OT-sort of Do you think this is real

[Honeymooners1021]

I guess this happened at CA in Sept and I don't know if you had seen it.

Do you think it is real or photoshopped?


http://gostbrand.com/blog/?p=2100



I would be terrified to be in a car with that guy!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Don't they lock the seatbelts so you can't undo them? Photoshop I think.

 

[Albort]

come to think about it, you are given plenty of time to get out of it...

Either A) the guest got out or B) its photoshopped.

 

[FourOrchards]

It's photoshoped. The seat belts won't some undone at all. There are so many safe guards in place for Disney rides...it just isn't possible.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Here's a reply from "Betty" on a forum where the pic was posted:

Forum Site

Hey Peter…. Are you working for Disney??? You believe Elvis is still alive don’t ya…. Of course this is photo is real, next you’ll be telling me that man hasn’t set foot on the moon and JFK!!!

You’re just another fond member of Disneys passionate band of merry do gooders, ambling around your life, reading small print on soda bottles, studying saftey manuals to everything you own before nestling down each night that fluffy mouse shaped pillow and switch off the lights in the safe, rose tinted world you live in.

Unfortunately, all is not as it seems down in Disney it’s not as squeeky clean as the big mouse would have us believe…

I was there, the girl front right, or photo left from your angle.

Judging by the security lock down that followed a chase and take down as we left the tower I’d say this photo is possibly true, why else would they take mine, and other peoples cameras for inspection?

.....…

 

[jenpace]

As far as I know, the seatbelts are totally locked until the ride is over AND the picture isn't taken while the elevator is dropping, but while you're at the top looking out the open doors. Nothing, including a person or their belongings would be flying around like that in the ride photo.....

 

[FlameGirl]

I hope it was worth it for this guy - endangering the other people on the ride - to get this shot. Good for him! His mother must be so proud.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

This photo is so fake it's not even funny! LAME is what it is. And like a poster said on that forum Disney would NEVER have even loaded that photo to be viewed by anyone to begin with. Just like a flasher on splash mountain....the photo will never be seen. So whatever....people need to find better things to do with their time than inspire other idiots to do stupid things to get themselves hurt. Those seatbelts are locked and unless there was a random malfunction he wouldn't have been able to undo it. I feel like the only word I can think of is lame lol

 

[KrazyKat4DIS]

I am definitely someone who believes most photos on the web are photoshopped, but I do think it IS possible for this to happen.

The guy could have pretended to buckle his seatbelt, pretended to pull on it in front of the CM like they make you do, and then just buckle the seatbelt behind him so that it lit up for the CM's board. This would make it seem like he was properly buckled, and was not from the beginning.

Completely unsafe for himself and the other people on the ride. Unfortunately, people do stupid stuff like this all the time at Disneyland. Very annoying...

 

[glendalais]

Screams fake to me.

Only because, if it actually happened. It would be on the front page of The Orange County Register and Orlando Sentinel by now.

It'd be too big a story for them not to run; and in the Orlando Sentinel's case, would go very well with their previous coverage of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts....

That, and if the picture were accurate and the guy was actually lifted out of his seat, I do fathom he would have sustained severe, life-threatening injuries during the drop that would have required immediate medical attention.

 

[CrazyDuck]

I think it could be real... just lock the seatbelt when you get to your seat. Then sit down on the seatbelt. When the CM asks you to just tug on your belt (sans buckle of course). The CM's can't get a good look at the back row anyways. One CM inspecting the photos may have let it pass to the screens. Also I doube it woulda made news because; 1-He didn't die and 2-No one would care.

 

[bumbershoot]

This photo is so fake it's not even funny! LAME is what it is. And like a poster said on that forum Disney would NEVER have even loaded that photo to be viewed by anyone to begin with. Just like a flasher on splash mountain....the photo will never be seen.

I don't know about TOT, but they got rid of the position that vets the pix at Splash before being seen. It was a pretty big news story about 6+ months ago; only made the news b/c of the message board "reporters" who got wind of it from CMs and started asking Disney in public about it.

So completely inappropriate pictures can/do now make it to be seen...but the seller-CMs won't let you *buy* those pix.



But back to THIS picture...maybe something that's a heavier weight could float up higher in some strange twist of physics, but necklaces don't float up higher than my nose, and shopping bags stop at about my chest height. Yes my neck/head is stopping a necklace and no I don't let go of the handles, but the pendant on a necklace isn't being stopped from going higher, and the bottom of the shopping bags could certainly go up as high as physics lets them... So based on the fact that those lighter things just do NOT have the TIME to get up towards the ceiling, I'm highly doubting this picture.

 

[jenpace]

So based on the fact that those lighter things just do NOT have the TIME to get up towards the ceiling, I'm highly doubting this picture.

Very true. There's a woman in the picture with a blue shirt on and her hair is hanging down perfectly. If the force was strong enough to lift that guy out of his seat, her hair would be disheveled....so yes: fake.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

As far as I know, the seatbelts are totally locked until the ride is over AND the picture isn't taken while the elevator is dropping, but while you're at the top looking out the open doors. Nothing, including a person or their belongings would be flying around like that in the ride photo.....

Very true. There's a woman in the picture with a blue shirt on and her hair is hanging down perfectly. If the force was strong enough to lift that guy out of his seat, her hair would be disheveled....so yes: fake.

Yeah, the picture is taken at a "still" moment. I snapped a photo with my camera phone when DH and I got off last Friday night (I know, I know, bad me! ). DH and I were sitting in the back row right where "fake flying guy" was supposedly sitting...er, flying. As you can see in the photo by the lack of flying hair, hats, etc, it was taken when we were at the top, not when a drop was occuring. DH and I were actually vastly amused by the fact that his Santa hat would lift when dropping (but note that the force was not strong enough to make the hat come off his head).

 

[sonnyjane]

Yeah, the picture is taken at a "still" moment. I snapped a photo with my camera phone when DH and I got off last Friday night (I know, I know, bad me! ). DH and I were sitting in the back row near where "fake flying guy" was supposedly sitting...er, flying. As you can see in the photo by the lack of flying hair, hats, etc, it was taken when we were at the top, not when a drop was occuring. DH and I were actually vastly amused by the fact that his Santa hat would lift when dropping (but note that the force was not strong enough to make the hat come off his head).

So, I think based on our sleuthing, I'm going to venture that the guy broke the rules and didn't have his seat belt fastened, and is probably hanging from the top of the cage to achieve this picture, making it look like he's in flight? That said, that still means, if it's not PhotoShopped, that he is OUT OF HIS SEAT at some point on this ride when it did drop!? I went to website where the picture was posted and read the commentary of the people that claimed to be there, and it is pretty convincing...

 

[maberlyne]

What idiots. I'd be so pissed if I was in there when that was going on.

The sad thing is that all the "supporters" on that site are acting like this guy is just amazing. Please.

And someone did mention he was hanging from the top of the cage.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ummmm we just rode that and guess what? The photo is taken when the elevator is stationary. While he may be hanging from the top of the cage there is NO WAY he's free floating. Things do free float tho, DD10's legs regularly free float and that's why she loves the ride. I'm saying staged/fake on this one...

 

[Albort]

I am definitely someone who believes most photos on the web are photoshopped, but I do think it IS possible for this to happen.

The guy could have pretended to buckle his seatbelt, pretended to pull on it in front of the CM like they make you do, and then just buckle the seatbelt behind him so that it lit up for the CM's board. This would make it seem like he was properly buckled, and was not from the beginning.

Completely unsafe for himself and the other people on the ride. Unfortunately, people do stupid stuff like this all the time at Disneyland. Very annoying...

hmm, thats not true either...
heres an example. Star Tours is a ride, lighter than ToT...
Look at the left side of the ride, you will see a panel with lights. If all light DO NOT lite up, the ride cant start.

i was a ride operator at Knotts for about 6 months and out dangerous rides all require all lights to go on or else the ride just simply wont start... :|

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

But at a certain point (after the CM checks that we're pulling on the yellow tab?), aren't the buckles LOCKED in? I know after the ride when I'm trying to get out (same thing with Soarin') and I'm pressing and pressing the button to unlock me and it won't unlock

 

[Eeee-va]

If you notice, the picture was initially posted in September, yet THREE different people who claim to have been in the car all posted on November 23rd, two months after the incident. There are only 9 people in the photo (not counting the "faller"). The initial person claiming to be there, Betty, appears to be a total liar later in her post with her un-family-friendly escapades, so I really can't believe what she said about the supposed incident. The others seem to be copying her story, while making it that much more exciting, that they are "right next to him".

At any rate, though it's possible the story was posted somewhere fairly prominent on 11/22, I'm not sure that's likely, given the relative lack of comments. And I find it highly suspect that three different people who don't claim to know each other would just HAPPEN to find the post on the same day. I personally don't find their testimony to be credible, which leaves me with a fuzzy photo and the possibility that someone MAYBE buckled his seatbelt loosely and then slipped out.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but really, I think if he had slipped out, it would be more likely that the people near him would be shielding their heads.

I agree that IF it's real, he would have had to hold himself up for the photo, which means that the effect itself is faked, whether it's actually Photoshopped or not.