Disneyland Guests Stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean Ride for 90 Minutes

Most guests at Disneyland and Walt Disney World get to live the pirate’s life for a few minutes at a time when they visit the iconic attraction Pirates of the Caribbean. Last weekend, however, a few aspiring swashbucklers spend a lot more time on the water than they intended. On Halloween night, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland broke down, and at least one of the boats on the ride was stuck in a difficult spot, leaving guests sitting in the attraction for an hour-and-a-half.

According to Brian Rokos, a Disneyland Annual Passholder from Riverside, California, Pirates of the Caribbean broke down on Halloween night, October 31st, just after 6pm PT. He posted a picture to Twitter after about 10 minutes of being stuck on the ride, showing where the boat had been halted.

Rokos later spoke with Fox News to say that it started out like any other ride issue, thinking that it would be fixed or that they would be escorted off after a few minutes. However, the specific position where the boat was stuck made it difficult. There were three feet of water on either side of the boat, so the guests couldn’t just step off and walk out. They had to wait for Cast Members to come and help out. The lights came on and animatronics were turned off after about 30 minutes.

Eventually, a couple of Cast Members wearing rubber waders arrived on the scene and stepped down into the water. They pushed the boat over next to dry land and helped the guests off. The guests were then escorted to an exit, walking through the backstage area on the way. Rokos called it an “interesting view of the ride, the back side of the ride.” Guests typically don’t see the back stage areas, but there are some specific circumstances where exiting a ride safely trumps the immersive experience.

Perhaps the most surprising part of this entire ordeal is that everybody remained calm. According to Rokos, there wasn’t a lot of complaining on the boat and hardly anybody seemed angry. He said there was a young boy who started playing a video game at one point, and a small baby that slept through the entire experience.

“I was surprised that people hardly said a word,” said Rokos. “No one was yelling, I didn’t hear anyone complaining. No one sounded angry.”