Children Discourged From Riding Jungle Cruise?

[darkamor]

I don't get it ... the Jungle Cruise has been in operation since 1955 & who knows how many children have ridden safely within a boat for 57 years (either we truly live in an overly litigious society, or CAL-OSHA has been pestering Team Anaheim about these boats for years, or there's a lack of good parenting in today's generation) ...

I waited until my Nephews were in 1st & 2nd Grade before they road in the Jungle Cruise (& I made that judgement call as one is Autistic & the other was not going to sit down even if his arse was glued to the seat); but I'll have to ride the Jungle Cruise the next time I'm @ Disneyland before I can make any further comment (if the changes do not obstruct my joy of the ride? then no problem). It would be nice to hear from our Jungle Cruise Skippers if these changes offer less trips to the First Aid for young park guests that are obviously under supervised (or, if parents should just conclude that their child(ren) are not ready for the Jungle Cruise) ...


C J

[Seawolf]

Kids - even ones who are raised to be responsible and respectful - can suffer from that dog-like SQUIRREL!!! syndrome, where they suddenly bolt in one direction with little or no warning. Disney, being a park designed for families, must design their attractions to answer to both ends of the behavior spectrum. In between the perfect angel children and the miscreants I've read about in this thread are plenty of people who simply trip over invisible cracks in the pavement or walk headfirst into plate glass windows.

Disney has to do what they can to keep us safe and we should be less outraged when they take it upon themselves to do so before someone is seriously injured or killed.

The problem with this is you can use that excuse for everything around the park. What about the boats on Pirates of the Caribbean? Kids are more than capable of putting their hands in the water at a moments notice and crush them, but should we install barriers so they can't reach over or should the parents be responsible enough to sit them in the middle? What about the railings on Mark Twain? People have been seen jumping off the top balcony into ROA and being ejected for it, should we make the barriers 6 feet high in order to eliminate the possibility? You cannot bubble wrap every aspect of the park, there has to be common sense introduced as a balance or else there will be very little for us to enjoy in the future. Disney has a responsibility to protect us from their own mechanical failures within the rules, not eliminate stupidity and irresponsibility for those who break them.

---------- Post added 08-01-2012 at 06:47 PM ----------

If the parent chooses to CLOSE THEIR EARS when the Skip tells them again... keep your hands inside the boat and warns them about the dock as they approach the dock.. and doesn't take that opportunity to pay attention to their child - then yes, they fall in the idiot category of we should let darwin speak.

This isn't happening randomly - it's happening during a specific part of the ride where guests are told and warned about. If you fail to heed those warnings and in turn fail to watch over those dependent on you. I put the blame on you.

Exactly right, if someone chooses to break the rules and injure themselves after being warned numerous times, I and millions of other guests should not have their attraction experience ruined or reduced to compensate.

[calsig31]

If the parent chooses to CLOSE THEIR EARS when the Skip tells them again... keep your hands inside the boat and warns them about the dock as they approach the dock.. and doesn't take that opportunity to pay attention to their child - then yes, they fall in the idiot category of we should let darwin speak.

People aren't warned over and over to keep their hands inside. They get a warning at the beginning if they are lucky. This is in the middle of being welcomed aboard the Jungle Cruise, told to wave goodbye to he beautiful people on the dock (and then being told to wave goodbye to everyone else), and being told abut the Indiana Jones ride. It is easy in the middle of all that excitement to miss that. Rather than baby everone and tell them over and over again to keep their hands inside it s much better for Disney to just take them out of the equation with a simple aesthetically pleasing net.

I don't get it ... the Jungle Cruise has been in operation since 1955 & who knows how many children have ridden safely within a boat for 57 years (either we truly live in an overly litigious society, or CAL-OSHA has been pestering Team Anaheim about these boats for years, or there's a lack of good parenting in today's generation) ...

For 57 years the boats and the docks were always a set distance away. Disney is now modifying that distance so there is more of a chance of a crushing injury.

[Rebekkap]

Darwin.. he had good theories.. we should let them work.

So I assume you refuse all modern medical treatment ?

[ttintagel]

People aren't warned over and over to keep their hands inside. They get a warning at the beginning if they are lucky.

That's only relevant for those people for whom the Jungle Cruise is the very first ride they go on during their very first trip to Disneyland. You get that warning on every ride. Why would anyone think it didn't apply on this one?

[24601]

People are reminded verbally to remain seated, keeping hands and arms inside the boat and supervise children at the start of every trip. There are four signs on every boat repeating this information in text and graphically. There is a repeat verbal reminder to keep hands, arms and elbows inside the boat as the boat approaches the dock.

[darkamor]

Disney is now modifying that distance so there is more of a chance of a crushing injury.

calsig31

Was this decision to modify the distance between the dock & the boats for the Jungle Cruise implemented to increase the flow of boats (& add more ride capacity per hour)? If so, then I would understand a need to make certain modifications to encourage safety (even though there is signage throughout the queue line guiding Park Guests regarding how to ride safely). IF there was one potential safety issue on the boats? It would be the placement of the diesel engine (then again, whether you are a child, or an adult, if you are ignorant enough to touch a hot diesel engine? you earned getting burned) ...

Keep Calm & Keep Your Mouse Ears On -

C J

[calsig31]

That's only relevant for those people for whom the Jungle Cruise is the very first ride they go on during their very first trip to Disneyland. You get that warning on every ride. Why would anyone think it didn't apply on this one?

Actually, every ride does not give that warning. However you bring up the scenario of the Jungle Cruise being the first ride on the first visit. That is all the more reason for this protection. Should we just assume that everyone knows and appreciates the danger?

calsig31

Was this decision to modify the distance between the dock & the boats for the Jungle Cruise implemented to increase the flow of boats (& add more ride capacity per hour)? If so, then I would understand a need to make certain modifications to encourage safety (even though there is signage throughout the queue line guiding Park Guests regarding how to ride safely). IF there was one potential safety issue on the boats? It would be the placement of the diesel engine (then again, whether you are a child, or an adult, if you are ignorant enough to touch a hot diesel engine? you earned getting burned) ...

Keep Calm & Keep Your Mouse Ears On -

C J

I’m not sure what the reason is behind the modification to the distance between the boat and the dock. It was mentioned in this week’s Dateline Disneyland. Regardless of the reason for the dock modification, shouldn’t Disney take precautions to protect people if they are going to change the tolerances between the boat and the dock?

[christianAdam]

question...

Why wouldn't they put the netting on the rails that come closest to the dock and leave the rest alone? one side of the boat doesn't even touch the dock...That way Disney keeps itself protected from people getting hurt and not every view is "obscured"

edit: I still find it kind of funny that both sides are so difinitive and yet nobody has actually seen this for themselves.

[Drunken_Monk]

Conscious would be 'aware' of the problems and people acting accordingly. Like, stay seated else you may get flung out. Instead we have safety CONSTRAINED, where the product is reduced because we want to replace responsibility with controls and limits.

Adding something like a barrier to prevent arms going out isn't more safe, it's simply more idiot proof. We are forced to protect ourselves from ourselves for fear of litigation.

The car comparison is poor - those are systems to make something safer in case of an accident.. not things designed to protect users from themselves and within the reasonable boundaries of self control.

There are
- things to make things idiot proof
- things to prevent stupid human tricks
- things to prevent accidents
- and things to make accidents less harmful

Your example is case #4. Covers over moving machinery are examples of case #3. Fences on overpasses are examples of case #2.

Case #1 and #2 are where things are getting out of control for litigious reasons.

I dont know if "constrained" would be the best word to explain this, as it is a matter of opinion. Just because you know what will happen if you place your hand in between the boat and the dock, does not mean that a child will know. Little kids are curious about the world and explore in general. They climb on things, pick up things, they reach for things... There is a huge difference between say, adding seat belts to the boats and adding netting that could prevent children from smashing their hand. Yes, parenting is an important key factor in this, but parents cant keep an eye on everything a child is doing 100% of the time.

Any type of safety measure like the fence on an overpass, anti-lock breaks, air bags, elevator doors that open back up if your arm gets stuck are needed. Regardless of whether its to make accidents survivable or to prevent people from hurting themselves safety prevention is needed and do not diminish or constrain the ride experience. Im not saying we should bubble wrap the world but accidents happen, there is a difference.

Thanks to TechSkip who saw a reoccurring safety problem and reported it to try and find a solution.

[ttintagel]

As I understand it, the purpose of narrowing the gap between the dock and boat was to make the boats easier to get in and out of. I'm guessing that they added the net on both sides instead of just the dock side for aesthetic balance and/or to prevent people from thinking that someone on the other side of the boat has a "better" or 'worse" seat than they do.

This isn't a recurring safety issue; there have only been three hand injuries reported in the last three years on the Jungle Cruise. It's a *future* safety issue that they're guessing *might* happen now that the boat/dock disntace has changed.

No, you can't watch your kid every second, but I would hope that training them to follow instructions starts at home, long before you get to Disneyland.

[Erik Olson]

I've listened to the Jungle Cruise spiels many, many times. Closely, for very good reason: I don't want to miss a single new joke! Granted, I haven't heard the spiel as many times as the skippers / former skippers who are in this thread, who can chime-in with comments on my observations...

My experience with the load and unload is that the jokey, pun-enriched and, perhaps, inconsistent spiel that guests receive may dilute or "confuse" the instructions. I guarantee I do not remember the precise load spiel for Jungle Cruise, but I can recite, word-for-word, the load / unload for Matterhorn - in several languages.

I've heard dozens of variations on the load and a few zingers as you round the bend to the dock for unload. All of it is soaked in sarcasm and fun. What might be getting lost in the translation is that there are some real rules that should be followed for the guest's safety.

Would I want to jettison the ad-lib spiels or have netting? I'd opt for netting. My kids are looking in a million directions as they ride the cruise. My ten-year old twins may not listen as much as they are looking for animals, while my eldest daughter (13) is focused like a laser on the dialogue for the jokes. There is a lot to take in on this attraction and if you blink, you could miss a zinger. I guess someone also could lose an iPhone or a kid in the excitement and confusion and that we're making it about bad parenting is a bit of a stretch, and, to me, a bit offensive, really.

[brenden]

This isn't a recurring safety issue; there have only been three hand injuries reported in the last three years on the Jungle Cruise.

Source?

[ttintagel]

Source?

I googled Jungle Cruise Injuries,and one of the results was a searchable report of Orange County park injuries, starting in 2009.

[calsig31]

I googled Jungle Cruise Injuries,and one of the results was a searchable report of Orange County park injuries, starting in 2009.

Was that from an official source? Even if it was, those were only the reported injuries. There may have been other ones that were not severe enough to be reported. I'm sure all those that were hurt or had children that were hurt would have loved it if the screen was in place.

With the new decrease in distance between the boat and the dock, those injuries would probably go up without the safety devices.