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by lukey_q 2481 days ago
The article mentions the lack of drinking fountains due to the plumbers' strike, but not the fact that they only had the capacity to hook up either the bathrooms or the water fountains and Disney picked the bathrooms [1].

It's also pretty remarkable that they finished the entire thing in a single year. For a modern comparison the new Star Wars expansion took 3 years to complete with just one working ride (the second ride will be open in December, so 3.5 years from construction start). I wonder if that's due to more relaxed laws surrounding construction back then or another factor.

[1] https://mentalfloss.com/article/541360/disneyland-disastrous...
3 comments
dspillett 2481 days ago
> I wonder if that's due to more relaxed laws surrounding construction back then or another factor.

Relaxed regulations back then will be a factor, both externally enforced and internal rules designed to stop past mistakes repeating.

Another significant consideration is the growing complexity of each individual installation. Also the higher expectations and attention to detail of the modern customer: you don't have the luxury of hiding a few flaws behind the spectacle of novelty, now such theme parks are no longer that novel.

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michaelbuckbee 2481 days ago
Something I think about a lot is how the base quality and complexity of things is improving but we still still consider it the same thing in many respects.

I think what you're describing is a great example, checkout one of the classic rides, It's a Small World:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tbm4Au3dZ0

vs the new Smuggler's Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IZDfFDbGnU

An astounding leap forward in environmental storytelling, attention to detail, technology, etc.

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johnchristopher 2481 days ago
> I wonder if that's due to more relaxed laws surrounding construction back then or another factor.

Might be relaxed laws but not because we were cooler back then,more likely because we didn't know yet that some practices were dangerous.

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larrik 2481 days ago
I'm sure part of it is that they weren't doing their construction inside of a hugely popular active themepark, too.
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