Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
A Walt Disney World Resort guest has come forward after suffering an injury while escaping a sinking Living with the Land ride vehicle, one of several alarming incidents that have taken place on the EPCOT ride over the last month. Three separate boats have either sunk or tipped since October 31, prompting emergency evacuations and compensation for some affected riders.
Halloween Ride Malfunction Leads to Emergency Evacuation
Credit: Disney
The first sinking occurred on October 31, when a Living with the Land boat began tipping forward during the tour through EPCOT’s agricultural greenhouses. Guests riding the affected vessel filmed water flowing into the front row, showing the boat gradually sinking despite passengers’ attempts to shift their weight and rebalance it.
TikTok user @michellewalksdisney captured video of guests scrambling out of the sinking boat before any Disney cast members reached the scene:
@michellewalksdisney Current situation. Boat in front of me started to sink and all occupants had to evacuate. We ended up chilling in our boat until cast members escorted us off and out the back. And people say living with the land is boring!! 😆 #epcot #livingwiththeland #wdw #fyp #sinkingship
Later that day, rider @finleyfamily posted footage showing how deeply the boat had flooded, noting that the vessel appeared overloaded near the front:
@finleyfamily We were on the ride Living with the Land at Epcot yesterday and it felt like we hit a pot hole but we know it’s on a track in the water. So as we kept going the water up front kept coming in apparently a lot. We were in the back but they loaded the boat heavily upfront we had two rows of empty seats behind us. One of the people in the front was a man who was probably 6.5” we all think it was loaded unevenly. But back to what happened. The people in the second row had about 4 inches of water they were moving there stuff around and it altered us and we could see that the front was so far down/listing…we knew something was wrong so we tried to move to the back of the boat to counter balance it. That didn’t work things started to shift and the boat, because it’s still being moved by the track, started to tilt pretty abruptly and we all felt scared and jumped off of it. Nobody was hurt just scared and wet thank goodness! @MichelleWalksDisney
One guest from the second row of the “ill-fated boat,” Kevin Erickson, later described what happened inside. His wife first noticed water creeping across the floor, soaking her bag as the boat approached the final third of the ride. Moments later, guests seated in the front row revealed that water had risen halfway to their knees.
“Several people tried moving around to reduce the weight up front, but it really didn’t help,” Erickson recalled. “As people moved around the boat started tipping to the left and to the right, and that made it fill up even faster.”
Credit: Disney
Eventually, they decided to climb out on their own. Erickson, who was the last to evacuate, hit his head on the roof while stepping out of the sinking boat, confirming the first reported injury of the recent incidents.
“Apparently, I was the captain of this boat though, because I was the last one to abandon the ‘ship’ with a lot of help from my shipmates,” he concluded. “Because I was standing on the seat instead of the floor (because the floor was totally full of water by then), when my shipmates pulled me out of the boat I bumped my head on the roof of the boat. You can see that happen in the video by @michellewalksdisney.”
More Living with the Land Boats Impacted
On November 18, another Living with the Land boat experienced a similar failure. This time, the vessel filled with water so quickly that several guests were soaked before Disney cast members arrived to assist with an evacuation.
In a now-deleted Instagram video, riders showed off the compensation they received after the ordeal, including new holiday-themed Disney Crocs and a Lightning Lane pass that could be used to re-ride Living with the Land or access another EPCOT attraction without waiting in standby.
Credit: Disney
Only days later, a third boat began noticeably tipping during the ride. TikTok user @beka027mmp filmed the moment from a boat behind, writing that the situation “looked worse in person.”
@beka027mmp Luckily, they made it! But it looked worse in person. Glad we didn’t have a Titanic situation on our hands. #titanic #livingwiththeland #epcot #boat #overboard
Several current and former Disney cast members reported that the vessel was not functioning properly. Fortunately, the boat did not sink, and riders were able to finish the attraction without evacuation.
Attraction Still Operating Despite Multiple Incidents
Credit: Disney Tips
Despite three separate malfunctions in the span of a month, Living with the Land continues to operate normally, and Walt Disney World Resort has not released any public statements addressing the repeated issues. The attraction is still set to debut its seasonal Glimmering Greenhouses overlay for the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays on November 28, 2025.
Have you ever evacuated a ride at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park? Share your story with Disney Tips in the comments!
