Questions About Kali River Rapids

[Karebear]

They have a similar ride at Disney California Adventure called Grizzly River Rapids--they have lockers (that you pay for) at the ride entrance to put your stuff in. Do they have something similar (lockers) for Kali River?

 

[ZoZo]

Yep, You'll get drenched. I would recommend wearing clothes that dry quickly, and definitely do not wear jean shorts...they take forever to dry!

This is really good advice - don't wear denim shorts! I did that once @ Seaworld and had wet shorts all day long. Very uncomfortable. I would wear some kind of "water shorts" (I got some from REI; they dry very quicky). And also change into flip flops before the ride so my shoes didn't get wet.

 

[Mrs K]

Poncho-schmoncho.
Ride it get, and get wet!
That's what the ride is all about.
Don't ride if you don't want to get wet!

I love to ride, but dirty water in certain places grosses me out.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Well, every time I have ridden Kali I somehow manage to be the person going down the hill with my back to everything! My family just laughs and tells me what's coming! I definitely get totally drenched! LOL

If it's hot enough during your trip, you may welcome being drenched. I know for a fact that you dry very quickly in June!

 

[Always Dream]

In my experience the wet factor is highly variable - depends which seat and which raft you are in.

I think a poncho would probably help - a lot of the water seems to come from above!

Don't forget to put your feet up on the center platfom-type thing - at least they won't get soaked.

 

[The Hendies]

I get one(poncho) for a dollar or so and toss it after the ride.

Last time my 2 DS's and I rode (DH did the bench ride instead), we wore ponchos and stayed pretty dry. Like PP said, tuck it under you! As we exited the ride and I took off my poncho I asked if anyone in line wanted a poncho. Before I got the whole sentence out, 5 people reached out for it! DS's did the same. Pass it forward!

 

[thepwa]

Poncho-schmoncho.
Ride it get, and get wet!
That's what the ride is all about.
Don't ride if you don't want to get wet![/QUOTE

I'm with you!

I don't see the point of riding if I don't get wet, and I feel cheated if I come off the ride dry.

 

[stargazertechie]

They have a similar ride at Disney California Adventure called Grizzly River Rapids--they have lockers (that you pay for) at the ride entrance to put your stuff in. Do they have something similar (lockers) for Kali River?

Nope, only at the park entrance.

I normally take a pair of spandex biking shorts and a running singlet and change into that before Kali. I bring a spare bra and undies, and put my dry clothes into a grocery bag, which goes into the bottom of my draw-string cinch backpack, which then goes into a Disney Parks shopping bag tied shut.

The bag-in-a-bag-in-a-bag goes into the center console of the ride.

And I always wear flip flops to the parks, so it works for me.



The first time I ever rode, my mom and I ended up buying new pants at the gift shop post-ride

 

[LovesTimone]

Ok... we have never done this ride... we were going to last year but it was SO COLD when we were there it didn't seem like a good idea. This year we are going at the end of Sept... so hoping the weather will be better. I've read up on it and it sounds like you get pretty wet. My ?s are:

1. How wet do you get...on a scale of to ten...ten being drenched. Really depends on where you are sitting. Most of the time 8 to 10.

2. Does wearing a poncho help at all? Yes, IMO it does, Hair and feet not so much.

3. Where does your stuff go? I've watched videos but can't figure it out. We carry a backpack with us... is there anyplace to put it and how wet will that get? In the center there is a plastic lid that opens up for storage, but you will be sharing with other riders. Baggies work great, for phone, camera and such. We wear athletic shoes to the parks, we have in the past taken flip flops the cheapo plastic ones, in the backpack, changed shoes in line and placed them in the large baggies. It saved on alot of whining about wet shoes and socks.

4. It it a fun enough ride to justify getting very wet. I mean, I'm not made of sugar... I don't desolve when wet... but just so I can be prepared. I hate sloshing around in wet clothes for hours. Thanks for any input... I really appreciate it!

We love the ride, and it will cool you off on a hot day. Wear light weight shorts, that will dry quickly in the Fl sun, Columbia has a good selection for everyone.

 

[i married goofy]

We may be the minority but we love getting wet...all six of us! My kids think the wetter the better and who ever is most drench, WINS! It's a badge of honor for them.

 

[krb2g]

We're going for our first Christmas trip this year, so I'll see how excited I am about getting wet in December (in March, with our usual precautions, it wasn't bad). I like to carry a lot of camera gear, so I always bring plenty of zip lock baggies. The cameras, cellphones, etc. all have a baggie. Then the camera bag gets its weatherproof cover (Slingshot 100) and goes in a garbage bag, which then goes in the center of the raft in the container. I wear a poncho (which I carry around for those Florida showers anyway) and water shoes (they look like tennis shoes with a high percentage of mesh). I avoid wearing denim on this day.

You can't count on not getting soaked (the "wet seat" or the "dry seat" is not something you can tell ahead of time, because it depends on which direction the raft is facing when it hits certain flumes--and as the raft is circular it could be facing any direction! Also I think you can pay a quarter or fifty cents to soak people with spray guns as they go by right at the end, so even if you think you are safe, you might not be!)--so it's better to be prepared, especially in regards to things that shouldn't get wet (you will dry, your cellphone or camera might not be so lucky).

There aren't any lockers near to the ride--they're all at the front of the park.

 

[nblake05]

Thank you all so much! You helped answer all my questions. I guess we'll go prepared, now that we know how to preapre for it, and see how the weather is and how we feel that day. I really appreciate your imput!

 

[bumbershoot]

They have a similar ride at Disney California Adventure called Grizzly River Rapids--they have lockers (that you pay for) at the ride entrance to put your stuff in. Do they have something similar (lockers) for Kali River?

Nope. And, sadly, Kali is barely a ghost of Grizzly. Shorter, a theme that peters out halfway through.... Hey, we still went 3 times in a row in December while it was SO cold, we enjoyed it for what it was, but I look forward to riding Grizzly again.

You can't count on not getting soaked (the "wet seat" or the "dry seat" is not something you can tell ahead of time, because it depends on which direction the raft is facing when it hits certain flumes--and as the raft is circular it could be facing any direction!

Good description!


I am a poncho person, and I have just as much fun on the ride as hubby and son when they do not wear ponchos. And then I have more fun after, because I'm not dripping wet and miserable. My head gets wet, my legs get wet...it's just that I don't have to walk around like I'm in a wet t-shirt contest afterwards.

Having HATED the dollar store ponchos (they cling and feel awful, and what a horrible waste to toss it!), and having run through the Mickey ponchos for a few years (they've finally all died, sadly), we bought really GOOD ponchos, and those served us very well. They take minimal space, they are nice and comfy, and they worked nicely.

 

[rndmr2]

I have been on Kali and have always gotten drenched but I have seen other people in my boat not get that wet at all so I guess it all depends how the boat turns and where you are sitting. Definitely keep your feet on the bar if you are wearing regular shoes with socks. Maybe not as necessary if you are in crocs or flips.

 

[Sandy61]

One thing to consider...get a fastpass and ride it at the end of your day before going back to hotel. We did this in mid-June and it worked out really well. We would get a fastpass everytime we were in the general area (ok my husband was the one to run over and get them) so we had 2 for each of us. We rode 2 times in a row and got drenched. Since it was about 100 that day we did almost dry by the time we got to the bus. We weren't worried at all about getting wet. At the hotel, shove towels in your shoes to dry them.

We had a plastic bag with us and put our 1/2 size backpack in it before putting it in the bin in the middle. When I looked in the bin it did have a little water in it.

 

[Jeafl]

Here's what I've noticed. The person who weighs the most usually gets the wettest. When the raft is going downhill and spinning around slowly, the heaviest person (or combination of 2 people) succumb to gravity and end up going backwards down the biggest drop which means they get the brunt of the splash.

This is also true on the family raft ride at the water parks. The heaviest person usually goes down backwards. I've seen it happen many, many times, so choose your seat carefully.