sstamour wrote:I would say it's all about the people on the boat - captain (? I'll go with that one) and guests. When I rode it, the passengers were completely silent the entire time. No one was playing along, getting into the spiel, or anything - just sitting there, silently and mostly dead. My group (4 of us) were attempting to, but unfortunately we were towards the rear of the boat, so it was only marginally effective. It was enough, however, for the captain to stop us on the way out of the ride to thank us for the effort...which was enough to make my day!
I know what you mean. My wife and I were at WDW for the first time a little less than 2 months ago, and on our first ride on the JC, most of the boat was almost completely unresponsive. Still, our skipper (Skipper Jennifer) did a fantastic job, and my wife and I--especially me--really played along, and we were right up front next to her. When we got to the "root canal" (one of my new favorite jokes), she sat down and said to me, "Thank you so much for laughing and playing along!"
It was even harder for her, because at the end of the ride, just before the "return to civilization", the boat in front of us had some trouble (it looked to me like it didn't make the turn sharp enough, and it was empty of passengers, so I'm guessing the skipper was new and training). Skipper Jennifer had to keep us entertained for 5 minutes or so with nothing but plants all around the boat, but she did great! When she started asking each family on the boat individually where they were from, people finally started to engage a little, but still she had to work for every response!
At the end of the ride, we had stepped off and were a few yards away when she came up to us to thank us again, and to give us an "Honorary Skipper" card, which I'd never seen or heard of, but we were really touched. At the same time as she came up, we were pulling out our Cast member autograph book to go back and ask her to sign it, so we were able to have her sign it right after she gave us the card, and we could tell how much it meant to her. Even without the special card and thank you, Jennifer was one of the best JC Skippers I've ever had.
This single attraction and CM were among the highlights of an unbelievably amazing trip!
