So, some interesting things I learned from this video:
1) The boats are a lot more controlled than I thought in placed. I always assumed that, before the first lift hill, the boats were free floating and if a breakdown happened, they would pile up like on Pirates or Small World. Was interesting to see the various break sections to stop the boats.
2) The ride can handle 11 boats at one time but they are only using 9. WHY? You would think they would want this running at max capacity to get more people thru it faster. Sure, its 2 more boats to clear out during the frequent evacs, but the line would move faster! Seems like the 900-1000 guests per hour figure is spot on.
3) Seems like weight is causing some issues. I doubt Disney is going to go the path of "sorry, you have to split the family up because the boat can only handle so much weight" because of obvious media backlash. Instead I see them putting up with these evacs until a better solution is thought up. They just need to get on it quickly! Have been reading various media posting on sites like msn and yahoo bashing the ride and its up time.
I feel like they rushed this open big time. I don't think I have ever witnessed a ride opening that did not go thru a soft opening phase. Heck, I was there when Spaceship Earth started it first day of softs after its refurb and I never would have thought it needed softs! I think the higher ups wanted to beat Universal to the "official" opening of their new ride. Plus, Disney has already gone thru two bad PR nightmares this year, they didn't want another...but they got one anyway.