What is the worst ride malfunction you've ever been a part of?

The Jungle Cruise boat sinking got me to thinking of ride mishaps I've actually seen/been a part of.

The last time I rode the Tomorrowland Speedway, my son was also riding it, and started in the car right behind me. However, at some point, his car went around a curve, and never straightened out, and his car completely jumped the track. For a while, he was in-between tracks, and then he decided he needed to get back on the track, so he drove it up and over the track on his left. He literally started behind me, and then finished by coming in beside me. The CM watched him come in with a bemused expression and asked him, "How did you get over there?! We're not using that track!" My son was like, "I don't know!"

My best story, though, is legend in our family. My in-laws were with us on one trip, and we got on POTC. Before we left the dock, I mused out loud, "I wonder what this place looks like with the lights on?" Right as we got about 100 feet from the end, the right stopped. We sat there for 10 minutes, not moving, with the soundtrack playing. Then, they turned the lights on. A few minutes later a CM came out and talked to us about the ride breaking down. Then, after another 10 minutes or so, someone showed up in hip waders, jumped into the water, and pushed our boat back to one of the scenes where the town is burning. They helped us out of the boat, and led us up some stairs in the ride set, and out a back door. We got a great view of the ride with the lights on! Now, whenever we get on POTC, people look at me and say, "DON'T SAY IT."

How about you guys? I'm sure we have some great stories out there.

Not nearly as exciting, but we were walked off Winnie the Pooh. The whole ride was "off", kept stopping and starting and lurching. Finally, about 1/2 way through, it just totally stopped. The really challenging part was that my daughter was non-weight-bearing on her leg due to ankle surgery and it was really hard to get her off. They offered to call the fire department to evacuate her, but that seemed like overkill.

I got to walk off TTA just before it entered Space Mountain. And it wasn't because one car hit another. ;)

During one of our Haunted Mansion rides, the doom buggies stopped several times. The ride stopped so many times I lost count! We just got the standard ghost announcement, no word that there was a problem with the ride. Weird!

Once on Soarin, we were ushered into the flyers and before it started, there was a long wait, and then an oh no moment, and sure enough they closed it down. Had to walk outside the back of the building, which then takes you out of the rose colored glasses view of EPCOT to trucks and garbage bins and what not. Disappointing. The other walk off was on the former Great Movie Ride, broke down half way through and we had to walk the rest of the way thru the ride.

It seems like our trips have been fairly tame, on our last visit the theatre stopped rotating in Carousel of Progress after we watched the last scene, so we ended up seeing the future scene 3 times before it eventually reached the exit.

Before that the closest I had was riding the backlot tour after a rain shower, the cart took a sharp turn and all the water from the roof of the vehicle crashing onto me, soaking me. Not actually a malfunction and in retrospect kinda funny but young me was quite upset about it at the time!

The scariest ride malfunction was the first time DH and DS rode Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, shortly after it opened in 1994. The elevator went all the way to the top, stopped and the door opened and closed then.....NOTHING! After a minute or so, a voice came on overhead telling them that they should remain in their seats, "temporary difficulties", then the elevator was slowly lowered down. Because the ride was just a few months old, no one on the ride had ridden before, so no one knew if this was just part of the ride. DH remembered thinking "This is it? What a gyp!" Once they were lowered down, they were brought through a backstage area and immediately rode again. DH was a little unsure-DS thought it was cool!

We got stopped at the peak of the big drop hill on Splash Mountain. We were there so long I got some really good pictures from an angle not usually available. A cast member walked up to us at one point to reassure us and a little boy in our log said he really needed to use the bathroom. The castmember told him "It's okay to pee in the log." Still a standing joke in our family!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Hitchhiking Ghost

The other walk off was on the former Great Movie Ride, broke down half way through and we had to walk the rest of the way thru the ride.

---

Really? They just walked you through the rest of the ride? There was no other exit? Interesting. Ever since getting walked through one of the town scenes in POTC, I now look for the places where they would exit the guests if they had to evacuate the ride. It's interesting to find their hidden doors and walkways sometimes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Giggy

It seems like our trips have been fairly tame, on our last visit the theatre stopped rotating in Carousel of Progress after we watched the last scene, so we ended up seeing the future scene 3 times before it eventually reached the exit.

Before that the closest I had was riding the backlot tour after a rain shower, the cart took a sharp turn and all the water from the roof of the vehicle crashing onto me, soaking me. Not actually a malfunction and in retrospect kinda funny but young me was quite upset about it at the time!

---

That happened often after a hard rain. I'd forgotten about it till reading this. And I agree, it's not necessarily the thrill you're looking to have. :mickey:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by magicofdisney

That happened often after a hard rain. I'd forgotten about it till reading this. And I agree, it's not necessarily the thrill you're looking to have. :mickey:

---

I remember my parents trying to point out I ride lots of water rides: Splash Mountain, Kali River Rapids, and then never complain. I think here it was just the shock as I wasn't expecting this particular ride to have a splash zone!!

There were two I was part of. The first was Space Mountain in Disneyland. We we're going through the ride and the lights came on, but the ride kept going. Then we stopped and the cast members came through the evacuate the ride. Since we were closest to the end of the ride we were the last ones off. Got lead through a door and back into the building where the line is. I think we got fastpasses out of it.

The second one was on Soaring in Epcot. We were on the middle section, the ride started, raised us up and then there was a worrying sounding 'clunk' and everything stopped. We were sitting up in the air for awhile, and then the two sections on either side were lowered and those riders were taken off the ride. We were stuck up in the air for about fifteen minutes before we were lowered and they got us off. Put us right back into a different theater.

My husband. at the time, and I were on our Honeymoon. We got stuck on It's A Small World for 45 minutes and the music never stopped! When we finally returned to the front, a boat in back of us bumped us past the point of safely exiting so we had to go again!! He muttered a not so nice word. I apologized because of the kids on the boat with us, but one of the parents said, " No worries....we were all thinking it!!"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dizneydeb22

My husband. at the time, and I were on our Honeymoon. We got stuck on It's A Small World for 45 minutes and the music never stopped! When we finally returned to the front, a boat in back of us bumped us past the point of safely exiting so we had to go again!! He muttered a not so nice word. I apologized because of the kids on the boat with us, but one of the parents said, " No worries....we were all thinking it!!"

---

You win. Wow. That's horrific.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by azcavalier

you win. Wow. That's horrific.

---

lol!!

I was stuck on the very top of the Ferris wheel in Disneyland for almost 1/2 hour. Finally they got it going again. I wasn't happy about the prospects of having to be rescued from there!