Stupid Guest Tricks

ifoundnemo wrote:Had this complete idiot of an SG while cruising the Nile today. I was spieling to my boat on the African Veldt, looked up and saw an adult male STANDING in the back doorway while his buddy was snapping photos! Mind you there's a really quick left to right turn on that part of the track, and I was sailing at full throttle!!! The boat I was in isn't necessarily the fastest boat in the Jungle, but that turn will toss you around a bit. Of course, I stopped the boat and told the guy to sit down, but the look that was on my face was PRICELESS. I mouthed something (nothing vulgar, just out of a common sense "are you crazy?!" reaction) and my boat totally sided with me. I kept looking over at this guy during the rest of my trip, panicked that this guy was gonna do something else... Luckily, he didn't.

See now I would have made him a 3 shot call. Yup, go 101 and wait for reinforcements.

mapo

Perhaps they've had this skipper featured 6 minutes into this video, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ygmcPwMARo

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!

Belgarion42 wrote:(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).

I assure you whatever the problem was that wasn't it. The Jungle Cruise boats are all on tracks and the skippers only have control of the throttle.

Shorty82 wrote:I assure you whatever the problem was that wasn't it. The Jungle Cruise boats are all on tracks and the skippers only have control of the throttle.

Pfft. Sure. Next you'll tell us that we don't really travel to Africa and Asia, either! :D:

BRWombat wrote:Pfft. Sure. Next you'll tell us that we don't really travel to Africa and Asia, either! :D:

You do travel to those places through Disney magic, the track ensures nobody gets lost on the trip. :)

Shorty82 wrote:I assure you whatever the problem was that wasn't it. The Jungle Cruise boats are all on tracks and the skippers only have control of the throttle.

Hey!!

Shorty82 wrote:I assure you whatever the problem was that wasn't it. The Jungle Cruise boats are all on tracks and the skippers only have control of the throttle.

OK, I'll grant that, but something happened since the boat was practically nose-to-dock (or really just before the dock, but you get the gist) and it took them a few minutes to basically back it up, re-angle it, and get it back into position so it could continue and the rest of us could get out of the jungle.

Not really the point of my story, but I'd actually rather like to know what might have happened.

Belgarion42 wrote:OK, I'll grant that, but something happened since the boat was practically nose-to-dock (or really just before the dock, but you get the gist) and it took them a few minutes to basically back it up, re-angle it, and get it back into position so it could continue and the rest of us could get out of the jungle.

Not really the point of my story, but I'd actually rather like to know what might have happened.

Sounds like it got caught in the track switch which is rare but does happen. I've managed to get caught in it once but I was in the boat storage side and someone was being stupid and playing with the switches when my boat passed over it, and then my boat came to a screeching halt and locked into place after that. Fun stuff . . . not.

albino_pygmy wrote:Sounds like it got caught in the track switch which is rare but does happen. I've managed to get caught in it once but I was in the boat storage side and someone was being stupid and playing with the switches when my boat passed over it, and then my boat came to a screeching halt and locked into place after that. Fun stuff . . . not.

That reminds me of the most prominent SGT on my last vacation. On Exp Everest, a guest decided it would be fun to play press random buttons on a podium near the loading area. Mixed on wanting to know what it was now, but mostly just a jerky thing regardless.