Incident at WDW 8-29-24? - No shooting

[thanxfornoticin]

I think the point is though is that "survival mode" is better served by remaining calm and orderly. That is actually the best thing to do to give you the best odds of survival. If your survival mode includes panic, then you likely won't survive a real incident. I understand that not everyone is going to be able to engage that, but being mindful of the fact can only be helpful.

In a perfect world, perhaps, and I understand the point you're trying to make. I just think with a large, condensed crowd like at MK, that's not a realistic response for most. Or at least not for many/most people when protecting their children. And I repeat, none of us know how calm and orderly we'd be in a situation like that unless we've experienced it. It's all theoretical until it happens to us.

Sadly, that's one of the main purposes of doing fire drills and active shooter drills in our schools - so the students and faculty can 'experience the situation' in a calmer setting, that hopefully would translate to a more calm and orderly environment if the real thing were to happen.

 

[BrianL]

In a perfect world, perhaps, and I understand the point you're trying to make. I just think with a large, condensed crowd like at MK, that's not a realistic response for most. Or at least not for many/most people when protecting their children. And I repeat, none of us know how calm and orderly we'd be in a situation like that unless we've experienced it. It's all theoretical until it happens to us.

Sadly, that's one of the main purposes of doing fire drills and active shooter drills in our schools - so the students and faculty can 'experience the situation' in a calmer setting, that hopefully would translate to a more calm and orderly environment if the real thing were to happen.

Well, right, I understand that it may be difficult, but it is something we should be mindful of. We do active shooter training ever year for work, and you know what they don't recommend? Pushing and shoving and yelling. Maybe a lot o fpeople can't do that, but it is better if they can. It would in fact be safer for them and their families as well as everyone else.

 

[traveler9]

Not that I ride the monorails anymore but I've decided last few years we either leave early or we grab a snack and sit tight and let the crush go out. People just can't behave on so many levels.

When I have a car I just park at CR with a reservation usually for Steakhouse 71 and eat there. With AP discounts the meal cost is not much more than what it would cost to upgrade to preferred parking anyway, and MUCH easier to get back to my car at the end of the night than even preferred parking.

Most importantly, it avoids waiting in the mass of people for the monorail after close.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Well, right, I understand that it may be difficult, but it is something we should be mindful of. We do active shooter training ever year for work, and you know what they don't recommend? Pushing and shoving and yelling. Maybe a lot o fpeople can't do that, but it is better if they can. It would in fact be safer for them and their families as well as everyone else.

Absolutely true and I agree without question it's a safer approach. And that's where a controlled drill or training helps if the real thing ever happens. But in a situation like it appears happened at MK last night by a couple obnoxious people/families having a physical altercation at the Magic Kingdom - I'm sure the flow of false information made things much worse and caused panic. If there were 500/1000 (more?) people on a crowded Main St hearing people shouting someone was shooting, they're not all going to be calm and orderly trying to get their families away from the shooting - especially since they didn't know where the source was located because no one was actually shooting. Just a senseless, horrible situation for those families in the park last night when it happened. I'm thankful it wasn't our night in the MK...... So I can't criticize any who might've panicked and dashed through the shops knocking things over. Not ideal, but I can see why it happened. I hope any injuries were minor.

 

[tjkraz]

One could argue it is worse now

Unfortunately there's no way to measure an experience from 30 years ago which merely lives in one's memories. I've been visiting WDW regularly for almost 25 years. There were always large crowds, high temperatures, meal reservations and some system forcing guests to criss-cross the park to make their 1-hour ride reservation times.

 

[BeachClub2014]

How do we know that a weapon wasn't discharged, causing the crowd response? Not to split hairs or sound like a conspiracy theorist, but all the OCSD said in their release was that it wasn't (thankfully!) an active shooter situation and that they believed the sound was a popping balloon. I genuinely hope that it wasn't a gunshot.

 

[tony67]

How do we know that a weapon wasn't discharged, causing the crowd response? Not to split hairs or sound like a conspiracy theorist, but all the OCSD said in their release was that it wasn't (thankfully!) an active shooter situation and that they believed the sound was a popping balloon. I genuinely hope that it wasn't a gunshot.

Just a guess, but I suspect Disney has something like ShotSpotter (Gunshot Detection).
If not there is no shortage of cameras - so they would know I suspect.
Also - it would not be easy to get a gun into the parks - but stuff does get past TSA so who knows.

That said - Disney has been known in the past to cover things up somewhat - so 911 calls go to them and not the police for example.
That may be different now - but I do recall that in the past - even when you call from your mobile it goes to them first.

 

[eandt]

Just a guess, but I suspect Disney has something like ShotSpotter (Gunshot Detection).
If not there is no shortage of cameras - so they would know I suspect.
Also - it would not be easy to get a gun into the parks - but stuff does get past TSA so who knows.

That said - Disney has been known in the past to cover things up somewhat - so 911 calls go to them and not the police for example.
That may be different now - but I do recall that in the past - even when you call from your mobile it goes to them first.

Doubt they have shot spotter but if they did how far has society fallen that the most magical place on earth would have to have that type of technology in place? Unhumans

 

[rdaky]

That said - Disney has been known in the past to cover things up somewhat - so 911 calls go to them and not the police for example.
That may be different now - but I do recall that in the past - even when you call from your mobile it goes to them first.

This part is not accurate. If you dial 911 while you are in Magic Kingdom it will go to Orange County 911. And then when you tell them you're in Magic Kingdom they will transfer you to Reedy Creek, or CFTOD as it is called now.

 

[fla4fun]

I think the point is though is that "survival mode" is better served by remaining calm and orderly. That is actually the best thing to do to give you the best odds of survival. If your survival mode includes panic, then you likely won't survive a real incident. I understand that not everyone is going to be able to engage that, but being mindful of the fact can only be helpful.

Sad how in today's world, that's where some peoples' minds have to go if they hear something like that. If a couple people mistake the balloon pop and start yelling and running, others will just react. Since we weren't there to see or hear it, I guess we don't know for certain......

Another thing to keep in mind is that there could be a large portion of the crowd at MK at any given time who either don’t speak English fluently or perhaps speak it at all. I personally would be more likely to panic in a situation where I could not be told what was happening in the chaos than if I could clearly understand anything the CMs might be saying as far as where to go and what to do.

We all like to think we know how we would react in a situation like that, especially in a place that we know well, but until it happens, we can never be completely certain. I am not going to sit here and say I wouldn’t panic or I wouldn’t run, because as much as I would like to believe that I would handle it well I just don’t know. I hope I never have to find out.