Special Space Mountain Car?

[Torri]

The other day my dad and I were in line for Space Mountain when we saw the most bizarre sight. There was a car off to the side of the normal boarding area with mostly "pooh" sized people and the most puzzling of all, a BABY. A woman was in the back of the car with a little baby in a sling, no joke, this baby was a few months old! It was the strangest thing, and then the car's platform moved toward the right onto the regular track. My dad and I were totally baffled by this, does anyone know what this is and why a baby was on this ride?

 

[MickeyMancuso]

The park website lists a minimum height requirement of 40" to ride Space Mountain, and for guests to transfer from wheelchair or Electric Convenience Vehicle "by themselves or with assistance by members of their party". A second track replacement switch installed for the 2005 reopening permits positioning of a rocket at the loading platform, enabling unlimited time for accessibility loading and unloading contrary to the time-critical ambulatory-guest load process

 

[MinnieLovesMickey]

I can't imagine why a baby would be allowed on the ride, that's just crazy!

 

[Disneylander55]

A second track replacement switch installed for the 2005 reopening permits positioning of a rocket at the loading platform, enabling unlimited time for accessibility loading and unloading contrary to the time-critical ambulatory-guest load process

Ditto

 

[DanT]

about 4 years ago we were at DL with our both of our daughters and their then boy friends (now both married to those two guys). One of my daughters has a hamstring injury from youth sports and can only walk for a short time before she has very high pain in her right leg...anyway on our second day at DL she was in a wheel chair. We entered thru the exit area and was brought in as a group. The ride vehicle was waiting for us. On the left loading spur.
After we loaded the track section along with the rocket was moved back to the right and then we left on our adventure. After returning to the loading area the CMs pulled our rocket too far forward. A CM came over to us and asked if anyone minding going for another ride immediately...we all looked at each other and quickly said "lets go"
So we got two, back to back rides on SM....
But I have never seen anything close to an infant on SM

 

[Dizneydaz]

Yes what you saw is for disabled guests ride without having to use the stairs. The baby going on ride was just wrong. Don't know why that happened.

As an aside I had the opportunity to use the special loading one time when we went with friends of my DDs family. They had a disabled card. Problem was that the lines were pretty short that day and having to load using the special car took extra time. I would have been happier going through the regular line. But one member of our group couldn't do stairs.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Wow! Who goofed up big time to not notice a baby in a sling getting on Space?!?!?!

 

[bumbershoot]

That's absolutely terrifying. Since I know that babies aren't allowed on it, I would have been screaming for a CM to see it. IT's possible for CMs to not see everything, or to just not recognize what they are seeing. Someone posted on a WDW thread that they'd taken their baby on Splash in a sling some years back; they thought it was totally fine. They felt the CM saw it. But I know from wearing DS and the questions I got, that not everyone's brain understands what they are seeing when their eyes see a sling and baby.

The car moving over to the side of the tracks is just the way they have of boarding people who can't move fast; if the cars are stopped for longer than something like 30 seconds it causes an entire ride shut-down, so for those who need more time, they scoot them off the track.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

That's absolutely terrifying. Since I know that babies aren't allowed on it, I would have been screaming for a CM to see it. IT's possible for CMs to not see everything, or to just not recognize what they are seeing. Someone posted on a WDW thread that they'd taken their baby on Splash in a sling some years back; they thought it was totally fine. They felt the CM saw it. But I know from wearing DS and the questions I got, that not everyone's brain understands what they are seeing when their eyes see a sling and baby.

I agree. My first thought wouldn't be "Why are they letting the baby on the ride?" but "Oh no, they didn't notice the idiot was trying to take the baby on the ride!". It's definitely not something a CM sees every day, especially since they would've had to get by more than one CM before loading onto the ride. I saw that post on the WDW thread...I just don't get some people.

 

[lcasa]

wow. I bet the CM's were distracted with the handicapped guest and didn't see that baby. I flipped out when I found out my son's aunt pulled up the hood on his sweatshirt to pass the height restriction on Star Tours some years back - I can't imagine anyone trying to bring a baby on SM!! You'd think when they got themselves secured in the ride they might have thought twice.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just thinking of the "what ifs" is making me ill. I'm an avowed baby wearer, which is why I know you always need to be very aware of baby's movements as well as your own, and can't just prance around without thinking about how you're moving. And my mind is seeing what could have happened...it's just not pretty.

OP if you remember the time and day when you saw that, I'd write in to DLR. Make sure they know it's a safety issues that you're reporting, not a complaint or suggestion. If you know when it happened and can describe it, I'm sure that a Lead can work out the CMs working at that time, and can urge some extra training...

 

[Brady's Mom]

Can't think about the baby - at all. Or the stupid parent that wore the baby. Kay...moving on.

We've ridden in the special car and my kids love to watch it move onto the track. We were in the regular line, but apparently they needed to fill the car up before they put it on the track, so they sent us to that part of the ride queue.

The people in line behind us actually got to ride first because the loading is so fast, but we thought it was cool to get to ride in the car as it slid onto the track. My DS 5 thought it was the best ride of the day.

 

[Mugglemama]

A baby on Space Mountain really is a terrifying thought.

I'm wondering if OP actually saw the baby moving around? I ask, because (although I know it's summer and most kids are out of school - some attend summer school or year round schools...) my daughter was required to "take care of" an electronic baby for a class in high school, year before last. And while we only had to deal with it for a couple of days, at other high schools in the area they were making kids do it for a full week. I wonder if it's at all possible that the "baby" OP saw in a sling was actually an electronic doll, and that the girl carrying it just couldn't get out of taking the thing to Disneyland for the day (remember, a lot of people are locals and just there for the day)???

It seems like a long shot, I know....but it still seems more plausible than a real live baby being "missed" and allowed on Space Mountain. The electronic baby we had to tote around with us looked very real, and the school sent my daughter home with items like a baby sling and infant car seat, etc.

On the other hand, during our trip last month we saw an hispanic family sneak a tiny toddler into the Splash Mountain line. The CM told them they couldn't bring him on, they acted as though they knew no english (maybe they really didn't, i don't know), and then when they acknowledged that they knew this tiny kid could not go on the ride (he was about a foot too short), they told him to go with an older woman in their group to wait outside the ride. The kid threw a fit, and when the CM wasn't looking, one of the adults in their group waved for him to run over and he was so tiny that the CM never saw him run behind and dart into the line (we did point it out to the CM, but she did nothing). I'm sure they caught him before he actually boarded the ride, but it really struck us that some people will endanger their kids just to put them on those rides.

 

[FlameGirl]

A baby on Space Mountain really is a terrifying thought.

I'm wondering if OP actually saw the baby moving around? I ask, because (although I know it's summer and most kids are out of school - some attend summer school or year round schools...) my daughter was required to "take care of" an electronic baby for a class in high school, year before last. And while we only had to deal with it for a couple of days, at other high schools in the area they were making kids do it for a full week. I wonder if it's at all possible that the "baby" OP saw in a sling was actually an electronic doll, and that the girl carrying it just couldn't get out of taking the thing to Disneyland for the day (remember, a lot of people are locals and just there for the day)???

It seems like a long shot, I know....but it still seems more plausible than a real live baby being "missed" and allowed on Space Mountain. The electronic baby we had to tote around with us looked very real, and the school sent my daughter home with items like a baby sling and infant car seat, etc.

On the other hand, during our trip last month we saw an hispanic family sneak a tiny toddler into the Splash Mountain line. The CM told them they couldn't bring him on, they acted as though they knew no english (maybe they really didn't, i don't know), and then when they acknowledged that they knew this tiny kid could not go on the ride (he was about a foot too short), they told him to go with an older woman in their group to wait outside the ride. The kid threw a fit, and when the CM wasn't looking, one of the adults in their group waved for him to run over and he was so tiny that the CM never saw him run behind and dart into the line (we did point it out to the CM, but she did nothing). I'm sure they caught him before he actually boarded the ride, but it really struck us that some people will endanger their kids just to put them on those rides.

Awesome! And when the kid does go flying out of the boat, I'm sure the idiots will sue Disney.

 

[bumbershoot]

Muggle, you reminded me of the other thought I had. The thought that was obliterated by the "what ifs".

has anyone ever seen the Anne Geddes store employees standing outside with the dolls they sell there? The REALLY realistic dolls? I wondered if it was one of them...


Thinking further on muggle's thought. If that was one of those HS class dolls...they failed! Totally and spectacularly!

On the other hand, what a great place to take such a "baby", since DLR can be such a "wheeeeee" place for a kid or teen, and to really see what it's like to be 100% in charge of a baby there would be very eye-opening!

 

[FlameGirl]

Thinking further on muggle's thought. If that was one of those HS class dolls...they failed! Totally and spectacularly!

I can't tell if you were trying to be funny or not, but this made me totally LOL. And I NEVER LOL.

(Also...where was the photo of your avatar taken? I've squinted at it for ages and I can't figure it out.)

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh yes, it was meant to be funny. Can you imagine if your teacher saw you...you're supposed to take care of a pretend baby, and you take it on Space Mountain?


Editing because I was wrong about the lantern! That's what it used to be (a lantern in DCA's Pacific Wharf area). Right now it's a lantern that you see just as you're coming out of the Pooh ride. I love lanterns, lights, and lightbulb strings in DLR.

 

[DanT]

Just as a follow up....I do not believe there is any special ride vehicle....any of the sets of rockets can be moved to the left on the spur track....it is actually very similar to the setup that is much more visible on Matterhorn.

 

[RallyMonkey]

Just as a follow up....I do not believe there is any special ride vehicle....any of the sets of rockets can be moved to the left on the spur track....it is actually very similar to the setup that is much more visible on Matterhorn.

Once my husband and I were loaded on our rocket on Space Mt. and ready to go. Well we moved up, and suddenly our rocket was transfered to the left, into that special loading section, and a CM points to us and tells us to get off and she wanted us to hurry. I had no clue what was going on, and I felt like a kid in trouble, LOL. She led us back to the front of the line, and asked if we wanted to ride in front. I asked her why we were whisked off, and she said that there was too much weight in our rocket. So apparently your rocket gets weighed before take off! We were wearing our anniversary pins, but I'm not sure if that is why she picked us to get off and choose where to ride on another rocket, maybe she figured it was a good bet that it was just us, and we were not with a group to be separated from!

 

[Eeee-va]

There are also "reborn" babies, which are VERY eerily childlike. They would look exactly like a (possibly sleeping) baby--in fact, I read of at least one instance, I believe in Australia, where the police broke into a car when they saw one sitting on the car's seat, thinking that someone had left a baby inside.

Of course, I'm not so sure it's a good idea for DL to let any sort of realistic baby doll on Space Mountain, but a small proportion of the women who have these dolls are very possessive of them and I suppose there could have been an altercation that wasn't apparent. You know, "The guest is always right" and all that.

If it WAS a real baby, that's horrific, but I can't imagine what CM would allow that.