Pic of Splash Mountain lap bars......

[WDWmazprty]

Check it out:


http://www.screamscape.com/html/wdw_-_magic_kingdom.htm

Park News - (1/22/11) If you subscribe to the official Screamscape Twitter, you already know this (and if not... what’s a matter with you?). The rumors are 100% true... Splash Mountain is currently adding a large single lap bar to each and every row on the logs. As outraged as I am about the very concept of this, unfortunately we as guests, have only ourselves to blame. Apparently there are a large number of morons out there who think it’s funny / cool / xtreme to either stand-up during portions of the ride, combined with an equal number of stupid tourists who think that at the first time of a ride stoppage, they are free to jump out of the log and go wanderi

ng about inside the mountain. Then the real fun begins as CMs are sent out to search every nook and cranny inside the gigantic structure for these lost guests before they can turn the ride back on. (So maybe we should all agree, as a theme park loving community, that if we’ve in a park and see someone doing something stupid... say something and stop them.)
Adding insult to injury, this will cut down on the capacity of the ride as well in two ways. Previous policy allowed for groups of three that could fit (3 kids, 2 adult & 1 small child) to sit in one row, for a maximum of 12 riders per log. Now I know this didn’t happen all the time, but with the new lap bars two riders per row is all that will be allowed. Secondly, the ride’s capacity will be cut again as the dispatch time between logs has been raised from 12.5 seconds to an estimated 15-20 seconds per log to allow for increased loading time to deal with guests loading more slowly due to the lap bars and time for the ride crew to give each bar a quick tug.
Now for the good news... the lap bars are nothing like what Universal put on Ripsaw Falls. Instead they are very similar in style to what is used on Big Thunder Mountain. I’ve also been sent a pictures showing off the new restraints. Thanks to everyone who responded about this... I must have had between 20-25 different people contact me today to confirm this unfortunate news.

 

[CarlFredricksen]

Thanks for the pic!

It's unfortunate it has come to this, but Disney is just covering their butts

 

[imagineergurl]

That is not a picture of the lapbars, just the dummies and padding. The lapbars cannot be seen in the onride photos if pulled down enough.

 

[Coach81]

Cool pic.. thank you!!!

 

[JustInTime]

That is not a picture of the lapbars, just the dummies and padding. The lapbars cannot be seen in the onride photos if pulled down enough.

The lap bars are the dark brown things. Look again.

 

[WDWFigment]

I don't see why everyone is up in arms over this. Pick your battles, guys. If you ____ about everything, it renders your complaints about the truly significant things less meaningful.

In any case, I think this is a positive change. I can't count the number of times I've been stuck on Splash Mountain because someone got off during the ride (seriously, it has been far too many).

 

[disnyfan89]

Thanks but this pic has already been posted in the Splash Mountain Restraint thread. This is nothing new. http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showpost.php?p=4423003&postcount=68

 

[Alexx]

"With an equal number of stupid tourists who think that at the first time of a ride stoppage, they are free to jump out of the log and go wandering about inside the mountain"

People do this?

 

[JustInTime]

I don't see why everyone is up in arms over this. Pick your battles, guys. If you ____ about everything, it renders your complaints about the truly significant things less meaningful.

In any case, I think this is a positive change. I can't count the number of times I've been stuck on Splash Mountain because someone got off during the ride (seriously, it has been far too many).

I don't see anyone up in arm in this thread...yet. But I don't mind them being there. I agree it's a positive change.

 

[imagineergurl]

The lap bars are the dark brown things. Look again.

No hun, that would be the padding. The lapbars don't go that high. Look again.

 

[Monty]

Better pics:

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgf

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgp

The pics on Screamscape don't actually show the bars.

 

[WDWFigment]

I don't see anyone up in arm in this thread...yet. But I don't mind them being there. I agree it's a positive change.

This thread isn't the only discussion in existence debating the "merits" of the lap bars.

 

[JustInTime]

This thread isn't the only discussion in existence debating the "merits" of the lap bars.

And that's why I said "this" thread. The other is a mess.

 

[Neverland]

I understand that the lapbars will cut down the dispatch interval and hourly numbers, but I've wanted lapbars on Splash Mountain since I was a kid. Now I won't feel like I'm gonna get sucked out of the log on the big drop. But seriously, I think this is a good thing, because this will get rid of guests jumping out, causing the ride to go 101 for who knows how long and possibly evac'd.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Better pics:

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgf

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgp

The pics on Screamscape don't actually show the bars.

Thanks--these show the lapbars much better. They are actually pretty small and fit in well without greatly impinging on "larger guests." I don't think this will hurt hourly capacity by that much. I will be curious to see if their dispatch system changes, though.

 

[TimeTrip]

Better pics:

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgf

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgp

The pics on Screamscape don't actually show the bars.

Is it possible to see the lap bars in the first one? I can't see them :-( Though perhaps that's a good thing.

 

[rsoxguy]

This ride is obviously still unsafe. All of the test-dummies lost their heads.

 

[Timekeeper]

They are actually pretty small and fit in well without greatly impinging on "larger guests."

These lap bars will impinge on larger guests - as is the nature of safety restraints - albeit not "greatly," and/or defeat their purpose when a larger guest is seated beside a smaller guest, as the single lap bar covers both guests (like Big Thunder) and not individually (like Everest). :brick:

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Better pics:

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgf

http://twitpic.com/3t2vgp

The pics on Screamscape don't actually show the bars.

Can't see them in the first picture, but that second one really shows them off. They're smaller than I thought they would be which is good. In fact, now that they've removed those overly large smelly handgrips, it alsmot looks like there's more space (though its probably just an illusion).

Oh well, they're a necessary eveil at this point, so no sense in getting all worked up about them. On the plus side, the logs themselves look great; looks like they gave them a quick paint job while they were at it with the lapbars.

 

[britlightyear]

I am at MK right now and saw the lap bars just a couple minutes ago. Not all boats have the lap bars yet, it is very clear they are still testing them. I snapped a few pics but can't upload them to here from my phone. I can email them to anyone though. They have the water jug/dummy things in the boats with the lap bars.