Too many boats.

[wsmith1978]

If people didn't take so long getting on and off the boats, it would go faster. They need ejector seats for the slowpokes.

 

[Bing Bong]

I would rather wait in line then get stuck in the Finale room of It's a Small World for 10 minutes again... The boats were backed up all the way to the Hawaii/Australia room last time I rode.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Molly Brown would disagree with you.

Hey, she obviously found one with room.

 

[Brad Bishop]

I'm with the OP.

I understand that sometimes things slow down or stop to help someone on or off a ride. This is the exception and not the rule.

The normal rule at WDW with regards to Pirates, Splash Mountain, and It's a Small World is, and has been for as long as I can remember: The boats are going to stack up significantly at the end of the ride.

Not 2-3 deep because of some odd occurrence, but regularly 10+ deep. That leaves you stuck on the ride and I think it's a bit disrupting to the flow of the show of the ride.

You shouldn't regularly stack up looking on the outside of Splash before heading back in to see the show boat, but you do. That's pretty far away for stacking.

You shouldn't stack up under the bridge where the pirate sites with his blackened leg hanging down, which still leave you some show left between the jail with the dog and Jack Sparrow in the treasure room. You're stuck.

In IaSW, you typically get stuck in near the beginning of the white carnival room. Getting stuck 2-3 deep in the "Goodbye" room seems perfectly acceptable. Backing up to the beginning of the carnival white room is just too many boats.

 

[DManRightHere]

So...what is to blame?

Several guests that can not get in and out of the boat quickly enough?

CM's waiting for full loads of boats when there is no line?

Just too many boats?

Combination?

Something else?

We know splash just breaks down all the time...

 

[Tom Morrow]

So...what is to blame?

Several guests that can not get in and out of the boat quickly enough?

Yes, but That shouldn't account for boats stacking up all the way to the beginning of the final scene of IASW, for example. I'm betting that the decision comes from higher ups thinking more boats = higher capacity = shorter line! Even though this is false, and there only needs to be enough boats to ensure there is never a gap between boats dispatching and arriving.

CM's waiting for full loads of boats when there is no line?

No. CM's do not wait for full loads, I've gotten a practically private boat many times. The stacking generally happens when there's a high demand, not when rides are walk-on.

 

[sjhym333]

The answer is a little of everything. But as someone who has worked at WDW on some of the boat rides I can tell you that there seems to be this idea that adding more boats will automatically increase capacity. But that is incorrect because capacity is not only about how many seats you have but how quickly a boat can cycle throughout the attraction. So while having extra boats may seem like a great idea, when you have boats sitting for a long time waiting to unload and reload, the capacity drops. Stopped boats gives you no increase in capacity. In the best case scenario there should be boats loading and loading and no more than a couple of boats waiting to pull into load/unload. The problem for some is that it seems counterintuitive but it really is the best way to reach capacity. Conversely, when you are load/unload and you are waiting for boats to get there you need to add boats.

 

[natatomic]

I'm in a hurry so I didn't get a chance to read the posts ahead of me, but there's a very good chance there was either a technical issue that held up the ride or there could have been a disabled guest that had trouble transferring, which would also hold the ride up. And, often times, it can take a few cycles to get the boats spaced properly again. I, personally, would feel like an @$$ for complaining about waiting in a 10 boat bumper boat line when it was simply due to a family having to transfer their very delicate, very ill MaW child to or from a ride vehicle.

 

[copcarguyp71]

They could always get boats for POTC that actually have the ability to have all rows loaded...silly thought I know but yeah, there it is!

 

[Goofyernmost]

They could always get boats for POTC that actually have the ability to have all rows loaded...silly thought I know but yeah, there it is!

Not personally witnessed, but, it has been reported that all rows are now being used.

 

[copcarguyp71]

whoah.....confirmation anyone??????

 

[lazyboy97o]

Or any slower. There is a problem with the system at this point. Whether it is because more people require assistance getting into or out of the boats or something else, it will only handle so many completed rides per hour. Therefore the question is, would one rather be sitting in the AC looking at the scenes while you wait for the boats to move again, or stand in a hot sweaty line waiting for the same thing.

Yes, I know the answer is neither, but every once in a while, reality pokes it's ugly head into our fantasies. Hopefully they can fix some of the reasons for the problems, but, who knows?

The operational reason for turning Pirates of the Caribbean into a ride was the ability to control pacing. The queues are also indoors, so it's not like people will be out in the heat and rain.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The operational reason for turning Pirates of the Caribbean into a ride was the ability to control pacing. The queues are also indoors, so it's not like people will be out in the heat and rain.

Regardless, I, personally, would rather sit and wait then stand and wait. Just a matter of preference.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Regardless, I, personally, would rather sit and wait then stand and wait. Just a matter of preference.

Lots of people don't care about lots of aspects of show. It's why rides are allowed to rot. Opportunities to sit and relax could be created instead of removed from throughout the parks.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The thread title keeps making me think of:

 

[FutureCEO]

I hate the bumper boats. It gives you whiplash. The ride that annoys me with that it It's a Small World and Pirates (I could care less for the Jack Sparrow scene).

 

[bingie]

Boat weighting. I blame the turkey legs.

The boats are now loaded with turkey-leg-filled-guests so they move more slowly than they did in 1973 and stack up.

 

[Brad Bishop]

Boat weighting. I blame the turkey legs.

The boats are now loaded with turkey-leg-filled-guests so they move more slowly than they did in 1973 and stack up.

I don't think you're far off. I still think that they put too many boats in but the fatness of the public means that they move slower and constantly have to get off of their scooters into the boat, climb out of the boat, and climb back onto their scooters.

This is most noticeable at the Haunted Mansion where, decades back, the ride rarely stopped. Now the ride stops several times while you're on it. While I'm usually in the ride when this happens and don't know for sure, I'm assuming that Disney isn't running some barely operational ride that can't make a single revolution without shutting down several times, and instead, the loading and unloading of scooter guests is what does it (and slows it down as you go).

I think that they even tried to address this with that really long loading area for Little Mermaid. While I haven't ridden that one as much, I don't think it's stopped once on me and I'm pretty sure it's because scooter guests have a longer runway which to land.