splash mountain: lap bars now installed

[suemom2kay]

OMG. Doof O Meter. I love it!

 

[Love Tink]

I doubt this change is motivated by Disney worrying about being sued by passengers who stand up or who are affected by others who stand up.

Disney takes theme park lawsuits VERY seriously and almost never settles out of court. They have the attitude that they will make it very hard to get money out of them, so people hesitate to file false or frivolous lawsuits. Disney also has an unbelievable record of winning the theme park cases that do go to court. I think they lose fewer that 5% of them.

Disney tends to pay, and pay generously, for accidents when they were actually at fault. But it is very hard to get money out of them otherwise.

So, I would guess that this change is prompted by a desire to keep the ride moving more efficiently, and to stop wasting time on the repeated shutdowns caused by idiots. (I think we've been shut down two of the last three times we rode, once for half an hour.) Hopefully they know what they are doing, and this will succeed in making it a shorter line, not a longer one.

 

[wild4dis]

Obviously the lap bar install will bring pros and cons...."longer ride queue because of slower in and out of cars"...."more people will feel comfortable riding the ride whether it needed a safety additon or not".

Heres the part I'm missing....if the number one reason Disney installed these was to eliminate people from standing up, then Disney and their CM's/security are to blame.
Simple, you announce and post signs at beginning of ride DO NOT STAND UP until ride is complete or you will be ejected from the park and lose your ticket for the day. If Disney stuck to this rule and booted some people the word would get around quickly...stay in your seat

Now I know I'll hear from the people saying my 6 yr old was on with his cousin, "they didnt know any better"...well if they cant understand and follow the rules, then they shouldnt be riding alone anyway. People really need to take responsibilty for their actions in a public place where your action has a direct impact on other people

 

[Club33forme]

I did not read all threads. Do we know if the lap bars are going in Disneyland's, SM as well?

 

[Lynn57]

I'm putting a lapbar in my bathtub for safety reasons.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Interesting about the lap bars. Has Disney said why they installed them?

Yeah, they had a press release that mentioned stupid people, I think.

 

[cm8]

With the lap bars, will they now be able to decrease the height requirement?

great question, but I think that answer will be no?

 

[Snape]

Yeah, they had a press release that mentioned stupid people, I think.

They did?!? I'd like to see that. You know the high level Disney execs say it often - my guess is they put expletives in front of stupid.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

They did?!? I'd like to see that. You know the high level Disney execs say it often - my guess is they put expletives in front of stupid.

My boys call them "sentence enhancers".

 

[curious3069]

I will be squeezing my fat behind into one of these new lap-barred logs in a few day and will report back! So hate lap-bars, they rank up there with turnstiles as "things in which I am afraid I will be stuck".

 

[cm8]

Yeah, they had a press release that mentioned stupid people, I think.

are you aware if they posted any pictures
Could you imagine if it were your picture being flashed on splash mountain saying that you contributed to the lap belts

Guess that would mean only the people who listen would be eligible to have their pictures on Cinderellas castle


But then again, which would you want the wall of shame or the castle

 

[WorldWacky]

I have had a completely irrational fear of log flume rides ever since I was dragged onto one as a child by my father who promised that it wasn't scary. It was (to a 5 year old who could not swim), and ever since that ride I have hated log flumes. I will go on them when asked to by my wife, children or friends, because I KNOW that I am perfectly safe, but it's an irrational fear that I've never been able to get over, despite riding every other thrill ride that I've ever encountered.

I'm right there with ya.

My question is, will they now only allow 2 people in each seat? I have 3 children and now I guess we'll have to decide who gets to sit alone. I suppose 2 of the kids could sit together with my DH or I by ourselves, but I don't know if that will fly.

 

[Disney Wanderer]

Aww Man That Means we Cant Get up and Leave When " Brer Bear and Brer Fox Are Causing A Commotion up Stream " Anymore , Not that I ever did anyways, i Could Live in that Ride , but Im Sure Some People did LOL.... Thanks People( sarcasm )

 

[mcd2745]

It was more than 10 years ago, but the day I arrived at WDW in Nov of 2000, I checked in at the Contemporary, turned on the TV to see a news "special report". Someone had just been killed on Splash Mountain after trying to stand up and get out. The person fell onto the tracks and was crushed by the next log. Surprising it took this long to add the lap bars.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

It was more than years ago, but the day I arrived at WDW in Nov of 2000, I checked in at the Contemporary, turned on the TV to see a news "special report". Someone had just been killed on Splash Mountain after trying to stand up and get out. The person fell onto the tracks and was crushed by the next log. Surprising it took this long to add the lap bars.

We were there also when that happened, I think it was the day we arrived actually, Splash Mt was closed (obviously).

 

[DizzDoll]

Lap bars on Splash because of Stupid People. What next? Spotters for sipping Dole Whips? Training wheels for the Surrey bikes? Helmets for the horse-drawn carriage rides? Fear factor aside, and many people have them and are grateful for the lap bars, however, if they were installed due to Stupid People, then there's really something wrong here. If you don't have a lick of common sense, a lap bar is not automatically gonna give you any. For me (and most likely my kids) it takes away the "thrill" of going down the big hill. Instead of fun it will be a ho-hum. Oh well, we can still go down with our arms up.

 

[mom2rtk]

Oh well, we can still go down with our arms up.

Uh.... sorry.... you must have missed the second half of the story..... Straight jackets will be issued on your way into the queue. No more arms up either.....

 

[DizzDoll]

Uh.... sorry.... you must have missed the second half of the story..... Straight jackets will be issued on your way into the queue. No more arms up either.....

Not even if I wear deodorant??????????? That's taking away my civil (or uncivil) rights!!!!

 

[delmar411]

These are not always insignificant details.

They simply added some basic AUTOMATIC GATES at the EXIT (disembark) side of Toy Story Mania, and the riders-per-hour dropped and so they had to cut the number of FastPasses issued per day.

A lap-bar load/unload could easily drop the riders-per-hour on Splash far more than the TSM exit gates.

There are no exit gates at TSM. There are holes in the ground where exit gates may have been at some point, but there none now.


As for the lap bars, I'm concerned about being able to ride anymore. I already had to sit cross legged in the boat to fit so hopefully there will still be enough leg room for that. And it's now a 2seater which is going to cut down on the loading time. We often sit 3 and 3 so now we will need a 3rd row no matter what.

 

[reiella]

Awesome!!! Another ride with a lapbar to bash my knees against!

Could be worse .

First time on Space Mountain racked me 3 times.