Disney Skyliner Accident

[Fido Chuckwagon]

My biggest problem here isn’t with the compensation. My problem is that their system clearly has a critical design flaw. One that was being pointed out by people on these boards for years. Now it is clear that this system can easily leave people stranded for 3.5 hours in a sweltering sweat box in the middle of summer. If and when that happens, and if children are seriously injured or killed, Disney will never be able to claim it wasn’t their fault or that this was not reasonably foreseeable. This whole thing was ill conceived. They should have built something with a cooling system in freaking Florida.

Edit: although I agree the compensation is a joke.

Edit: I’ve got a trip booked there in 3 weeks. I was planning on riding this with my wife, my 4 year old, and my infant. That could have been us stuck up there. If I sound angry at Disney it is because I am.

 

[wdwlver]

FWIW a spokesperson for the Reedy Creek FD union has now said what a lot of us have been saying in this thread, there were no serious injuries “but that could have been a lot different if this had happened at noon”. Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-bz-disney-skyliner-stuck-20191006-62n3oywqkbenzdvl6j2bredygu-story.html?outputType=amp

this is incredibly frightening

 

[UmmGooD]

For those who are saying that compensation or lawsuits raise prices, no supply and demand raise prices.

 

[UmmGooD]

My biggest problem here isn’t with the compensation. My problem is that their system clearly has a critical design flaw. One that was being pointed out by people on these boards for years. Now it is clear that this system can easily leave people stranded for 3.5 hours in a sweltering sweat box in the middle of summer. If and when that happens, and if children are seriously injured or killed, Disney will never be able to claim it wasn’t their fault or that this was not reasonably foreseeable. This whole thing was ill conceived. They should have built something with a cooling system in freaking Florida.

Edit: although I agree the compensation is a joke.

I agree with you 100%. But I will say that they should compensate because of their mass oversight. I am sorry but if anyone thinks $100 is ok in this then that is their prerogative but this is a bigger problem than that. Every report I have seen has been bad. Worse than $100 would compensate for.

 

[rteetz]

My biggest problem here isn’t with the compensation. My problem is that their system clearly has a critical design flaw. One that was being pointed out by people on these boards for years. Now it is clear that this system can easily leave people stranded for 3.5 hours in a sweltering sweat box in the middle of summer. If and when that happens, and if children are seriously injured or killed, Disney will never be able to claim it wasn’t their fault or that this was not reasonably foreseeable. This whole thing was ill conceived. They should have built something with a cooling system in freaking Florida.

Edit: although I agree the compensation is a joke.

Edit: I’ve got a trip booked there in 3 weeks. I was planning on riding this with my wife, my 4 year old, and my infant. That could have been us stuck up there. If I sound angry at Disney it is because I am.

What is the design flaw that’s been pointed out for years? AC? Very very few systems like this have AC and the ones that do aren’t reliable.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

What is the design flaw that’s been pointed out for years? AC? Very very few systems like this have AC and the ones that do aren’t reliable.

Yes, inadequate cooling. How many of these systems worldwide are utilized in subtropical climates catering to an audience that skews very heavily towards young children, toddlers, and infants who won’t be able to handle the heat, and use an under-staffed fire department that can’t evacuate the system in a timely fashion?

 

[wdwlver]

Yes, inadequate cooling. How many of these systems worldwide are utilized in subtropical climates catering to an audience that skews very heavily towards young children, toddlers, and infants who won’t be able to handle the heat, and use an under-staffed fire department that can’t evacuate the system in a timely fashion?

Exactly this.

 

[UmmGooD]

Yes, inadequate cooling. How many of these systems worldwide are utilized in subtropical climates catering to an audience that skews very heavily towards young children, toddlers, and infants who won’t be able to handle the heat, and use an under-staffed fire department that can’t evacuate the system in a timely fashion?

Agreed. If you had a child in a car in FL in a car with windows cracked for 3.5 hours you would probably be guilty of child endangerment.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Agreed. If you had a child in a car in FL in a car with windows cracked for 3.5 hours you would probably be guilty of child endangerment.

Or manslaughter.

 

[Brianstl]

What is the design flaw that’s been pointed out for years? AC? Very very few systems like this have AC and the ones that do aren’t reliable.

Depending on the level of coating they used on the cars, they really shouldn’t warm up much when stopped in the daytime. If done right, it really should be like sitting in the shade on a hot day.

 

[NWOhiogal]

Yes, inadequate cooling. How many of these systems worldwide are utilized in subtropical climates catering to an audience that skews very heavily towards young children, toddlers, and infants who won’t be able to handle the heat, and use an under-staffed fire department that can’t evacuate the system in a timely fashion?

I was wondering the same thing. Most of these types of systems are at ski resorts where you would obviously not need air conditioning.

There have been claims that the Skyliner cars have "three hour emergency AC", but if they do it didn't kick in last night and it should have. I don't see anything on those cars that looks like a compressor so I don't think the claim of them having 'emergency AC' is true. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Yes, inadequate cooling. How many of these systems worldwide are utilized in subtropical climates catering to an audience that skews very heavily towards young children, toddlers, and infants who won’t be able to handle the heat, and use an under-staffed fire department that can’t evacuate the system in a timely fashion?

I should add that if it’s not possible to build a gondola system with adequate cooling as you say, then they shouldn’t have built it period. They could have spent more money and built more monorail lines.

 

[UmmGooD]

Depending on the level of coating they used on the cars, they really shouldn’t warm up much when stopped in the daytime. If done right, it really should be like sitting in the shade on a hot day.

I have a Tesla with ceramic coating, PPF and ceramic window tint and I wouldn’t leave my kids in it for 3.5 hours without active cooling here in Texas. People break windows for dogs in these circumstances let alone humans. This isn’t humane in any sense.

 

[mshanson3121]

What is the design flaw that’s been pointed out for years? AC? Very very few systems like this have AC and the ones that do aren’t reliable.

Very very few systems like this are in climates like Florida.

 

[mshanson3121]

I was wondering the same thing. Most of these types of systems are at ski resorts where you would obviously not need air conditioning.

There have been claims that the Skyliner cars have "three hour emergency AC", but if they do it didn't kick in last night and it should have. I don't see anything on those cars that looks like a compressor so I don't think the claim of them having 'emergency AC' is true. Does anyone know for sure?

It's not AC, apparently, but rather just a ceiling fan vent. So a battery operated fan at the top designed to help draw some hot air out. *insert eye roll here*

 

[mshanson3121]

Depending on the level of coating they used on the cars, they really shouldn’t warm up much when stopped in the daytime. If done right, it really should be like sitting in the shade on a hot day.

There were several reports earlier in the week (during the many downtime periods) that the gondolas warmed up quite quickly when stopped if there wasn't a breeze.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I admit I’m no engineeer, but they couldn’t have built some sort of “third rail” like they use with electric trains to supply power for AC?

Although honestly the big problem is the evacuation time. Because even if they had AC, in a total system failure that could fail too.

 

[Brianstl]

I have a Tesla with ceramic coating, PPF and ceramic window tint and I wouldn’t leave my kids in it for 3.5 hours without active cooling here in Texas. People break windows for dogs in these circumstances let alone humans. This isn’t humane in any sense.

There is a video from one of the blogs inside one of the cars during a ten minute stop on a sunny day. The temp at first went up one degree and then dropped that degree a few minutes later.

The oven effect wouldn’t be my fear if stuck up there. My fear would be a strong thunderstorm popping up. Strong winds and lighting in the highest thing above a parking lot or lake........ no thanks.

 

[Navychica]

I'm very concerned about the timing of this incident.

This could happen on any form of public transport, true, but how often? Do I have a 1 in 365 chance of picking the day with a glitch, or is it a 1 in 7 chance, which is Disney's current track record?

 

[Spridell]

It seems they are going to have to figure something out that takes a lot less than 3 hours.

Yes the AC versions are not reliable I have read that, but, at the same time, like @Fido Chuckwagon said, how many of these systems are in a tropical environment like we have here in Florida.

3 and half hours stuck up there in middle of summer middle of day even if the inside cabins got up to only mid to low 90s at 3 hours it would be a disaster with possible injuries and or fatalities.

I think the response time and or procedures of evacuating the line is what really needs to be studied here.