Just to quickly address some people's questions/comments
First, thank you all for showing your concern for the event. It was definetely not fun, but now looking back, we joke about it and it didn't have any real adverse effects on our experience at Disney this past week.
Now, in regards to the location of life vests. When the boat started to "take on water", the first thing many of the guests did was yell out for life vests. There are two important things here that increased the hysteria that night. First, despite the obvious requests for the vests, the captain never told the group where to find them. Obviously and understandably, he was more concerned with getting the boat to a dock, but letting those in the front know where the vests were would have taken a few seconds and helped keep people's attention focused on something else than the several feet of water on deck. Second, we were kept in the dark the entire time. The captain never turned on the lights. As such, any signs or labels for vests were difficult to find or read. This was coupled with those in the front trying to "lift" up the seats, like a chest, to get the vests out when in fact they are located in drawers underneath those benches.
In regards to the anger felt among some of the passengers to the captain(s). I honestly felt the primary captain was incredibly concerned. However, the lack of aid when a distress call was sent out, the lack of adequate reassurance for the passengers on board, both during the event and after we got safely back, coupled with the "manager on duty" not being able to respond because he was helping to tie up the Yacht at the Grand Floridian, and probably everyone's nerves, led to a rather unpleasant initial reaction from most guests on board.
I honestly don't know how deep the lagoon is...and personally never felt any fear in regards to the boat sinking. But you must remember there were quite a few young children on board, including an elderly woman who ironically, and jokingly, told me before we left the MK she couldn't swim. When that water started to pour onto the boat, coupled with the lack of reassurance from the captain and an inability to properly locate and distribute life vests, many on board panicked that night.
As for the speed of the boat. Ironically, when we started to take on water, our captain immediately slowed down. In my opinion, the boat was overloaded that night. The last few guests on board were barely sitting on a seat. When we started to really pick up speed, the back of the boat tilted, letting the water onto the deck. This coupled with the improper bilge pump just allowed the water to continue pouring onto the deck.
It was a rather scary experience....even if the water is only a few feet deep...mainly because nobody on the boat that night knew that. Some better reassurance from the captian that night and if people could have found the life vests would have helped to quam some of the nerves. It just wasn't handled very well. But let's be honest....how often do the captians ever have to deal with such a scenario.
In regards to compensation...we were offered several times that they (Disney) would do whatever they could to help make this situation right. As a family we don't tend to ever really "want" anything materialisitic in such events....its just not in our interest. Our only concern/request was trying to either a) prevent this from happening again and/or b) making guests more prepared in case of such an emergency. I sincerely hope that part of the "safety" tips regarding keeping your hands and feet, etc. in the boat will now also include the simple addition of pointing out the location of the life vests. However, I am sure that had we requested something, Disney would have compensated us in some way.
