The Laughin’ Place has had its fair share of trouble this summer, as Splash Mountain has seen a series of issues since the reopening of the Magic Kingdom—from long lines at the gift shop, to guests being evacuated on official reopening day, and a short stint of unexpected downtime. Now, it seems another set of photos and video are surfacing from guests who not only had to evacuate the ride, but who managed to see their log fully submerged shortly after exiting it.
In a recent video from Twitter user @skyelaringrsoll, it shows a fully submerged ride vehicle as guests look on from the nearest ledge they could climb up to:
It seems the evacuation was not initially performed under the supervision of a Cast Member, as guests had to find a way out once water started entering the ride vehicle. In the video, dialogue is heard between a Cast Member and the guests. A Cast Member is heard saying, “Guys, I kindly ask that you do not get out of your…” To which the guests promptly retorted, “But do you see the boat?” The Cast Member then responds, “I understand that, but this is a safety hazard.”
According to guests inside the log, they claim the ride vehicle sank shortly after they all “stepped out.” Another Twitter user, @_jayy09, posted a video of an in-ride announcement that was made before the ride was reportedly “powered off.”
While it’s unclear exactly what events led to the submerging of the ride vehicle, guests have expressed concern that they were expected to remain in their seats even as the log flooded with water.
We’ll be at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow to check on the status of the attraction in light of these recent events. Have you been evacuated from Splash Mountain since the reopening of the Magic Kingdom? Let us know in the comments!
“Almost drowned” It’s not that deep. But I still don’t blame them for getting out of the boat.
Getting everyone ready for the new version where the story is that the guests become frogs.
FFS. The animatronics are revolting and the rides are breaking down. Even Disney is trying to say it shouldn’t be open.
It’s past time to take the hint
With so many ride issues since the parks reopened it seems like Disney shouldn’t have let the rides sit so long while closed. Maybe they should have cycled them through on a regular basis.
With what staff?
This has happened before, and last time it was caused by a drain flap on the back of the log to get stuck open.. the flaps drai. The water out when the log is going up the lifts, but when they get stuck open the log will fill with water. The powering off announcement is normal. Happens every time the ride breaks down. The ride probably broke down because it sensed the sinking boat. Side note the flume is not deep enough there to drown.
The ride probably keeps breaking because it knows it’s going to be replaced. The ride seem to have developed a life of its own and is probably like “you’re going to replace me, I’ll show you..” I’ve never see it break down this much in the past.
Are you serious??? STAND UP. Geez, two feet of water and they are panicking that they “almost drowned”? What a society of babies we have become. They have a story at Disney most don’t. And they lived to tell it. Gasp.
That’s like 3 feet of water. No danger of drowning. They would however be in danger if the ride began moving or shifting while they got out. These girls appear to over react to the situation. Listen to the cast member, stop recording on your damn phone and stop preplanning your big Disney lawsuit for getting your clothes wet.
Um, while the riders would have been pretty wet, nobody is going to drown sitting upright in a boat that is filled with water to their waist. Even little people, as long as they met the ride height requirements are going to be fine. Climbing out put not only the riders but cast members in a hazardous situation.
So they decided to go with “Titanic” theming??
I just hope the water isn’t freezing there.
Former cast member here. I’m pretty sure the cast member who yelled at them for stepping out of a sinking boat is going to be spoken to. No you shouldn’t get out of a ride vehicle… but the ride was stationary and they were in danger. They didn’t just hop out with a ride in motion and they were clearly on the evac path.
If you listen to the video, the CM didn’t raise her voice. She was very calm and was following procedure. And she’s right. It’s actually safer in the boat than getting out of the boat. They got out by themselves unassisted, could have slipped in the canal or gotten a limb caught between or under the boat. They also had no idea if the platform they were evacuating to would support their weight. So yeah, instinct is get out of the sinking boat, but I can confirm it’s actually safer inside.
Karen being a bit dramatic. you did not almost drown in 2ft of water
Little dramatic. Guests would have been completely drenched yes, but unless they cannot see over the boat (in that case why even ride the ride and would assume height restrictions are there for this very occurrence) nobody would drown. The moats are not 100ft deep… Disney would have given guests fresh clothing, and yes jumping out of the boat is a safety issue. Much more likely to injure yourself jumping out of the boat rather than sitting in the splash mountain kiddie pool. They shoulda been kicked out of the park for not listening
Omg… that is scary. We are headed to Disney tomorrow and the kids are most excited about riding Splash Mountain. It is bothersome the Disney employee told them they should have remained in the vehicle. Obviously it was unsafe.
I’ve been evacuated from that ride. Took about an hour of waiting with my daughter for employee to escort us from our log out of the ride. Hope they fix all issues with the ride constantly breaking down when they reimagine it.
Aaaaaand Disney Fans expect things will get better at Disney Theme Parks with Bob “Cheapskate” Chapek in charge of Team Disney? 🤷🏻♂️
FYI – no way I’d stay strapped in a log flume that is submerging!
Got confused with the Submarine Voyage? :-)
From a safety point of view I can understand Disney’s policy regarding why it would be safer to stay in the boat. If they tried to get out un-aided and fell outside of the boat into the current, they face the possibility of getting sucked under the boat, which has a much higher drowning potential than sitting in 2 feet of water.
I get both sides of this. To the guest, their log is sinking and they don’t know how deep the water is.
To the cast member (and most likely to Disney’s lawyers), the guests put themselves at risk by evacuating themselves — theme parks are basically industrial machinery which is altered in appearance to look happy, but industrial machinery is VERY unforgiving. They don’t tell you to “keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and be sure to watch your kids” for kicks.They say it because doing otherwise can end VERY badly for the guest who does it.
Just ask the guy who got out of his log on Splash Mountain and ended up dead in 2000. Granted, that guy got out while the log was moving along the flume, not sinking into it.
This would have never happened at all if the ride are themed as ” THE FROG PRINCESS ” in the first place.
Sorry for the scarasm but if the boat is sinking you get out of the boat. That’s all there is to it.
I’m sorry but there is no way they were in danger of drowning. Sitting or standing in water yes, drowning no. The water is not deep enough to go over an adult’s head.
An elderly person or someone larger may have not been able to get out…
Agreed. Still would not have drown. Would just be wet from sitting in water.
While understand that any incident of this nature would be scary and unsettling. I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say “we could’ve drowned”. I’m shocked at Disney and it’s cast members for not addressing the problem properly, and I’m just extremely happy no one was hurt.
Since I took over as CEO we have been testing methods of giving our guests a DEEPER connection with our attractions. To FULLY IMMERSE them in the worlds we have created.
If the told me to stay I might have it maybe stand up. Get wet and maybe get some new Disney clothing out of the deal LOL
Would there be any concern for possible electrocution while being submerged in a log full of water?
Log rides should not have lap bars. A few years ago at Cedar Point, a log slid backwards downhill and flipped upside down with passengers on board; luckily a group of guests were able to rescue them.
I’m starting to feel that Chapek is intentionally letting the ride scare off customers to justify the change, because he knows it will be a lot less populated once it changes over. And I had a logic epiphany yesterday. The ride has no place in Florida while themed to Princess & the Frog, but there is however another movie with a minority princess (and one who was more independent and inspirational than Tiana) that came out almost 20 years prior and has received NO love in any of the parks and it would fit amazingly well with the Frontierland theme and that would be Pocahontas. Grandmother Willow could easily replace Brer Frog as narrator, it has cutesy woodland critters as sidekicks, it could provide some scary moments, the music is miles better than Princess & the Frog’s, and one of the major songs is set ON A RIVER. It’s completely illogical that they didn’t think of that option. Yeah, it has its own historical inaccuracies, but so does PatF, and that movie is also chock full of stereotypes…fat redneck American, Cajun who practices Voodoo, southern hick firefly, a jazz musician named Louie…and when you think about it, Tiana spent 90% of the movie beneath everyone’s feet, which, while historically accurate for the time, should also be seen as “racist” by today’s woke cancel culture standards. But the people who made that petition do not care, they only see what they want to see. Also, Pocahontas is far and away the best representation of Native Americans that Disney has ever done. And yet they still have Peter Pan.
People have drowned in an inch of water before. saying you cannot drown in 2 feet of water is not true. Just unlikely
Adults only drown in small amounts of water because they are incapacitated somehow.