News Monorail Red in motion with guests on board and doors open

[jakeman]

I'm still kind of amazed at the: Blame the guests approach.

I think it's reasonable to ask the question of why the phone wasn't used. I don't think that is blaming the guest (perhaps I'm missing something in the tone). Using the phone may have changed the outcome (not sure how, but it is an unexplored variable).

If we are unreasonably going to blame accountants for door sensors being turned off, why is it off limits to blame guest for lack of emergency management?

Overall, guest reaction shouldn't factor into the discussion of the door failure. It's completely ancillary to the issue that the doors shouldn't be opening in the first place.

 

[Brad Bishop]

It isn't a "Blame the guests" for the problem, but a "Blame the guests" for their really incomprehensibly stupid reaction. the fact that they couldn't be bothered with a curiosity level to either look in the clearly marked emergency box that sits over passenger seated head level, use the cell phone to make a phone call, as opposed to making an instagram post and generally acting completely helpless in a situation with multiple paths to safety is just stupid.

Help me out with this. What I'm hearing from you is: It's not blame the guests but, at the same time, let's take a moment to blame the guests.

We don't know what the failure was (mechanical, maintenance, neglect). We do know there was a failure. Its on every person to know what their options are should an incident occur. If you aren't listening to the safety spiels, observing your surroundings and more interested in recording the problem, then its really hard to feel bad for them when nobody was harmed and they took no basic precautions to limit their own exposure after the accident happened.

Really, if I had been in there, I wouldn't have bothered calling. I wouldn't have bothered to film it, either. I just don't think like that. All you have to do is: Not fall out of the Monorail for 5min. That's not a tough task. It's not like the Monorail is going through a loop where you need to be strapped in.

Let's say you call it in. What's going to happen? You still have this huge opening that you have to not fall out of, which is rather easy, and they either roll you in slowly to the next station or stop the train and you're stuck for 3 hrs while Reedy Creek Fire Dept is called. In my skull, "just don't fall out of the monorail" wins because it's relatively easy to not stand on the edge of the doorway.

At the same time, rather than blame me for what I would/wouldn't do, it's pretty inexcusable for WDW to have a door pop open on the Monorail while in motion, people leaning on it or not (and there's no indication that was happening).

 

[LAKid53]

But you do realize accountants do run the world? Accountants control the money, without money my projects don't happen.

It's revenge for having to sit through Cost Accounting.....

 

[wdwmagic]

Guys we are drifting off topic here, lets try and stay on topic. Thanks.

 

[P_Radden]

If you cant pay attention to the safety features of the vehicle you are in, then its really hard to feel sorry for you...Considering these people have a 10 minute trip to look for that phone, which has a huge cabinet at each end that is clearly labeled "Emergency Intercom". To make it worse, you could literally call any hotel front desk, with the phone you are holding, and report the massive safety issue...Its not that hard.View attachment 255537

Not to get off topic but you are incorrect unless they have changed things since I was there last fall. You can NOT pick up any phone and simply call down to your resort's front desk. Those phone numbers aren't available. And when you try to call the front desk from your room, it instead sends your call to a Guest Relations call center who will then relay your request to the resort's front desk. Really grinds my gears too. I would love to be able to buzz the front desk for simple questions instead of being sent to a call center, like any other non-Disney hotel. But to your point, you could pick up your cell and call WDW guest relations.

EDIT: Sry Steve, I was typing this when you posted your reply about staying on topic.

 

[Bender123]

Help me out with this. What I'm hearing from you is: It's not blame the guests but, at the same time, let's take a moment to blame the guests

Its two different things. You can blame Disney for the failure, but the guests are to blame for their reaction. The accident is not their fault, but the reaction after the situation occurred definitely is.

As for the danger...in this situation, not a big deal. As you said, just sit tight. If this occurred at MK close on the resort line, entering the Contemporary...then its a completely different situation. 60 feet up with people crammed in and no place to go. The only "good" thing in that situation is you are within seconds of the station. the crappy thing is that it only takes that long for a person to fall out, due to overcrowding in the train.

 

[RustySpork]

If you cant pay attention to the safety features of the vehicle you are in, then its really hard to feel sorry for you...Considering these people have a 10 minute trip to look for that phone, which has a huge cabinet at each end that is clearly labeled "Emergency Intercom". To make it worse, you could literally call any hotel front desk, with the phone you are holding, and report the massive safety issue...Its not that hard.View attachment 255537

To be fair, I can see how someone could miss this as it is described in English. It should be expressed in emoji, the new universal language.

 

[Bender123]

Not to get off topic but you are incorrect unless they have changed things since I was there last fall. You can NOT pick up any phone and simply call down to your resort's front desk. Those phone numbers aren't available. And when you try to call the front desk from your room, it instead sends your call to a Guest Relations call center who will then relay your request to the resort's front desk. Really grinds my gears too. I would love to be able to buzz the front desk for simple questions instead of being sent to a call center, like any other non-Disney hotel. But to your point, you could pick up your cell and call WDW guest relations.

EDIT: Sry Steve, I was typing this when you posted your reply about staying on topic.

If its that dangerous...just pick a number. You know they can ping somebody in the appropriate department.

 

[TheGhostWithTheMost]

Do what you want kiddo. I am just telling you how it looks to us normals.

Dan is also now the Normal Police. Dan is a hard working man.

 

[jt04]

It's Dan: The Silly Police, come to be the way/truth/light of a thread by deciding what he thinks is or isn't appropriate to talk about when!

I think it was a reminder of the forum's rules more than anything.

 

[flynnibus]

A little yellow icon with a phone symbol with the words, "Emergency Intercom". Yeah. Completely obvious to me. (sarcasm) I thought people were saying there were actual phones with a visible handset that could be lifted. I bet if you were to take a random sampling by stepping onto monorail cars at random, 99.99% of the passengers wouldn't have a clue where these are.

You don't need to know... you just look

People are familiar that elevators have them... trains have them.. subways have them... virtually every transist has some sort of system. Reality is.... these people didn't even try.

 

[Incomudro]

I consider myself to be the type of person that reacts quite well in emergency situations.
Still, I don't know if I'd have had the inclination to pick up the monorail's phone in this situation.
In any event, as a person who is no big fan of the cel phone - I've got to say that the use of the cel phone to document this situation was the one that is most likely to get results.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That box is like five feet wide and there is one visible to you no matter where you are sitting! Nobody was observant enough to wonder what was in the giant boxes with glowing yellow lights that include a telephone picture on them?

Do we need a giant red sign with "EMERGENCY PHONE!!!!!" and arrows surrounding them?

There is a reason that there are very specific regulations on Exit Signs and panic hardware. The visibility of the phones could reasonably be called into question.

I'm just playing devil's advocate here, but there are a lot of assumptions going on in here as to why nobody got on a phone. There's a possibility someone in the Monorail did call on one of the emergency phones. I don't think you would be able to hear it on the video and you sure as heck would not be able to see it happening.

The woman who filmed the video has stated they did not know about the phones.

It isn't a "Blame the guests" for the problem, but a "Blame the guests" for their really incomprehensibly stupid reaction. the fact that they couldn't be bothered with a curiosity level to either look in the clearly marked emergency box that sits over passenger seated head level, use the cell phone to make a phone call, as opposed to making an instagram post and generally acting completely helpless in a situation with multiple paths to safety is just stupid.

We don't know what the failure was (mechanical, maintenance, neglect). We do know there was a failure. Its on every person to know what their options are should an incident occur. If you aren't listening to the safety spiels, observing your surroundings and more interested in recording the problem, then its really hard to feel bad for them when nobody was harmed and they took no basic precautions to limit their own exposure after the accident happened.

This is complete bullocks. They sat still. That is a perfectly reasonable course of action that kept them out of harm after multiple system failures.

 

[xdan0920]

Guest: picks up emergency phone:
TDO: :answers: “Hello” :whispers: “Got another door open here Bob. Tell those accountants we better get our bonuses”
Guest: I am on the monorail and the door is wide open as we travel quite fast and quite high.
TDO: Did you not see the sign?!?!? Don’t lean on the doors!!! :whispers: ‘Bob, don’t think these signs are the solution we had hoped they would be’
Guest: Uh, we didn’t, the uh, door just came open. Doesn’t seem safe.
TDO: “We thank you for your concern. We will for sure address this VERY ISOLATED incident”

 

[flynnibus]

How much you wanna bet someone engaged a bypass because of the problem closing the door. Thinking they got it secure... but maybe sensor wasn't showing... so they engage bypass. Then... later.. door pops open. It's possible the new control system didn't implement the operating with bypass the same as the old system.

This is probably a training/policy failure more so than having 3-4 system failures. Policy failures like running the train with passengers in a cabin that had the safety system bypassed... etc.

 

[Andrew C]

I wonder if they would they have stopped the monorail immediately on the rail if the driver noticed that the door was open. I would imagine there is some sort of best practice written for this.

 

[Bender123]

This is complete bullocks. They sat still. That is a perfectly reasonable course of action that kept them out of harm after multiple system failures.

You don even need to stand up...all you need to do is turn your head. In addition, there is one on the opposite wall from the door, so there is no reason a person in the safe side couldn't stand, if needed, to make the call.

There are just a bunch of spots that show this is not at all bollocks. the reaction was more along the lines of "NBD...lets record it".

 

[freediverdude]

They needed another kid for Small World, so they left the door open hoping, but they weren't lucky this time.

 

[Incomudro]

You don even need to stand up...all you need to do is turn your head. In addition, there is one on the opposite wall from the door, so there is no reason a person in the safe side couldn't stand, if needed, to make the call.

There are just a bunch of spots that show this is not at all bollocks. the reaction was more along the lines of "NBD...lets record it".

Recording it is one of the best things that can be done in certain situations.
This brings to mind a situation where a Staten Island Express bus driver was texting while driving passengers in the rain a couple of years ago.
The driver refused to stop, and a passenger recorded him.
So much more effective than simply reporting the problem, which likely would have been dismissed without the video evidence.

 

[Bender123]

Recording it is one of the best things that can be done in certain situations.
This brings to mind a situation where a Staten Island Express bus driver was texting while driving passengers in the rain a couple of years ago.
The driver refused to stop, and a passenger recorded him.
So much more effective than simply reporting the problem, which likely would have been dismissed without the video evidence.

Except there are other people on the train...it wasn't like the person recording suddenly took over, said "Stand back! I got this!", whipped out a phone and everybody cheered...They all have brains and any one of them could have made the call.