario would have played out.


So I ask anyone who bashes the PeopleMover because it was "pointless" as some of you say, and praise Rocket Rods like it was the best thing in California, after you just read those statistics and facts, what would you rather have if you ran Disneyland? A family friendly ride that had high capacity or a death trap that had a low capacity?


I for one choose the former.

-Brandon Anderson


Link to original post: http://www.rollercoasterpro.com/community/showthread.php?p=5953post5953