If you are a hardcore Disney Parks fan, you no doubt wear your ride evacuations like a badge of honor. While other guests are often angry or scared during an attraction breakdown, you are excited at the possibility of walking through a show scene in a ride and out some backstage exit door, undoubtedly seeing something you weren’t meant to see. In fact, many guests pay for backstage tours just to see such things, but there are many areas that even those do not travel. On Friday, I was “lucky” enough to experience an “evac” on a ride that I had never before, Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom.
Our log became “jammed” just before the lift hill into the final drop. We were maybe stuck for 15-20 minutes before someone came to help us, but boy, do people get antsy after about 10…
Apparently this is a very common occurrence at the attraction, as guests think it is OK to slip through the lap bars and jump out of the log on their own. Obviously, this is incredibly stupid and no one should do this, considering someone who jumped out of a ride vehicle on this attraction once died (albeit while the attraction was in motion).
While I didn’t capture it on film, another guest jumped out of the log as the cast repeatedly yelled at him over the PA system not to. He then urged his wife to jump out, as the cast continued to yell her to please not move and for both of them to stay where they were. He eventually pulled his wife out unwillingly, eventually then running into the cast members who were coming to get them out of the vehicle safely (if they had only waited about 30 more seconds). The most comical part was when the wife pointed at her husband as if to say “he made me do it”, for fear they would both be ejected from the park by the Disney employees. I am unaware if any action was taken, but I doubt it. I know this might be controversial, but the cast members probably have enough to deal with at that moment, trying to make sure that the remaining guests get out safely.
Either way, this was my first evacuation on Splash Mountain and it was easily the one where I saw the most guests not adhering to safety instructions, which is much scarier than a ride breaking in my book.
So, what do you think? Have you ever witnessed a similar situation on a ny of your trips to Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments.
If you enjoy similar videos, please check out my experience being “evaced” from The Haunted Mansion last year.
I was evac’d from Splash Mountain on my HS band trip…. It was the first time I ever manned up to ride it and we were evacuated. My best friend was in the log going up the last hill when all the water rushed away and she freaked out. That was back in the day when paper fast passes existed and we got about 10 each for our trouble since it took about an hour and it was our last day at WDW.
We also had a trip where every ride we were on broke down but not was up quick enough to avoid an evac. I think Winnie the Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Pirates and…. likely another one all broke down while we were on it. Guest Services gave us two non-expiring passes for that one. Those were the days….
We were stuck for about 15 minutes on HM, when my sister yelled “I’m incontinent!” Lights came on and cms were there in about 30 seconds. She’s not, for the record.
It will be 25 years ago this September when I rode Splash Mountain for the first time. There was a couple seated in front of us and it was apparent that the woman had really no idea what type of ride it was. After the first small hill she was yelling at the man she was with that she hated him for taking her on the ride. He sat there and laughed at her, which in turn made her even madder! As we get to the bottom of the last hill to climb she starts screaming “I’m not doing this!!” He continues to laugh, she tells him she hates him again and then slaps him across the face and jumps out of the log onto the steps on the right hand side of the log. She is still yelling at him and he is dumbfounded but still chuckling at her. She proceeds to start ascending the stairs as our log keeps climbing. After the large drop and the meandering ride back to the exit we were waiting for the ride to stop because we didn’t have as many passengers as we started with.
From then on, every time we get to that point in the ride my husband or myself say “slap slap I hate you”. My kids also now say it because they have heard the story so many times..its our tradition!
Great story!
There should be AT LEAST, huge contractual fines to be paid, whenever customers break safety rules in a park.
I’m all in, for a legal frame in Belgium (my country), to be established around the topic., because without a sound legal frame “private” fines could always be rejected with a reference to “I was unconcious about that contractual detail”. …
Thowing out of the park ? … NO. But PAINFULL fines !? YES
Wouldn’t Disney be fined for this instead of the guest? Even though it was the guest’s fault?
We’ve been evacuated a couple of times. Once off the Great Movie Ride and once off the Tower of Terror. It went smoothly both times and was no big deal. The gave us fast passes for the Tower of Terror for later in the day. It was kind of neat seeing the ride workings up close but again, anyone who is a regular Disney visitor will eventually be evacuated off a ride and it’s usually no problem if you just follow instructions.
I was on this ride Friday during the evacuation stuck in a different section and all behaved very well, including the kids, and the Disney cast members were there within 10 min to escort us off the ride. My group of 7 had a good experience considering and all of the cast members were very well trained to handle the situation. We felt like our safety was valued as we were escorted by several cast members along our 10 min walk behind the scenes and our time was valued by receiving fast pass vouchers for other rides in the park. Cast members at other rides were all obviously notified and showed extra care. We all felt like Disney and their cast members went above and beyond and we have shared the story a dozen of times already. Thanks Disney!
I got evaced on Winnie the Pooh a few months back, my first one :)
As a previous cast member, I heard all about the person who died in the “laughing place” area of Splash. I always tell people that those boat rides are the most dangerous to try to get out of.
I’ve been stuck on HM hanging backward just before the cemetery. I didn’t mind though because it’s one of my favorite rides.
It is without question extremely dangerous to leave a ride vehicle even if the attraction is stopped. The attraction CM have set procedures & protocols to follow to make sure everyone is accounted for. Having random people wandering around the attraction without fully knowing what to do or where to go in suspect lighting is so dangerous to everyone including CM
Today’s society is full of people yearning to win a Darwin award
This past May I got stuck on Splash Mountain twice, but only for about 5 minutes each time. My son and I got stuck on Kali River Rapids and had to be evacuated by the fire dept. The CMs brought us water and umbrellas pretty quick since we were just baking in the sun. We sat there for around 30-45 minutes. One guy on the ride was freaking out the whole time, wanting to get off on his own. The step to get off was so small that the fire dept didn’t really even assist me off, but I was glad they were there to help my son get off safely.
I was evacuated from the people mover. The park was closed by the time they got is off and we missed the last bus back to the resort. They have us fast passes for the next day for for rides and got a car to take us back to the resort.
Stitches before it went seasonal, got some fast passes to
I was on Kali River Rapids when our raft got stuck right before the drop yet again. (This seems to happen to me often.) This time, there was this foreign boy on the raft, and he undid his safety belt and stood up. I was telling him to sit down and so was a man on the raft behind us. But he didn’t listen. The boy next to him explained, “He doesn’t speak English.” But that doesn’t excuse him. I think he knew what I was trying to tell him. He said, “No me molesta!” Which means, “don’t bother me!” Finally, he did sit down so I didn’t have to witness his untimely death.
Actually, it means “No, it bothers me”. He was talking about his restraint. Why was he without adult Spanish supervision to begin with?
Ah, forgive my poor Spanish. I’ve been struggling with it for years; never can break into fluency. As for adult supervision, your guess is as good as mine. I assume he was a house guest or friend of the boy who said he didn’t speak English. No adult claimed responsibility for him. I have little idea how old they were, as this happened many years ago, and I don’t remember what they looked like anymore. So I can’t say if they were the proper age for riding without a guardian or not.
We got stuck on It’s a Small World. After a few minutes people were getting out of theirboats as announcements were being made to stay put. Of course people don’t listen. I mean you are floating in maybe 3 feet of water and a flat ride what could possibly go that wrong. So now I know guests are as annoying in line as well as on a broken ride.
I am a previous CM and worked Speedway. Whilst not an evac, we had people just stop their car where they wanted, get out and just walk in front of other cars.