Several guests were left trapped in one of Disney World’s most intense and claustrophobic rides.

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Despite being known as “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” Walt Disney World still exists in the real world, meaning problems, mistakes, and accidents can and do occur. While Disney park employees, also known as cast members, do a great job managing and hiding the less-sweet parts of the parks, issues are bound to happen, especially considering millions of guests visit the parks every year.
Perhaps the most common problem guests encounter when visiting Walt Disney World or any of Disney’s other theme parks is ride breakdowns. No matter how technologically advanced attractions become, breakdowns happen and are actually a necessary part of the operation of any given ride.
However, it’s not every day that guests get stuck on one of Disney World’s most intense and arguably most frightening rides for over half an hour, which is exactly what happened to several unlucky riders earlier this month.

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Reddit user SlidingMirror broke down exactly what happened during this breakdown, revealing Mission: SPACE suddenly stopped and went dark. “My wife, nephew and I were stuck in Mission Space Orange for about 35 minutes,” said the guest. “The ride was almost at the end, but suddenly screens went black and the ride stopped.”
Mission: SPACE itself lasts around five minutes in total, but the experience can feel longer depending on how much guests like, or rather don’t like, tight spaces and intense g-forces.
The guest goes on, explaining that they sat in total darkness while maintenance attempted to release them from their pod.
“Never got any explanation why it took so long but they had to call in maintenance, and eventually manually released us and climbed down short ladders to get out. Luckily none of us are claustrophobic but I could imagine that being an absolute nightmare.”
The guest continued explaining what happened in the moments after the attraction shut off, saying that they were a “calm” person, but they even felt panic when hearing theme park staff deliver a warning message over the intercom speakers.
“I thought for a second they forgot about us, but I’m guessing she didn’t realize we were all still inside.”
I was trapped in Mission Space Orange for 35 minutes. Has this happened to anyone else?
byu/SlidingMirror inWaltDisneyWorld
Eventually, the guests were able to escape their pods and go about their day. The guest notes that those affected by the incident were given a Lightning Lane pass to make up for the lost time, a common practice at the Disney theme parks.
However, these passes were only good for Mission: SPACE, the ride guests had just gotten stuck on. While free is always good, especially at Disney, it’s likely several guests simply discarded these free ride passes considering what they had just endured.

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As stated earlier, Mission: SPACE is perhaps one of the most intense, thrilling, and dynamic rides in Disney theme park history. First opening its doors in 2003, Mission: SPACE offers guests the chance to experience what it’s like to launch into space.
Guests load into a four-person pod, strap in, and brace for an intense and authentic space flight simulation experience. Multiple pods are spread out in a circular fashion, forming one large centrifuge that spins guests around at high speeds.
This gives riders the feeling of weightlessness but can also make guests prone to motion sickness feel ill. As a result, multiple warnings are plastered at the ride’s entrance and inside the ride’s queue, and barf bags are offered inside Mission: SPACE’s ride vehicles themselves.
The attraction has long been controversial, not just because of its claustrophobic and intense design but also because it replaced a classic Disney World attraction known as Horizons.
Have you ever gotten stuck on a Disney theme park ride or attraction?