Hilarious Jungle Cruise skipper...

Kristamouse

Kristamouse

Well-Known Member
Were you just there? We got back on Saturday night and had a so so skipper. But we talked to another family that said they had thier best ever JC ride. The family are regualars to WDW and stay at the camp ground. While waiting in the short line we did see a group get off cheering for thier skipper but we didn't make his boat, we got the next one. Our Skipper, I think Jaden was so-so but did make me laugh with a joke about how one day we too could be a JC skipper, after we got our degree in early childhood edcuation...I though it was funny.
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
Anyone ever had any success requesting a specific skipper and indicating you'd be willing to wait? Jungle Cruise is so dependent upon the skipper that I'm willing to wait 10 minutes extra for a good one. If you get a poor skipper, the attraction is really sub-par.

It's one attraction that I think really needs a refurbishment to make the attraction itself more captivating. It shouldn't be something that's only a good experience if you get the right skipper. In the past year, we have had nothing but horrible skippers, and JC is thus now regarded as highly overrated by us.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
We had by far the worst skipper ever a couple of weeks ago. There were actually 2 other skippers and a supervisor riding with him too, and he was just plain awful. He forgot lines, had no delivery style at all. no one on the boat laughed the entire trip. We felt bad for him, but also for the passengers. We had DH's sister with us on her first Disney trip, and she was just dumb-founded that anyone would wait in line for that ride.
 
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BigThunderMatt

Well-Known Member
Nemo14 said:
We had by far the worst skipper ever a couple of weeks ago. There were actually 2 other skippers and a supervisor riding with him too, and he was just plain awful. He forgot lines, had no delivery style at all. no one on the boat laughed the entire trip. We felt bad for him, but also for the passengers. We had DH's sister with us on her first Disney trip, and she was just dumb-founded that anyone would wait in line for that ride.
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Um...not to be rude, but that cast member was PROBABLY still in training. I'm sure you'd be bad at it too first starting out on a boat full of people for the first time.
 
Nemo14

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
Um...not to be rude, but that cast member was PROBABLY still in training. I'm sure you'd be bad at it too first starting out on a boat full of people for the first time.
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Like I said, we felt bad for him, and he was obviously nervous, but he made no effort to interact with the passengers at all. Jungle Cruise is a must-do for us every visit, and this won't stop us from going again, but I really felt bad for the first-timers on board.
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
Um...not to be rude, but that cast member was PROBABLY still in training. I'm sure you'd be bad at it too first starting out on a boat full of people for the first time.
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Conversely, and I don't know how training on JC occurs, but a skipper's first 'on board' trips should not involve actual guests. Paying guests should not be subjected to a skipper of that quality. (I don't care how the training would have to be altered to give him the requisite experience prior to handling actual guests, it should occur.) Moreover, based solely on Nemo's accounts, I would question whether that individual had the personality to be a skipper. We've certainly met some who didn't. It's one of those roles that training can help improve, but can only take so far. It requires some natural gusto. Now, I understand the pay may make it difficult to lure this type, so maybe that needs to be adjusted. Whatever is being done is not being done right. There are far too many poor-quality skippers.
 
B

BigThunderMatt

Well-Known Member
WDWFigment said:
Conversely, and I don't know how training on JC occurs, but a skipper's first 'on board' trips should not involve actual guests. Paying guests should not be subjected to a skipper of that quality. (I don't care how the training would have to be altered to give him the requisite experience prior to handling actual guests, it should occur.) Moreover, based solely on Nemo's accounts, I would question whether that individual had the personality to be a skipper. We've certainly met some who didn't. It's one of those roles that training can help improve, but can only take so far. It requires some natural gusto. Now, I understand the pay may make it difficult to lure this type, so maybe that needs to be adjusted. Whatever is being done is not being done right. There are far too many poor-quality skippers.
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I'm friends with a lot of skippers and I can tell you that the job wears on them after a while. After so many boats full of non-English speaking guests that talk through the whole ride and don't even pay attention, or guests that refuse to laugh regardless of how hard they try, they just tend to stop caring.

A skipper friend of mine relayed a story to me of how a guest on a boat that had been dead silent the whole time came up to her at the end of the trip and said that she had been the best skipper she'd ever had...if that was the case, why didn't she flipping laugh?
 
WDWFigment

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
I'm friends with a lot of skippers and I can tell you that the job wears on them after a while. After so many boats full of non-English speaking guests that talk through the whole ride and don't even pay attention, or guests that refuse to laugh regardless of how hard they try, they just tend to stop caring.

A skipper friend of mine relayed a story to me of how a guest on a boat that had been dead silent the whole time came up to her at the end of the trip and said that she had been the best skipper she'd ever had...if that was the case, why didn't she flipping laugh?
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I can understand this, too, from the skipper's perspective. My previous concerns were more aimed at management of the positions. Management should ensure that trained skippers are sent out with guests. Management should ensure that skippers stay motivated (difficult as that may be). Management should relocate skippers who become burnt out.
 
Kobe!!

Kobe!!

Well-Known Member
Jungle Cruise is in the top 3 of longest speeches you need to memorize.
I forgot the order of them but I know it belongs to:

  • Kilimenjaro Safari
  • Great Movie Ride
  • Jungle Cruise
sorry about the spelling. ha
 
smk

smk

Well-Known Member
BigThunderMatt said:
Um...not to be rude, but that cast member was PROBABLY still in training. I'm sure you'd be bad at it too first starting out on a boat full of people for the first time.
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We had one in training our last trip and I felt sorry for her! She had another skipper coaching her and we had a log jam at the end and silence in our boat. We could hear the skipper in front of us and she turned to her trainer and said "now what, they are hearing it all". She then went on to just talk to us. It was strange but they all got to train at some point.
 

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