Walt Disney World may be the Most Magical Place on Earth, but that doesn’t mean things always go according to plan!
The infamous winking hippo!
Most of the time, Disney rides, attractions, and shows seem to do well during operating hours. We’ve definitely seen our fair share of mishaps though! A couple of weeks ago, a video showed Elsa was having a considerably rough time in Frozen Ever After.This spurred us to ask our readers on the AllEars Facebook: what is your CRAZIEST ride breakdown or malfunction experience? Some of you got back to us with some stories that we have to share!
Joelle on Facebook shared a funny anecdote that got her whole boat roaring with laughter! “On a completely full-ride vehicle with my husband and other random strangers. We get to the “We’re not gonna make it!! We’re not gonna make it!!” part, and just as we go to pass-through the “time-warp toaster” to come back to the present day, the ENTIRE ride goes dark. No lights, no sound- just us sitting in the pitch blackness somewhere between the Cretaceous period and today. My husband screams out “OH MY GOD- WE DIDN’T MAKE IT!!!” And the entire time rover erupted in laughter. “
Allyson took advantage of her ride breakdown! “One time I was stuck for half an hour on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. It was awesome, highest score I’ve ever gotten on that ride.”
And Jennifer from Facebook reminded us why Imagineers add music to most attractions…“We were at an After Hours event in 2019 and going through Small World when suddenly the music stopped playing. Let me tell you, Small World at night with all the animatronics moving soundlessly is nightmare fuel!”
Deirdre gave a shout out to how her Skipper handled a sticky situation when her boat stopped! “Our boat on Jungle Cruise died in the cave/tunnel. The skipper had no contact with the operators or dock, no cell phone service. Luckily the PA was working so he had to keep talking so the next boat coming wouldn’t crash into us, we were just around a corner. That boat heard him, stopped, and radioed for help. We were towed back to shore by another boat. This was during an after hours event. The skipper was amazing, it was quite an experience!”
Remember when the Splash Mountain boat sunk? According to Diane, it’s not the only time a Disney boat took on water! “I was on living with the land and the boat kept filling up with water and then we heard a clunk. They said we were the first boat in the 33 years to sink. It took them 20 minutes to realize we weren’t coming around and 20 more to get the manager so they could take us off. And that was the trip where I only brought one pair of shoes.”
Living With the Land
Thanks to all of our readers who shared their wildly entertaining stories! Do you have a fun ride story? Tell us all about it in the comments!
5 Replies to “We’re Sharing Your CRAZIEST Disney Ride Breakdown Experiences!”
We got stuck for 20 minutes on journey to imagination with figment. In the last room where they are singing. “Imagination” it just kept repeating and repeating. I swear I still have nightmares of that song.
On a trip with our grandson, his first trip to Disney, we were on Soarin”. Part way through it stopped and we were stuck at the top. He was fine because he didn’t know that wasn’t part of the ride. They eventually got us all down and we were given Mickey ice cream bars and water bottles for our delay. Also fastpasses for any ride any day. We appreciated it all. However, the next day we tried riding it again and it was great except when we got off and he didn’t get ice cream. He still enjoyed the ride but grampa had to buy him an ice bream bar.
We were stuck on It’s a Small World, and one of the animatronics fell over into the water. My husband joked that even the dolls couldn’t stand that song!
We were on the Gran Fiesta Tour over in the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot. From beginning to end, it took about 45 minutes. We were just floating along, the boats moving by themselves with no other force except for the other boats crashing into one another behind us. And you may think that was the worst part. Nope. There was NO MUSIC OR SOUND WHATSOEVER. We sat on that ride for 45 minutes with no sound. Possibly the worst experience I’ve had at Disney.
Last November, we were on Big Thunder Mountain when it decided to break down. Just as we were going under the waterfall feature. We were stuck for over 15 minutes and the four of us were soaked, but my poor 5 year old daughter was directly under the water flow the entire time. To Disney’s credit, they hand wrote like a gift certificate for us to use at the store to change into clean clothes. It was crazy!
We got stuck for 20 minutes on journey to imagination with figment. In the last room where they are singing. “Imagination” it just kept repeating and repeating. I swear I still have nightmares of that song.
On a trip with our grandson, his first trip to Disney, we were on Soarin”. Part way through it stopped and we were stuck at the top. He was fine because he didn’t know that wasn’t part of the ride. They eventually got us all down and we were given Mickey ice cream bars and water bottles for our delay. Also fastpasses for any ride any day. We appreciated it all. However, the next day we tried riding it again and it was great except when we got off and he didn’t get ice cream. He still enjoyed the ride but grampa had to buy him an ice bream bar.
We were stuck on It’s a Small World, and one of the animatronics fell over into the water. My husband joked that even the dolls couldn’t stand that song!
We were on the Gran Fiesta Tour over in the Mexico Pavilion at Epcot. From beginning to end, it took about 45 minutes. We were just floating along, the boats moving by themselves with no other force except for the other boats crashing into one another behind us. And you may think that was the worst part. Nope. There was NO MUSIC OR SOUND WHATSOEVER. We sat on that ride for 45 minutes with no sound. Possibly the worst experience I’ve had at Disney.
Last November, we were on Big Thunder Mountain when it decided to break down. Just as we were going under the waterfall feature. We were stuck for over 15 minutes and the four of us were soaked, but my poor 5 year old daughter was directly under the water flow the entire time. To Disney’s credit, they hand wrote like a gift certificate for us to use at the store to change into clean clothes. It was crazy!