When force doesn't work, you're not using enough!
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 10:07 am
Ok, so yesterday at Jungle Cruise, WDW, we had a rare incident happen. Something that's never happened before. I witnessed the entire thing with a boatload of guests waiting to pull into dock.
One of the boats (the Amazon Annie) was loaded a little off and leaning Starboard. Jungle was really busy and we decided to pull a "3" (unloading three boats at the dock at the same time). The Annie was all set to go to three and was heading there when it rounded the corner of the dock. As it did, the step for the back door caught itself under the rubber bumper of the dock at unload 2 (where there's a hump up to load the Bertha, our boat with a wheelchair lift), wedging the boat into place. Throwing the boat into reverse didn't help the situation at all. Finally the deluge system (the one that takes water out of the boats) couldn't keep up and the boat started to slowly take on water. All the guests were unloaded off the Annie.
So, the ride's now 101 with a wedged boat. Up until this point, the boat is still in the trough. and could still guide itself. Our coordinator at that time (who is, by far, one of my favorites) takes the boat right behind it (Ganges Gertie) and decides to ram at the Annie at full speed. A loud gunshot noise occurs and the Annie's front pylon is now wedged outside the trough.
The next thing I see are about 10 skippers rocking back and forth on the Annie trying to get it into the trough. That eventually works, but the boat's still wedged and taking on water. A big metal pole was brought over from Shrunken Neds and the unwedging process begins. After a good two minutes of prying, the boat's free, but dead in the water so we simply shove it off into storage Cool Runnings style.
A twelve minute downtime that should have shut the ride down for longer than that.
I think I eventually said to my guests "I'm gonna shut up now, because this is far more entertaining than anything I have to say."
One of the boats (the Amazon Annie) was loaded a little off and leaning Starboard. Jungle was really busy and we decided to pull a "3" (unloading three boats at the dock at the same time). The Annie was all set to go to three and was heading there when it rounded the corner of the dock. As it did, the step for the back door caught itself under the rubber bumper of the dock at unload 2 (where there's a hump up to load the Bertha, our boat with a wheelchair lift), wedging the boat into place. Throwing the boat into reverse didn't help the situation at all. Finally the deluge system (the one that takes water out of the boats) couldn't keep up and the boat started to slowly take on water. All the guests were unloaded off the Annie.
So, the ride's now 101 with a wedged boat. Up until this point, the boat is still in the trough. and could still guide itself. Our coordinator at that time (who is, by far, one of my favorites) takes the boat right behind it (Ganges Gertie) and decides to ram at the Annie at full speed. A loud gunshot noise occurs and the Annie's front pylon is now wedged outside the trough.
The next thing I see are about 10 skippers rocking back and forth on the Annie trying to get it into the trough. That eventually works, but the boat's still wedged and taking on water. A big metal pole was brought over from Shrunken Neds and the unwedging process begins. After a good two minutes of prying, the boat's free, but dead in the water so we simply shove it off into storage Cool Runnings style.
A twelve minute downtime that should have shut the ride down for longer than that.
I think I eventually said to my guests "I'm gonna shut up now, because this is far more entertaining than anything I have to say."