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Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:27 pm
by TdcOgre
GRUMPY PIRATE wrote:I loved the fact that a story about it actually included a quote from a family, that it "ruined the magic" for them!! I wonder if they have read "some where" that the magic phrase could get them free stuff??

Give me a break people, if its a power outage, take a break, drink some water, enjoy the view....get over it.

I would slightly disagree. If we were on one of the shut down rides and had to exit "backstage" rather than perhaps have a brief interruption in the ride, I would at least expect some sort of a "front of the line" pass for when the ride became operational. No, I would not want free park hoppers or such like. Just some way to make up for the inconvenience.

OTOH, if we're talking about those who were unable to get ON a ride for whatever reason; be it the actual downtime or long lines afterward. I agree with GRUMPY PIRATE-" take a break, drink some water, enjoy the view....get over it." There ARE other things to do.

JMO

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:52 pm
by mechurchlady
psst, the truth is that Disney turn off the power to get free publicity. Cost about 20,000 in t-shirts and additional staff time and reports and total plublicity and air time was worth a million, lol. All them curiosity seekers coming to see if the park really closed, lol.

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:01 am
by felinefan
Seriously, how long does it take for the generators to kick in? At Knott's they kicked in within 15 minutes. And yes we did have a couple of power outages, usually off-park in origin. I don't recall anyone demanding anything; they just went around asking when the rides will be back up. I always told them, "As soon as the generators kick in and we have done the required safety checks, we'll be back in business." I don't remember anyone giving us a hard time over it.

These days, people are so spoiled, in that they expect everything to work, and some people don't realize it takes electricity to make things work. I once read a column, Man of the House, by Chris Erskine, in the L.A. Times, how he had to deal with a power failure at his home. His kids were driving him batty over their complaints of stuff not working because the power was out.

When I was a kid, we could expect power outages once or twice a year. They must have better power connections in place now; it's been years since we've had a major outage. The last major one I remember was in the wake of the Northridge Quake, but we were without power for only 12 hours or less.

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:24 am
by GRUMPY PIRATE
felinefan wrote:Seriously, how long does it take for the generators to kick in? At Knott's they kicked in within 15 minutes. And yes we did have a couple of power outages, usually off-park in origin. I don't recall anyone demanding anything; they just went around asking when the rides will be back up. I always told them, "As soon as the generators kick in and we have done the required safety checks, we'll be back in business." I don't remember anyone giving us a hard time over it.

These days, people are so spoiled, in that they expect everything to work, and some people don't realize it takes electricity to make things work. I once read a column, Man of the House, by Chris Erskine, in the L.A. Times, how he had to deal with a power failure at his home. His kids were driving him batty over their complaints of stuff not working because the power was out.

When I was a kid, we could expect power outages once or twice a year. They must have better power connections in place now; it's been years since we've had a major outage. The last major one I remember was in the wake of the Northridge Quake, but we were without power for only 12 hours or less.
I know, I have been on an attraction that went down. I just waited for it to start again. It never occurred to me to ask for something! just happens sometimes!

I know an industry that is playing on the fears of power outage now. They sell home diesel generators that connect to the house and will kick in, in the even of a power failure. some are impressive in that the will power your whole house, not just a few items!

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:43 am
by hobie16
GRUMPY PIRATE wrote:some are impressive in that the will power your whole house, not just a few items!
That's a very expensive way to go. Throwing in batteries to create a UPS will jack the price up even more.

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:13 am
by Randy B
felinefan wrote:Seriously, how long does it take for the generators to kick in? At Knott's they kicked in within 15 minutes. And yes we did have a couple of power outages, usually off-park in origin. I don't recall anyone demanding anything; they just went around asking when the rides will be back up. I always told them, "As soon as the generators kick in and we have done the required safety checks, we'll be back in business." I don't remember anyone giving us a hard time over it.
The problem is "which generators?" A generator that can power emergency lights and a few minor functions that would allow safe evacuation of an attraction with very low power draw should only take a few moments to a couple of min, depending on if it is automatic startup or has to be manually started. But larger power backup may require the power plant behind the MK. Having worked in a power plant for a while I know that from the time a generator begins to spin until it is able to generate power is about an hour, and that is a realitive low power generator. Most generators are powered by steam (which is generated in many ways) and if you throw the steam to the generator blades too quick the sudden change in temp and sudden speed change will make the generator fly apart. So the fact that they say emergency power is generally up in 15 min means they have a generator already spinning before the outage and are only doing the final spin-up and sync. Even then it would only be enough power to power the Epcot attractions enough to bring everything back to a safe "shutdown" state and power basic lighting. This also assumes that the fault isn't in the power switching station that selects the source of power from outside to the internal power plant. If the switch is dead, having the power available won't do any good.

So while I can empathize with the people who suddenly find themselves stuck on a shut down ride who may be nervous and and a bit upset by the interruption to their plans, I understand that no matter how we wish the outside world would have no bearing on us when in the parks, it just can't be totally discounted. I applaud the hard work that few will appreciate or recognize, of the people behind the scenes who are willing and able to keep interruptions to such remarkably short and infrequent times.

If any of you see any of the power plant workers, or the behind the scenes electricians, be sure to give them a "good Job" and pat on the back for me. If they didn't do their jobs so well that we don't notice their work, we would definately feel their absence.

Randy

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:32 am
by Moonliner
Don't forget the cause of the power outage. If it was a generator that went down, you could just bring in a spare. But this was a circuit breaker that opened (at least according to the reports). That means something happened in the circuit that created a problem, and the breaker compensated. Before you just close the breaker, you have to check the system to ensure the problem is past or will not reoccur. This can take some time. But to most guests, electricity is just as magical as anything else at Disney - it is just always there and they never give a thought about it.

And dittos to Randy's opine to thank those backstage workers who keep us powered up!

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:38 am
by Shorty82
There are a few huge diesel generators backstage at the MK. I know for sure there's one behind the west side of Main Street. Apparently it and a number of others were brought in for the millennium but weren't needed. I assume that the generators are maintained so that they are ready to go if needed.

The one behind MS is one of the largest backup generators I've ever seen. It looks big enough to keep Main Street fully in operation, or at least most of the lights and registers, if not all of them.

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:21 am
by hobie16
Randy B wrote:Most generators are powered by steam...
Steam indicates there's a boiler somewhere close by to generate steam. If the boiler is not hot enough to generate steam to spin up the generator then it'll be a long time before the generator can come on line.

Backup generators have to be powered by something that can spin up fast to get the generator on line. That'll be either an internal combustion engine (gas or diesel) or gas turbine.

Re: Epcot Power Outage SG Tales

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:59 am
by Ms. Matterhorn
felinefan wrote:
These days, people are so spoiled, in that they expect everything to work, and some people don't realize it takes electricity to make things work. I once read a column, Man of the House, by Chris Erskine, in the L.A. Times, how he had to deal with a power failure at his home. His kids were driving him batty over their complaints of stuff not working because the power was out.
Reminds me of the story of the guy who called tech support because his computer wasn't working. The tech support guy told him to try all kinds of things and still the computer didn't work. The ts told him to look and see if it was plugged in. The guy finally said he couldn't see if it was plugged in, it was too dark in the room, because there was a power outage. :banghead: