SpongeBob Boating School
Will everyone’s favorite sponge finally be able to get his drivers license? Probably not. But families and guests of all ages are welcome to come along for the rid
Guests will be drawn to this attraction from across the entire park, as its track winds in, out, and around multiple buildings within the land.
The entrance facade is designed to resemble Mrs Puff’s Driving School, and is situated adjacent to the Krusty Krab restaurant. This creates a focal point where fans of the show can congregate for a truly immersive experience.
The queue is also themed to the classroom, and features numerous chalkboards detailing “the rules of driving.” There are also many “driver safety” posters seen throughout. Guests will have plenty of opportunities to get a close up look at everything as the queue meanders through multiple switchbacks.
The pre-show safety briefing takes place in another separate classroom where the video is played via projector over a chalkboard. The spiel stars Mrs Puff, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy, and included various clips from the show of SpongeBob failing his boating exam.
Guests exit to the left and are sorted into their boarding groups. The slot car vehicles used in this attraction have a much higher capacity per vehicle than their counterparts at various Disney Parks. These “cars” are actually boat shaped, resembling the boat SpongeBob repeatedly takes/fails his test with. They are extra wide and have a seating arrangement of four rows of three. This guarantees that all families can ride in one vehicle together. The attraction does not have a single rider line.
The vehicles also differ from typical slot car rides in that they do not have tires in constant contact with the ride track, so the boats are able to move more fluidly and make sharper corners.
Six vehicles at a time are loaded with passengers at the loading station. They are then dispatched and make a series of quick low speed corners through a tunnel themed to an episode title card. Floral and beachy patterns and colors surround guest as standard title card music plays. One by one, the cars will roll forward onto a small elevator lift that takes them up to the second floor where the attraction truly begins. The elevator lift is brief, projected images of bubbles float along the surrounding walls. This is all meant to invoke the feeling of the beginning of an episode of the show.
Once at the top of the platform, guests find themselves in an area themed to the Bikini Bottom driving course.
Scene 1 and Scene 2
Mrs Puff: Okay SpongeBob. Are you ready to try your driving test again?
SpongeBob: I’m ready Mrs Puff!
Mrs Puff: Alright, go ahead and put the boat in drive.
SpongeBob: Bahahahah!
The boats then immediately launch backwards and zig zag through a few visual gags. A series of cones are knocked over as the boats zip by, there is a near miss with another boat wh.their horn, and the riders end up in the middle of an intersection.
Mrs Puff: SpongeBob! Maybe we should try again another time!
SpongeBob: But I’m ready! Here I’ll show ya how good I can really drive!
Scene 3
The boats now travel forwards thanks to a track switch, and after another series of quick corners riders find themselves headed to the first outdoor section of the ride. The track takes a slope upward, over a small pedestrian area and into the upper level of the nearby themed restroom building.
Scene 4
SpongeBob: Hey! I don’t recognize this neighborhood!
Guests travel through a short diorama of a scene from The Snorks, a former WB/Hanna-Barbera animated series based under the sea. The Snorks characters have built a series of sand castles, each themed to a different ride at Islands of Adventure.
Existing the short diorama, the vehicles whiz back outdoors and perform a “helix” of sorts similar to a highway off ramp, bringing the vehicles back down to the second floor.
They then re-enter the main show building via the upper portion of the queue section.
Back indoors the vehicles come to a stop sign and a ringing sound is heard.
Scene 5
SpongeBob: That’s my shell phone! (Answering) Hiya Mr Krabs!
Krabs: SpongeBob! Yer late fer work! And that means yer not making me money!
SpongeBob: I’ll be there right away, Mr Krabs!
Mrs Puff: SpongeBob what are you,..
SpongeBob: Hang on Mrs Puff!
Scene 6
The cars launch forward and make a large sweeping curve out of the main show building, once again crossing over the main pedestrian area and into the upper level of the nearby Krusty Krab restaurant.
A screen placed in front of the ride vehicles simulates the motion of the next scene through use of animation. The boats are depicted crashing through the front doors of the restaurant as frightened customers jump out of the way or shout at the passing by boats. At the same time, a dejected Squidward is seen at the register taking an order, and the boats head right toward him.
Squidward: Welcome to the Krusty Krab, may I take your, AHHHH!! SpongeBob!!
Squidward runs into the kitchen fleeing from the boats as the sound of falling pots and pans can be heard all around. The boats crash through a wall as Squidward just barely evades the boats. The other side of the wall is Mr Krab’s office. He can be seen behind his desk in a panic.
Mr Krabs: (Gasps!) SpongeBob! Now yer costing me money!!
The boats make a left turn away from the screen and plow through a swinging door back to the outdoors. The vehicles turn to the left, passing under the previous section of outdoor track and re-enter the main show building for the final time.
Scene 7
Mrs Puff: Young man! I insist that you pull this boat over now!
SpongeBob: You got it, Mrs Puff! Bagahahah!
The boats make a sharp turn to the right and enter the main driving course from the driving school.
SpongeBob: Here we go!
The boats navigate the course, narrowly swerving around a large brick wall that has “WALL” written on it, circling around a roundabout, traversing a large steep hill over a massive anchor, and finally making a few sharp hairpin turns before “jumping” through the ring of fire and then crossing the finish line.
SpongeBob: How did I do, Mrs Puff?!
Mrs Puff: SpongeBob, if I let you have your license, will you promise to never let me see you again?
SpongeBob: But Mrs Puff, how else will I learn to drive?! Bahahahah!
The vehicles depart the school parking lot and traverse a gently steeped tunnel filled with bubble projections as the show’s end credits theme plays bringing riders back to the load/unload platform.
