News All Disney Springs water taxies now closed due to low water levels

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DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A cast member I spoke to at the boat dock said that all of the resort ferries departing from Disney Springs are now closed due to the low water levels. The cast member did not know when they might reopen.

Edit: Boats have now returned to service.
 

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networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
The district must have allowed to levels to drop in anticipation of rain that never showed. The Orlando area is just showing dry conditions, not a drought situation like to the south west in the Tampa Bay area. Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon is typically where you see low levels for drought.

www.drought.gov

Florida

Current state-level drought information for Florida: .
www.drought.gov www.drought.gov
 
JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
networkpro said:
The district must have allowed to levels to drop in anticipation of rain that never showed. The Orlando area is just showing dry conditions, not a drought situation like to the south west in the Tampa Bay area. Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon is typically where you see low levels for drought.

www.drought.gov

Florida

Current state-level drought information for Florida: .
www.drought.gov www.drought.gov
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Or something more nefarious? Never pass on the chance to posit a conspiracy in 2023
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
The water level in that area is controlled by a dam next to Building 55 in the OKW resort. Our favorite building in OKW. We have stayed there in past droughts and they had a portable pump pumping water from the downstream side of the drainage canal dam up and over the dam to add water to the upper levels. The pump was loud, but we couldn't hear it in the building.

Funny though, looking at the water levels in the OP's picture of the closure sign, it sure doesn't look like the levels are low....
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
bpiper said:
The water level in that area is controlled by a dam next to Building 55 in the OKW resort. Our favorite building in OKW. We have stayed there in past droughts and they had a portable pump pumping water from the downstream side of the drainage canal dam up and over the dam to add water to the upper levels. The pump was loud, but we couldn't hear it in the building.

Funny though, looking at the water levels in the OP's picture of the closure sign, it sure doesn't look like the levels are low....
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Yea, it’s been low for so long now that grass has grown over the mud. It isn’t that low, but issues are caused due to the fact that the canal is not very deep in the first place. You can see the bottom of the canal along the canal walls. The water is only like 2 foot lower than usual. The boat cars remain unaffected because the lake is deep enough to not be affected, I just think the canals were barely deep enough to begin with.
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
Yea, it’s been low for so long now that grass has grown over the mud. It isn’t that low, but issues are caused due to the fact that the canal is not very deep in the first place. You can see the bottom of the canal along the canal walls. The water is like 2-3 feet lower than usual. The boat cars remain unaffected because the lake is deep enough to not be affected, I just think the canals were barely deep enough to begin with.
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Thanks for the info. I will speculate that it might be more of a boat passing issue in the canals. Your right, you can see the ground sloping down from the edge underwater. The canal must be more of V shape that probably has filled in some over time from runoff and is now more a U shape. It may have gotten too shallow to allow boats to pass each other without hitting bottom with the props, since they have to move out of the center. At one time, most of the shore was lined with fabric to protect the banks from washing in from the wakes, but there are numerous sections where the fabric is missing and the banks are washing into the canal.
 
bpiper

bpiper

Well-Known Member
I would be interesting in a look see at that dam spillway gate. The last time I saw it, it was before Covid, it was leaking badly. It looked like algae and plant growth had worked their way between the dam gate and the concrete and were pushing the dam gate up and letting a lot of water leak out. Not an easy fix. Temporary coffer dam around the spillway gate so that the dam gate can be opened and the gunk removed.
 
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Lilofan

Well-Known Member
DisneyFanatic12 said:
A cast member I spoke to at the boat dock said that all of the resort ferries departing from Disney Springs are now closed due to the low water levels. The cast member did not know when they might reopen.
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I doubt they affected cast will be paid standing around since they cannot do their role. Perhaps supply much needed help in parks.
 
D

DisneyFanatic12

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Lilofan said:
I doubt they affected cast will be paid standing around since they cannot do their role. Perhaps supply much needed help in parks.
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They stationed one or two as a greeter at the dock. In addition, they were training new boat drivers on the DS docks (the three in the big lake). If they were already trained for other roles they might be temporarily transferred, but given that this closure should be brief, they probably won’t train many, if any, on different roles. At each resort there is also now a greeter at the dock to inform guests of the closure.
 

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