Disney Skyliner Accident

[Tigger's ally]

Ok. What’s your benchmark for thinking this is longer than standard?

Almost all of these are used is ski resorts where they have 5 months total to dismantle old lift system, build new and test before next ski season. They also are one station to one station systems. This one was different as it had multiple stops and a turn.

Were you not here when the whole "way too much testing" "why aren't these open" "too long of waiting for these to open: comments?

 

[DisUniversal]

Accidents happen, I just question a system that has to be stopped for 3 hours (with people potentially hanging helpless in mid-air) to FIX a system and get those people off.

What is going to happen in the summer if there is extended shutdown like this in the afternoon and a lightning storm pops up? Seems like a very unsafe position to risk being stuck in.

 

[brelyt]

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 if 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."

After making any statement indicating a collision, this is the additional message many guests would hear in their minds. "So don't panic, even though one of the gondolas came loose, we can assure you that yours won't." No, telling people their was a collision is a bad idea. I agree some can deal with it, but many can't.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Anyone else notice that the emergency notebooks say "Universal" on them?

Yes, hysterical....

 

[Brianstl]

Looking at the accident it makes me wonder if there is some kind of design flaw with the Riviera station. You would think fail safes would be in place to prevent what happened from happening.

 

[rteetz]

You aren’t basing your statement in fact, then. You are refuting a natural conclusion others have drawn simply because it doesn’t agree with how you feel.

I just gave you a source of fact. These systems typically go up over a summer season. That is a fact. An expert in these systems even believes it took Disney longer than it should to build this. No most times these are not mass transit systems in most cases but that doesn't mean this didn't take longer than expected. I also have an independent unnamed source that said there were delays. That would mean it was expected to open sooner. That's not how I feel. To me it doesn't matter if it opened September 29th, or in December.

 

[ELMC]

It’s not about wanting to be right. It is about corporate responsibility. And Disney Executives having to face irresponsible decisions. I absolutely believe the Gondola system is irresponsible due to volume of passengers and climate extremes. Because this incident happened at night, Disney and more importantly their guests were very lucky. Now, there will be an investigation and changes. Worst case scenario mid July during the day, and they will need a much better plan. Hopefully OSHA will be involved to ensure the proper changes are made or shut it down altogether.

I do not think that Disney is perfect. That said, I think that any of our layperson opinions about the safety/practicality/appropriateness of the Skyliner system are just that...layperson opinions. While I respect your opinion that the gondola system is irresponsible, that doesn't make it so. Clearly there are a lot of people at Disney and the manufacturer who disagree. I believe that Disney puts profits above everything other than safety. As such, I am inclined to put some amount of faith in the experts who are saying that this system is safe.

That said, we agree on the point that we hope this unfortunate incident leads to increased safety and reliability going forward.

 

[TwoMisfits]

After making any statement indicating a collision, this is the additional message many guests would hear in their minds. "So don't panic, even though one of the gondolas came loose, we can assure you that yours won't." No, telling people their was a collision is a bad idea. I agree some can deal with it, but many can't.

But with lying to them, or telling them nothing, many guests will panic EVEN MORE b/c your mind can always imagine a worse case than is ever going on. And they'll use their phones to get pics, and see you're lying or withholding info and then trust you not at all in the moment...In this day and age, the truth will always be the angle you want to take...maybe not a "fully detailed and graphic" truth, but one which won't be contradicted with one check of Facebook...

I mean, Disney has made having a fully charged cell phone a requirement of touring the parks, so they have to expect EVERY guest has one...and can stay up to date in a situation in the moment...so if Disney isn't updating them, someone else is...

 

[midaroco]

Almost all of these are used is ski resorts where they have 5 months total to dismantle old lift system, build new and test before next ski season. They also are one station to one station systems. This one was different as it had multiple stops and a turn.

Were you not here when the whole "way too much testing" "why aren't these open" "too long of waiting for these to open: comments?

You are using generalities to draw conclusions. Your statement ending is in diametric opposition of the first part of your statement. No benchmarking facts have been presented. I’m not saying your inference based on what you know to be true is incorrect. My point is simply that one can’t immediately condemn another’s statement as unfactual based on their limited understanding of the overall circumstances.

 

[ProgressCity]

If safety really came first with Disney, they would have listened to the Reedy Creek Fire Department when they said they needed more staff to handle the Star Wars expansion and the gondola system.

The RCFD has not increased the size of their staff since 1989. To put that in perspective, in 1989 there were 3 theme parks, 1 water park, 4 resorts, and the campground. Since then, WDW has expanded to add 17 resorts (plus all the DVC add-ons), another theme park, another water park, the Wide World of Sports complex, the theme parks expansions, and a housing development (and this of course doesn't count all the non-Disney additions that have been made to the property such as third-party hotels). So you have all the guests that come with that expansion not to mention all the cast members who deserve to work in a safe environment.

How Disney can claim to put safety first while refusing to listen to the union and hire more firefighters is beyond me. The ratio of firefighters to population is less than half of what it is in major cities. Disney is being negligent. They don't want to spend the money to maintain the monorail and they don't want to spend the money to hire the people needed to deal with the emergencies that will inevitably arise (even without their negligence). They want to cut corners all the way around and instead spend money on the "Safe-D Begins With Me!" campaign to make people think they care about safety.

So is it Disney's fault that this accident happened? I don't know. Genuine accidents do happen. But it absolutely is their fault that they don't have the RCFD personnel on hand that they were told they would need. There's no excuse for that.

 

[Edna K. Mode]

Yes

Thank you for clarifying! Much appreciated!

 

[midaroco]

I just gave you a source of fact. These systems typically go up over a summer season. That is a fact. An expert in these systems even believes it took Disney longer than it should to build this. No most times these are not mass transit systems in most cases but that doesn't mean this didn't take longer than expected. I also have an independent unnamed source that said there were delays. That would mean it was expected to open sooner. That's not how I feel. To me it doesn't matter if it opened September 29th, or in December.

You haven’t presented any facts, actually. Speculation isn’t fact.

 

[mshanson3121]

Nm

 

[rteetz]

You haven’t presented any facts, actually. Speculation isn’t fact.

I gave you an expert website. That will show you how these systems progress and how they are built. That is a fast. It is a fact that these systems are primarily used at ski resorts and it’s a fact that most go up during a summer season. You don’t have to believe my insider report that there were delays that’s fine.

 

[UmmGooD]

This is a very good point.

Disney now has your info and they know you were on one of the ones crushed.

No doubt they are preparing some kind of legal worded papers for you.

DONT sign anything until you are comfortable enough with what you are signing.

I would say don’t sign anything. There is nothing of benefit to you to do so. I would at a minimum contact an attorney before you sign anything. All signing does is protect Disney not you.

 

[only hope]

No it was never expected to open in December. Disney always said Fall. This has nothing to do with the second ride and if it was rushed I would've expected them to have it open for the opening of SWGE not a month later.

Almost all of December is in the fall. They said late fall for WDW, so December fits that. Of course, temp wise, fall doesn’t happen til December here...on some random days. And leaves don’t fall til January. Weather here is weird.

 

[midaroco]

I gave you an expert website. That will show you how these systems progress and how they are built. That is a fast. It is a fact that these systems are primarily used at ski resorts and it’s a fact that most go up during a summer season. You don’t have to believe my insider report that there were delays that’s fine.

This system is different. As it is different, you can’t use the construction of a different system as a complete benchmark. That would be pointless. What are the differences? What caused the delay in building? Was it the tariffs that have been imposed various building supplies? Was it the fact that Disney likes to spread out the construction of projects as they don’t want to incur additional costs to try and complete the project in what other industries would call a normal timeframe? Was Disney trying to stagger the opening along with the opening of other things ? My point, which still stands, is that you are using speculation to refute another’s claim.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I actually think this is better for them. “We are investigating and will provide more information once it is known” should have been Disney’s comment since yesterday. They do much more harm by giving responses before gathering the facts than holding comment until the facts are known.

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.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

I hardly doubt the testing for these was 10x longer than any other gondola system. ESP. With the issues that have plagued the Skyliner since launching a week ago... it’s a natural inference to draw.

When I went for NYE last year they were already testing the gondolas inside the stations. And by February they had covered cars on the lines. Testing was certainty longer than an average gondola system.

 

[rteetz]

Almost all of December is in the fall. They said late fall for WDW, so December fits that. Of course, temp wise, fall doesn’t happen til December here...on some random days. And leaves don’t fall til January. Weather here is weird.

SWGE was late fall. The Skyliner was never late fall.