Impending Pirates lap bars?

[IWantMyMagicBand]

Similar to Empress Lilly's post, DLP guests (aside from us straight-laced rule-following Brits) are a different kettle of fish. You literally have to fistfight to keep your parade spot. I saw one lady balance her baby on the edge of the POTC boat and I had to say something before each of the drops (there are 2 on DLP's version)

Anyway I digress..... I was there again last week. Staff were instructing that kids be sat between adults in rows. We did. "Locals" didn't. According to one DLPCM twitter the boy stood up as the boat was entering the unload area. Those boats are pretty juddery as they come up onto the belt and unless you are supervising your children I can see how this would happen. It is the exact same load area and boat movement as iasw.
Hopefully this will see DLP start to enforce their rules.

If Lapbars are needed on potc at DLP, then they are needed on iasw. And it would change the whole audience of the ride. At present you can seat small children on your lap. Add a lapbar and it no longer becomes an attraction the whole family can enjoy.

 

[Disney Shib]

The drop on Splash is a wee bit different than the one of POTC. Like many of you said previously, if the accident happened during loading or unloading I dont see the lap bar doing anything to prevent that. It wouldnt change the experience for me either way but I do think it's a bit of an over reaction.

 

[marni1971]

You can't save idiots. A tame ride system that has worked fine for 49 years isn't at fault.

 

[Voxel]

You can't save idiots. A tame ride system that has worked fine for 49 years isn't at fault.

While I wouldn't call the people in this situation idiots I would agree with your asset of the ride. Pirates of the Caribbean attraction around the world as operated for a combined 136 years( if you add up how long each ride as been operating in the 4 parks that had it) with less then 5 major incidents. Those odds are amazingly great for a ride safety point of view. No mater what a park does and what safety measure they put into place there is no was guarantee 100% safety on a ride. Accidents will happen no mater what.

 

[taz0162]

I love the openness of the boats how they are especially when going over the drop in the dark. Not saying that lap-bars would stop me from riding one of my favorite rides again but I definitely prefer the lap-bar-less experience.

 

[marni1971]

While I wouldn't call the people in this situation idiots

I don't know.... the only way for a rider of any age to fall underneath the following boat is to not to be seated. Common sense let alone the numerous warnings in various languages says don't stand up - or let minors do so - on a boat ride.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

What about seatbelts in TTA?

Thems fightin' words, Mister.

 

[ABQ]

Considering the accounts of the new boats taking on so much water, I'd expect P.F.D.'s before lap bars are installed.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I don't see how lap bars, unless they are indivual ones, would have changed much in regards to the accident outside of stopping the father from going after his child.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Pirates and Small World have one operational issue: the boats line up before unloading. So people get restless. Small children even more so, because they are restless by nature, especially when unstimulated. Five year olds do not sit still. They will crawl, turn around, get erect. Then boats go from full stop to a lunge forward in the blink of an eye. Before parents even have time to tell their kids to remain seated they may have fallen out. Provided parents realise the boats will get a sudden forward movement in the first place.

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

I think that we need to eliminate "poorly supervised children". Like the ones that stand up during a ride - when the announcements clearly say "remain seated" !!! They should do a stint with Mary Poppins !!

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

No.

 

[luv]

Although I wouldn't look forward to it, I can understand why Disney feels they need to put in lap bars. I've seen kids stand up on Pirates before.

 

[bgraham34]

I think that we need to eliminate "poorly supervised children". Like the ones that stand up during a ride - when the announcements clearly say "remain seated" !!! They should do a stint with Mary Poppins !!

Personally I think you need to pass a test to become a parent.

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

Personally I think you need to pass a test to become a parent.

Well, Yeah !!! I had to pass one to operate a motorized vehicle. But all and sundry are allowed to BREED at will !!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

In fall 1999 the hubby & I went to WDW for a couple days sans our (then) small children. The family in the row in front of us were quite the show unto themselves. The daughter was complaining she didn't feel well. The mom was fussing at the dad. Their little boy (maybe 4 or 5 years old) was totally jacked out of his mind on sugar. Halfway thru the ride the little girl starts throwing up on the floor of the boat. The dad who was sitting between the daughter and the mother obviously didn't handle this to Mom's liking because she went totally ballistic on poor Dad. Dad was so shocked by it all he literally froze like he didn't know what to do about any of it. The little boy who was already sitting on the side of the boat on the other side of his sister (Mom & Dad weren't next to him at all) decided he wanted nothing to do with the puking, stood up on his seat, and literally was on his way over the side of the boat. Dead serious. The kid was in the process of jumping ship. Not a figure of speech or pun there. He had decided the water and pirates were a better option. Being parents to toddlers at the time, the hubby & I jumped into action. I snatched the little boy out of the air and pulled him back to our seat. My husband sat him down. I started handing the dad napkins, bottled water, etc. from my backpack and helping the poor guy. The mother was still freaking out but she started to help, too.

When we got off the ride we didn't say much beyond "you're welcome" when the parents thanked us. That family needed to sort themselves out a bit. To this day we still marvel at the utter cluelessness of all of them. How do people get to that point? At no point did Mom or Dad show any sort of good judgement or decision-making before we interveined. I realize the parks can really take their toll but wow. Just wow. People don't think sometimes.

Lap bars on PotC. Whoda ever thunk it? Buuuuut, in the situation above as well as the one that (reportedly) occured in Paris, at least it would encourage children to not stand in the boats. Even if parents place smaller children to the inside of the boat, what's to keep them from shifting the little ones over once the ride starts? Nothing really. Lap bars could maybe help, I guess. What about babies, tho? I know you can hold babies on the ride. Do you just put the lap bar down and hold them like in the other dark rides???

 

[bethymouse]

Come on , man!

 

[afar28]

I honestly couldn't care less, seems unnecessary though.

 

[MaryJaneP]

...So people get restless. Small children even more so, because they are restless by nature, especially when unstimulated.....

So one possibility is lap bars to lock restless people in their seats. Another option might be to stimulate these restless people at load/unload areas with video screens and/or provide them with personal digital screen devices. Just another method for the bent-over generation to ignore the world around them while staring numbly at a handheld blipvert.

 

[Gabe1]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/30/disneyland-paris-accident-5-year-old-injured_n_4178670.html
This article goes a bit more in depth about the situation, sounds like their version might be seeing lap bars soon, but that doesn't translate to us having them. After all we got lap bars for splash and disneyland's version never got em.

I understand why the boy popped up. We are all conditioned to pop up when the ride is over. He is only 5, so a good understanding of over vs almost over a hard concept to grasp when the ride stopped. Being near the end he likely thought it was time to exit and popped. I was an overly cautious parent but not clairvoyant, think that could happen to any child/parent, the timing of the stopping and resuming sure worked against this poor kid.

So sad.