Soaked on POTC!

[agavegirl1]

I wonder how much the boat change has cost WDW between new boats and "no strings" vouchers. When we rode in October, I mentioned to DBF that some people were getting "Splash Mountain wet" on this ride and asked if he wanted a poncho. I carry them in my purse. It was 82 degrees so we took our chances. We rode twice, once in front. We did not get wet but had the row to ourselves. I got splashed in the face by the cannonball scene though. Yuck.

 

[Gabriel&Nana]

I had heard that the new boats could cause you to get splashed more so than the old boats, but we got soaked on Sunday night. There were 2 adults and 2 children in the front row. When we went down the hill, we got soaked when the water came in the front of the boat. It was cold that night too. We were there for the MVMCP. I told the CM at the exit about it and she said that there were signs that we could get wet. This was worse than Splash Mountain, which we avoided due to the temperature. She directed me to the manager, who was talking with another guest whose camera got wet. I told her that we would never had ridden it if we knew we'd get that wet because it was cold and we had 3 hours left in the party. She offered to get us blankets and walked us up to the gift shop. She then offered us sweatshirts, but she saw the limited availability. She gave us 8 no string attached slips for pants and sweatshirts for all of us. She sent us to the Emporium. I was so grateful! We had so much to do that night, including Wishes (which I missed as she was helping fill out the coupons) and the parade. We would have never made it being so wet. I appreciate how Disney helped us out! Great customer service!

Thanks for sharing! .
Last time I was there (before new boats) I was on the front row and didn't get wet.
Going next January... I'll try not to sit in the front row

 

[maxiesmom]

Only go on Pirates if you plan on getting REALLY WET, because you will.

~NM

Not true. You may get wet, or you may not get wet. I was on Pirates multiple times in October, and didn't get wet at all. Though I was bracing myself for it after reading the reports of it.

Some people get wet, some don't.

 

[magicbob]

Great customer service/customer care.

Shocked you got that wet on POTC. Everyone gets a little splash, but drenched like Splash Mountain is certainly uncommon.

Let's see if people start wearing ponchos on the ride.

Not any more. It's apparently quite common to get soaked now that they replaced the boats with this new and "improved" model.

The obvious solution is to scrap these new boats and go back to a design like the original that didn't have this problem. But they just invested in these new boats and my bet is that they'll stand by them come hell or HIGH WATER!

 

[maxiesmom]

Not any more. The obvious solution is to scrap these new boats and go back to a design like the original that didn't have this problem. But that would require admitting a mistake was made. They invested in these new boats and they'll stand by them come hell or HIGH WATER!

Maybe they don't see it as a problem? There are signs up warning that you may get wet. So maybe they think everything is just fine.

 

[magicbob]

Maybe they don't see it as a problem? There are signs up warning that you may get wet. So maybe they think everything is just fine.

I edited my post slightly, but I still don't think getting soaked was ever the intent. Disney had to have been surprised by this by-product of the new boat design. Does anyone really think that they said "what this ride really needs is for the riders to get soaked."

But instead of fixing the problem, they put up a sign saying you may get wet.

Would this be an acceptable solution if a refurb of IaSW suddenly resulted in tidal waves soaking the front row?

It's a boat ride. There's water. Of course, you COULD always get a little wet. But this ride isn't marketed as a "get soaked" experience. People know what they're getting with Splash Mountain or similar rides.

Even if the intent is to educate the public that PotC is now a "get soaked" ride, I think that is a huge mistake. Splash Mountain is a wet ride with theming. PotC is a themed ride in which water happens to be used as the method of conveyance.

I know... I just fear change and cannot recognize how much of an improvement adding "soak factor" to PotC has made.

 

[maxiesmom]

I edited my post slightly, but I still don't think getting soaked was ever the intent. Disney had to have been surprised by this by-product of the new boat design. Does anyone really think that they said "what this ride really needs is for the riders to get soaked."

But instead of fixing the problem, they put up a sign saying you may get wet.

Would this be an acceptable solution if a refurb of IaSW suddenly resulted in tidal waves soaking the front row?

It's a boat ride. There's water. Of course, you COULD always get a little wet. But this ride isn't marketed as a "get soaked" experience. People know what they're getting with Splash Mountain or similar rides.

Even if the intent is to educate the public that PotC is now a "get soaked" ride, I think that is a huge mistake. Splash Mountain is a wet ride with theming. PotC is a themed ride in which water happens to be used as the method of conveyance.

I know... I just fear change and cannot recognize how much of an improvement adding "soak factor" to PotC has made.

I have to wonder how often people are truly "soaked". As I stated before I was on Pirates multiple times in October. Didn't get wet, nor was their water sloshing around the bottom of the boat. I'm not saying it never happens, but is it something that happens every 100 boats, every 1000 boats?

I'm guessing Disney is well aware that some guests are getting too wet on Pirates and are working on a solution. Putting the sign up is better than shutting the ride down until they figure things out, imho.

 

[mom2rtk]

The obvious solution is to scrap these new boats and go back to a design like the original that didn't have this problem. But they just invested in these new boats and my bet is that they'll stand by them come hell or HIGH WATER!

I know... I just fear change and cannot recognize how much of an improvement adding "soak factor" to PotC has made.

Man, it's like you're psychic or something!


The clear answer? Do what I did last week. Go to Disneyland where you can ride in the front row all you want with no fear of enhanced tsunami experience!

 

[magicbob]

I have to wonder how often people are truly "soaked". As I stated before I was on Pirates multiple times in October. Didn't get wet, nor was their water sloshing around the bottom of the boat. I'm not saying it never happens, but is it something that happens every 100 boats, every 1000 boats?

I'm guessing Disney is well aware that some guests are getting too wet on Pirates and are working on a solution. Putting the sign up is better than shutting the ride down until they figure things out, imho.

I agree they shouldn't shut the ride down until they figure it out. But adding the new boats didn't require an extensive shutdown. Didn't this occur as part of a routine refurb? Designing a boat that won't cause a tidal wave is certainly doable if they care to do it. How many boats a day cycle through the ride? If one in 100 or even 1000 get soaked, that's still a pretty high number. Also, you don't know if you're going to be the lucky 1000th customer. Most people really don't want to have to gamble on this to enjoy this perennial favorite ride.

 

[maxiesmom]

I agree they shouldn't shut the ride down until they figure it out. But adding the new boats didn't require an extensive shutdown. Didn't this occur as part of a routine refurb? Designing a boat that won't cause a tidal wave is certainly doable if they care to do it. How many boats a day cycle through the ride? If one in 100 or even 1000 get soaked, that's still a pretty high number. Also, you don't know if you're going to be the lucky 1000th customer. Most people really don't want to have to gamble on this to enjoy this perennial favorite ride.

They either have to design new boats, which will take some time to design and produce, or figure a fix for the current boats. Maybe some kind of weight for the now unused back row, maybe one that looks like Pirates loot or something would be fine and still keep the themeing.

 

[magicbob]

They either have to design new boats, which will take some time to design and produce, or figure a fix for the current boats. Maybe some kind of weight for the now unused back row, maybe one that looks like Pirates loot or something would be fine and still keep the themeing.

You might have just hit the nail on the head with regard to what's causing the problem. Since they stopped putting passengers in the back row, it could have caused an imbalance. When the boat hits the bottom of the hill with more weight in front than at the rear, that just might be what's causing the tidal waves. Adding some kind of decorative ballast/counter-weight, just might solve two problems. In addition to potentially stopping the tidal waves, it might stop people from grumbling that the boats are being sent out with seats still available despite the line being long.

 

[FreddyMercury]

So here's the scoop from what I understand. The old boats were exactly that: Boats. They had a hill and everything and were built like legitimate boats. The problem was that the hulls would fill with water. These old boats were already extreme heavy as it was. So they would get stuck. A lot. Normally when a boat got stuck, we would get the guests to shake it loose. But sometimes they got stuck so bad that we were forced to evacuate the ride. Cut to the new boats. These boats are not boats. They are simply ride vehicles. They were designed to be lighter and hopefully get stuck less often. However, the imagineers didn't account for the fact that these newly designed boats would take on a lot of water when going down the downramp (or the "drop"). So they would take on water and often times have an inch or three of water just washing around inside. We would literally have to climb into the boats at unload and scoop out the water of the boats that were reeeeally bad. Well.... To counteract this, management decided to drill holes into the boats to let the water out (genius idea). This works (somehow) but obviously the boats once again gather water, become heavy, and get stuck. The back row isn't loaded because somehow that helps the boats to not get stuck. I don't know how, but that's what we were told.

 

[AngiTN]

You might have just hit the nail on the head with regard to what's causing the problem. Since they stopped putting passengers in the back row, it could have caused an imbalance. When the boat hits the bottom of the hill with more weight in front than at the rear, that just might be what's causing the tidal waves. Adding some kind of decorative ballast/counter-weight, just might solve two problems. In addition to potentially stopping the tidal waves, it might stop people from grumbling that the boats are being sent out with seats still available despite the line being long.

That would be the cause if it happened all the time. I've ridden twice since the new boats were installed and since they stopped using the last row. Latest time was just one week ago, in the front row on that trip and didn't even get a splash on me. Nor did anyone else in the boat behind us. So the problem can't be just a weight distribution problem. In the case of our boat last Friday, it was heavier in the front, I can promise you that. There has to be something else causing the water to splash up on some rides and not others.

 

[jeanico2000]

They either have to design new boats, which will take some time to design and produce, or figure a fix for the current boats. Maybe some kind of weight for the now unused back row, maybe one that looks like Pirates loot or something would be fine and still keep the theeming.

Clever! I think that's a great idea!

 

[Eastern]

Can you refuse to sit in the front? If not, I'll probably add this to my won't ride list.

Yes you can. We requested no front row and they just loaded us into the next 2 rows. The people who took the front row on that ride got *soaked*.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Since they are no longer loading the back row in the boats the front couple of rows are not balanced making the bow front heavy.

I rode in October of this year and the first 3 rows got completely soaked.

~Completely
~Soaked

There was a TON of water sloshing around in the bottom of the boat.

This ride is no longer the pirates ride from days past. We couldn't stop talking about it afterwords. A CM in the gift shop explained to us it was the new boats combined with the no loading of the back row. We did not ask for any assistance with the wet clothes. It was our last ride of the night before we were going back to the room.

Only go on Pirates if you plan on getting REALLY WET, because you will.

~NM

There must be an additional factor.

We were a party of 13 occupying the front 4 rows of the boat. No notable soakings occurred. Nobody was even remotely close enough to warrant any change of clothes had they been available.

Not discounting the experience of others--just commenting that the last row bing empty is not alone creating the issue. And getting wet is not a guarantee.

 

[FLchick415]

It's not always the drop that causes it, either. When I went earlier this year, I got nailed by one of the cannon blasts. lol That could have been just a coincidence or bad timing with the boat, but either way...yuck.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

There must be an additional factor.

We were a party of 13 occupying the front 4 rows of the boat. No notable soakings occurred. Nobody was even remotely close enough to warrant any change of clothes had they been available.

Not discounting the experience of others--just commenting that the last row bing empty is not alone creating the issue. And getting wet is not a guarantee.

Again, I've ridden it multiple times this year and did not get wet.

 

[RustManFan]

and why is it that a new boat design was needed?

 

[Iowajes]

and why is it that a new boat design was needed?

They were getting stuck too often.