No ponchos on Frozen

[goodeats]

Oh I could see how it would be unsafe to have hordes of people climbing down to the boat in wet long plastic sheets. For the kids especially ponchos can be really long. Plus it also probably slows down boarding. Although are people still allowed to wear them on Splash and Kali River Rapids?

I was going to say that I remember wearing a poncho on Space Mountain at DL (rainy day) a few years ago, but now I remember I was actually wearing a rain jacket.

 

[cobright]

I'm a little annoyed that I was told I had to take off my poncho due to safety hazard on the frozen ride. I had read that you can get wet and I'm going to a fancy dinner so dressed up and not wanting to get wet. I ended up getting wet even on the back row. I don't understand when you can wear one on splash mountain and this is a slow movinf ride.

Can you tell me how it's dangerous to wear a poncho on this ride because I really don't understand it. It's slow moving. On splash mountain where you go down a major drop you are allowed to wear one. How is that one okay but this one isn't? Really doesn't make any sense to me

The likely reason for the no-poncho policy is that there is a particular closeness at times between the ride vehicle and the environment. The risk is that a billowy garment could get caught in a pinch point. While it may seem that a poncho would just tear or stretch off of you, the reality is that with the kinds of force involved strange things can happen. I was present when someone was pulled into a very slow moving machine by the plastic walmart shopping bag they were carrying looped around their wrist. Especially considering the way many people react to being caught in a machine (that's what an amusement park is, a collection of gigantic machines we throw ourselves into) a poncho around your neck would be enough to injure you directly and more than enough to pull you out of place. Coming out of place on a ride, even a slow one, can be fatal. Consider that poor lad who got into a pinch on the revolving restaurant a few weeks ago.

If that's Disney's concern here, it may seem like an excess of caution for such a trivial risk. These policies always seem so... that is, until something horrible happens.

The only other explanation that comes to mind is that I don't think the FEA ride has active seating restraints like seat belts and lap bars that drop into place (correct me if I'm wrong). If that's so, they rely on surveillance by either a cast member or some sort of computer vision or sensor to ensure that everyone is properly in their seat. A poncho could pose an obstacle to this.

In the future, instead of a poncho, a light rain coat would probably serve you better. I actually prefer rapid-drying clothes and just let them get wet. I can go from being soaked through from an afternoon deluge to completely dry in about 15 minutes.

 

[PeasandCarrots]

I personally haven't seen anyone wearing a poncho on the ride, but I also haven't seen anyone get wet on it.

I have gotten soaked twice sitting in the front row. It's not from the front splash, that is minor, it's when you get to the bottom of the hill the water sloshes in from the side. Last time I rode it in March my backside was so wet I could wring water out of the back of my shirt and was soaked through to my underthings and my shoes were wet. If I ride it again I'm going to request a row other than the front.

 

[wilkeliza]

The likely reason for the no-poncho policy is that there is a particular closeness at times between the ride vehicle and the environment. The risk is that a billowy garment could get caught in a pinch point. While it may seem that a poncho would just tear or stretch off of you, the reality is that with the kinds of force involved strange things can happen. I was present when someone was pulled into a very slow moving machine by the plastic walmart shopping bag they were carrying looped around their wrist. Especially considering the way many people react to being caught in a machine (that's what an amusement park is, a collection of gigantic machines we throw ourselves into) a poncho around your neck would be enough to injure you directly and more than enough to pull you out of place. Coming out of place on a ride, even a slow one, can be fatal. Consider that poor lad who got into a pinch on the revolving restaurant a few weeks ago.

If that's Disney's concern here, it may seem like an excess of caution for such a trivial risk. These policies always seem so... that is, until something horrible happens.

The only other explanation that comes to mind is that I don't think the FEA ride has active seating restraints like seat belts and lap bars that drop into place (correct me if I'm wrong). If that's so, they rely on surveillance by either a cast member or some sort of computer vision or sensor to ensure that everyone is properly in their seat. A poncho could pose an obstacle to this.

In the future, instead of a poncho, a light rain coat would probably serve you better. I actually prefer rapid-drying clothes and just let them get wet. I can go from being soaked through from an afternoon deluge to completely dry in about 15 minutes.

I think you are on to something there. Splash now has lap bars and Kali river has the belts. On the reverse there is nothing in FEA. So since FEA has no restraint system if your poncho got caught it wouldn't just rip it could pull you off the boat and create a real awful accident. The other rides while it may get tight around your neck it wouldn't pull you off the boat it would just snap at the point of no return. Hopefully the person it happened to would be quick enough to loosen any tightness at the neck themselves.

 

[RealBlast3]

To deviate slightly from this thread's main thrust, just because I want to complain somewhere LOL, and this thread is the closest place to do it, and I don't want to start a new thread for my late to the party complaint about this attraction: I had no idea you got wet on this. I was not a happy camper last week when I went on it for the first time. I might be remembering wrong but I don't recall getting wet on Maelstrom? At least I never did the couple of times I did it, perhaps others did. In my opinion, like with Pirates, there is no reason at all for the guests to get wet on these particular rides when it's just not necessary and they aren't supposed to be 'super-soak 'em' sort of water coasters like Splash Mountain or something.

And yes, it was my fault for reading nothing on this attraction, mostly because I'm just not that interested in Frozen, what can I say. I sort of barely saw it when my sister put it on for her kids and between all the screaming nonsense of my niece and nephews carrying on (all under the age of 6), I barely saw it, but what I did just seemed fine but not a hair on previous Disney classics. Anyway, that's why I have mostly just been non-plussed about all things Frozen related - the music, too, which is inescapable, while good, is not Alan Menken-level at all, or even Golden Age-worthy (Heigh-Ho, Bibbity-Bobboty-Boo, ect.). So, for me, the whole enterprise is overrated. But I get why: $$$. So, I give Disney credit for finally making a smash Disney House original (meaning non-Pixar) animated flick again, after flopping so many times over the years since the hand-drawn animation division declined, and figuring out how to tell their traditional fairy-tale style blend of story in the computer animated age and have it make money (Tangled didn't).

But anyway, why did I ride it? Well, because I have fond memories of Maelstrom and supposedly this maintained the basic schematics of that ride's construct, at least, and I had heard it was a nice ride. Well, anyway, never again. I, too, was well dressed for a signature dinner I had planned after my ride on this, and while the ride was 'pretty' and expensive looking, it's not a hair on Maelstrom, not even close, and certainly not worth getting drenched over for that pretty mild and basic plummet.

So, to bring this post back to the thread's origin, Yes, I would agree with OP, that ponchos should be allowed, absolutely, and complaints about poncho's hazards are to me, a complete over-reaction but also doesn't surprise me, because Disney tends to be SUPER SUPER RIDICULOUSLY CAUTIOUS about every sort of potential hazard that doesn't really exist throughout the park - at times, for those that know this reference, Disney World rather reminds me of Lemony Snicket's Aunt Josephine character, who claimed you shouldn't stand too close to the fridge, lest it keel over and collapse on you, crushing you instantly.

 

[SimonSez]

A few years back, it was storming out and we decided to go on Maelstrom. I still had my poncho on from the heavy rain, when I entered the boat and the CM was laughing saying "you don't get wet on this ride." I said I realize that but it was storming outside. Somehow I ended up the only person in line who hadn't' taken the poncho off. I haven't been back to Disney since Frozen replaced Maelstom, so not sure how wet it gets, but Maelstrom had minimal splash and they allowed me on with the poncho. If Frozen is a splashier ride, gotta wonder if someone had a little accident, hence no ponchos

 

[SimonSez]

It's all my doing. I put a hex on the ride because I'm mad it took away my beloved Maelstrom.

 

[SimonSez]

I guess the simple solution is if you don't want to get wet, you don't go on rides where you might get wet.

Well that definitely leaves KRR out

 

[SimonSez]

I took it to mean while guest was wearing a poncho due to inclement weather, coming into Mexico pavilion and being asked to remove poncho prior to boarding.

This

 

[capegirl]

Very strange. There must have been an incident that led to the no poncho policy. They should probably include "'no ponchos allowed" along with the "you may get wet" warning.

 

[cobright]

The other rides while it may get tight around your neck it wouldn't pull you off the boat it would just snap at the point of no return. Hopefully the person it happened to would be quick enough to loosen any tightness at the neck themselves.

There's a weird warped sort of physics involved that doesn't always follow what we think of as common sense. Consider a gold chain, one of those really fine ones a teenager might give his sweetheart on valentines day. You can break it by wrapping it around your hand and then making a fist. Not only will flexing your hand break it, you won't even feel it break. I watched a student disregard the 'no jewelry' rule and have a bracelet like this get caught on a buffing wheel she was using. By the time that chain broke (thousandths of a second) it had filleted a 2 inch square flap of skin off the back of her hand. Twenty some years ago, I was promoted to shop safety engineer because I had sent letters to the boss alerting him to potential machine accidents. I was promoted after one of them came to pass. A fellow with very long hair using an angle grinder got just 5 or 6 strands of hair caught into the spindle. The hair was wound up and like a yo-yo the grinder climbed them until it smacked him in the face hard enough to give him a lower orbital fracture. Just a half dozen strands of hair. The slowness of the ride can be deceptive as well. There are hundreds of train collision fatalities where the train was going 20 mph and less.

A ride like Splash Mountain is designed with a far different concern for keeping the riders out of contact with the stationary parts of the machine. If Disney does have a policy based on this sort of risk it's just as likely out of concern for what happens if a poncho does get entangled and pulled off a guest (the most likely and best-case outcome). Now there's a sheet of plastic that is bound to get caught up in some chain works, probably under water, and now FEA is shut down for 1-2 hours while they clear it.

To be honest, without knowing more, I wouldn't have guessed the actual safety risk from wearing a poncho to be above nominal margins, but there's just no downside for Disney to play this one safe, so that's what they do.

 

[jvsims]

We were recently prohibited from entering Launch Bay with ponchos & there isn't even a ride there. They had everyone standing in the rain taking off their ponchos before allowed in. We thought maybe they wanted the rain to soak into our clothes rather than having folks walking around leaving a drip trail which might cause someone to slip.. the crowd still had to carry wet ponchos but maybe some of the mess/slip danger was mitigated?

 

[winterwhite]

The request to remove ponchos indoors is likely a security measure to allow you/your attire to be more closely observed. It becomes very difficult when people have ponchos over themselves, their bags, etc.

As for the ride, I am guessing that the ponchos are a trip or snag hazard. The design of them is not something that should be allowed around moving parts.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

The request to remove ponchos indoors is likely a security measure to allow you/your attire to be more closely observed. It becomes very difficult when people have ponchos over themselves, their bags, etc.

In the world we live in today, better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Cinderella94]

The request to remove ponchos indoors is likely a security measure to allow you/your attire to be more closely observed. It becomes very difficult when people have ponchos over themselves, their bags, etc.

Then why are they allowed to be worn inside the parks at all? Is one more of a threat indoors than out if they're concealing something under their poncho? I certainly agree that it's better safe than sorry, but if ponchos are allowed in the park at all, I don't think it makes a difference where within the park they're worn, from a security standpoint. That's a layman's POV though.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Then why are they allowed to be worn inside the parks at all? Is one more of a threat indoors than out if they're concealing something under their poncho? I certainly agree that it's better safe than sorry, but if ponchos are allowed in the park at all, I don't think it makes a difference where within the park they're worn, from a security standpoint. That's a layman's POV though.

Maybe just theft prevention?

 

[maxiesmom]

We were recently prohibited from entering Launch Bay with ponchos & there isn't even a ride there. They had everyone standing in the rain taking off their ponchos before allowed in. We thought maybe they wanted the rain to soak into our clothes rather than having folks walking around leaving a drip trail which might cause someone to slip.. the crowd still had to carry wet ponchos but maybe some of the mess/slip danger was mitigated?

I agree with you, I think it is a slip and fall thing. I've been in the Launch Bay before when it was pouring rain, and they wouldn't let people in with ponchos on. You had to take them off. You also couldn't just stand in the entryway, you had to go in and walk around or go outside.

 

[mdinme]

[QU"bladiator, post: 57644706, member: 449

924"]

[/QUOTE]NOI

NICE!

 

[mdinme]

In general, when in Disney, it is always possible to get wet, be it from a splash, or soaking on a ride, or a sudden, unexpected downpour. It is always advisable to have some kind of waterproof protection for electronics readily available. I keep a few zip loc bags with me at all times so that I can quickly stash my phone, and camera when necessary. This works well for weather related events, as well as rides.

No part of you gets wet...Well, I think it's fair to say "getting wet" is rare. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Tonyz]

You barely get wet on Frozen. I can't imagine anyone wearing a poncho.