Kids stole the keys from the dog at POTC

[sydneysmom]

I think it's very sad when vandalism is considered a good time. I have to admit, I'm glad I wasn't on w/ my DD6... she's little and to her everything there is magic. If she saw someone stealing from the ride or defacing it, it would crush her. It would crush me, to be honest.

What goes around WILL come around.

 

[v_misses_epcot]

Asking my friend that works at POTC if this actually happened. But I sort of believe it does since in Jan when I was there at MKs EMH, at the escalator part of space mountain, there was a teenage girl sitting on the couch scene waving to people. It's easy to jump the rail, I'm sure. My fiance and I ended up telling the CM outside but didn't get to see anything unfold after that. It's been happening for years. One of my favorite blogs is Meza Verde Times, but unlike these people, they didn't steal anything I don't think. Seeing Horizons in a different point of view is amazing.

 

[Dr.Girlfriend]

Asking my friend that works at POTC if this actually happened. But I sort of believe it does since in Jan when I was there at MKs EMH, at the escalator part of space mountain, there was a teenage girl sitting on the couch scene waving to people. It's easy to jump the rail, I'm sure. My fiance and I ended up telling the CM outside but didn't get to see anything unfold after that. It's been happening for years. One of my favorite blogs is Meza Verde Times, but unlike these people, they didn't steal anything I don't think. Seeing Horizons in a different point of view is amazing.

This was confirmed by a few people a few posts/pages back.

 

[mesaboy2]

Go back a few posts where the one poster spoke to a CM that stated the sensors never went off. It was the same thing we were told by two different CMs when we reported what happened. It wasn't them "asleep". The sensors failed.

Or both, since I expect there are cameras throughout. Hence my surprise.

 

[ttintagel]

I have no problem believing that people would want to do it, and I have no problem believing they would get away with it. The only thing that really surprises me is their physical ability to do so when the boats are so far away from the "shore."

 

[BigGreen73]

Wow, just read every post on this thread. Nothing surprises me at all anymore with what people do. So many just feel that can do whatever they want without thinking of anyone else or having respect for anything. So sad, but definitely how things are now in this world and it just keeps getting worse.

I don't think people realize how close the boats do get to "land" or walkways in POTC. There are a lot of opportinities to actual jump out without getting wet. Same goes for a lot of rides...

But's it's still sad that people have such little intelligence to do something like this. And honestly, saying college kids are rowdy etc and have been doing stuff like this for years isn't an excuse at all. If one of those idiots would have jumped out and got hurt or killed, there would have been another WDW lawsuit. Disney would then have had to make more changes to their rides, IE lapbars or belts added to every ride, resulting in more price increased passed on to us.

 

[NotUrsula]

I've always wished that the dark rides were fitted with moveable spotlights, so that not only could the CM's stop the ride to reiterate the announcement, they could shine a spotlight directly on the perpetrator: "You, sir, yes, you. Turn off your camera flash!" Not only that, but with any luck the idiot would be seeing spots for the rest of his ride. (I carry a flashlight when I'm at the parks at night; I cannot tell you how many times I've been tempted to bulls-eye the twit myself when the CM is making the announcement. I wouldn't, but I have been tempted.)

IME, most of the time recently when the ride has been stopped for the announcement, it isn't for a still-camera flash, but for the light on a video camera.

 

[bytheblood]

Wow, just read every post on this thread. Nothing surprises me at all anymore with what people do. So many just feel that can do whatever they want without thinking of anyone else or having respect for anything. So sad, but definitely how things are now in this world and it just keeps getting worse.

I don't think people realize how close the boats do get to "land" or walkways in POTC. There are a lot of opportinities to actual jump out without getting wet. Same goes for a lot of rides...

But's it's still sad that people have such little intelligence to do something like this. And honestly, saying college kids are rowdy etc and have been doing stuff like this for years isn't an excuse at all. If one of those idiots would have jumped out and got hurt or killed, there would have been another WDW lawsuit. Disney would then have had to make more changes to their rides, IE lapbars or belts added to every ride, resulting in more price increased passed on to us.

Best response in this thread.

 

[bytheblood]

I have no problem believing that people would want to do it, and I have no problem believing they would get away with it. The only thing that really surprises me is their physical ability to do so when the boats are so far away from the "shore."

They are not that far away. It is a facade/part of the magic. The only place where there is a lot of water is when you first go down the little drop and the battle is going on. If you are athletic at all, you could jump from your boat to land in several places once you get past Carlos.

 

[Paradise18]

I think it's very sad when vandalism is considered a good time. I have to admit, I'm glad I wasn't on w/ my DD6... she's little and to her everything there is magic. If she saw someone stealing from the ride or defacing it, it would crush her. It would crush me, to be honest.

What goes around WILL come around.

 

[Twende]

Because we read about this on here and we verified it to be true by speaking to a CM while in line, when riding we paid particular attention to how far a foot landing would be from different scens in the boats.

There are many places where you could early step on to a scene, several where you could make a jump into a scene, and a few places where it is too far to jump easily.

There were many scenes where you could get out of a boat and walk through an entire scene room and then easily get back onto another boat if yours had moved on too far.

One must remember this happened late in the day and by then many boats are empty so one could easily get into a later boat.

I am certain they are going to change the sensors so that this will never happen again!

 

[queenreen]

I have seen people steal the red timing cards they hand to people to monitor the line length.

Just because I have a collection of these at home does not mean I steal them. I just forget to take them off.

I am a magnet and when I go usually am given at least 3 a day. Last time I tried to return 5 to GS and was told I could have just thrown them away.

 

[jlevis]

Wow, just read every post on this thread. Nothing surprises me at all anymore with what people do. So many just feel that can do whatever they want without thinking of anyone else or having respect for anything. So sad, but definitely how things are now in this world and it just keeps getting worse.

I don't think people realize how close the boats do get to "land" or walkways in POTC. There are a lot of opportinities to actual jump out without getting wet. Same goes for a lot of rides...

But's it's still sad that people have such little intelligence to do something like this. And honestly, saying college kids are rowdy etc and have been doing stuff like this for years isn't an excuse at all. If one of those idiots would have jumped out and got hurt or killed, there would have been another WDW lawsuit. Disney would then have had to make more changes to their rides, IE lapbars or belts added to every ride, resulting in more price increased passed on to us.

This Excusing behavior just because the jerks are young only guarenteee future misdeads.

 

[wfjny]

Just because I have a collection of these at home does not mean I steal them. I just forget to take them off.

I am a magnet and when I go usually am given at least 3 a day. Last time I tried to return 5 to GS and was told I could have just thrown them away.

Please accept my apologies. Clearly I was talking about people doing intentional acts.

As in your case, people forget, many young kids grab something they wanted and put it in their stroller. Most parents have a story of a child grabbing something when your back was turned. My own daughter once grabbed a Barney toy, identical to the one that she had at home. We had no idea until we got home with her having one in her hand, and we see hers on the kitchen table.

Those situations are very different from intentional acts of thievery, vandalism, and the like.

Some people seemed very surprised that such events could happen at Disney. All I was attempting to say is that I believe that these events happen much more often than you might think.

 

[fizbobunny]

Back when they just had just the bar on ToT I rode with my sister on the same row as this guy that was super tall and had really long legs. I think this was in 1995. My sister was young and smallish. There was over a 1 foot gap from her lap to the bar. When the car dropped she floated up off of her seat. I had to grab her and pull her back into her seat and hold her down for the rest of the ride.

 

[WDSearcher]

Wow, just read every post on this thread. Nothing surprises me at all anymore with what people do. So many just feel that can do whatever they want without thinking of anyone else or having respect for anything. So sad, but definitely how things are now in this world and it just keeps getting worse.

I don't think people realize how close the boats do get to "land" or walkways in POTC. There are a lot of opportinities to actual jump out without getting wet. Same goes for a lot of rides...

But's it's still sad that people have such little intelligence to do something like this. And honestly, saying college kids are rowdy etc and have been doing stuff like this for years isn't an excuse at all. If one of those idiots would have jumped out and got hurt or killed, there would have been another WDW lawsuit. Disney would then have had to make more changes to their rides, IE lapbars or belts added to every ride, resulting in more price increased passed on to us.

This is all true, to a point, but it's important to remember that what is described in this thread is not the behavior of "people" as a whole. It is something that happens very rarely and is certainly not something that is a daily occurance. The overwhelming majority of guests are very respectful of the rides, parks, property and resorts. But, as is true everywhere in the world -- from the local playground to the great churches of Europe -- there will always be some foolish tourist trying to do some outlandish prank.

No one is making an excuse for the college kids behaving badly -- they're simply saying that there are certain things that not even Disney can control.

 

[jlevis]

No one is making an excuse for the college kids behaving badly -- they're simply saying that there are certain things that not even Disney can control.

No Disney can't control everything but maybe if we all stopped excusing/tolerating bad behavior there would be less of it.

 

[staceymarie]

This is just so upsetting. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it happen!
I have my camera with me at all times at Disney and if I were there--there would be some crisp and clear pics of these jack*****!!

 

[WDSearcher]

No Disney can't control everything but maybe if we all stopped excusing/tolerating bad behavior there would be less of it.

No there wouldn't.

Say a stupid college kid decides to try and jump off the boat and grab the keys on POTC. There are rules posted everywhere. Constant reminders from the CMs. Undercover security on the ride. Armed guards in the queue. Whatever. That kid is still going to try and get away with it. It's a dare. Or it's stupidity. Or it's bravado.

So, he tries to jump the boat and makes it to the jail scene. The ride stops, lights go on, alarms sound, CMs appear. The kid is arrested for trespassing. He has to pay a large fine. It gets written up in the paper and online -- people are posting about how this kid got hauled off the ride and arrested for leaving the boat.

Do you really think that that's going to stop anyone else from trying to do the very same thing? Of course it won't. Because someone else out there who is just as dumb as the first kid is going to read that and think, "That's BS! I'll bet I could jump that boat and get those keys and not get caught!" and the cycle begins again.

It's nice to think that "if Disney cracked down, this would stop" or "if we all stopped excusing this behavior, it would stop", but it's not true. Because, unfortunately, there's always going to be one more person who thinks they can do something dumber than the last guy.

 

[TLSnell1981]

No Disney can't control everything but maybe if we all stopped excusing/tolerating bad behavior there would be less of it.

But, but...Disney doesn't ENFORCE their rules. So, this only makes them REQUESTS...right?