Bad Luck Stories

[The Phantom Blot]

I was at Disney from the 17th to the 21st of June. While there, I ran into some bad luck. First TTA broke down, and we had to be walked off of the ride. Right after that, we went on Space MT, and it broke down while we were waiting for it to "blast off" Later, Test Track, and then the Monorail broke down. Did anyone else have trouble with rides breaking down? Just wondering.

 

[wdwfanatic]

I did! Let me see....buzz,space mt.,haunted mansion,soarin fastpass machines,kali river rapids, heard about test track, and I think that is it! I was also there around the time you were there June 18-24, but still our trip was perfect and fantastic!!

 

[snappy]

I was at Disney from the 17th to the 21st of June. While there, I ran into some bad luck. First TTA broke down, and we had to be walked off of the ride. Right after that, we went on Space MT, and it broke down while we were waiting for it to "blast off" Later, Test Track, and then the Monorail broke down. Did anyone else have trouble with rides breaking down? Just wondering.

Yeah, it happens to me all the time. I thought I was jinxing the rides, but it sounds like you are even better than me During our February trip we even had to crawl out of Big Thunder when it stopped. Two CM's carefully got us out (it was on an incline) and helped us walk back to the exit. It took forever but we did get a pass for another time good for whenever.

I can remember breakdowns on the following

Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Dinosaur
Test Track
The ride in the globe at Epcot
the monorail
Buzz Lightyear

the worst probably was the above big Thunder incident but when the monorail broke down we were pretty steamed since we had gotten to the parking lot early so we could be at the gate early but the monorail breakdown caused us to arrive more around 10 am. Also, it was hot in there with no ac and people packed on and everyone complaining.

Breaking down on Buzz is actually a good thing, you can get mucho points if you are positioned correctly. I once got stopped for a while in the first room not far from the big orange robot and I maxed out in points before the ride started up again.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

Test Track is UP and DOWN every year we're there. It's never quite worked properly. The fastpass machines outside of TT never work either. It's a hoot!! Other than that, we've only seen rides down for repair. Never been on one and have it break.

 

[rpbear]

This is not about a ride breaking down, but a funny story about being stuck on a Disney bus. We were on the way back to the CR and had dropped off some people at FW. During the ride to FW from the Studios a horrible thunder storm started with high winds. After dropping off the people at FW we were on our way out on a one lane road and a tree (huge tree) had fallen across the rode. Our bus stopped and than two other buses pulled up behind us. Disney maintenance was called and the tree was too large to move off the road, it had to be cut in pieces by a chain saw. After about an hour of waiting, they decided it was taking too long and each of the buses had to back down the road and exit by another route. There was only 8 of us on the bus. It took me many years to talk my daughter into trying WL because all she heard was Wilderness and associated it with sitting on a bus in the middle of a thunder storm.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Breakdowns on Buzz can be a good thing, tons of points if in the right place

 

[LiteBrite]

We've experienced memorable breakdowns on several attractions.

Most boring - 30 minutes just sitting in our log inside Spash Mountain

Most fun - stopping most of the way up the highest hill on Primeval Whirl. This one was fun because after we sat there for a while enjoying the view and the beautiful day, a couple of cm's came to walk us down the stairs and off the ride. They were probably the most cheerful cm's I have ever seen, and that's saying something! I guess they were trying to keep the mood light in case we were scared, and they did a good job (even though we weren't scared at all - we were loving it!)

Most scary - believe it or not, our scariest breakdown was on the TTA. We stopped on the track outside just after you exit Space Mountain. While we were sitting and waiting, a really strong thunderstorm came up. DD and I had a car to ourselves, and since we happily had umbrellas with us, we set them up sideways to protect us from the spray that was coming in, even though we were covered overhead and protected by the SM building on one side. After about 20 minutes our whole train was walked off the track in this very intense storm. Several people asked to be allowed to stay put, but the answer was no, since there was a danger of being struck by lightening. The track was wet and slippery, and we were given very careful instructions about where to walk and where not to. We were taken down a little metal staircase which let us out underneath the track behind the gift shop for SM. Some people just stayed there, but DD and I made a dash for the gift shop, where we continued to wait that storm out for almost another hour.

Most dramatic - this one happened way back in the 70's, when I was in college and was there on a student trip. My friend and I were riding the Sky Buckets with a man and wife we didn't know. It was January, cold and windy. We stopped somewhere over Tomorrowland and were there for about an hour. The wife was very upset and kept crying, "We're all going to die!" over and over again. Her husband immediately figured out that it was warmer down on the floor in the middle of the bucket, out of the wind. He huddled down there, ignored his terrified wife, and let all of us just freeze the whole time while he hogged the space. We really wondered how they would get us down from there if it never got going again, but eventually it began to move and we made it off the regular way.

LiteBrite (who is looking forward to her next breakdown adventure!)

 

[lovethattink]

My son must be a jinx. Rides seem to break down when he's on them.

twice on Splash Mountain (20 -30 min each time)

once on Test track. We just passed the speed sign and suddenly our car came to a complete stop. And we sat for 20 minutes, he had to go to the bathroom really bad. When we got back, they told everyone they could stay seated and ride again. DS had to go to the bathroom so bad. We exited the ride, but they gave us a fast pass to use at a future time.

Once we were stuck on Maelstrom. We had just started to go down the hill, when the bumpers came up and stopped us. We were just a few feet from the door, but you had to walk on a narrow ledge to get to the door. After 20 minutes of just sitting a CM came out. We asked if we could walk to that door. He said he'd ask. He came back and the answer was no. So we sat. We joked around with the other people in the boat. It was a roudy bunch! Eventually a mechanic came out to us and said we needed to rock ourselves off the bumper. So he counted to 3 and everyone rocked. Unfortunate, no one rocked the same way. It was total bedlam and so funny. Our baby was frustrated by this time, and we were all too loud for him and he began to cry. Eventually we all got in rythem and we rocked off the bumper. The mechanic pushed us all the way into the next room where we exited at the exit.

Once at Hershey Park we got stuck on the Super Dooper Looper.

 

[missypie]

A brief "breakdown" on Spaceship Earth provided my kids with their biggest laugh of the whole trip. DS14 and DD12 were riding together when the ride stopped for a while. We all sort of ended up facing backwards, and sloped a little backwards. Before the ride started again, there were repeated announcements to the effect of "Your vehicle is about to turn around. Do not exit the vehicle." My kids just cracked up over that...WHO would decide at that point...in the dark, in a ride...to get out of the vehicle? They kept repeating that on thrill rides for the rest of the trip, "Do not exit the vehicle..."

 

[SplashLover93]

oh wow ive have so many like everytime i go on splash mountain it breaks down and in the exact spot which freaks me out right before you go into that dark tunnel with the crazy laughing lol and spaceship earth has broken down on us alot the only one that broke down one was test track when we were on and it was cool cuz we were in the hit the wall are but splash mountain breaks down alot when we go

 

[ReggieB]

Breakdowns on Buzz can be a good thing, tons of points if in the right place

I managed to get more points than the screen could actually show, that's how long we were stuck....my DS4 will not go on Buzz now, complete refusal, he was not impressed. One less queue I guess.

That trip we didn't do well. Buzz broke, Splash Mountain kept stopping (it shut at one point), stuck on Test Track for ten minutes (bad because we could actually see the unloading point!)

 

[dbanzai]

One day when I was at DL, their PoC was shut down a majority of one day... The Indiana Jones ride (worth a ride if you get to Anaheim) was shut down too. The Mattehorn, one of the big classics there, apparently breaks down often. I have one picture of people climbing down the "mountain."

I've been in the Haunted Mansion when they've stopped it for a few moments, but I always presumed that was a loading/unloading issue. I've never had a problem that I can remember where I had to leave a ride unexpectedly.

 

[Flibbity]

When I was a child, my Girl Scout troop traveled from Iowa to Disney World. On our final day, we were headed back to the airport and had to stop at an Exxon on WDW property to fill up the rental.

Anyway, the windows were down but it was drizzling in that old Florida afternoon rain storm style so common in Central Florida

We had problems the entire trip getting the van door open. It was really tricky for some reason...

Anyway, we pulled up to the Exxon pump and our leader had gotten out to pump. We heard this huge explosion *BOOM*.

Suddenly, fire extinguisher stuff started pouring into the windows of our van. The gas station had been struck by lightning. We could not figure out how to open up the van door because it had been so tricky. Finally, I climbed over 3 van seats to the front passenger car door and clambered out, choking and all...

The gas station canapy had let loose its fire extinguishing because of the lightning. Disney was very worried and concerned, and raced us to the airport to catch our flight. They were prepared to house us for the night if we missed our flight. They tipped the valets to take our bags and check them. It was very surreal for an 11 year old.

I remember the strangest thing about it was on the trip over, we had been sitting next to a man smoking on the plane (YES, This was back when you could still smoke on planes)... He had told me that Kisssimmee was the lightning capital of the world. Don't think that's actually true, but it was kind of funny that he had said that and then we had had our incident.

I wonder what would happen to disney if people in the sue-happy time period we are in now had this sort of experience!. EEK

 

[minnie61650]

Yeah, it happens to me all the time.
the worst probably was the above big Thunder incident but when the monorail broke down we were pretty steamed since we had gotten to the parking lot early so we could be at the gate early but the monorail breakdown caused us to arrive more around 10 am. Also, it was hot in there with no ac and people packed on and everyone complaining....


Breaking down on Buzz is actually a good thing, you can get mucho points if you are positioned correctly. I once got stopped for a while in the first room not far from the big orange robot and I maxed out in points before the ride started up again.

Sometimes on dark rides like Buzz ,HM, POTC,IASW they just stop or slow the ride down because a disabled person needs more time to enter or exit the ride.
I agree I love it when I get a little extra time on Buzz.
Linda
Just 96 more days

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Wow, thats crazy, I was there during June 18-21 and I was on all those rides when they broke down!! What a couincidence!

 

[DISUNC]

Been on Space Moutain when it broke down, and All the lights came on! Also was stuck in POC for 30 minutes...with the Cannon balls going off the whole time...AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[ziggystardust]

We were on space ship earth and it seriously broke down every 2 minutes. At first we thought it was the getting on/getting off the ride thing. But since it was every 2 minutes, we attributed it to the age of the ride.

We did have quite a few laughs though!

 

[gigi1313]

our family has a bad-luck at disney record... rides don't break down, the parks get closed!

first time we went in '99 a hurricane hit and the parks were closed for the first time in history... we got the last plane out of mco, leaving my cousins stranded!

next time we took the kids was late august '01... left the day before 9/11 and the second time parks were ever closed...

in '04 we rode out hurricane frances at pop century while the parks were closed for two to three days (depending on which park) and we had to stay an extra two days...

we're heading back in '05... i recommend everyone steer clear 'cause there's sure to be something going on...

 

[aring75]

He had told me that Kisssimmee was the lightning capital of the world. Don't think that's actually true, but it was kind of funny that he had said that and then we had had our incident.

Actually, he was right. Central Florida IS the lightning capital of the world. Lightning strikes (cloud to ground) here more often than anywhere else in the world.

That's why I get so irritated when I see people swimming in the resort pools, wandering around Downtown Disney, etc. when a thunderstorm is brewing and you can actually SEE the lightning and HEAR the thunder. It doesn't have to be right on top of you to hit you folks!! GAH!!


Okay, sorry. I'll calm down now. Sorry for the hijack...back to your regularly scheduled posting.

 

[MOMOFMNM]

our family has a bad-luck at disney record... rides don't break down, the parks get closed!

first time we went in '99 a hurricane hit and the parks were closed for the first time in history... we got the last plane out of mco, leaving my cousins stranded!

next time we took the kids was late august '01... left the day before 9/11 and the second time parks were ever closed...

in '04 we rode out hurricane frances at pop century while the parks were closed for two to three days (depending on which park) and we had to stay an extra two days...

we're heading back in '05... i recommend everyone steer clear 'cause there's sure to be something going on...

I am almost afraid of being there with you this September!! Here is to better weather, no hurricanes or destuction in your path!!