Flooded POTC boats

[dancemonkey]

We bring extra clothes and shoe s for that ride! Lesson learned the first time and no white shirts!!!

 

[dekraut]

You ARE joking right?!

100% chance that I was firmly planting my tongue inside my cheek when I typed that comment.

I am very familiar with holes in floating devices and the negative effects of their presence.

I suppose a well placed emoji may have highlighted my attempt at humor.

 

[sndral]

They had those huge heat blower things outside of Kali the first time I rode it - it was late Dec. and somewhere in the 30s - 40s F. I managed to go from drenched to damp after standing in front of one for awhile.

 

[larryz]

You ARE joking right?!
You do know that the boat is actually freefloating though the guide track for most of the ride.
Floating being the operative word. Holes would be counter-productive to the "floating" and be more conducive to "sinking"

Hey, there's a sign up front that says you may get wet, so they're covered, right?

 

[Disneylover99]

We bring extra clothes and shoe s for that ride! Lesson learned the first time and no white shirts!!!

I think that's the best idea, especially when you know that so many people are getting wet. We're going to bring our flip flops next month.

 

[GaryDis]

I suppose a well placed emoji may have highlighted my attempt at humor.

Which is precisely why emoticons were introduced to the Internet/ARPAnet/Usenet over 30 years ago. And in spite of having that many years of experience, I'm still surprised at times when I see obvious attempts at ironic humor being misinterpreted.

 

[NaturalNine]

We bring extra clothes and shoe s for that ride! Lesson learned the first time and no white shirts!!!

I think white shirts would be an excellent idea :lol:

 

[bmalonef45]

Just got back from our trip and wanted to report back that we rode POTC twice with very different results regarding water issues. rode it in the back row and it was dry. Rode in the front row and we got soaked, especially our feet. We didn't get as wet on Splash!

 

[cbrown1007]

We rode it 2 weeks ago. My husband and daughter were in the front row and they got soaked. I mean they got more wet then we did on Splash Mountain. He didn't believe me when I warned him he might get wet, since I had read about it on here. HA!

 

[BC1836]

This was posted by Ryan Teetz on Disney News and Updates under the "Walt Disney World Rumor Round Up November 2015" title on Dec. 1:

Also in the Magic Kingdom I would like to point out a few things regarding existing attractions. Pirates of the Caribbean recently received a large refurbishment which brought along new animatronics and updated effects. As many already know the boats have been problematic and many have getting wet on the ride. Disney is supposedly aware of the issue but it is going to take a long time to fix it.

 

[chelynnah]

I'm late in reporting back, but I've been intending to share our experiences since we were there a couple of weeks ago.

We were at WDW from 7-21 Nov. We rode POTC 4 times while there. Having read this thread we purposely sat towards the back, usually 4th or 5th row. Only once did they direct us to one of the front two rows and we asked if we could go further back with no issue.

The first week (as noted by several) the fog screen with Blackbeatd/Jones wasn't working. It was working fine from the 14th.

We rode different times of day, 3 times with two of us, once with a third friend. Every time we rode they did not put 4 in our row, but only our party of 2 or three. This may have been because I was in a wheelchair, but the rest of the boat wasn't packed. It did seem that they were doing a party to each row.

I sat on the right side of the boat on each ride and watched for listing. On the first ride on the 8th it was bad, maybe a couple of inches above the water. Nothing came over the side, but I was surprised it didn't. Of the 3 other trips, one listed a little to the left, but I think there Were more/heavier people on that side, and the other two rides were level.

For 2 of the rides (one early morning, one about 6 pm) there was a slight covering of water/wetness on the floor, but no more than I've seen in years gone by. One one at mid-day it was about an inch or slightly more of sloshing, and on another during a Christmas party it soaked my feet.

On 2 rides the people in the front got soaked, on one they got wet, on another they got splashed. I got wet from a rogue bomb on my second ride, so was prepared for the next 3 rides and ducked so hubby got splashed from it. I have no issue with bomb splashes, and those are what the sign should we warning about. We only got minor spray on the drops if that from row 4 back, so back rows as redo itself safe. I'd venture to say you'd probably be ok in row 3.

3 times I took my personal wheelchair out the elevator exit so I didn't see the wet ramp. Once I had rented a scooter so used the park courtesy chair to go in as the lines aren't wide enough for scooters. We decided to walk back out as I could walk that far, and the ramp was sopping wet and people were wet and shoes were squidging and I think that's pretty dangerous and an accident waiting to happen.. This was about mid-day.

On all rides but one we experience stacking of boats around the jail and treasure room, but I remember that as far back as I've ever ridden it, so not a new issue at all.

Having finally finished reading this thread it does sound like they are starting to take this seriously with staff now ch caking the boats for too much water, and pulling them out of rotation. That didn't appear to be happening while we were there, but the did seem to be not overloading them as much.

Hope this helps. It makes me sad to read of people thinking of cancelling their FP or not riding their favourite ride because of this. Stick to the rows beyond the first two and you'll be fine. I HATE getting wet, but I love the ride too much to let it put me off and in the end we rode it more than ever.

 

[bigtony777]

Not sounding good. Hopefully they get things fixed before next summer.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I rode on 11/25 and 11/28 multiple times each day. I asked for 3rd row or behind. The mist was working each time. The bottom of the boats were always wet. However 1 ride we were in the last row and the water was completely covering our feet and the boat was listing to the side so bad I kept waiting for water to come rushing over the side it didn't thank goodness. The 2 rows in front of us were all talking about how scared they were the water would come over the side. The ramp was very wet each time.
Also while I was waiting for my family to come out of the restroom at Pirates there was a cm there that was writing coupons for clothes for 2 families that were drenched. A little girl looked like someone poured a bucket of water on her head. The cm looked like she saw this all the time and just wrote the coupons without asking any questions.
Seems like such a sad way to operate an attraction.

 

[BC1836]

I rode on 11/25 and 11/28 multiple times each day. I asked for 3rd row or behind. The mist was working each time. The bottom of the boats were always wet. However 1 ride we were in the last row and the water was completely covering our feet and the boat was listing to the side so bad I kept waiting for water to come rushing over the side it didn't thank goodness. The 2 rows in front of us were all talking about how scared they were the water would come over the side. The ramp was very wet each time.
Also while I was waiting for my family to come out of the restroom at Pirates there was a cm there that was writing coupons for clothes for 2 families that were drenched. A little girl looked like someone poured a bucket of water on her head. The cm looked like she saw this all the time and just wrote the coupons without asking any questions.
Seems like such a sad way to operate an attraction.

When ineptitude merges with apathy, negligence results. Indeed, a "sad way to operate an attraction."

 

[GaryDis]

Hmm. Free clothes. I sense an opportunity.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Hmm. Free clothes. I sense an opportunity.

Not worth it. Getting covered with that disgusting water for a free outfit, no thanks!

 

[cnunley424]

I know some people who were stuck on it last night during the party for an hour and twenty minutes!! Crazy

 

[Jennasis]

Not worth it. Getting covered with that disgusting water for a free outfit, no thanks!

I think the water is chlorinated to the same standards as a pool would be. I believe our KTTK guide pointed this out to us.

 

[Miskey]

We rode Thursday mid-morning. There was no water in the boat, and no one got wet during the ride. The boat also did not lean to one side. There was no one riding in the last row.

 

[famy27]

This is so fascinating to me. We rode three times over Thanksgiving week and had no issues. We had a little standing water in the boat, but if I hadn't seen this thread in advance, I probably wouldn't have noticed. We debated not riding, but we decided to give it a try, since it is DH's favorite. We got the very small splash that we've had in the past, with no soaking at all. We were in the middle of the boat all three times. I wonder what causes the wild fluctuations? There were some people in ponchos on our boat one ride (must be DIS'ers), but they were laughing at the end about how they didn't need the ponchos after all. Better safe than sorry!