Disney Skyliner shutdown and evacuation - October 6 2019

[Mark IV Fan]

You'll be able to say, "That was almost, but not quite, as bad as standing uncovered in the sun with a screaming baby for 3 hours."

Just as long as you don’t have to use the bathroom I guess.

 

[codersteve]

and frequent strong thunderstorms

Thunderstorms are no big deal, just shut it down. It's not like they're cutting back on bus or monorail (at least I hope not).

 

[natatomic]

Outdoors w/o cover
vs
inside a shaded, reflective box with about 30sq ft of open windows

Try standing out in the sun and then standing under a canopy and compare

Okay, here’s a comparison for you -

Standing outside in the sun vs sitting on a non-moving friendship boat as it waits for people to load. They have open windows and doors. I’ll tell you right now, those boats are hotter inside than outside. I’d stand in the blaring sun rather than sit in the “shade” of that oven ANY DAY.

 

[flynnibus]

No, we didn’t get rid of that portion of the queue, but we only opened it if absolutely necessary. And I’m not calling for them the get rid of the skyline. I LIKE it. However, to pretend there isn’t the potential for lots of people to be hurt (via heat) is naive at best and just plain ignorant at worst.

Again, the biggest thing you’re missing here is that if people “aren’t willing” to leave the hot queues or get out of the sun while waiting for a parade and then they get sick, that is ENTIRELY on them. People always have a CHOICE in the matter whether or not to listen to the cues of there body.

Is it desirable? No
Is it going to fry everyone? No
Is it an acceptable risk given all the other factors? IMO yes.

The expectation that you can't risk keeping people outside in florida without AC is not a realistic one.

If an 8 minute gondola ride with constant air flow suddenly turns into a 3 hour stagnant wait with ZERO WAY OUT until Reedy Creek comes and cherry picks you out, that is a flaw in Disney.

It's an acceptable risk. There is a difference between 'comfort' and 'mass causality incident' - which is literally some of the stuff people are claiming here will happen.

Do people really think everyone from DM, Disney, and their insurance people all didn't consider this and evaluate it?

 

[codersteve]

Your car does not have reflective glass panels designed to block the suns energy. Your car doesn't have nearly the amount of open window space a gondola does unless you've opened all four windows in a sedan.

Good point, but I still have concerns about how hot it would get in there in worse case scenario (mid-day, very hot, stuck)

 

[Andrew C]

Good point, I still wonder how hot it would get in there in worse case scenario (mid-day, very hot, stuck)

about the same temperature as outside.

 

[danlb_2000]

In reality 99% of the people on here know anything I’d say. We know what we read and hear which doesn’t really qualify to ‘knowing’ but sorry if I have offended you

I am not offended, I am just correcting a factually inaccurate statement you made. There is a person in this thread who writes a blog about gondolas, and him and others in this thread have operated these systems. A number of people on this thread have ridden the system. This system is not unique to Disney. So it's inaccurate to say no one this thread knows about the system since it just opened.

 

[marni1971]

Stationary gondolas temperatures are of a concern within the company should this happen during the daytime. It was a concern noted a few years back.

If static for any amount of time internal temperatures are expected to rise beyond reasonable comfort.

 

[Hawg G]

As someone very familiar with WDWs SOP when it comes to uh...risk management and insurance claims...let's just say $200 gift cards and 4 passes is nothing. I imagine some people absolutely lost their got dam minds and got more $tuff.

I’m stunned I have yet read from someone who pushed back for more, and what they got. Had I had to walk a half mile through Epcot, then to my car, I would have lost it. There is cold pop, water, and ice cream nearby at the minimum.

 

[flynnibus]

Good point, but I still have concerns about how hot it would get in there in worse case scenario (mid-day, very hot, stuck)

I'd be more worried about stuffy and humidity than air temp. You want that air circulation to bring in fresh air more than I'm worried about air temp. The glass coatings will help with avoiding heat build up due to solar, but it can't combat the heat and humidity generation of the humans inside.

That will lead to the sticky uncomfortable part.

But this was how my kids handled the heat back when they were small...

I guess put those battery fans in the emergency kits and everyone will be a-ok

 

[danlb_2000]

Remind me again why the no air conditioning isn’t any big deal.

AC would not have made any difference in this case since there currently isn't a technology for AC in this sort of system that would last 3 hours.

 

[Hawg G]

Stationary gondolas temperatures are of a concern within the company should this happen during the daytime. It was a concern noted a few years back.

Was just a few hours from being exactly that. Yet when I brought it up, folks would just laugh and point to the Singapore gondola system, which has entirely different risk assessment levels.

This was almost the worst case scenario, in week one of operation.

And who the hell put THREE bags of water in the kits? Clearly the kits were designed for a 30 minute stop at best. I mean it would be 90 degree anyway. Plus there should be tons of the instafreeze packs.

The HAZOP on this was a complete fail. Or the recommendations were all shot down by management who should all be fired tomorrow morning.

 

[larryz]

It's an acceptable risk. There is a difference between 'comfort' and 'mass causality incident' - which is literally some of the stuff people are claiming here will happen.

 

[Phil12]

All this negativity about the Skyliner ---for years WDW had the skyway in MK and no one complained about it being a death trap. Rode it main times over the years prior to its removal.

In February 1999 a WDW custodian was killed by the Skyway. WDW was cited for a safety violation:

65-YEAR-OLD CUSTODIAN KILLED WHILE CLEANING DISNEY RIDE

Federal investigators will be at Disney’s Magic Kingdom on Wednesday to try and piece together how a 65-year-old custodian ended up falling from a Skyway gondola to his death over the weekend…

www.sun-sentinel.com

 

[Creathir]

AC would not have made any difference in this case since there currently isn't a technology for AC in this sort of system that would last 3 hours.

I still think pantographs could be a potential solution to this, hopefully someday the gondola manufacturers will look into this for some of the warmer climate urban transport systems.

 

[VaderTron]

Sure. But there's a big difference between measured, negative info about an event and "the sky is falling", "so much for the Skyliner", "see, I told you Disney made a big mistake!"

This is an opinion's forum. If you don't like hearing opinions shared and only want to hear measured facts and numbers there are lots of research study findings or a variety of interesting subjects posted numerous places all over the internet. Or perhaps I can interest you in Popular Science magazine? Just want to make sure you're comfortable and enjoying your day.

 

[GhostHost1000]

So this week
Old Monorails 1
Brand new gondolas 0?

 

[natatomic]

Is it desirable? No
Is it going to fry everyone? No
Is it an acceptable risk given all the other factors? IMO yes.

The expectation that you can't risk keeping people outside in florida without AC is not a realistic one.



It's an acceptable risk. There is a difference between 'comfort' and 'mass causality incident' - which is literally some of the stuff people are claiming here will happen.

Do people really think everyone from DM, Disney, and their insurance people all didn't consider this and evaluate it?

Seriously, I’d normally think you were a troll, but I’ve seen you on here enough to know that’s not the case.

Anyway, non-insurance people on here had concerns about the no a/c. Then those concerns ended up being a reality on DAY 6. We were lucky that it happened at night in October, and not at noon in July.

And if by “mass causality incident” you mean people becoming sick or in need of medical assistance (I don’t think there will dozens of dead people nor do I think anyone is claiming that either), then yes, that is a very real possibility during the middle of summer, and how you can honestly deny that is mind boggling.

Trapped in heat, minimal supplies including water, out of their control...yes. People can need medical assistance in that situation.

Again, have you even ridden one? Have you been stopped on it in the middle of the day? I have. If you haven’t, then you really have no room to say how it compares to standing outside and free to move around, and no room to talk about how comfortable it is or isn’t.

 

[WheelsUpRN]

Okay, but no one is TRAPPED in those queues. If they start to overheat, they can pop out of line for some a/c, or they can drink some of their water or other beverages they probably bought knowing they’re gonna be in line outside for a while. No one is packing for a 3 hours wait stranded in the air before boarding a gondola.

Regardless, when I worked at Everest as a CM many moons ago, we had to call 911 for people passing out in the “tea garden” part of the queue on a near weekly basis. Because it’s so dang hot. This isn’t something that never happens at Disney. It happens probably daily in all four parks during any of our warm months because 1) people aren’t used to our heat and 2) people vastly underestimate how much water they should be drinking and how much food they should be eating. These reasons aren’t Disney’s fault. Being trapped somewhere hot because of something that went wrong on Disney’s end...is

Anyway, I’d bet my money that 9/10 times you see a stretcher in Disney when it’s hot out, it’s for someone having heat exhaustion or worse, heat stroke. So yeah, people who aren’t planning on spending multiple hours in a hot box probably are susceptible to getting ill from the heat.

Have you BEEN on one of these yet? Have you been stopped on one yet? I can say yes to both. And while it wasn’t unbearable when it was stopped, it still wasn’t the max temperature outside that it gets in the summer and I was only stopped for 5 minutes. More than 30 minutes in July would make for a very precarious situations for ANYONE in those.

I agree with all you said.

FYI: 1500 people died in France this past summer (it was 15,000 in 2003) due to a heat wave. So those that think a non-climate controlled gondola in the Florida heat is not a danger are kidding themselves.

Summer heat 'killed nearly 1,500' in France - BBC News

France's health ministry says preventative measures helped to curb damage from the heat.

www.google.com

 

[VaderTron]

In February 1999 a WDW custodian was killed by the Skyway. WDW was cited for a safety violation:

65-YEAR-OLD CUSTODIAN KILLED WHILE CLEANING DISNEY RIDE

Federal investigators will be at Disney’s Magic Kingdom on Wednesday to try and piece together how a 65-year-old custodian ended up falling from a Skyway gondola to his death over the weekend…

www.sun-sentinel.com

And ironically it was shut down and disassembled shortly after. But Disney said it wasn't for that reason...So it must have been something else.