By Eddie Sotto
In 1978 Disneyland advertised a new upgrade to its iconic Matterhorn Bobsled ride, with “What’s gotten into the Matterhorn?” ads teasing the menacing eyes of a Yeti. I had to find out, only to ultimately learn what had gotten into the Matterhorn, were technical bugs. Glitches that delayed the opening of the new ride to the point where I was given a special ticket to return another day.
The point? New rides are essentially prototypes, with hidden issues that only emerge in time, and they will break down. To a reasonable degree, it’s the price you pay for something new and revolutionary, so it’s a rite of passage with new attractions. I get that, but when is it too much?
We recently visited Disneyland only to experience the same major attraction to go down twice after waiting for the better part of an hour each visit. Ok, perhaps this much downtime is just an off day for the park. But then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean and it had just gone down. Then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was also down.
We were able to see all of them later after waiting again, but like dodging raindrops we jostled to return to rides as we could. The cast members were even surprised that so many rides were going down seemingly at once. We still had a nice time. But the thought lingered, “what’s up with that?”
Be careful what you ask for
Years earlier, I had a similar experience and chalked it up to random misfortune.
This time I wanted to know more. So, I asked my Twitter followers (@boss_angeles) if it was just a bad day or the norm; what was their experience? I learned from the comments that seeing multiple downed rides was relatively typical in some parks more than others. Some had horror stories, others had no issues and were fortunate.
Went to Disneyland yesterday and is it just me or are rides going down constantly?? We waited for Indy twice and it died. Pirates also goes down as we arrive, and so did BTM. So many effects not working. #101Malfunctions Bad day or the usual? pic.twitter.com/1XxGew9tCS
— Eddie Sotto (@boss_angeles) September 16, 2022
Many blame the current Disney CEO. To me, even though some see him as optically ironic to the brand, my experience says there’s more to these issues than just “They don’t care” or “He’s being cheap”. Further comments shed light on this.
It’s about time
After all, you lose a lot of precious time. That is what the product has become now, the quality of the time you spend at the park and how much will you pay not to wait in line. If that is the business model, a favorite ride failing puts extreme pressure on the remaining rides, as many have already reserved a time for them. Must not be good for business, or is it?
The perverse side of that argument is that theme park downtime (which, based on data I’ve seen, could average as much as 45 minutes per day on major attractions) cuts into overall capacity (which can be as many as 10,000 lost riders per day). It also creates a scarcity of experiences. This in turn incentivizes guests to pay an additional $15 or more for Lighting Lane access to guarantee entry to a growing list of “must-see” rides.
Consider what happens when a ride like Big Thunder Mountain breaks down for an hour. It wouldn’t surprise me if up to 80% of Big Thunder’s hourly ride capacity (or about 1,200 guests per hour) is dedicated to Lightning Lane sales. The 1,200 guests impacted by that one-hour breakdown create a demand to get on something else that is already crowded or reserved, leaving out the standby guests almost entirely. Income from the guaranteed access “lightning lanes” might be in the tens of millions of dollars for a single ride! Imagine what is made on this alone.
This capacity issue is actually so real that the aftermarket has made use of historical downtime data. Companies like touringplans.com are devoted to informing guests which attractions are actually worth the Lightning Lane purchase, what may be down, and advising guests how to better plan and estimate the true cost of their vacation!
Why is this happening?
What are some causes of this theme park ride downtime? It was interesting to note that some insiders mentioned supply chain issues in that certain speciality parts were not available or no longer made and they were waiting on them.
Others cite labor issues. For instance, Disney furloughed their employees and so institutional knowledge was lost when not everyone returned. Can you imagine the cumulative years of knowledge that were let go? How do you replace all of that specialized training?
Of course, there are cost savings claims. This is understandable when you’ve had a year like 2020. We all have cost issues and lost revenue to make up for!
Training is also an issue, as an experienced operator explained. If you have staff shortages you can’t retrain everyone properly on all rides, and then spread them thinly across positions. So at times, operator error comes into play and makes a ride go down. All valid reasons, so it’s not always a simple answer.
Theme park downtime – a perfect storm?
The other thing that we may be overlooking is the unprecedented pandemic downtime of the parks themselves. A senior operator once told me that the rides should still be cycled frequently. That’s because they will, like us, become sedentary without exercise – “dry rot”, if you will. I have no idea what the policy was, but perhaps unusual things are failing because they just sat there dormant. I’m just speculating.
If I had to guess, it’s a “perfect storm” of all of these things as downtime for any theme park seems a lose-lose. Your cast is preoccupied evacuating and restarting rides all day, and the guests are not in the mood to shop and buy a souvenir T-shirt of a ride they didn’t experience.
So, I don’t believe “They don’t care” is the reason. Downtime drives bad word of mouth and bad PR. This is a brand disaster long term, although it seems like it might drive Lightning Lane sales. It just may be a cumulative result of many issues that hit at once. I’d like to think that.
Recovery mode
Keep in mind all theme park companies are still in recovery mode right now. Many are struggling to make up for the most disastrous era in their collective history. The upcharging for guaranteed access to the diminishing seats on rides in between breakdowns and delays is in the tens of millions and is making up the shortfall.
Who knows what that will do to future attendance? I’d rather see them charge more for a less crowded experience, put on a working show, and just overdeliver.
As discussed, I do expect new attractions to break down frequently in the first year. They are like the first new model year of a car, with hidden issues to iron out. It’s always been that way. Nonetheless, we all are paying premium prices. So, as guests, we pay to experience complete attractions in working order as designed. We are promised a “show” and expectations are high or we may choose another place to spend a vacation.
Park downtime breaks the brand promise
As tough as things are right now, operators should do all they can to fund preventive maintenance. Downtime should be a last resort situation. When they collect the admission for “unlimited USE of ALL attractions” in advance from each guest, it forms a brand handshake of trust based on expectation. If this is broken beyond reason, it will erode the desire to return. Most expect the experience to be expensive to a degree, but the value has to be there.
It’s a tough time of transition. So, we want to be patient, but hope for the industry’s sake this is not a new normal!
Please remain seated.
