OMG Let's Pray this is NOT what it appears

[FlaFortCampster]

Hi All,
It has just come over the local news that a suspicious package strapped to the underside of a WDW bus has been discovered.
ALL bus service at WDW has been suspended and all buses have been called into the maintenance area which is located far from any of the parks.
A maintenance worker discovered the package and called police immediately. The pictures from the news chopper of all the buses lined up are surreal.
Let's pray this is just a hoax. I'll post more if anything else comes on.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...l-bk-disney-bomb-squad-091709,0,4515206.story

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Man that sucks,,lets hope its something simple.

Otherwise, WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE !

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

here is a live chopper feed from over the bomb squad

http://www.wesh.com/video/20972444/index.html

 

[BradyBz12]

From a recent post on a similar thread on the Theme Parks board...

According to Central Florida News 13 the inspectors have said the device was not hazardous or explosive.

Reportedly bus service has resumed.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

The Orange County Sheriff's Office released a statement that device found this afternoon underneath a Walt Disney World bus was "not explosive or hazardous."

Upon determining that, members of the Sheriff's Hazardous Device Unit removed the device, which was attached to the undercarriage of a bus, the Sheriff's Office said.

An investigation about how the device was placed under the bus -- and why and by whom -- continues, the Sheriff's Office said.

 

[BradyBz12]

They just updated the news story online...

Object Under Disney Bus Not Hazardous, Explosive
Thursday, September 17, 2009 6:57:42 PM
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A suspicious package has been found attached to a Disney bus at a maintenance facility near Disney's Animal Kingdom. All bus operations have been temporarily suspended.
Slideshow - 2 images
">Sky 13 flies over Walt Disney World after a suspicious package was found on a Disney bus.
Video

* Sky 13 Over Walt Disney World

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- The Orange County Sheriff's Office says an object found under a Disney bus is not explosive or hazardous.

The object was found around 3 p.m. Thursday when the bus was in for routine maintenance at a maintenance facility near Disney's Animal Kingdom.

That's when Disney workers found something suspicious attached to the undercarriage of a bus.

The bomb squad checked out the device and the maintenance facility was evacuated as a precaution.

Meanwhile, all Disney bus operations have been temporarily suspended. Disney is doing this to check all their buses and their fleet.

They plan on putting each bus back into service after it passes inspection.

There will be a white dot affixed to the front windshield of the bus on the driver's side to show the bus is safe.

News 13 has also learned Disney's Animal Kingdom will stay open until 7 p.m. It was scheduled to close at 5 p.m.

Taxi services have also been expanded to help with the bus shortage due to the inspection.

Disney released the following statement:

"Safety of guest and cast members is top priority and Disney apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause their guest and they will address there concerns on a case by case basis."

 

[FlaFortCampster]

Kudos to WDW for pulling all buses. Although you know there are some folks really ticked off, it was the right thing to do.

GOOD NEWS that is wasn't explosive.

It almost looked like a piece of luggage. News said there were several hundred buses pulled. I didn't realize there were that many running at one time. Also good that this is a slower time at WDW.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Kudos to WDW for pulling all buses. Although you know there are some folks really ticked off, it was the right thing to do.

GOOD NEWS that is wasn't explosive.

It almost looked like a piece of luggage. News said there were several hundred buses pulled. I didn't realize there were that many running at one time. Also good that this is a slower time at WDW.

 

[BradyBz12]

News said there were several hundred buses pulled. I didn't realize there were that many running at one time.

Ch13's website had video from the chopper of all the buses lined up for inspection.... WOW!

 

[Judy in Texas]

We are in loop 1500 and just received a letter of apology from management: "... At this time I would like to personally apologize if you may have experienced delays with out Walt Disney World bus transportion earlier today. The Walt Disney World bus transportation system has now resumed full operation." ... from Jean Gallagher, General Manager. We didn't realize there was an issue since we took our own car to EPCOT; however, we did notice more helicopters than normal in the area. Judy

 

[Gatordad]

you know who i blame.......

 

[stacktester]

you know who i blame.......

The Mayor may need more security Halloween. I'll be sure to look under my cart daily.

 

[big kahuna1]

Man, election time cannot come soon enough.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

What concerns me the most is, not that it was found to be harmless, but that it could be placed without anyone noticing in the first place. If a harmless device could be placed without detection, then it would be pretty easy to place an explosive. The thought that this could be a practice and/or training excercise for terrorists is not entirely off the wall. In the past, Disney parks have been on terrorist "short lists" for activity. Rather than becoming at ease and complacent since 9/11, we should be remaining vigilant and aware of our surroundings. Better to report suspicious activity and have it be harmless than assume it is harmless and be sorry later.

 

[DaveInTN]

What concerns me the most is, not that it was found to be harmless, but that it could be placed without anyone noticing in the first place. If a harmless device could be placed without detection, then it would be pretty easy to place an explosive. The thought that this could be a practice and/or training excercise for terrorists is not entirely off the wall. In the past, Disney parks have been on terrorist "short lists" for activity. Rather than becoming at ease and complacent since 9/11, we should be remaining vigilant and aware of our surroundings. Better to report suspicious activity and have it be harmless than assume it is harmless and be sorry later.

Those were my thoughts exactly, in particular with the searches in NYC and Colorado this week and talk of a Madrid style attack. How the package got under the bus is my question...as I don't typically see those buses unattended. That doesn't mean the drivers are always vigilant when they are sitting in queue. And I'm sure the buses do sit unattended and somewhat unsecured at times out of site of most visitors. If this was a "practice" episode, I just hope the response was swift enough and thorough enough that whoever did it has determined a full scale attack would have a small likelihood of success.

 

[shirley 38]

SOME PEOPLE ARE REALLY SICK. Who would do such a thing. America is the safest country in the world, so we hope.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Back in the early '80's, I was assigned to an Army weapons testing facility. Prior to our arrival, we had to take a course in detecting explosives on our vehicles, spotting "spies" and reporting them, etc. We kind of thought it was just so much paranoia by the Army. I'll tell you, though, depending on what was going on at a particular time, we would see Russian spies at least weekly if not daily on our drive in to work, all within the confines of the continental United States. They were not particularly concerned with being spotted. Don't think for a minute we are safe in the US.

 

[LONE-STAR]

Back in the early '80's, I was assigned to an Army weapons testing facility. Prior to our arrival, we had to take a course in detecting explosives on our vehicles, spotting "spies" and reporting them, etc. We kind of thought it was just so much paranoia by the Army. I'll tell you, though, depending on what was going on at a particular time, we would see Russian spies at least weekly if not daily on our drive in to work, all within the confines of the continental United States. They were not particularly concerned with being spotted. Don't think for a minute we are safe in the US.

Man how about some sugar coating this is a family board and I have to be able to sleep at night.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Man how about some sugar coating this is a family board and I have to be able to sleep at night.

Well, Mike, the good news is the Russians ran out of money and now I am told we are friends.