As much as we like to pretend it doesn’t happen, things can still go wrong in Disney World.
You might be late for a reservation, the souvenir you wanted was sold out, and of course — there are always those dreaded ride malfunctions. But, it’s always important to try and bring a little levity to situations like this, so we turned to the experts to find out just what has gone wrong on their trips to Disney World!
We reached out to top Disney experts — also known as our beloved AllEars readers — to find out what sort of hilarious hijinks and mishaps they’ve experienced when getting STUCK on a ride in Magic Kingdom. Here’s what they said.
One reader got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean during the jail cell scene where the prisoners are trying to lure the dog with the keys over to them. You might remember that the dog tends to whine and bark in this spot, and according to our reader, the barking still haunts his dreams at night. We think it’s pretty hilarious, though.
Another reader had a similar response, except they were stuck in the final scene where Jack Sparrow is sitting in the treasure room. They did enjoy having to literally “walk the plank” when being evacuated, though!
But, getting stuck on “it’s a small world” for multiple hours might just be worse. A reader replied that this had happened to them, and in case you’re wondering — no, they didn’t turn the music off while they were stuck. Sounds pretty terrifying to us.
Splash Mountain may be gone, but it won’t be forgotten — by us or this reader. They had just gone down the drop and were subsequently stuck near the Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox animatronics clicking incessantly for 15 minutes until Cast Members came to the rescue. We’re going to put this one in the terrifying category.
One reader was terrified after getting stuck right at the top of the first climb on Space Mountain. They actually had to be evacuated down the steps and walk under the track to safety. Luckily, Cast Members were around to guide the way.
Disney World rides are complex machines that often require a lot of maintenance to keep them running smoothly. From time to time, a ride may break down or malfunction for any number of reasons. If it happens to you, don’t worry! Disney will likely have the ride up and running in no time, you might just need to be a little patient.
In extreme cases, a ride will need to be evacuated. Cast Members will be deployed to help assist and keep you safe during this process. They’re trained to do so, so make sure you listen to their instructions. You’ll be off to your next ride in no time!
Stay tuned to AllEars for the latest updates and news from Disney World and more!
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Have you ever been stuck on a Disney World ride? Tell us in the comments.
Magic Kingdom. A spring break week in 1984. Park was packed. Lines were long. It is 5 minutes to the midnight closing time. As we approached Small World, we noticed there was NO LINE! We make it into the last boat of the day, which was full. Sitting down, relaxed, we started off enjoying the animatronics and music. Mom had been to the New York World Fair in 1964 and had loved this ride. Halfway through the ride we heard a loud click and our boat turned right while all the others kept going straight. Our boat glided slowly up to a closed double door and stopped. We all sat there quietly for a few minutes taking in our situation. How long would it take for Disney cast members to realize the last boat had been diverted? 5 minutes went by.
10 minutes went by. The panic started to rise among fellow passengers, many of whom were international visitors. Mom, who was used to solving problems, saw a telephone on the wall ahead behind the scenery. To her children’s everlasting embarrassment, she climbed out of the boat which was next to a platform and went to the phone. There was a list of 10 numbers. She started dialing with TURNSTILE and ending at SECURITY. No answer at ANY of them! She turns to look at everyone still in the Boat and there was wailing going on. Some people were clearly scared, others were just being driven mad by the incessant Small World music, repeated over and over again. When do they turn that off, we all wondered. Mom starts dialing again and this time, TURNSTILE picks up. “Our boat is stuck”, mom says. “WHY ARE YOU OUT OF THE BOAT?”, a voice screams back. “GET BACK IN THE BOAT.” “Geez,” mom says. “We’ve got 40 panicked people here and THAT’S your only concern?” “GET BACK IN THE BOAT,” the voice screamed. Did mom do that right away? Of course not. It was pretty interesting back there and she took a look around. One door took you to a boat storage area and one to stairs that took you down to the Disney underground. A man eventually walks through the set to our rescue and screams at Mom, “GET BACK IN THE BOAT.” She does. Then he immediately says, “Everybody out of the boat.” Mom is getting pretty pissed at this point but she gets back out with everyone else and we are led down the stairs to a huge lot filled with garbage cans and other un-Disney like stuff. The man collects names and contact information from each guest and then takes the time to chew out Mom in front of everyone. Really? We have some pretty stressed out people here and this is the most important thing for you to do right now?” Eventually we were all led out of the underworld and set free to find our way out of the park. By this time it is 1:00 am. We never heard from Disney about this incident. This made Mom’s children happy since they they feared we were going to be banned from Disney World for ever. We have now been to DW 50 times and this is our most cherished memory. But, if we ever hear the Small World music again, we all start silently screaming.
The year after Walt Disney World opened, I was lucky enough to go. We were in the Jungle Cruise and at that time there was a scene where 3 animatronics were dancing/ chanting in a circle. Our boat got stuck there for half an hour. They ended up having to send divers to our location to see what the problem was. It ended up the a cable got hung up on the track. It’s still my favorite ride!
I got stuck about 1sec. into the Tower of Terror drop shaft during Walt Disney World Marathon. They turned on the lights, lowered us down and gave us a Lightning Lane, which I used to go on Midway Mania. Creepy since I didn’t know if they were going to drop us or not.