Problems With Pirates Of The Caribbean Ride...

[50thisyeartoo!]

I was at DL on Sunday. I live two hours north, so I'm one of those disney addicts who goes many times per year to DL. We waited in line for almost 1/2 hour on Sunday just to get to the front of the line and be cut off; the ride was being closed...for who knows how long for "technical difficulties". We waited until later that day and it was up and running again. Several times during the ride the boats were crashing into each other, we kept getting jolted from behind. The ride itself was really neat. The Davy Jones thing was a hit...you actually thought you were going to get wet...it was more like fog! I loved the changes they made; I am fifty years old and have gone thru that ride many times since my first trip to Disneyland in 1969; it felt really weird to see the changes. But I liked it very much.

 

[HydroGuy]

I was at DL on Aug 2 and a similar thing happened to us at POTC.

Apparently when they revamped the ride they changed something that affects how the boats progress and boats keep getting stuck where they did not before. Usually Disney is good about testing rides, but apparently they did not feel this ride change needed testing with sandbags - and were wrong. It has been a daily headache for them since the ride reopened in late June. I have heard that on some days they have kept technicians hidden by the sticky spots so they can unstick the boats.

FWIW, there is a plan to take POTC again in Spring 2007 to add Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann AA characters prior to POTC 3 movie release next Memorial Day weekend - although this will not be as lengthy as the 2006 refurb. I suspect that they will plan on some extra testing then and the POTC problems will persist until that time.

 

[iceskatejen]

Many times the boat back-up is caused by the handicapped passengers as many do take a long time to get in and out of the boats, causing a back up. Next time that happens, take a look at the wheelchair line--you'll see that it's probably very long. Last night there were no back ups, even though the line was pretty long, but I think they decided to run fewer boats. When the ride first reopened, they were running at full capacity, which is 53 boats.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I was at DL on Aug 2 and a similar thing happened to us at POTC.

Apparently when they revamped the ride they changed something that affects how the boats progress and boats keep getting stuck where they did not before. Usually Disney is good about testing rides, but apparently they did not feel this ride change needed testing with sandbags - and were wrong. It has been a daily headache for them since the ride reopened in late June. I have heard that on some days they have kept technicians hidden by the sticky spots so they can unstick the boats.

FWIW, there is a plan to take POTC again in Spring 2007 to add Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann AA characters prior to POTC 3 movie release next Memorial Day weekend - although this will not be as lengthy as the 2006 refurb. I suspect that they will plan on some extra testing then and the POTC problems will persist until that time.

Hydroguy: Any official announcement on this. I heard the same rumor on another board.

Jack

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy: Any official announcement on this. I heard the same rumor on another board.

Jack

Nothing official that I have seen. Al Lutz talks about
it here: http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al071106a.htm on page 1. And reports of the constant break downs have been on the boards ever since POTC re-opened,. And then I experienced it myself.

During the ride we slowed to a crawl several times with a logjam of boats. POTC usually takes 16 minutes to ride. I timed it, and it was over 20 minutes for us - because the boats kept logjamming.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Nothing official that I have seen. Al Lutz talks about
it here: http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al071106a.htm on page 1. And reports of the constant break downs have been on the boards ever since POTC re-opened,. And then I experienced it myself.

During the ride we slowed to a crawl several times with a logjam of boats. POTC usually takes 16 minutes to ride. I timed it, and it was over 20 minutes for us - because the boats kept logjamming.

Thanks

 

[ItzKaren]

Good to read an explanation about waiting-then hearing the announcement that the ride is out of order, the boats banging in to each other.....the gridlock, etc.

We were there July 12-18, and experienced a little bit of all of this. The most "memorable" moment was when we were stalled for 5+ minutes in the portion of the ride with the song playing over and OVER......."Yo Ho, Yo Ho a Pirates life for me".....I was right under the pirate who has his leg hanging over the bridge.

I could see the boat in front of us disappear......then figured we would be moving soon........we didn't.....and after about 22 verses of "Yo Ho....." I began to wonder if we were becoming 'part of the ride'.......then we saw some CM's walk out from behind the scenes and push an empty boat out on the track, and things began moving again. That little experience just added to the 'charm' of our wonderful memory-making moments at DL this summer!

 

[mikayla73]

Nothing official that I have seen. Al Lutz talks about
it here: http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al071106a.htm on page 1. And reports of the constant break downs have been on the boards ever since POTC re-opened,. And then I experienced it myself.

During the ride we slowed to a crawl several times with a logjam of boats. POTC usually takes 16 minutes to ride. I timed it, and it was over 20 minutes for us - because the boats kept logjamming.

Oh I hope that POTC is up and running "smoothly" when we go the last week of May. We missed it this past May when we were there. We usually end up going the 3rd or 4th week of May. When I made our ressies for may 27th thru June 3rd, I didn't even think about it being close to the opening of POTC3! That is a good and a bad thing. Hopefully the POTC will be open since I read that it is supposed to be out on May 25th but I hope that it won't be too crazy crowded .. but even if it is, maybe they'll all be in line for POTC! IF the're still available when we are there, I am sure we will be taking advantage of EE to ride POTC (assuming that is one of the rides open for EE).

Oh well, it is our first time staying at DLH so I am sure we will have a great time no matter what! I will probably even wait to see POTC3 at the theater in DTD!

 

[arliepooh68]

we were there end of july and rode it right after it was "fixed" from one of the "technical difficulties", and had SILENCE. now imagine going through pirates with no music, no sound, NOTHING. . . EERIE. . . our entire boat refused to get off until they agreed to let us ride it again with music, which they fixed right as you start going up the incline to return to the docks. so we got on the next boat and enjoyed the entire ride.