I have, in the past 4 days, read this entire thread. I have had trouble falling asleep, thinking about this kid, who I never met, and this whole situation. It is all just so tragic. I am heartbroken - not for me, but for his family, his friends, and his extended Disney family (Those of you who have worked in WDW know exactly what a "small world" the place can be, so we know this accident affects MANY CMs, not just those he worked with directly), who are all dealing with something I wouldn't wish on anyone...
I can't decide whether to be happy that the majority of the conversation in this thread has been appropriate and respectful of both the situation and the differences of opinions, or irritated that it seems to finally be devolving into bickering and name calling. I hope that ends soon.
I do have a couple comments. First, re: the Control Tower (is that nomenclature correct? I was never in Transportation.) being "unmanned" - It is my understanding that this person is still in the TTC, somewhere on the platform, and still directing traffic by radio. As there is no radar or GPS or any type of monitor for control to see the trains anyway, it would seem to me that there is no reason for the person with the radio to physically be in the tower as long as he was still available by radio. If my understanding of this is correct, to me this really is not like Air Traffic Control leaving the room - Monorail Central has not abandoned his post, he is simply not physically in the room. At any rate, it does not sound like someone being IN the control tower would have made a difference in this instance.
On another note, some posters have wondered about Disney somehow memorializing Austin. As nice as this sounds, I will be VERY surprised if there is any official, public memorialization on Disney's part. Partly because it would set an odd precedent for them (if they do it in this case, where do they draw the line from now on? What about Ray Barlow (the Custodial CM who died in the Skyway accident) or anyone else who has died at work? or on property? Also, something like that (a physical memorial in a park or on a piece of merchandise) would take guests out of the fantasy. While this accident has affected CMs and people like us, it was likely just a blip on the radar for the average guest, and in a few months few people outside of the situation will even be talking about it. So having a reminder somewhere in the parks would lead to questions and uncomfortable situations for guests, and potentially lessen the magic, which Disney will likely not want to do.
Reading back that last paragraph, I sound much colder than I intended. While I like the fact that people have put together a memorial for Austin (and I certainly believe that he deserves for people to remember him), I can't see Disney making a physical, permanent one simply because it would bring people out of the fantasy (even if only briefly) - they work very hard to make WDW a place for people to leave the real world behind for a while, so I can't see them doing something that would bring them back into that reality like that. Does that make sense?
