Not fun on the Jungle Cruise

[wendysue]

Just got back from WDW and spent this past Monday at MK. Our first stop was the egg roll cart in Adventureland....YUM. Then we decided to ride the Jungle Cruise as it said only 35 min wait. As it got to be 50 minutes we were watching how the attendant (Steven) let everyone enter and saw that the he would let virtually everyone in the FP line through, approx. 50 or more at a time, and then 6 to 8 people from the standby line. After 65 minutes of waiting we finally got to the front and saw that the attendant that had been herding us through was now piloting one of the boats and a young lady took over loading the boats. She actually let 10 go through from the standby line, so it was a tiny bit faster. (Yes, I realize that is what FP is for, but it seemed ridiculous for 6 - 8 people from the standby line to get on every 3rd boat.)
Yay, we are finally on the boat and lo and behold, our new boat driver is the same attendant (Steven) that was being so surly and rude while letting everyone through the line. GREAT!
He started his spiel, and it was so bad that everyone just looked at him and no one laughed. He finally said "OK, I guess if you don't think this is funny, how about just some awkward silence?" and then he didn't say much and when he did tell the jokes, he was very sarcastic. Needless to say, it was a very disappointing ride for everyone on his boat! We think Steven needs to find a new job or maybe go on vacation himself.....
We just had a one day park pass for the MK and wasted over an hour!!!!

 

[marni1971]

You ask for the lead or visit City Hall?

 

[Ginzuishou]

I referred to this in an earlier post about fast pass and stand by lines.....Anyway

I noticed this when I went to EPCOT. The Stand By line (which originally was the main line for the ride) is now actually stand by.

It seems Fast Pass is how they want you to do it now. Fast pass option is fine, but when both Fast Pass and Stand By lines are constantly full, maybe something is going wrong.

 

[G00fyDad]

I thought there was a ratio the CMs were supposed to use 75/25 standby/FP or something...:shrug:

 

[draybook]

We had an older guy do our JC trip last September. Either he was terrible or he was showing us his impression of Ben Stein from Ferris Buellers Day Off.

 

[Kobe!!]

Just got back from WDW and spent this past Monday at MK. Our first stop was the egg roll cart in Adventureland....YUM. Then we decided to ride the Jungle Cruise as it said only 35 min wait. As it got to be 50 minutes we were watching how the attendant (Steven) let everyone enter and saw that the he would let virtually everyone in the FP line through, approx. 50 or more at a time, and then 6 to 8 people from the standby line. After 65 minutes of waiting we finally got to the front and saw that the attendant that had been herding us through was now piloting one of the boats and a young lady took over loading the boats. She actually let 10 go through from the standby line, so it was a tiny bit faster. (Yes, I realize that is what FP is for, but it seemed ridiculous for 6 - 8 people from the standby line to get on every 3rd boat.)
Yay, we are finally on the boat and lo and behold, our new boat driver is the same attendant (Steven) that was being so surly and rude while letting everyone through the line. GREAT!
He started his spiel, and it was so bad that everyone just looked at him and no one laughed. He finally said "OK, I guess if you don't think this is funny, how about just some awkward silence?" and then he didn't say much and when he did tell the jokes, he was very sarcastic. Needless to say, it was a very disappointing ride for everyone on his boat! We think Steven needs to find a new job or maybe go on vacation himself.....
We just had a one day park pass for the MK and wasted over an hour!!!!

You must have never been in the line for Toy Story Midway Mania, I assume.

 

[njDizFan]

JC is definately one of those rides that is either really awesome or simply blah. Much of the ride depends on the Skipper and if you get a good one it's really a lot of fun...possibly my fav in the MK. If your Skipper is a dud then it's not even worth riding.

 

[rct247]

As for the Fastpass issue, what time did you visit the attraction? Was it perhaps after the parade dump? Was the Fastpass line backed up? If so, the ratio shifts a bit in order to keep the promise that Fastpass is a minimal wait. Yes, it does mean that the wait for stand-by increases, but honestly, if you were in the Fastpass line, would you want to find yourself waiting much longer than 15-20 minutes? That's my only guess on why that happened.

 

[nngrendel]

JC is definately one of those rides that is either really awesome or simply blah. Much of the ride depends on the Skipper and if you get a good one it's really a lot of fun...possibly my fav in the MK. If your Skipper is a dud then it's not even worth riding.

Agree. Skipper either makes or breaks this ride.

 

[patricia27]

You are right, the skipper can make the ride. We have always been lucky. As someone earlier said, complain at the City hall on the way out--this guy should not be skippering the boat if he has the wrong attitude.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

JC is definately one of those rides that is either really awesome or simply blah. Much of the ride depends on the Skipper and if you get a good one it's really a lot of fun...possibly my fav in the MK. If your Skipper is a dud then it's not even worth riding.

Agree. Skipper either makes or breaks this ride.

Agreed on both counts. However, the skippers have been getting regulated a lot more on their shows recently at JC. Managers frown upon the skippers who ad-lib and deviate from the printed script, unfortunately. One skipper told me, "Everytime you ad-lib a line now, you're taking a risk." Audits have been occurring more frequently.

I find this very unfortunate, as the skipper's sense of humor (and his ability to ad-lib) is what makes the attraction so much fun. However, the managers are insisting all guests receive the same show.

 

[draybook]

As for the Fastpass issue, what time did you visit the attraction? Was it perhaps after the parade dump? Was the Fastpass line backed up? If so, the ratio shifts a bit in order to keep the promise that Fastpass is a minimal wait. Yes, it does mean that the wait for stand-by increases, but honestly, if you were in the Fastpass line, would you want to find yourself waiting much longer than 15-20 minutes? That's my only guess on why that happened.

It was the same way in March. About 10-15 Fp users for every 2 of the stand-by folks. Didn't bother us though, we expected long waits during Spring Break. Plus it allowed us to actually take in the queue theme and enjoy it.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

He started his spiel, and it was so bad that everyone just looked at him and no one laughed. He finally said "OK, I guess if you don't think this is funny, how about just some awkward silence?" and then he didn't say much and when he did tell the jokes, he was very sarcastic. Needless to say, it was a very disappointing ride for everyone on his boat! We think Steven needs to find a new job or maybe go on vacation himself.....

That is most disappointing!

Working on-stage at Disney means you work in theatre. You are an actor. You play your part, regardles of whether you perform in front of three thousand or three people, regardless of whether you've captivated your audience or not.

Little princess S. needs to understamd that he is there for the audience, the audience isn't there for him, to be an applause machine to strike his ego.


Why, I worked as a teacher once. Whatever happens, you must play your part. In front of the students, there are no hangovers, no breakups, no foul moods. :shrug:

 

[wendysue]

As for the Fastpass issue, what time did you visit the attraction? Was it perhaps after the parade dump? Was the Fastpass line backed up? If so, the ratio shifts a bit in order to keep the promise that Fastpass is a minimal wait. Yes, it does mean that the wait for stand-by increases, but honestly, if you were in the Fastpass line, would you want to find yourself waiting much longer than 15-20 minutes? That's my only guess on why that happened.

I totally understand the that the FP line SHOULD go much faster than standby, but I did not see the FP line stop for longer than it took to let just 6-8 people from the standby line get in. I love FP, but that was just stupid, and there hadn't been a parade. Needless to say, we won't be going near JC again. As another poster said, it's all in the presentation by the operator, and I'm not taking the chance of wasting an hour in hopes that the boat operator actually gives a crap that we are there.

 

[Timekeeper]

The real problem here wasn't the load ratio, but that the actual wait time was double the estimated wait time. If the time posted would have indicated anything in the vicinity of 1 hour, then that would permit the guests to make an educated decision on whether to spend 1 hour waiting in line. The OP would not have had the same (valid) complaint if the posted time was a bit more accurate.

As for CM show performance, I concur that the quality has been steadily decreasing. There are a few CMs who are still great at the role, but the fact of the matter is that some CMs just aren't cut out to be - and therefore should not be - skippers.

At the end of the day, it's up to management to (1) staff competent skippers, (2) evaluate existing skippers, and (3) cut incompetent skippers. There are countless roles for CMs in the parks. A bad skipper might be great at something else. And there are probably some custodial workers who would make great skippers. Management needs to get on the ball and take a proactive role to ensuring that the proper CMs are in the proper roles that makes the best use of their individual strengths.

 

[pcarathers]

in the 10+ years that we have been going, we have only done Fast Passes once, maybe twice! we don't like "back tracking" to go back to a ride at a certain time. we waste more time going on and then coming back to an attraction. If I'm going to waste time I might as well do it standing in line to begin with. I think they should def. have a limit on the number of FP to go through the line, then the same thru the reg. line...I think it would make everything go smoother!

 

[Silver Figment]

Something similar to your fastpass situation happened to me at Space Mountain. 40 or 50 people from fastpass, 3 or 4 from standby. My girlfriend and I went to City Hall to ask about it because we were in the line far longer than we were supposed to be. Guest relations didnt care and told us that its supposed to be 80% from fastpass, 20% from standby. I tried to tell her it was more like 95% FP and 5% standby but she didn't care. Then i was just upset about wasting time to go express my dissappointment. I felt like she could of at least said she was sorry for the situation but she didn't even say that.

 

[Timekeeper]

Something similar to your fastpass situation happened to me at Space Mountain. 40 or 50 people from fastpass, 3 or 4 from standby. My girlfriend and I went to City Hall to ask about it because we were in the line far longer than we were supposed to be. Guest relations didnt care and told us that its supposed to be 80% from fastpass, 20% from standby. I tried to tell her it was more like 95% FP and 5% standby but she didn't care. Then i was just upset about wasting time to go express my dissappointment. I felt like she could of at least said she was sorry for the situation but she didn't even say that.

You should have focused on the fact that you were in line for "longer than you were supposed to be," which I assume means that your wait time was significantly longer than the posted wait time - and that the posted wait time was therefore the time that you were "supposed to be" in line for.

There's no point in focusing on whatever FP/SB ratio the CMs are using because (1) whatever internal policies they decide to use is within their complete discretion and likely different with each attraction, (2) it's unlikely that a guest services CM will be privy to those types of specifics, and (3) priority entrance into an attraction is sort of the point for FPs.

However, significantly underestimated posted wait times is a valid reason to complain, and the least that guest services could do is issue a single attraction FP to compensate for both the time lost due to the incorrectly posted wait time, and the time it took to seek a resolution of the issue with guest services.

 

[erasure fan1]

To the first point. This has happened to us on a couple of occasions. The stand-by time says one thing and it ends up being twice to three times that time. It really does stink and if it is because of a breakdown/problem, I dont mind. But when the cause is heavily skewed fast pass to stand-by ratio, that bugs me. I get that sometimes you get an influx of fastpass returns and you need to let more through, but Disney shouldnt just forget about stand-by.

As for the second point. I have noticed that the skippers on our last 4 trips or so have been pretty bad. Maybe its due to what Nick_A had said:

However, the skippers have been getting regulated a lot more on their shows recently at JC. Managers frown upon the skippers who ad-lib and deviate from the printed script, unfortunately. One skipper told me, "Everytime you ad-lib a line now, you're taking a risk." Audits have been occurring more frequently.

I find this very unfortunate, as the skipper's sense of humor (and his ability to ad-lib) is what makes the attraction so much fun. However, the managers are insisting all guests receive the same show.

It just seemed that none of them really cared and they were just going through the motions. They werent funny, witty or anything that would make the ride fun. I would love to see this ride get a major, major, major refresh.

 

[redshoesrock]

When I worked in Tomorrowland, the ratio was generally supposed to be sixteen FP for every four stand-by. The problem with that is you end up with a line in FP, which causes a *ton* of angry FP people. Then your coordinator shows up at the merge point and tells you to just let all the FP people through to stop the FP people from complaining. Which of course causes the people in the stand-by line to , but you at least have a "reason" (FP) they're waiting. I also know plenty of people who would let all the FP through so that they could just stand there and not do any work (no FP, no one to merge) - I'll bet a nickel that was what your surly Jungle Cruise was doing. I can tell you when it was busy I always *hated* working the merge point for either Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyear. It's pretty thankless either way and sometimes it can be one of the highest pressure positions.