It’s Back to the Drawing Board for Disney’s Troublesome Zephyr
As the Walt Disney Co. puts finishing touches on its California Adventure park in Anaheim, its custom-made Golden Zephyr ride has been anything but a breeze.
In fact, the ride is weathering some tough testing at the new park, which needs all its rides in operation to ensure patrons will have enough to do, a Disney ride expert says.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Oct. 6, 2000 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday October 6, 2000 Orange County Edition Business Part C Page 4 Financial Desk 2 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Disney ride--A story Thursday about test failures of the Golden Zephyr swing ride at the new California Adventure park misidentified the manufacturer of the ride. The builder is D.H. Morgan Manufacturing Inc. in La Selva Beach, Calif., which states that the ride will be operational when the park opens Feb. 8.
Officials at Intamin AG, the builder, declined comment. A Disney spokesman didn’t return a call seeking comment.
The Zephyr, located in an area of California Adventure designed to look like an old beachfront amusement park, spins six large, silver “rocket” vehicles attached by cables to a central tower.
“But when it was fired up for the first time, the rocket cable caught a light pole and ripped it out of the ground,” said the Disney ride expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The ride also swung out too far into a parade route and vibrated dangerously. It was shut down for redesign.
The Zephyr was tested again recently, but the new cables were too short, the expert said. “The cables were dismantled, and it’s back to the drawing board.”
Getting the Zephyr up and running is crucial to Disney, because it’s one of the higher-capacity rides in the new park, spinning 72 riders at a time for two minutes.
With only one-third as many attractions and shows as Disneyland, California Adventure “can’t afford to have a single attraction not ready for opening day,” the expert said.
E. Scott Reckard covers tourism for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com.
