Disney Skyliner Accident

[brewcrew]

I wonder if they will continue to let ECV/wheelchairs ride the Skyliner, it seems like the loading of the ECV's is causing a lot of delays at the stations and along the line. I wonder if they will make up some excuse that they can't safely rescue ECV guests and will bar them from riding anymore, when in truth it was a failure of design to account for the amount of ECV that were going to use the system.

ECV riders have little effect. At the stations, there is a ECV side track. We were at the EPCOT station last night, there were two gondalas sitting there waiting for wheelchair riders that needed a gondala. The main gondala track never stops moving. The wheelchair gondala is inserted into the main line. The main line slows down a little but never stops.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

ECV riders have little effect. At the stations, there is a ECV side track. We were at the EPCOT station last night, there were two gondalas sitting there waiting for wheelchair riders that needed a gondala. The main gondala track never stops moving. The wheelchair gondala is inserted into the main line. The main line slows down a little but never stops.

Not at riviera station

 

[mshanson3121]

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?

This. Many people (not necessarily here, but even on FB) are trying to compare it to the monorail breakdowns. Yes, they break down a lot these days. But the first real incident with the monorails (a crash) did not happen until 3 years after the opened, and that was operator error. The first non-operator error did not happen until several years later, and was a fire. The reason the monorails break down so often today, is because they're old. The gondolas are as new as they come.

Others try to compare it to the bus accidents - again, apples and oranges. Those are operator error (or other driver errors) not system errors/malfunctions. If a brand new vehicle model suddenly started having system malfunctions in the first week of being released which endangered it's passengers, you can bet there would be a massive recall.

 

[JETSDAD]

But I couldn't believe what appeared to be pictures of people zip lining out of Skyliners over water. No way I would have done that. Bob Iger himself would have had to come down and dart gun tranquilize my 6'6" 240lbs a$$ like an escaped gorilla before that would have ever happened.

Those pics are from before it opened when they were doing evacuation testing.

 

[Disney Bobby]

Those pics are from before it opened when they were doing evacuation testing.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[suemom2kay]

I wonder if they will continue to let ECV/wheelchairs ride the Skyliner, it seems like the loading of the ECV's is causing a lot of delays at the stations and along the line. I wonder if they will make up some excuse that they can't safely rescue ECV guests and will bar them from riding anymore, when in truth it was a failure of design to account for the amount of ECV that were going to use the system.

I don’t think they have a choice. It would be an ADA violation to exclude those with disabilities.

 

[The Jackal]

Key difference: Monorail is running. Skyliner is shutdown pending investigation.

It runs sometimes. It has been breaking down a lot in the last year or two.

 

[EveDallas]

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.

A lake that most likely harbors some Florida wildlife. No thanks.

 

[UmmGooD]

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.

thanks this is good data. I would like to see an hour of it.

 

[DisLiss]

Honestly - I'd rather hear both what happened and what the plan is to fix the situation...something like...

"10 minutes ago, we had a gondola crash into another in a low-speed collision at our Rivera station, necessitating the stoppage of all gondola lines. For now, it appears to be an isolated incident and one without significant injury to anyone, but we are still investigating and getting to the bottom of the situation. As we can verify the safety in doing so, we will be working on taking those gondolas off the line in order to prep getting the rest of the gondolas to the station for debarkation. This may take a few hours, so please bear with us. Please make use of your emergency kit in the gondola and please contact us using the emergency button if anyone in your gondola starts experiencing a medical situation. We will be doing our best to help you and your family through this difficult situation, and we apologize for any disruption and stress this situation may have caused you."

I can't imagine any company coming forth with a message involving the words "crash" or "injury" while other people were still trapped in that situation. That's asking for panic, in my mind. And from a legal standpoint for sure they'd not say those things. They probably would shy away from "stress" and from saying they could "verify" anything.

And disney is still lying. “There were no reports of injuries.” Except we saw pictures of people being taken off on stretchers. Lies on top of lies by disney and they keep getting caught.

I haven't heard of any actual injuries yet. I've heard of panic attacks and heat related medical issues mentioned, but I would not classify either of those as technically an "injury". Have there been other things mentioned? I don't know how the word is used from a legal stand point, but I think of injuries as broken bones, head injuries, sprains, strains, cuts, abrasions, etc., etc.

 

[The Jackal]

ECV riders have little effect. At the stations, there is a ECV side track. We were at the EPCOT station last night, there were two gondalas sitting there waiting for wheelchair riders that needed a gondala. The main gondala track never stops moving. The wheelchair gondala is inserted into the main line. The main line slows down a little but never stops.

At Riveria they have to stop the line to load and unload them. All other stations have the 2 gondolas in waiting.

 

[Matty B13]

I don’t think they have a choice. It would be an ADA violation to exclude those with disabilities.

Not if they provide an alternative form of transportation, I believe.

 

[snappy]

I can't imagine any company coming forth with a message involving the words "crash" or "injury" while other people were still trapped in that situation. That's asking for panic, in my mind. And from a legal standpoint for sure they'd not say those things. They probably would shy away from "stress" and from saying they could "verify" anything.




I haven't heard of any actual injuries yet. I've heard of panic attacks and heat related medical issues mentioned, but I would not classify either of those as technically an "injury". Have there been other things mentioned? I don't know how the word is used from a legal stand point, but I think of injuries as broken bones, head injuries, sprains, strains, cuts, abrasions, etc., etc.

Heat related medical issues can be just as serious as the injuries you mention, even worse.

 

[jimim]

Correct me if I’m wrong (it has been known to happen lolll), but say I’m on the last night of my stay. I wouldn’t expect WDW to comp my whole trip...but what good is a park ticket if I’m leaving the next day? I would have to give WDW more money (booking another trip or another night in hotel) to take advantage of my “compensation.”

“here have a free ticket”. What wasn’t said. “So you can come back and spend more money than we actually put out for this free ticket so we still come out ahead”

the more I think about this the more it actually ticks me off that they actually feel they r helping someone out.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

I think that no matter what time of day or year it is, if you have or think you might have any sort of issues when it comes to being stopped while on the skyliner, it might be best just not to ride. Some people are fine while its moving but once it stops they freak out. Disney needs to put a warning about that.

 

[anomamatt]

Per the sentinel article, RCFD evacuated six (yes, 6) cabins during the 3.5 hours.

The plan must be to always get the line running because I’d say that evacuation of the entire line is impossible.

Even if RCFD is currently undermanned, you’d need to scale 50x to make it practical to evac the whole line. And people are arguing (and I don’t disagree) that 3 hours is too long.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Correct me if I’m wrong (it has been known to happen lolll), but say I’m on the last night of my stay. I wouldn’t expect WDW to comp my whole trip...but what good is a park ticket if I’m leaving the next day? I would have to give WDW more money (booking another trip or another night in hotel) to take advantage of my “compensation.”

I would imagine these tickets are flexible so you can come back on your own time

 

[Keckster]

I'll be there in 20 days and I'm still looking forward to riding the Skyliner system. I would venture to say the system will be even safer after an incident like this. I certainly don't begrudge anybody about being stranded on the line and the stress and discomfort that causes, but fortunately there were not any reported injuries. No doubt it is only a matter of time before a lawsuit is filed. While there is a certain level of responsibility, sometimes things happen without malice or negligence.

 

[Spridell]

Per the sentinel article, RCFD evacuated six (yes, 6) cabins during the 3.5 hours.

The plan must be to always get the line running because I’d say that evacuation of the entire line is impossible.

Even if RCFD is currently undermanned, you’d need to scale 50x to make it practical to evac the whole line. And people are arguing (and I don’t disagree) that 3 hours is too long.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this.

It seems this is what really needs to be looked out.

Those numbers are unacceptable.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I don’t think they have a choice. It would be an ADA violation to exclude those with disabilities.

Not if they provide an alternative form of transportation, I believe.

I agree. It is legal if they have an alternative. Like a bus. I wouldn’t be surprised if scooters are limited access in the long run.