Trapped on Spaceship Earth - 3/11/18

t3techcom18

t3techcom18

Well-Known Member
castlecake2.0 said:
For attractions it is safety> courtesy/efficiency when attractions go down. Having guests wait 30 mins or so for the ride system to resume is deemed the better option than say having to evac a water flume or multifloor attraction. What if the guest needs mobility assistance? Is carrying a small child? Etc. Not excusing the downtime of course, but sometimes an evac isn’t the first/safest option.
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After having worked in attractions for 7 years, SSE in particular for 5, all I can say is nope. Safety doesn't play a role in it at all, it's whomever the manager is in charge and whether or not they have the guts to bring the thing down. No guest should have to wait 20-25 minutes for the ride to come back up. The 15 minute rule to evac is in place for a reason and as for those carrying a small child or needs mobility assistance, there's procedures for that. (One requires Reedy Creek or patient people, the other needs to be a good parent.)
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
I never knew the drop had carved rockwork going all the way down. I just assumed it was an unthemed space because of how dark it is.
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Surprised me too. It's always pitch black under show lighting conditions, I just assumed the space was an empty bare room devoid of actual detail. To contrast, Splash Mountain's drop shafts are unthemed (i've ridden it with the lights on, and they aren't even nearly as dark as POTC's drop under normal lighting).

I found this ultra low light video recording of WDW's Pirates. The camera they used captures dark scenes much better than the human eye and you can see some more of the detail during the drop-


I wonder if at one point the Pirates drop shaft was actually supposed to be lit up at all. Perhaps maybe it was a long time ago?
 
EPICOT

EPICOT

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
Surprised me too. It's always pitch black under show lighting conditions, I just assumed the space was an empty bare room devoid of actual detail. To contrast, Splash Mountain's drop shafts are unthemed (i've ridden it with the lights on, and they aren't even nearly as dark as POTC's drop under normal lighting).

I found this ultra low light video recording of WDW's Pirates. The camera they used captures dark scenes much better than the human eye and you can see some more of the detail during the drop-


I wonder if at one point the Pirates drop shaft was actually supposed to be lit up at all. Perhaps maybe it was a long time ago?
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Trust me, the Pirates drop shaft and area at the bottom of the drop are fully themed. I may or may not have ridden with a guest who thought it'd be cool to film the ride with flash on the whole time.
 
Amos1784

Amos1784

Well-Known Member
t3techcom18 said:
After having worked in attractions for 7 years, SSE in particular for 5, all I can say is nope. Safety doesn't play a role in it at all, it's whomever the manager is in charge and whether or not they have the guts to bring the thing down. No guest should have to wait 20-25 minutes for the ride to come back up. The 15 minute rule to evac is in place for a reason and as for those carrying a small child or needs mobility assistance, there's procedures for that. (One requires Reedy Creek or patient people, the other needs to be a good parent.)
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I would agree that 15 minutes should be the breaking point. My husband gets quite claustrophobic and anxious if he feels he is "trapped" . If Sp. Earth is moving at a normal pace or even quick stops its no problem at all, 25 minutes I think the anxiety would start to creep in, not to mention little kids that need to use the restroom. We were stuck on Dinosaur once, in a completely dark area of the ride, yet the vehicle kept bouncing around in the pitch black for a good 10 minutes. I thought he was going to lose it. :eek:
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Amos1784 said:
I would agree that 15 minutes should be the breaking point. My husband gets quite claustrophobic and anxious if he feels he is "trapped" . If Sp. Earth is moving at a normal pace or even quick stops its no problem at all, 25 minutes I think the anxiety would start to creep in, not to mention little kids that need to use the restroom. We were stuck on Dinosaur once, in a completely dark area of the ride, yet the vehicle kept bouncing around in the pitch black for a good 10 minutes. I thought he was going to lose it. :eek:
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I don't understand that I guess. SSE is wide open. How does he ride in a car for a long distance or use a stall in a bathroom, How could he not look to one side and see the exit path. It seems hardly confining. I have leg issues, not crippling, but, requires careful stepping. My fear would be having to walk down those stairways, not sitting in a ride open ride vehicle.
 
Amos1784

Amos1784

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
I don't understand that I guess. SSE is wide open. How does he ride in a car for a long distance or use a stall in a bathroom, How could he not look to one side and see the exit path. It seems hardly confining. I have leg issues, not crippling, but, requires careful stepping. My fear would be having to walk down those stairways, not sitting in a ride open ride vehicle.
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He doesn't ride in a car for long distance...he get's quite a bit of anxiety on highways. Driving on side roads no problem, he could if needed pull over at any time somewhere. Its the feeling that I CAN'T get out if I wanted to. Now of course you really could but would obviously cause a scene. It's not that it is confining in the Mission Space way its the trapped feeling aka a car on the highway. When the ride is moving there is an anticipated end, when your sitting not moving the trapped feeling starts to sink it. For what its worth he also does not ride Mission Space or Soarin at all. Every time we step on the monorail with the issues they have been having I pray we don't get stuck lol. Anxiety is a crazy thing, and unless you have it or deal with someone that does very hard to understand, but being stuck for 25 minutes on a ride I know he would be very uncomfortable.
 
kybred72

kybred72

Active Member
creathir said:
We were on Pirates the week before last (before it closed for refurb) and our boat got stuck RIGHT at the top of the falls.

The lights came on and we got to do a ride evacuation. Was quite awesome.

For the curious: they tie a rope to the boat so it does go down the chute while guests are climbing out, and take people out one at a time.

The end result was a fast pass and a free water bottle, plus some walking backstage.

No pictures backstage of course, but here was our boat sitting at the top of the drop with the lights on...
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What an experience!
 
Rinx

Rinx

Well-Known Member
SpaceMountain77 said:
We were at the top of SSE. A cast member did circle by and asked everyone to remain seated. Given the time, we were 25 minutes or so.
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This makes me think somebody decided to hop out of their vehicle or dropped something from it. When I worked at Nemo a CM (I actually had to do this once) would take a walk through when the pressure sensors went off.
 
MrConbon

MrConbon

Well-Known Member
A few years ago I was stuck on Spaceship Earth for about a half hour on the downward decent. Sitting like you’re about to fall backwards for a half hour is NOT a fun experience!
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
MrConbon said:
A few years ago I was stuck on Spaceship Earth for about a half hour on the downward decent. Sitting like you’re about to fall backwards for a half hour is NOT a fun experience!
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Happened to me too. We were in the darkened area with nothing to look at but the pinpoint lights.
 
K

Kingtut

Well-Known Member
MrConbon said:
A few years ago I was stuck on Spaceship Earth for about a half hour on the downward decent. Sitting like you’re about to fall backwards for a half hour is NOT a fun experience!
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A few years ago we were stuck in the same position for about 30 minutes - my wife was with our autistic daughter - the evacuation was one of the most stressful things I have ever done by that point on the ride. To this day my wife has not ridden SSE again even without my younger daughter. If you have a special needs person in your party this is one more thing you need to think about and plan for.
 

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