Can I survive Kali River Rapids without becoming a drowned rat?

[blanq]

I have not done this ride in the past, for fear I will become soaked. The thought of schleping through AK with water sloshing in my tennies is less than appealing to me, but to be honest I think the ride itself would be thrilling. Does anyone have any tips for escaping a full soaking on this ride? I am aware of the garbage bag option, but that won't help my feet. Is there a better place to sit? If I am aware of the spots in the ride where you get waves, could I somehow position myself better? Help me become a Kali River Rapids convert!

 

[nowellsl]

Take your shoes and socks off and put them in the storage area in the center of the raft. Take a poncho! It's a great ride!!

 

[honeymo78]

There really isn't any place to sit not to get wet since the boat will rotate in the water and you never know when it will turn. In my experience on these types of rides at other parks sometimes the person in the party who wants to get wet the most (usually my brother) will walk off completely dry and the person who wants to get wet the least (I went through a phase) will end up looking like a drowned rat.

I second putting your shoes in the center.

 

[Pirate Mickey]

I'm with you blanq...

I've never ridden this ride because I don't want to get soaked and have to suffer the rest of the day!!

 

[Synonymous]

There is no way to tell which seats will get it. It's a free-floating raft that spins as you go through the ride. I think the side that has the most weight is more likely to go down the hills first, thus getting the worst wetting. And those that do get hit will REALLY get it. Soaked to the skin. Most people say ponchos help- I haven't tried that.

As for your feet, if you can remember to keep them up on the foot rail, they probably won't get TOO bad. Last time I forgot, and put my feet on the floor of the boat. Soaked through.

 

[sanmc12]

Getting wet is half the fun, your in Florida you'll dry!, have fun

 

[grinningghost]

In a word - no. Kali is THE wettest water ride I've ever been on. If you really and truly don't want to get wet, don't ride.

 

[Fantasmic303]

Along the same lines, what have people done with cameras? We'll have both a video and regular photo, and we don't want to get them ruined - will the center thing keep them dry? Or can we leave them with CMs?

 

[jody]

Sounds like it would be fun if this ride was at Typhoon Lagoon!

 

[nowellsl]

There's usually not much room in the center area for cameras etc. depending on how many people put shoes in (usually the whole raft). I'd take a plastic bag and wrap it up, or put it up under a poncho. We took cameras in our fanny packs and they were fine under the poncho.

 

[markºoº]

Based upon our experience, you can guarantee at least 2-3 people will get completely soaked. DS and I rode 3 straight times in December when there was no line. We got lucky and barely got wet each time. However, a few people always got soaked.

As for the camera, I would not rely on the center "dry" bin. The bin is almost always full. Bring a poncho and keep the camera/video inside a backpack or or sack under the poncho.

BTW, the poncho will help somewhat but is not fullproof. If you are the lucky one to get dumped on, the poncho might keep the shirt dry but your pants (especially the seat) will probably still get very wet.

 

[DMRick]

We rode over 20 times in a row (they let us stay in, until the crowds built, and then they showed us where to go part way up the exit, and a CM was there to let us in line when no one was coming). I have to admit, we did some play acting, scaring dressed up people as we stood and rung out our clothes, while waiting to get back on. We brought a change of clothes and towel (they sell them as you get off of course), and plastic garbage bag for our backpack in case it wouldn't fit in the middle (which doesn't always stay dry). They would not let us leave our backpack behind.
We did find that the "boat" seems to do the same twirl just about each trip, and some seats (seemed to be always the same) stayed pretty dry. I can't remember which they were..but hubby thought it was the seats to the right when you get in.
We looked like drowned rats when we finally stopped getting on, and more than one person left the waiting line when they saw us LOL!
Of course, then we went and put money in the machines to squirt other people. I noticed when we were there in January, in the cold, that the machines were gone. A couple of years ago, they had a hugh heat blow machine to dry off with.

 

[dgaston]

You can try to tuck the poncho in around you to lessen the lower body getting wet, but it still happens. We usually put our shoes in the center or ride with Tevas.

If you ride with me, you'll probably stay dry--I think I always get wet! And if I didn't the folks squirting from the bridge took care of that.

 

[sm4987]

You do get wet. Although my family and I wore the ponchos on the ride (we had on the heavy ones from Walmart) and we came off with the wet socks and shoes. Other than that because the ponchos were so thick, our clothes were pretty dry.

 

[JudithM]

When we go to AK & think it will be warm enough to ride Kali, we bring flip flops. We change our shoes before we get in line. We have ALWAYS gotten wet !

 

[robinb]

We road with my 3 year old in December. Yes, December. It was in the low-mid 60's and there was no line. We wore our Mickey ponchos, stuffed our shoes and socks into the bin and made sure our feet were off the floor when we went down. We tucked our ponchos under our butts as much as possible and hunched over when we went down -- backwards. Even so, we were pretty dry. We also brought a towel and a change of clothes for the 3 year old and 2 dry t-shirts for us, but we didn't need them. In the summer I just go ahead and get soaked .

 

[Redbeard52]

I have two words for you:

Flip flops...

Wear those instead of tennis shoes and you're all set.

Seriously, as the other fine folks above mentioned, there is no way to guarantee dryness on this fantastic ride. It's Disney and the theme-ing is very well-done.

What we do is this: we wear cotton shorts and t-shirts and we all wear sandals and flip-flops. The cotton dries out soon enough. The big answer here is do not ride it in the middle of your day at AK. Either do it first, or last.

Ride it. Enjoy it. Have fun. Know that there are many people that will not get the chance to ride it this year due to one reason or another.

 

[nowellsl]

One year we got so wet we went to the Rainforest Cafe and bought T shirts (they're usually 2 for $20 a lot cheaper than the park ones!). This year we had ponchos and stayed dry as could be. (We still went back to rainforest Cafe and bought more T-shirts).

 

[karenrc]

Does anybody know if Kali is like Grizzly River Run at DL? Other than the theming of course.

 

[fklhou]

First, I have found if you keep your shoes and sock dry, then you are not so miserable. You can put your shoes and sock in the middle compartment or you can keep you feet up on the bar. I have found that keeping my feet on the bar works fine.

As to the rest of your body, ony a third of so of the riders will get significantly wet on any one run. I am usually one of the peoples who get wet and one of my children loves sitting next to me because she knows that we will get drenched. Getting wet is not that bad because normally you dry out fairly quickly. I have been drenched on several occasions and it has not been that big of an issue.

Have fun.