Ride the Ducks was a national

duck tour Duck tours are tours that take place on purpose-built amphibious tour buses and (modified) surplus amphibious military vehicles, like DUKWs (''"Ducks"'') and LARC-Vs. They are often offered as tourist attractions in harbor, river and lake cit ...

operator and eponymous tourist attraction in some parts of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. It had made use of

amphibious vehicles An amphibious vehicle (or simply amphibian), is a vehicle that is a means of transport viable on land as well as on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious bicycles, ATVs, cars, buses, trucks, railway vehicles, combat vehicles a ...

, nicknamed "ducks", to provide tours of cities by boat and by land. Ride the Ducks was purchased by

Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation Herschend Family Entertainment (HFE) is a privately owned themed-entertainment company that operates several theme parks and tourist attractions within the United States, and as of 2021, one aquarium in Vancouver, Canada. Founded by Jack and ...

in 2004. Herschend sold a majority interest in the company to an independent investor in 2012. The Branson operation was sold to

Ripley Entertainment Ripley Entertainment Inc. is an entertainment and edutainment holding company owned by the Jim Pattison Group of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company has its headquarters in an unincorporated part of southern Orange County, Florida, ne ...

in December 2017. In 2019 Ripley announced that Ride The Ducks in Branson would be permanently shut down and replaced by another attraction due to the July 2018 accident on

Table Rock Lake Table Rock Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas in the United States. Designed, built and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lake is impounded by Table Rock Dam ...

where 17 people drowned.

Operations

The company used custom-built amphibious vehicles based on the

DUKW The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the -ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Step ...

amphibious vehicle design from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

known as "truck ducks", while some used an original DUKW chassis extended to fit them, known as "stretch ducks". The company also used original DUKWs extended to hold more people, and as such are also "stretch ducks". All incorporated advances in marine design and safety. Drivers were certified by the Coast Guard and hold commercial drivers' licenses, and all vehicles were equipped with

personal flotation devices A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...

. The company has also manufactured vehicles for other duck tour operators.

Locations

Ride the Ducks also formerly operated in a number of additional locations across the United States and one location in Guam: *

Branson, Missouri Branson is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. Most of the city is situated in Taney County, with a small portion in the west extending into Stone County. Branson is in the Ozark Mountains. The community was named after Reuben Branson, postm ...

(Opened: 1977, Closed: 2018) * Boston, Massachusetts (Under the name "Boston Duck Tours") (Opened: 1994) *

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

(Under the name "Ride the Ducks of Seattle") (Opened: 1997, Closed: 2020) *

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

(Opened: 2002, Closed: 2009) *

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(Opened: 2003, Closed: 2016) *

Stone Mountain, Georgia Stone Mountain is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,703 according to the 2020 US Census. Stone Mountain is in the eastern part of DeKalb County and is a suburb of Atlanta that encompasses nearly 1.7 square mil ...

(Opened: 2003, Closed: 2018) *

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

(Opened: 2005, Closed: 2007) *

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(Opened: 2008, Closed: 2015) *

Newport, Kentucky Newport is a home rule-class city at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers in Campbell County, Kentucky. The population was 15,273 at the 2010 census. Historically, it was one of four county seats of Campbell County. Newport is a majo ...

(Opened: 2008, Closed: 2018) *

Tamuning, Guam Tamuning, also known as Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon ( ch, Tamuneng) is a village located on the western shore of the United States territory of Guam. The village of Tamuning is the economic center of Guam, containing tourist center Tumon, Harmon Indus ...

(Opened: 2014) * Mobile, Alabama (Under the name "Gulf Coast Ducks") (Opened: 2016, Closed: 2019)

Incidents

The duck boats operated by Ride the Ducks have been involved in a number of incidents.

July 2010 accident

In July 2010, a Ride the Ducks vehicle stalled on the Delaware River in

, and was struck by a

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

being pushed by a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

, sinking the duck boat and killing two of the passengers, who were Hungarian tourists. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the tugboat operator's inattention to his duties. The tugboat operator served a one-year sentence for “the maritime equivalent of

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

.” Six years after the accident, Ride The Ducks ceased operations in Philadelphia.

Sept 2015 accident

On September 24, 2015, a Ride the Ducks vehicle operated by an independent firm Ride the Ducks of Seattle broke an axle, crossed the center lane and crashed into a charter bus, killing five people on

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Aurora Bridge The Aurora Bridge (officially called the George Washington Memorial Bridge) is a cantilever and truss bridge in Seattle, Washington, United States. It carries State Route 99 ( Aurora Avenue North) over the west end of Seattle's Lake Union an ...

. The vehicle had been purchased from the Missouri-based manufacturer, and had not undergone a recommended repair to the front axle. The Missouri firm paid a fine of $1 million. In 2019, a jury in King County found Ride the Ducks International liable for 67% of a $123 million judgment stemming from the accident on the Aurora Bridge.

July 2018 accident

On July 19, 2018, a Ride the Ducks vehicle capsized and sank while in

near Branson, Missouri, during high winds from nearby thunderstorms. 31 individuals were on board, and 17 fatalities were confirmed. The day following the accident, Ride the Ducks announced that the Branson operation would be "closed for business" pending an investigation and out of respect for the victims' families. The boat involved was an original from World War II having been built in 1944. In March 2019, Ride The Ducks announced they would be permanently shut down due to the investigation and overwhelming legal issues after the incident. A replacement attraction, Top Ops, opened in June 2019 at the same location.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ride The Ducks Tourist attractions in Stone County, Missouri Transportation in Stone County, Missouri Transport companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in Missouri