Has pirates of the carribean had a problem recently

[cottontail]

We were at wdw the last week of october and the two days I was in the park I attempted to ride the pirates of the caribbean and it was closed for a couple of hours both days due to some sort of problem. Then I went to haunted house and it was closed but reopened within half an hour.
When we went back to check if POC was open there was overwhelming crowd lined up with fast passes not sure if they were from earlier in the day when it was shut down. So we went to another ride, but I missed not going on it this visit.
Is this rare or have they been having some sort of problem. We have never experienced this in previous years.

 

[Ninja Mom]

I think it's business as usual for a ride like Pirates to have intermittent outages. We haven't been reading of reports of new or extensive problems. Another factor could be the age of the pirates. Some of them are getting old and they tire more easily. Personally speaking I believe they could benefit from a Nescafe espresso machine in their break room but the ships doctor warns that it wouldn't be good for their hearts. ; )

~NM

 

[bryanb]

Pirates has so many moving parts, literally, including Audio Animatronic characters throughout the ride. If even one Jack Sparrow or auctioneer isn't operating correctly, you can't send guests through to see a broken show. Depending on what the issue was, it's actually quite impressive how quickly complex repairs are performed even though it might not feel like it from a guest perspective. The parks have a staff on hand to deal with any number of issues around the clock. It just is too bad that you missed it on this trip!

 

[mountdew1]

Pirates has so many moving parts, literally, including Audio Animatronic characters throughout the ride. If even one Jack Sparrow or auctioneer isn't operating correctly, you can't send guests through to see a broken show.

If only this was still the case. WDW doesn't care as much about show as they once did. See the footage where the entire cast on the paddlewheel boat at Splash were 101? Like half keeled over 101? It wasn't an isolated incident either.

 

[goofyernmost]

If only this was still the case. WDW doesn't care as much about show as they once did. See the footage where the entire cast on the paddlewheel boat at Splash were 101? Like half keeled over 101? It wasn't an isolated incident either.

It is a bit presumptuous to say that because one show scene on one ride in WDW was not functioning at the time when that one person was riding by and taking pictures, that WDW doesn't care, it could have broken when they were just coming around the bend. You don't know. Would you want them to stop the ride and evacuate everyone on foot because one show scene has a problem that day or perhaps that moment? It was an isolated incident unless you can tell me what others happened to have the same problem at the same time. How long it stayed that way or if it is still malfunctioning. Leave out the Yeti... completely different circumstances on that one.

 

[monkyby87]

One trip a few years ago POTC seemed to be down quite a bit, so much so we thought we might not ride it during our trip. Then earlier this year when there it was never down as far as I could tell. So, like some rides, it goes down off and on frequently, but is usually up and running in a short amount of time. I wouldn't panic too much, even though it does go down more frequently than other rides.

 

[Oswin]

We were at wdw the last week of october and the two days I was in the park I attempted to ride the pirates of the caribbean and it was closed for a couple of hours both days due to some sort of problem. Then I went to haunted house and it was closed but reopened within half an hour.
When we went back to check if POC was open there was overwhelming crowd lined up with fast passes not sure if they were from earlier in the day when it was shut down. So we went to another ride, but I missed not going on it this visit.
Is this rare or have they been having some sort of problem. We have never experienced this in previous years.

Yes, PotC closes down often these days. The Haunted Mansion also goes down for brief periods too. It's not rare at all, and thankfully when the rides go down they're usually back up within a half hour to an hour.

 

[DVCcurious]

Pirates has so many moving parts, literally, including Audio Animatronic characters throughout the ride. If even one Jack Sparrow or auctioneer isn't operating correctly, you can't send guests through to see a broken show.

That explains why Expedition Everest has been closed for 10 years. And why DINOSAUR is never open.

Clearly Disney sends guests through rides with malfunctioning animatronics. To state otherwise just makes me believe you haven't been there much. I rode Splash for the first time in 2010. I had no idea the rabbit "hopped" along the fence until I first saw it in 2012. The fence rabbit was always broken when I rode splash.

INCOMING!!!!

 

[Naterfan]

We were there last week, and on the morning of the 16th we got stuck starting at the town on fire scene (and then the final Jack) for about 10 minutes, getting hit by each boat behind us. Not too bad as it let us get a better look at the scenery, but listening to that song so many times really tries the nerves.

 

[mountdew1]

It is a bit presumptuous to say that because one show scene on one ride in WDW was not functioning at the time when that one person was riding by and taking pictures, that WDW doesn't care, it could have broken when they were just coming around the bend. You don't know. Would you want them to stop the ride and evacuate everyone on foot because one show scene has a problem that day or perhaps that moment? It was an isolated incident unless you can tell me what others happened to have the same problem at the same time. How long it stayed that way or if it is still malfunctioning. Leave out the Yeti... completely different circumstances on that one.

As I said, it wasn't a one time shot. Multiple people noticed it over multiple days. Or as a PP mentioned, the hopping Brer Rabbit, or the gophers in the caves that pop out of the geysers (or heck, even the shooting water from the geysers). Splash has come back out of refurb with some of those still not working because they have so much to fix. You want to ignore the Yeti? Ok, what about the other AA on that ride. Did you even know there was second? The infamous "bird on a stick" AA (using AA loosely here), that is working only slightly more often than the Yeti. Thats not even counting the water features that rarely function. Or staying in AK, what about the dinosaur AA's that were turned off, but left slightly visible just kinda hanging out of sight for years. (Think they finally replaced them with a projection in the recent refurb). All of those are long term AA malfunctions that were apparently not enough of a disruption to show to take a ride 101. Lets go back to Pirates. The Davey Jones/Black Beard projection would go out of whack for days, didn't cause the ride to go 101. Now a Jack Sparrow AA starts spouting hydraulic fluid? Sure, that would probably take a ride 101. Looting Pirate #3 stops moving? No manager in their right mind would dare risk shutting down the people eater that is PoTC to fix that. Never mind that WDW got rid of most of their spare parts/molds. It was deemed non-cost effective to keep complete spares out back, so now stuff can be offline for days or weeks until they can get the replacement part made/sourced. It's nice to think that show still comes first, but not for most managers in the current WDW structure.

 

[perditax]

I thought POTC was supposed to have a lengthy refurb last year? I guess it didn't help?

 

[bryanb]

That explains why Expedition Everest has been closed for 10 years. And why DINOSAUR is never open.

Clearly Disney sends guests through rides with malfunctioning animatronics. To state otherwise just makes me believe you haven't been there much. I rode Splash for the first time in 2010. I had no idea the rabbit "hopped" along the fence until I first saw it in 2012. The fence rabbit was always broken when I rode splash.

INCOMING!!!!

I can't speak to Dinosaur, since I don't know anything about that. I know that Expedition Everest's Yeti is operating in an approved alternative "B Mode." You can't blame WDW for keeping the ride open despite that. To be honest, EE is a really fun ride even if the Yeti was an overambitious design that ended up having problems. People should be allowed to take risks even if they don't always work out.

I should also clarify: not every malfunctioning animatronic is a "show stopper" in the SOP manual. If a dog's mouth stops yapping, it's better not to inconvenience thousands of guests by closing the ride. But if the auctioneer or Mr. Lincoln is slumped over, you better believe they will clear out the attraction and call a 101.

 

[georgina]

Pirates was down a large portion of the morning last Monday also (Nov 14). What in the heck is a 101? I'm not a Disney insider on terminology!