Flooded POTC boats

[3DisneyFanz]

I think people are missing an excellent time saving opportunity here. For anyone who takes a mid day break to head to the pool at the resort you can now bring your kids swimmies and combine your pool time with PotC. Seems like a win/win.

 

[psiprez]

Isn't there a new POTC movie in the works? Maybe the plot is that the Black Pearl is overcome by a rogue tsunami wave, and they just want the ride to be "accurate".

 

[mom2rtk]

Haven't we also been hearing stories about CMs trying to squeeze even more people into each row? Couldn't it be as simple as that extra weight causing the problem?

 

[roxymama]

My husband is 6'3", we were front row. He was on the right side and my daughter was in the middle and I was on the left. This was in October of 2014. At one point (I believe after the little drop) he had to ask me for a cloth to clean off the right side of his face and glasses. His right side pant leg also soaked from knee to hip. He's a very low-drama individual and took it in stride. It was very dark so we are not sure what happened but it definitely got him from the side.

I am not making a pro or con post, just a "here's what happened to us" post for other people's reference.

My tip is to seat the people who want to be dry in the middle or the left side of the boat if you are in the front. And yes, even very tall people can get water in their face.

 

[jimim]

So I have rode potc at least 50 times and never ever got wet. R we talking ak rapids wet or a kid squirting u with a toy water gun wet or is it too hard to tell the difference?

I just never have gotten wet and have sat everywhere in the boats. I'll have to wearing my bathing suit in 2 weeks and see. I guess all this has been happening since last year cause that's the last time I have been on it.

 

[roxymama]

I'd say someone splashing you in a pool and then spilling a bucket of water up over the side into your lap area. Short lived wave but with some force to it. His pants were saturated.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

that picture was taken in the loading area, on top of the rollers that move the boats. When the boats are freely floating in the water they sit MUCH lower in the water. Several times on the ride where we were soaked, little waves of water came over the side of the boat because it was only a few inches from the surface of the water, I would say the side of the boat was only 6-8 inches from the surface of the water. No, I am not exaggerating for effect. That is my best estimation of the distance. I am also not exaggerating when I say that the majority of the the bow of our boat was submerged at the bottom of the drop and a large amount of water came over the bow and in from the sides of our row. Enough that I was dripping when I stood up and every stitch I had on from the wait down was saturated with water. My shoes were full to the point that it oozed out every time I took a step.
I am certainly not dismissing physics, but I don't think you are applying it correctly to the situation. A packed boat WILL sit lower in the water. You cannot deny that. I think that the overall buoyancy of the boats was decreased dramatically when they were changed out 3 years ago. They have adjusted something else in the ride that has increased that effect in the most recent refurb. The weight distribution on each boat on each ride will be a little different and will effect how and where water comes in, as well as if water will come in at all. There are simply too many variables to make a blanket statement about what will or will not happen. you also have to account for the fact that prior to the drop the boat is on rollers and raised up out of the water. Not only does is slide down those rollers in the drop, it is dropped off of them at the end and is back to freely floating. That is going to intensify the effect of the loss of overall buoyancy and make it much more likely for the boat to be swamped at the front end. its like dropping an object that is a little better that neutrally buoyant into the water. It will sink and then pop back up.

the water at the bottom of the drop is definitely deeper than three feet. There is no way the boats won't bottom out otherwise. Multiple people have reported boats getting stuck and having to be rocked loose. They are sitting significantly lower than intended in the water if that is the case. The track guides shouldn't be catching them if they are sitting at the proper height.

 

[TexasPete]

Also, it's great that some people aren't getting wet or are getting only minimally wet. If they want to share their experiences, that's fine, but it shouldn't really affect this discussion because it isn't unexpected. In the past, they got minimally wet or not wet and they are still getting minimally wet or not wet.

However, knowing that some people ARE getting wetter than in the past (even if they embellish their stories) is information people should know so they can be prepared in the event it happens during their ride. For me, that would just mean making sure my phone/camera are covered and not putting my stuff on the floor of the boat. If you think people are exaggerating or that it doesn't matter how wet you get, just move on.

I guess I don't understand why you'd read the statement "hey watch out, you might get wet," and feel the need to immediately respond, "I didn't get wet."

 

[metzgardesign]

I'm gonna run over to Epcot and borrow that Nye guy, if he's done helping Ellen with those pesky dino's and Jamie Lee.

He'll put all this physics stuff to rest for us!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I haven't seen one person argue with someone who says they stayed dry on the ride.

If you say, "I stayed dry," I would say "Great, let me know what row you sat in so I can do the same"

But the people who claim they got soaked are exaggerating?

Both things can be true, people can be getting wet, very wet, and people can be staying perfectly dry.

 

[jahber]

Also, it's great that some people aren't getting wet or are getting only minimally wet. If they want to share their experiences, that's fine, but it shouldn't really affect this discussion because it isn't unexpected. In the past, they got minimally wet or not wet and they are still getting minimally wet or not wet.

However, knowing that some people ARE getting wetter than in the past (even if they embellish their stories) is information people should know so they can be prepared in the event it happens during their ride. For me, that would just mean making sure my phone/camera are covered and not putting my stuff on the floor of the boat. If you think people are exaggerating or that it doesn't matter how wet you get, just move on.

I guess I don't understand why you'd read the statement "hey watch out, you might get wet," and feel the need to immediately respond, "I didn't get wet."

I think it's pretty clear that Americans in particular just aren't that good at understanding statistics (this is a generalization based on trying to explain statistics to my fellow Americans). As in, "80% of people experience that side effect? Well, I don't believe it. I didn't experience a single side effect!" Well, here we have a similar situation: "80% of the people on this thread got significantly wetter than they used to? Well, I don't believe it because *I* didn't get wet." But never mind. Trying to explain that a person's experience isn't necessarily representative of every other person's is enough to drive me bonkers. More so than even getting wet on POTC.
And fwiw, I've only had a wet butt on POTC because I always make my unsuspecting friends sit on the outside of the row. And they DO get wet. I'm a terrible person. Except that no one actually does get wet on the ride, apparently, so really we are all just imagining it. It's confusing.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Is it just me or did some of the content on this thread just disappear? It might be a glitch, but I swear I quoted a post in my last one that is no longer there??

 

[metzgardesign]

On further thought....maybe the Imagineers DO have our best interests at heart.

Bear with me:

20,000 Leagues is a sorely missed attraction by some (but never to return as a bunch of dwarves have built a mine on top of the old Lagoon, and don't seem to have any plans to leave anytime soon), so maybe there was a sooooper-secret WDW meeting, and it was decided to combine the Pirate-y fun of POTC with the underwater frivolity of 20,000 Leagues....Therefore the refurb'ed POTC was born!

The rollicking excitement of renegade pirates and wenches combined with the newly designed OPEN-WATER (kinda like the joy of an open-air convertible, like Test Track.....only with WATER!) boats, allowing the sea spray to envelope riders in an all-encompassing experience they will be thrilled to share with family and friends.

Two birds with one stone, and all....

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Just chiming in a little frustration with several of you. I can only share what I saw and what I *personally* experienced and it's my truth. I certainly do not try and take away others experiences by saying it did not happen to them, just because it did or didn't to me. I posted several pages back and have been skimming when I can because it's been a little frustrating reading some of the comments that feel others are exaggerating. I don't mean this in a snide way - but once you get soaked and have your feet in a ton of water, you'll know!

I appreciated knowing ahead of our trip this could happen but there weren't too many posts about it but enough that I was "cautious". Getting drenched was not going to work and we just got lucky I guess to get the back row but clearly people we personally saw were drenched.

Not sure what I'll do next time as it's clearly one of our favorites so I might sit it out (like I do Splash Mountain) and see how my DH and DS do but clearly they won't choose the front row.

Heather

Ps. I have also really laughed at some of the others who posted genuine funny experiences and how they explained it so for those that did that - thank you! Gotta laugh while you can

 

[BC1836]

I assume you have not had the 'pleasure' of visiting WDW during one of those rare winter freezes when the temp.s drop below 32F. I have, twice. Even when it doesn't get so cold that they cover the plants up there are cold snaps when there's no hot Florida sun to warm you up - think walking around in very cold air with wet clothes, especially at night, there's nothing blessing like about it.

I think Disney has enough notice that they'll have to fix things. They are on notice that the ride is creating a slip and fall hazard To people getting in and out of a boat not designed to take on water as well as exiting up a ramp made slippery by people tracking water onto it from said wet boat.

Indeed!

 

[TexasPete]

I haven't seen one person argue with someone who says they stayed dry on the ride.

If you say, "I stayed dry," I would say "Great, let me know what row you sat in so I can do the same"

But the people who claim they got soaked are exaggerating?

Both things can be true, people can be getting wet, very wet, and people can be staying perfectly dry.

Exactly.

 

[srferson]

Is it just me or did some of the content on this thread just disappear? It might be a glitch, but I swear I quoted a post in my last one that is no longer there??

It is not just you. Several posts disappeared. I don't know why, but unless we were both hallucinating, they did.

 

[gometros]

After we exited POTC (see post #1), we asked to speak to a manager...and we did. We explained our experience and received an apology. But we don't know if our conversation with him with lead to appropriate corrections. As such, we will make our concern known to Guest Relations when we return to the MK.

We had this happen to us last December, so it's been going on for a while. Not knowing better, we were in the front row and got soaked. What made it worse was we were going to MVMCP that night and there was no way we were going to walk around drenched in the cold night. We spoke to a lead who directed us to guest services where we were able to switch to the following night.

 

[Hudson Hornet]

I haven't seen one person argue with someone who says they stayed dry on the ride.

If you say, "I stayed dry," I would say "Great, let me know what row you sat in so I can do the same"

But the people who claim they got soaked are exaggerating?

Both things can be true, people can be getting wet, very wet, and people can be staying perfectly dry.

I had both experiences this October. The first time, we didn't get a bit wet except for a light misting. However, we were all alarmed at the amount of water sitting in the bottom of the boat.

The second time, we were in the second row and got drenched with the swells coming over the sides and spilling into the seats!

 

[larryz]

It is still ludicrous to state a "wave hit me in the face".

How tall the rider is may play a big part in where they get splashed. I, for one, do not doubt that someone as tall as my little sister (not quite 5 feet tall) might have been hit in the face if others are describing waves that splashed them waist-high on up...