News DeSantis moves to bring state safety oversight of the Walt Disney World Monorail including suspending the service for inspections

[Incomudro]

You know full well that it’s about causing pain.

Change in the condition of the monorails is needed.

 

[tissandtully]

It should be incredibly clear to anyone that this is an entirely politically motivated move designed to impact Disney's operations.

Ron DeSantis signed bill HB 1305 into law in May 2023, which specifically targets Walt Disney World's monorail by referencing "any governmentally or privately owned fixed-guideway transportation systems operating in this state which are located within an independent special district created by local act which have boundaries within two contiguous counties."

Adding the clause that the monorail can be closed for inspections is clearly a further attempt to threaten Disney's operations.

I feel very comfortable with my report on this, as I fully believe it is a case of the Florida Governor targeting Disney.

I admire your restraint in continuing to respond to those who just don't seem to get it. Also this wording is VERY specific! Like, I cannot see how people can read this any other way. I think most people can, but we've got some kind of wild ones on here lol.

 

[tissandtully]

Change in the condition of the monorails is needed.

Cause the state has so many monorail experts! Nothing will get fixed, it's just something else to hold over Disney's head for them to comply with how the government wants them to behave.

 

[Disstevefan1]

We all must keep in mind this has nothing to do with safety. WDW have been running the monorails safely for over 50 years. A proven safety record.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Change in the condition of the monorails is needed.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with motivation for this legislation. Its sole purpose is to punish Disney for locking in a comprehensive plan already approved by the state because that was reported on in an embarrassing manner.

 

[Brian]

You know full well that it’s about inflicting pain on one’s enemies. It’s retribution.

That may be. That's not coercive, though. Is your position that Disney is being coerced into doing something by way of these monorail inspections?

 

[Disstevefan1]

My fear is that this will result in the monorails being closed for 3 to 5 years to be replaced with new but worse monorails.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That may be. That's not coercive, though. Is your position that Disney is being coerced into doing something by way of these monorail inspections?

Don’t give us this pedantic nonsense. You know full well that the underlying desire is to control. Don’t play these cutesy games that because an outcome is not achieved it somehow negates the clearly stated motives and objectives.

 

[Brian]

Don’t give us this pedantic nonsense. You know full well that the underlying desire is to control. Don’t play these cutesy games that because an outcome is not achieved it somehow negates the clearly stated motive. You’re so proud and strong, then be honest with us.

Control what, specifically? You claimed that the state has "coercive intent" by implementing this monorail inspection scheme, yet you've failed to highlight a single thing that they might force Disney to do, lest they suffer the consequences by way of the monorail system. I had taken the liberty of speculating that they might try to shut down the monorail system on a busy day, like 4th of July, but I think we can both agree that would hardly be enough to make Disney back off their DEI agenda, which spans their entire global operation. The monorail system goes 101 nearly every day at this rate, including busy days like 4th of July, with rather negligible impact to operations most days.

We are in agreement that this scheme came about as a result of the fight over LGBT issues in Florida, much like the RCID scheme. However, I fail to see any effective coercive behavior coming about from this scheme, unless you consider the possibility of enhanced safety or performance from the monorail system "coercive?" I don't, since that's a net positive, and the word "coercive" usually implies the coerced party doing something they do not wish to do, but must by force, and in this case, Disney wants a safe and efficient system as well, and has worked independently of the state to accomplish for 50+ years.

Just trying to figure out what specific acts of coercion you anticipate through this monorail inspection scheme. Feel free to clarify once you calm down.

 

[lazyboy97o]

However, I fail to see any effective coercive behavior coming about from this scheme,

Again, efficacy does not negate intent.

 

[Brian]

Again, efficacy does not negate intent.

Ok, then what acts of coercion related to the monorails do you anticipate out of the state, and what do you believe the end goal of such acts to be?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ok, then what acts of coercion related to the monorails do you anticipate out of the state, and what do you believe the end goal of such acts to be?

Why are you playing dumb? You know full well that the intent of all of these laws was to change Disney’s corporate governance and creative decisions. That they have not yet been effective does not change that purpose or signal that those involved have given up.

 

[mkt]

Ok, then what acts of coercion related to the monorails do you anticipate out of the state, and what do you believe the end goal of such acts to be?

Politically appointed higher-ups in the agency pushing career workers to “find” issues

 

[LittleBuford]

Ok, then what acts of coercion related to the monorails do you anticipate out of the state, and what do you believe the end goal of such acts to be?

Is government retribution really that much better than government coercion? Either way, the goal is to make things difficult for Disney.

 

[John park hopper]

I have no problem having FDOT inspecting the monorail. If Disney has been keeping up the maintenance and has the records what's the problem.

 

[JohnD]

The problem though is that a good employee can be a huge benefit to the coercive intent. If you want to disrupt operations then you send the guy who is going to do a thorough job because they are going to take time and maintain the veneer of oversight.

As I stated previously, FDOT is a Governor's Agency where the Secretary reports to the Governor. So you can read into that what you want. Employees tasked with the inspections naturally will have an incentive to perform their tasks well. But it's not FDOT's fault that the law was passed. So, yeah, doing their job properly will fulfill the intent of the legislation. What are they supposed to do? Not do their job?

 

[danlb_2000]

You know full well that it’s about inflicting pain on one’s enemies. It’s retribution.

It's also about sending a message to other companies who may just stay quiet now instead of risking having to deal with stuff like this.

 

[celluloid]

Might I add that we don't know what or how many were happening before it became a thing for everyone with a cell phone could become a cub reporter. If something is happening we are sure to hear about it now. And no, many things happened before the last 6 years it's just that we knew that crap happens and didn't act like someone kidnapped our grandmother every time a door sticks open or we simply just didn't hear about it. It gets fixed and we moved on. I worked in transportation for many years and I can tell you that new equipment breaks down more often than older stuff. Look how long CoP has been moving an entire ring of theaters around in a circle. When they do new technology how often does it break down until they fix the bugs that human made objects tend to have. It takes time and we don't have a good reason for it having problems so we just ignore it. The gondolas had more problems when they were new, all the attractions have a situational time of adjustment to get them working properly.

If you think the last six years of doors falling off, being stuck open while in guest transit, pieces of cabin falling off into guest areas or chunks of its cement crumbling into guest areas....has been likely common as it was prior to this then I can't think of a post being a better endorsement that Disney can't be trusted to continue to operate in safest manner possible by themselves.

 

[mkt]

Heck, when Disneyland was needlessly kept shutdown by Gavin Newsom due to COVID for many unnecessary months while WDW was open and operating safely, Disney donated to Newsom's recall election campaign. They care far more about their ESG goals than they do about profits.

Or the donations were a political contribution to try to carve out an exception during those times, as well as maintain a favorable business environment. Notice, when Disney stopped all campaign contributions in Florida, their favorable business environment was taken away.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Not laughing at you. But the Skyway was built in the 1980s and follows along on a raised track for about a mile in downtown Jax. Not necessarily a monorail. It was dubbed the train to nowhere and is virtually riderless. FDOT can easily inspect it and not impact ridership.

You do make a point though . When built it was new so FDOT had to develop policies and procedures for inspecting it. It will be no different for the monorail. This won't be their first rodeo.

It’s 2.5 miles but I thought it was longer than that, it’s been many years since I’ve been there. It is a monorail, built by Bombardier. (Same builder as the WDW monorail).