This Ride Has Gone 101

“Looks like Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear are causing some kind of commotion down stream.” “Playful spooks have interrupted your tour.”  These spiels may sound familiar to you if you have ever had a ride in Walt Disney World go 101.  What does that mean?  Well, going 101 is castmember speak for the ride breaking down or having some sort of technical difficulty.  Sometimes, we have heard these announcements when a handicapped person is having trouble loading, and the castmembers have to stop the ride so that these guests can safely load.  When a ride breaks down and we get stuck, you might think that we are upset or irritated at the delay; however, after so many trips to the World, we always welcome a ride break down.  When this happens, the castmembers will help you evacuate the ride to the nearest safe location.  This means that you get to see backstage sections of the ride that you would never normally see.  This is always a welcome occurrence for my husband and I. 

            We have been evacuated off very few rides considering how many times we visit WDW every year.  One memorable experience occurred on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  The ride stopped when we were very close to pulling into the station, and we waited for a few minutes.  After the delay, a castmember approached our train, and he told us that we would have to exit the ride.  There were very specific instructions for disembarking.  We had to follow the row in front of us, and we had to stand in a certain spot actually on stage in the ride.  We had to wait until the exact moment we were instructed to walk, and then we had to follow the leader to the exit.  This was very exciting, but I wish we had been deeper in the ride so that we could have seen more of the ride itself.  As we were leaving the ride, we were given fastpasses that could be used for any ride throughout the park; this token was intended to compensate us for having to spend precious time stuck on this attraction.

On one trip through Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, we were delayed in the ride, which will provide you with a great boost to your score.  We just kept shooting until we had both reached the maximum score, and we both proudly became Galactic Heroes.  After a while of being stuck, eventually the house lights came on, and we could really see many different parts of the ride that are normally concealed by the semi-darkness.  It was neat to see the ride in this way.  We have also seen Space Mountain with the lights on while we were riding through on the Peoplemover, which is a ride on which we have been delayed many, many times.

On our most recent trip, we were stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean, and the boats were stacking up behind us.  It looked like we were going to be stuck in those caves for a pretty long time when a castmember came out and told the crew on the boat in front of us that they were going to have to perform the “boat dance.”  We wondered what this was, but our questions were soon answered when we saw the crew swaying back and forth to unstick the boat.  After a few minutes of synchronized movement, the boat eventually unstuck, and we were able to continue our journey.  This boat actually became stuck several times during our ride, but now we knew the secret boat dance, so all was well. 

One ride I would never want to be stuck on is Expedition Everest.  We were chatting with some other guests while waiting in line, and they were discussing their experience of being stuck on this ride.  They told us how they had to climb down hundreds of steps to make it down the mountain.  I think that I could successfully do this; however, I would never want to travel down the tiny steps that sit on the side of the very tall lift hill at the beginning of the ride.

Even though getting stuck on rides might seem like a real letdown, try to see the positive side.  You will get to see exciting backstage areas, and you will get to view the ride in a new light, sometimes literally.  Maybe one day, you will be like us and actually hope that the ride goes 101!  Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward!