Why do rides stop? Technical issues of course, but other issues occur as well. Common issues are: weather, guests standing up on rides, guests sticking legs out of ride carts or dropping personal items on ride tracks.
Even with the best laid out plans, ride stops are unpredictable. Some Disney veterans actually have it on their bucket list to be stuck on or evacuated from a Disney ride. This can be a unique sneak peak to behind the scenes or a chance to see an attraction with lights on.
If this is on your Disney Bucket List, you have a good chance with these 20 rides/attractions. I also noted them with how long guests are typically stuck.
Top 20 Rides To Get Evacuated From:
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 15 minute
- Expedition Everest- 20 minutes
- Finding Nemo – 10 minutes
- Haunted Mansion – 15 minutes
- it’s a small world – 30 minutes
- Kali River Rapids – 90 minutes
- Living with the Land – 10 minutes
- People Mover – 2 hours
- Peter Pan Flight – 10 minutes
- Pirates of the Caribbean – 30 minutes
- Rock n Roller Coaster – 15 minutes
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – 10 minutes
- Spaceship Earth at Epcot – 10 minutes
- Splash Mountain – 2 hours
- Stitch’s Great Escape – 15 minutes
- Test Track – 45 minutes
- Toy Story Mania – 20 minutes
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends – 30 minutes
- Tower or Terror – 30 minutes
- Winnie the Pooh – 15 minutes
7 Past Guest Experiences:
An awesome story from reader, Alisa P., about Expedition Everest: “On my honeymoon in the front car of Everest at the very top of the mountain. We were stuck about 15-20 minutes and then had stairs rise out from under the tracks and we were escorted down by a CM. Only got a fp (Fastpass+) but a great story.”
From reader, Ashleigh B., about The Haunted Mansion: “This last trip we got stopped twice in haunted mansion because people kept standing up in their doom buggy.“
From reader, Shelley N., on a bad Space Mountain experience: “We were stuck on space mountain for about half an hour and ended up having to walk down. All because someone stuck their feet out of the cart. They stopped the ride.“
From reader, Shawna N., on her daughter’s Splash Mountain experience: “My daughter got stuck just recently on Splash Mountain during her Choir visit. She was so bummed but they wound up taking them all off and got to see part of the behind the scenes which was cooler to her and then two days later when she went back with us as a family she got to ride it all the way through. She showed us where they took them off and how they got out. She was glad to be able to experience the whole ride with us with no problems.“
From reader, Kelley B., on a unique Toy Story Mania story: “Toy Story Mania and it was kind of fun. We were stuck for a good twenty minutes and then they come and unload each vehicle one at a time. There is a stairs that magically appear between the two connected cars. Then they made you stand in a line as they went to the next one as we followed the track…We got an extra fast pass for our troubles.“
From reader, Elissa H., on Expedition Everest: “Mt. Everest!! Right where the yeti tore up the tracks!!! I was with my 7 year old DD she handled it better than I did. I don’t like feeling confined. We waited quite a while when cast members came up the steps and manually released the lap bar. We had to walk through the mountain. IT was the COOLEST thing EVER! No pictures allowed but my memory will always be there.”
From reader, Kristin L., with a fun theory about The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: “Pooh split some hunny… we could see the exit the entire time however they evacuated the other way so we were the 2nd to last people off.”
Learn more about the Walt Disney World Parks including attractions, secrets, tips and more. Plus my friends at Destinations in Florida can help you plan your perfect Walt Disney World vacation.
Megan says
how does the evacuation process work on peter pan!?!?
Sheila says
I got stuck on the Seven dwarfs mine train. The ride stopped right during the fireworks and resumed once they were over. Beautiful view and a magical moment.
Heather says
Space Mountain at Disneyland stopped just around the corner from the loading station. My five year old son was sitting behind me, and he managed to get out of the harness because he got scared when we stopped. I started screaming because I was afraid the train would start moving with him unsecured. At cast member appeared and got him out of his seat, but she would not let any of the rest of us get out. She asked if we had anyone waiting on us, and I told her that we did, so she took my son to my husband. I was terrified still that he would get lost, or she would pick the wrong person to give my son to, but she said she could not watch him. It was an awful experience. Luckily he was fine and with my husband when we got off the ride. This was before texting was common, and my husband didn’t even bring his phone.
Laurie J Daniel says
My daughter and I got stuck at Christmas Time on The Tower of Terror. It took quite a while for a cast member to come up open the doors and evacuate us. Meantime we were in the dark singing Christmas carols. Not my idea of fun. When we did get off we had to walk on a glass floor and take a freight elevator down. They did put us right back on the ride though. We have also been stuck on Rockin Roller coaster-in the tube, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and several others.
Tammy says
The new Frozen Ride in Epcot broke while we were on it. They gave us a fastpass for it but it had stopped the next day too. One of the cast members told it us pretty much breaks every day!