Jungle Cruise?

[Tiffany]

Hi,

My husband and I were just discussing this and neither one of us was a 100% of the answer so I figured I would post the question here as I am sure that one of my DISBoards friends would know.

Are the Jungle Cruise boats free floating? I thought the Liberty Bell was but I am not sure about the Jungle Cruise.

 

[MickeyFlirt]

I don't think either are free floating.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I'm pretty sure that they are not free floating but they do control the speed. I was on one boat when these teenage girls were giving the tour guide a hard time. He was able to stop the boat and wait. The annoying young ladies were treated to a bath by something that squirted water (a hippo?). It is the only time that has ever happened and I go on the Jungle Cruise every trip. Pretty funny and the rest of the boat laughed at them.

 

[Hippychickali]

The jungle cruise is most definitely not free floating.

Ali

 

[yogibigdog]

Are the Jungle Cruise boats free floating? I thought the Liberty Bell was but I am not sure about the Jungle Cruise.

One time we went to the MK and the river was drained, you could see the track for the Liberty Bell.

 

[dizprincess717]

I'm almost 100% positive that the boats are not free floating. The captain of our boat let my sister steer it, back when she was about 5 years old. I really don't think they'd let a 5 year old drive the boat through the water way.

 

[Tiffany]

Thanks for all of the quick replies. We kind of thought that they were no free floating but we were not 100% sure. Seeing the river drained must have not been a pretty site to see.

 

[Dznefreek]

The boats are free floating in the sense they do not run on a track they "float" between 2 side rails which keep the boat on course.

 

[Dznefreek]

from Screamscape!

 

[disney junky]

not only aren't they free floating, the water is relatively shallow, 4 feet....

 

[Twende]

Hmmmm..interesting.

Last year on the Jungle Cruise, we had a student captain and his trainer was right next to him. He did fine until it came time to dock at the finish and he totally missed the dock. The trainer took over and had to do a jackknife type manuever and then put us in reverse and then reapproach the docks. So I suspect that there is no rail under the water near the docks.

 

[Tiffany]

Wow!!! Thanks for the additional replies. The picture is cool. And the no track in the dock area makes sense. Can anyone comment on that?

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Hmmmm..interesting.

Last year on the Jungle Cruise, we had a student captain and his trainer was right next to him. He did fine until it came time to dock at the finish and he totally missed the dock. The trainer took over and had to do a jackknife type manuever and then put us in reverse and then reapproach the docks. So I suspect that there is no rail under the water near the docks.

That was good acting. I spent 3 years working Jungle and the Riverboat... The entire ride is tracked as the photo shows, with the rails so that you still have that "floating feeling", the Jungle boats have one wheel that goes in between the rails and rolls along. The only place on Jungle Cruise that is not tracked is the very back holding area in the storage dock. That is where they can lift the boats out for maintenance. Other than that there is track. The boats have no steering mechanism. If the boat you were on had hit the storage track switch wrong (or the storage switch was turned) there is a potential that the front guide may have come out of the track and in reversing it quickly was an atempt to jolt it back on. But there is a track in the loading area as well.

As for the LibertyBelle. She is on what is called a "guide". The water in the Rivers of America is fairly deep. What the LB has is guide wheels kind of like the Jungle, but her guide is more like the monorail beam. Instead of having the cut out for the wheel as you see in the Jungle picture, hers is solid. If you picture the monorail beam, she has a wheel on each side and one on the top. You still get that free floating feeling and the boat has quite a bit of leway on the guide.

The Jungle Skippers have control over the motion as far as forward, backward, fast or slow... And the LB is a full fledged steam boat (other than the guide) so the steam engineer (the CM on the bottom deck) is controlling the motion of the boat with the paddlewheel.

The Tom Swayer Island rafts and the old Keelboats are not on a track Just thought I would add that...

 

[Hippychickali]

The Tom Swayer Island rafts and the old Keelboats are not on a track Just thought I would add that...

Cool. So the rafts are actually paddled?

Ali