My wife and I are Disney junkies...you know that, I know that. So, whenever we get a chance to, my wife and I like to visit Walt Disney World when we’re in the Central Florida area. Call it withdrawal if you will; we don’t get to go as often as we used to.

Well a couple of weeks ago was no exception, as we used up our last day of the “Play 4 Days” Pass they offer to Florida Residents during the off season.

It was already pretty hot around 1:00PM that day, and we had already enjoyed our lunch in Frontierland and were off to tackle Tomorrowland. To save some time and to get a little out of the heat, we decided to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and ride Carousel of Progress while we were waiting. Chances are we would still have to wait afterward for our Fast Pass time, but at least we would be sitting down in Air Conditioning, enjoying Walt’s own attraction.

I’m not sure if you remember Carousel of Progress, since the attraction has been operating on a limited schedule for a while now which makes some people miss it altogether.

It’s the very large, round attraction that’s next to the Galaxy Palace Theater and the Skyway Station... okay maybe that won’t work in this day in age...how about between Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and the temporary stage they have constructed next to Space Mountain? Ahhh, that’s a much better reference. Still don’t know what I’m talking about? I’m going to copy Corey and use a Satellite image then:

Well, the Carousel of Progress was originally Walt’s idea. He wanted an attraction that would show how progress has changed the life of an American family, so with the help of his new band of Imagineers, he created a show where the audience seating would be built on a giant turntable, which would move from the loading area to scene to scene until it was at the unloading area. It’s quite an ingenious design really, because you can hold up to five audiences at a time, not counting the one leaving the theater:

We decided to sit in the very front, on the right side of the stage (almost in front of the right revolving "mini-stage"). Well, we were enjoying the show, when in the second scene (1920's), my wife asks me if the main character’s (George) face looks like he's drooling.

Sure enough it did, with a change in the glare in a line down the right side of his face from his mouth (if looking at him). I dismissed the glare as wear and tear, and that the Animatronic may just need some touchup paint later on.

Well, we get to the fourth (last) scene, which is based upon the family in the future, complete with voice activated Christmas lights & oven, automatic flush toilet, and a Virtual Reality video game playing-Grandma.

Based on where we were sitting, we happened to be right in front of Rover with his Christmas bone in front of him.

This is pretty close to the view we had from our front-right seats. Rover is, obviously, the dog on the right side of the above photo.

We have seen the show many times before, so sometimes we like to look around and spot things we’ve never noticed, or just focus on one Animatronic and watch it for the whole scene. Since we were in front of the dog, Rover, I started to watch how they programmed certain moves and such.

Well, I look at his neck and the hair looks wet! By now I'm thinking “okay come on... two Animatronic figures that are wet?”

But the more I looked, the more I realized that Rover had a drip hitting his chest hair, wetting it, and it was actually dripping down to a puddle between his front paws. I tried to see where it may be coming from, but we were sitting too far to the right to find out. Well, I thought it could be only one thing based on what I know about Animatronics:

Hydraulic fluid.

If I remember correctly, older Animatronics at Walt Disney World run on hydraulic systems (liquid), whereas the newer and smaller ones run off of pneumatic (air) systems. I figured that poor Rover #4 had sprung a leak in his head or neck.

Once we unloaded I waited near the exit for the Cast Member there to load another group. Once she was done with that group, she approached and asked what she could do for us, and I responded with "I think Rover in the last scene may be leaking some hydraulic fluid from his head or neck."

She looked very surprised, and responded with "Oh! Thank you VERY much!"

Since our Fast Pass time for Space Mountain wasn’t ready yet, we decided to take a spin around Tomorrowland on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA), otherwise known as the old People Mover. By the time we were on starting our first turn out of the station, they had already roped off the Attraction from new guests entering, and were waiting for the guests currently onboard to finish their scenes and be unloaded. By the time we had come out of Space Mountain and were on our way overhead of Carousel of Progress, they had two engineers on scene waiting outside. So in other words...

I shut down Carousel of Progress, at least temporarily.

Believe it or not, this isn’t just a funny story. By telling this story, I want to get across that all of us can be very important when it comes to Walt Disney World and other parks in the area.

We have the unique ability to see everything from a guest perspective, and if something doesn’t look right, we can let someone know about it. One problem with tourist destinations is that there’s sometimes a tendency to not worry about keeping up a certain image for a Guest’s return visit, since it’s not known when the current customer will return. This isn’t common, but it does happen from time to time.

What if I wouldn’t have told anyone about Rover #4? Chances are, it would have kept leaking and may have caused more extensive repairs than those which were done because of my comment. That means not only more cost for the Walt Disney Company, but also more down time for the attraction, preventing future guests from enjoying it.

While you’re not on vacation to be an inspector, if you’ve been on a ride or attraction in the past, and you feel that what you just witnessed needs attention, tell a Cast Member. The least that they can do is check it out. Who knows, you may have found something that can fixed now to prevent a major problem down the line.

The same goes in the opposite way, too. If you really enjoyed an attraction, stop by Guests Services and let them know. Believe it or not, they keep very good track of all guest communications... positive and negative.

If you have a wonderful server at a restaurant, ask to speak to the manager as you are about to walk out the door: the Cast Members seating guests will be more than happy to bring a manager to you. Just remember the name of your Server and to tell them that you just got finished with your meal. How often do you think a restaurant manager hears GOOD things from a customer that wants to speak with him or her?

So next time you feel something or someone deserves a comment, speak up! The Walt Disney World Resort will be better off since you did.

Thanks for stopping on by, and I’ll see you next week!