why was my friend taken off of Space Mountain?

[Patrick in Oregon]

We just got back from our trip last night. Our last ride before leaving the park was Ghost Galaxy. 5 of us loaded up in the car - 1 in row 4, 2 in rows 5 and 6. I assume the first three rows were filled.

The car left the loading area and stopped in front of the "command center"-looking-thing before the ride takes a right and goes up the first incline. That's all normal.

However, a CM pulls a ramp over to our car, the lap bars pop up and the CM hastily asks for our friend in row 4 to get out of the ride. Lap bars back down - ride continues.

Afterward, our friend was waiting by the exit with a handful of rider swap passes. She was confused saying the CM spoke/explained really fast what was going on and just gave her the rider swaps. She also isn't a super-disney-veteran so any special jargon used would have been over her head.

Our first theory was maybe the lap bar didn't work, but they let a new group go in the car when we got off.

I thought maybe it was a weight distribution problem since they chose the "single" rider in the group. That didn't seem likely since the ride doesn't get held up when a car full of full-sized adults get on. They did not tell us to distribute our numbers in any particular way, so balance doesn't seem to be an issue?

Does anyone have a clue what happened? I assume it will be near impossible to know for sure, but maybe someone has experienced something similar.

(Kind of frustrating that this person missed out on their last ride of the trip)

 

[kirstie101]

We had something similar happen to us in August. The person removed wasn't from our party though. We overheard him saying it had something to do with weight distribution though.

 

[SMD]

The car could have been overweight. I don't think it matters how it's distributed as much as they go for the row where it's easiest or most convenient to get people out. Usually they'll try to do it on the track, but if it gets too backed up they pull the whole car off to the side and everyone gets out. It's pretty common for them to pull someone off or to send a row empty from the station.

 

[Geemo]

We've had the car roll to the left instead of right onto the ride. When the car stopped on the left and they had us unload. There was no real explanation...

They had us go right back to the front of the line where we were re-boarded for the ride.

A word of caution if this happens to you. WATCH your HEAD!!!

The clearance isn't as much as you really need. When I stood up to get out of the car, I hit my head so hard on a beam, I saw stars.....

And then the headache began.

 

[rainyday77]

This happened to me and my daughter this summer. They explained there were too many adults on the ride (weight distribution) and we were easiest to unload. We got the front seats of the next one which worked out well.

 

[GrumpyGoat]

Years ago my entire group was put in one "log" on splash mountain. The load distribution was heavy to light front to back. I was in the front seat and when the log left the loading area, it became a submarine. The front end dove under the water and filled completely to the "gunnels." I ended up sitting in eight inches of water for the entire ride...

 

[DarthMole]

Years ago my entire group was put in one "log" on splash mountain. The load distribution was heavy to light front to back. I was in the front seat and when the log left the loading area, it became a submarine. The front end dove under the water and filled completely to the "gunnels." I ended up sitting in eight inches of water for the entire ride...

That is crazy. Good thing you didn't have your HAM radio with you. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[junmatno]

That is crazy. Good thing you didn't have your HAM radio with you. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Bahahahhahahahah

 

[GrumpyGoat]

That is crazy. Good thing you didn't have your HAM radio with you. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

That was long before I got into ham radio. (And I do have one radio that is waterproof...) I did have a pretty expensive digital camera with me. It and all of our personal belongings went into a locker before we went on Splash Mountain. I just wish they'd put lockers close to the attraction like they have at Grizzly Run Rapids int DCA.