I can't imagine transferring a very large person on a
scooter from one of these things in mid-air is not an easy task. Did you also read about people say the gondola started moving and swaying during the rescue? Some people on twitter said they were trapped for almost 4 hours. Maybe you think this is acceptable but I don't.
From pictures I have seen it is possible that the evacuation support they use to get people off will be attached to the gondola and give it support from swaying. That is the only way I would think they could safely get someone off regardless of weight or if they are in an ECV.
One thing to consider also is the state of the people regardless of health after they have been trapped up there for awhile. If someone is in a panic they need to make sure the gondola is as secure as possible to get them out. I would imagine the platform could hook onto the gondola somehow and that would allow the person simply to walk from the gondola onto the platform. Does anyone have photos if this is the case? Or is it more of a traditional rescue with a basket and the emergency workers have to do more lifting?
I would hope they would have some system in place where it puts less stress on the evac workers. I could see evacuating one with a basket but if you had to evac 100 gondolas this way I don't think that is physically possible.
Wow. So much hate. I think the Skyliner is a brilliant idea, of course this setback was unfortunate.
What was Disney supposed to do to alleviate traffic and congestion? They obviously can't expand the always broken monorail. There is only so much road for so many buses, everyone knows the state of construction the roads have been in, and for all that work the benefit won't last long as new resorts and room capacity increases. Surely we shouldn't build a waterway to all the resorts to increase the use of water transportation.
Every 7.5 minutes on average, this system has the capability to move 1,800 people, and that's with 6 per gondola. I'm sure they could average more. 14,400 people an hour is nothing to sneeze at.
Anyone ever been to Disney World between April and December and see a parade? Lots of people willing to stand in 99 degree weather with no covering or shade. Compared to that, sitting on a bench, covered, with a 10mph breeze is heaven. I thought people taking thermometers on these things and posting the results on youtube was silly. I was wrong, I guess it's not.
I completely agree that this is a great way to move people. My city even considered it as a transportation option for commuting. The question is how does Disney prevent people from being stuck on the thing for hours and hours? That isn't reasonable. Perhaps they didn't envision this happening already and it would be a once or twice thing that happens in the history of the gondolas but now they need to figure it out. What happened with the collision. How do you free the system up quicker? What do you do with guests that are affected?
If they face a round of lawsuits every time these things stall like this (hours of waiting) then it won't last long.
Also there is a post from someone on another thread that used the emergency call button when they were in this mess and no one from Disney helped. That is a MAJOR problem. Fortunately someone in their gondola knew enough to help the person having a panic attack.
Also during this the initial reports are that only 6 gondolas were evacuated in 3 hours. I was there 2 weeks ago and there are hundreds of these things. If they can only evac 6 in 3.5 hours that is an issue. Perhaps they weren't trying to evac them but who knows. Also I don't have much faith in the system if they cannot communicate effectively when something is down.
Comparing to the monorail if one stops they might have 3 trains at a time. There is higher probability that someone in the train could help someone having an issue because there are more people in a car. If 4 people are freaked in a gondola all alone in the air and Disney is having trouble communicating with them (static and difficult to understand communications were reported) then they have a real problem on their hands.
What have the done to fix the problems with the monorail?
If they are going to continue to run the monorail and its going to keep breaking down or crashing or whatever is going on with it, whether or not the money to fix it would have been the same amount as building the Skyliner is immaterial. We aren't talking about a company that has such a small budget that they can only look at the cheaper alternatives. They have the monorail, they put people on it every day. If there are issues with it breaking down, crashing, stopping or whatever causes people to be evacuated, it should be fixed. And they have had the time to fix it.
I have only been stranded on the monorail once. It was at night. And although, for us, the worst part were the overly dramatic jr. high choir kids with us, it was a bit unnerving. I can't imagine being in something that may be swaying while I am sitting there. I wouldn't be worried about the cable breaking either but that doesn't mean it wouldn't cause a panic attack in someone who is afraid of heights. I have that fear and cables breaking have nothing to do with it. That's why its a irrational fear.
What has happened with the Skyliner should not be considered "ok" because the monorail has problems. Fix the dang problems.
And again, I ask, does anyone know how long the monorail ran before they had the first problems with it on this same level?
I see this as two separate solutions for two separate portions of the world. They are mutually exclusive. I think they'll work to maintain this system and deal with the issues. Perhaps Disney thinks it is fine who knows. The gondolas serve a different part of the resort and are not a replacement for the monorail.