all these years that I've been to disneyland and I have yet to see the Columbia up and going. Can anyone tell me when this boat usually run's?? We would love to take a tour.

Whenever I've gone it's always been hit or miss. Some trips I don't see it running the whole time, other trips it seems to run regularly. And it doesn't seem to be related to on/off season either. I went the first week of March one year with my daughter and never saw it run (and she really wanted to go on the "pirate ship" too). The next year I went again the first week of March and it ran the whole week and my husband and I rode it twice. This year we went the first week of February and it ran every day if I recall. If there's a schedule for it, I've never figured it out.

It usually runs during the day. I'm not sure when they open/close exactly, but don't expect it to be open at park opening. They use it in Fantasmic!, so it usually stops running in the late afternoon (I'm not sure about nights they don't have F!, but it doesn't run until park closing) like 5:00 or so. Sorry I don't have specifics, but head over in the middle of the day for your best chance of boarding.

We will be there for five days in April so I will keep checking during the middle of the day to see if its running. Thanks a bunch.

I suppose you could always just ask a CM too. :p

will they know day to day? If I can check with osmeone in the morning and ask them if it will be runing that day sometime would they know? That would help me out a bunch I wouldn't have to keep going by to see if they were running.

I would think the CM's at the wait time board would know, as well as the ones at the dock where you board the Columbia and Mark Twain. City Hall might also know.

Last week when I was there (Oct. 1-4), the Columbia was running every day, but not the Mark Twain. It was very strange seeing the Mark Twain out of service. Almost every other time I've been to Disneyland the Columbia has been the one sitting quietly, although one time they were both up and running....I think that was either the week after Thanksgiving in 2005 or May of 2006. :confused:

Normally, the Mark Twain runs most of the time (It has higher capacity and is wheelchair friendly). When the Mark Twain needs repairs and/or maintenance, then the Columbia is used instead.

On busy summer days, the Columbia usually comes out around 11 AM and runs until 4 PM, when it is pulled out of service to allow CM's to start converting it for Fantasmic!

If I remember correctly, if the Mark Twain is available, then the Disneyland attendance needs to be over 40,000 for the Columbia to be running as a "second" ship, which does increase the capacity of the attraction (as they treat both boats as the same unit).

So basically Summer, major holiday periods and most weekends mid day.