It's all a matter of perspective...

[Klayfish]

Just got back from our 17 day trip. Sitting here in my office back to work, so incredibly sad to be back to reality. Anyhow, that's not what I'm posting about.

It's funny how the same events can be viewed through different sets of eyes. I read here about everyone's dreading of having to be evac'd from a ride. It very rarely happens to us, almost never. We've had several times where a ride broke while we were in line, but quite uncommon for it to happen while we're on it.

July 3rd was our last day of vacation. The kids wanted to end it in Magic Kingdom. We had a FP+ for Pirates around 10:00am. We got on and were having a wonderful time, it's one of my oldest sons' favorite rides. As we entered the room prior to the last one, the one with everything on fire, we noticed the boats backed up and we joined the conga line right before going under the bridge to leave the room. My wife and I didn't think much of it, as that's happened before. Well 3 minutes later we still haven't moved and the line is backed up now to the beginning of the room. Huh... 5 more minutes go by. OK, there's definitely a problem. They announce several times that they're shutting down and restarting the ride. Nothing. Mercifully, they shut the music off after about 15 minutes. Nearly 30 minutes in, they turn all the lights on and advise a cast member will be there to assist us. Poor CMs have to get in the water and push the boats by hand to the nearest emergency exit. For us, it was behind us near the entrance to the room. A total of 40-45 minutes after it all started, we walked out the back of the ride to where only CMs are typically allowed. We had to walk all the way around the back of the building and the back of Jungle Cruise before we worked our way back into the guest area of the park. Along the way, there were no less than 10-15 CMs guiding us and apologizing. At the re-entry point, CMs were handing out free ice cream and FP+ tickets.

While my wife and I weren't upset over it (we didn't have hard and fast plans that we missed), it wasn't exactly what we wanted. On the other hand, my kids thought it was the coolest thing that happened the entire trip. They thought it was just awesome to see the ride lit up, be able to walk where only CMs go and get free ice cream. They talked about it with excitement all day, and even on our drive home yesterday. Ahhh...to see things through the eyes of a child.

 

[BudgieMama]

Their reaction doesn't surprise me.

I got evacuated off a rollercoaster once here in the UK- one I've ridden many times before. I enjoy the ride but... most memorable? Most fun? The evacuation. Hands down. It's a coaster in the dark (a la Space Mountain) so seeing it with the lights on was awesome!

 

[Disneylover99]

I wouldn't mind being stuck on Pirate's. I'd think it was cool too.
But when I'm stuck on a ride where I'm strapped in???

My perspective would be .

 

[Aliceacc]

I like your kids!!!

 

[jo-jo]

You are the first person I've heard getting ice cream.

I've never been evacuated off a ride. Once we were stuck in Carousal of Progress where one room played about 6 times, but that's it. Aside from that, just the usual pause up to 10 min stoppage.

 

[glassslippergirl]

When your kids have kids and take their kids on PotC, they'll still be telling that story. Super cool experience!

 

[kamik86]

The only one I got stuck on that bothered me was at disney land on the wheel of doom (the Ferris wheel).

I'm mildly afraid of heights. Non swinging ride was fine but DH convinced me to the do the swinging one. We were one of the last in and as they had us getting out the ride didn't stop for us to get out and they sent us all the way around again, with the ride still stopping pretty often even though they didnt' load anyone after us... It was freaking and I honestly didn't enjoy the first go round and REALLY wanted off. So I was flipping out... becuase I was already scarred of the ride and now its broken and I'm stuck.

It was one of teh shorter times being stuck to be honest probably under 10 min total really but seemed much longer at the time.


Being evaced out of Ellens and walking through lit up was cool (although I was still in the dinosaur sections so not very far in) So was the time we got stuck on priates for a while (they didn't end up emergency exiting us but we were right near one... at the "dead men tell no tales" area.)

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Best ever ride break down for us was this past February. We were on Star Tours and it was almost over, the final scene was up and the ride would have been over in about 30 seconds. For whatever reason the film froze/glitched and the CM came in and reset everything and we got to go again. Great thing was it was a different movie, so we felt like we got a 2 for 1 deal that day

 

[lustergirl]

I got stuck on Small World for about 5 minutes once, still can't get that song out my head.

 

[k8Davies]

it those experience people remember, how many times do you ride these rides and each time even though they are great blur into the other.

I remember a POTC ride, well not so much about the ride but at the end of it and my father managed to drop his glasses out of his pocket and they fell straight down in between the boat and the side (and that's not a big gap at all). Also as they were prescription for the rest of the day (till we got back to the hotel and picked up the back up pair) he had to borrow my mother's very stylized ones every time he needed to read something, which caused much amusement for the rest of the family.

That was back in 2009 and every trip since then, when we're on the ride we always say as we get off "Dad keep hold of your glasses", a helpful PSA for other on the boat and a inside (albeit not a side splitter) joke for the family

 

[phillymummer]

My hubby and I got stuck on Journey into Imagination. The ride stopped 2 times but only for a few minutes before going again. The third time, we sat for awhile in the room with the moon. The lights came on and we had to be escorted out. BUT... we had to to wait for CMs to bring us a "bridge" bc there was a foot-wide gap between the car and the track. We really didn't mind because it was super hot outside and at least we were in AC. We didn't have any ADRs or FPs to get too. Plus, we got a FP+ out of it. TT, here we come!

After that, every time a ride stopped hubby and I just looked at each other and groaned.

 

[Minnesota!]

We were evacuated from Splash once and it was really cool...for all of us! I love seeing behind the scenes. We were inside, it was cool and dark, etc.

 

[Dbktmc]

We were "lucky" enough to be evacuated off of Spaceship Earth around 2008. We were near the top and were able to look around and really take in the scene before we walked off. We still talk about it today.

About 2 weeks ago we were escorted off of Frozen after the first scene. I have a ton of pictures of the scene once the lights came on because we love getting that extra time in each ride. We weren't thrilled that the cast members didn't allow us back in line as we never go to experience the ride before we had to leave Disney. For us, it isn't that big of a deal because we are returning in October but for my 71 year old mom and 77 year old dad this may have been their last trip to the parks.

Either way, getting to experience extra time in the rides with the lights on is always an amazing experience!

 

[ejdmomma]

We had a similar experience on Winnie the Pooh. Ride stopped, we sat for about 5 minutes and then the lights came on. They announced that they were going to reset the ride...nothing. CMs came around with step ladders to evacuate the cars and we had to walk through the ride to exit. We snapped a couple of pics on our way out. My kids talked about it for weeks and bring it up every trip. They thought it was the coolest experience...ever. We got FPs, no ice cream

It's all about attitude.

 

[cvjw]

My boys had to be evacuated off space mountain one time. The CM's turned the lights on and walked them all down the metal stairs to get off the ride. They talked about it for days - highlight of the trip

 

[LadyRayado]

This happened to me as well, almost the exact same situation in PotC except we were in the "auction" room and were stuck about 90 minutes - because we were the last boat to be evac'ed. The only downside was we missed the parade. But, it was extremely hot and humid outside and my 2-year-old crashed as soon as we got in the boat. He took a nice, long, cool nap in the dark and AC while I got to relax awhile. We also got an anytime/anything FP when we left, as well as ice cream and bottled water. Everyone around us was chill and nobody threw a fit, which helped. For me, I chose to see it as a unique, one-of-a-kind experience with the lights on and the behind-the-scenes walk.

 

[Klayfish]

We were "lucky" enough to be evacuated off of Spaceship Earth around 2008. We were near the top and were able to look around and really take in the scene before we walked off. We still talk about it today.

Spaceship Earth is one ride I wouldn't mind being evac'd from. I'm very curious what it looks like inside with the lights on. It's a continual slow climb until the rapid decent at the end. Curious what the track pattern actually looks like.

 

[tsme]

I think it would so much fun to be evacuated off a ride at Disney. I'd love to see everything all lit up & the back stage stuff.

 

[GPC0321]

I got stuck on Small World for about 5 minutes once, still can't get that song out my head.

Ahhh! When reading the OP's story I thought about getting stuck on Small World. I'd be borderline insane by the time I got out of there, LOL!

 

[Jennasis]

Getting evac'd off a ride is on my Disney bucket list!