Where do I even start??
Wow. I cant believe what you went through. I mean literally. I am a POTC cast member and I know lots of things go wrong with that ride. I mean It is 30 years old! Enjoy the fact its still running cause I can tell you that its amazing its still running. The imagineers do a great job doing the work they do, and they have to deal with what they have a available to work with. I cant wait till Pirates gets a rehab.
Ok so as for your "horrible" night. I first as a Pirates CM, would like to appologize for your bad experience on the ride. I am only seasonal during the summer so dont think that I was there when this happened to you. But I would liek to give you a complete explanation on why such things happen like you went through and what we as cast members have to do to make your situation better when things go wrong.
WARNING: spoiler beyond this point. im getting technical, dont read if you dont want to lose the magic. proceed if your curious
Your ride through stopped. Could have been one of many reasons. The ride could have stopped due to a stuck boat in the chase scene at the storage in gates. Most boats, where the weight of the guests is not distributed evenly, get wheels stuck in these gates. The same could have happened at storage out, which is right when you enter the jail scene. Right as boats are about to make the curve by the dog, boats can get stuck just as easy. Something as simple as a sensor somewhere in the ride could have got messed up by something passing it at the wrong time or out of sequence which shuts down the ride. Boats also can get stuck at the top of the downramp if the weir damn gets out of sequence. The weir dam is a mechanical piece that controls the water level in the upper level. as one boat goes over the ramp, tire flaps are put out automatically to stop the next boat to prevent collisions at the bottom of the drop. if the boat is stopped by the ride by chance at the wrong moment(a second or two late) it can get stopped on the weir dam and will cause the ride to shut down. This is a problem only maintence can fix.
Those are some of the reasons the ride could have went down. Now I have no idea which it really was for you since I am not currently in Florida working.
On a daily basis there are also only a certain amount of cast members scheduled at each attraction. When we open in the morning we begin with 4 castmembers then a 5th comes in to begin our breaks and rotations. so it takes a minimum of 5 to run the ride to start with. If were running the load 2 area its a minimum of 7 or 8 people to run effectively. when we get into the evening we go back down to our 5 castmembers. and the extra 5th person leaves 15 mins before the park closes. So that means that when you got on the ride there were only 5 people maximum at Pirates working. There are more than 5 evac points and there must be a minimum of 2 CM's at each. So Im guessing thats one reason your evac went so badly.
When the ride goes down we first try to establish what went wrong. Then we attempt to restart the ride to see if it will correct itself. That consists of the unload CM to leave his post and run to the backstage area of the downramp because it needs to be keyed for clear at the bottom and top. So when your the CM in this position you have to be able to move quickly and they also have to deal with all upset quests complaints about whats going on. So naturally I cant blame the CM that night for not making contact with anyone in the ride when they were on the phone. I am glad to know that you finally did get out of the ride, but I hope your wife would truely reconsider riding Pirates in the future. One bad experience can eliminate future great experiences at our attractions. Again I applogize. But I wanted to say that its not one of our favorite things to do at night, evacuating an attraction when were ready to go home after a long day and when we are low on staffing to accomplish it. But we do work our best and I know you appreciate that when you keep coming back for more
I also am very sorry no one bothered to talk to you after the evacuation. Did you stop by city hall? or ask a cast member anywhere else to talk to a coorinater or manager? Im sure they would have been right out to explain and talk to you about the situation.
In hopes of many more magical experiences....
PirateJosh20
