Disney Skyliner shutdown and evacuation - October 6 2019

[RustySpork]

And this is where probability and other things kick in.. and why you can rely on things like Lightning Detection at a distance as indicators... not stress about needing to predict the very first lightning bolt of a storm. And why meteorologists can forecast the kind of storms that will generate lightning and make decisions based on that.

Weather moves and forms - it doesn't just magically appear out of no where.

Even your local neighborhood pool can use and rely on a local lightning detector unit to accurately know when activity is within the action distance. And places like WDW would have actual staff with more extensive data and monitoring to drive their operations choices. All this talk about 'looking up at the sky' is comical...

Not sure I've mentioned looking up at the sky at all. It's all still predictive until a storm forms. Your statement indicates that lightning already exists in the area. That's not always true, as a storm has to have a point of origin somewhere. The analysis of weather as it moves and forms is still predictive. Storms that may be predicted to produce lightning don't always produce lightning. Conversely, storms that may not be predicted to produce lightning sometimes do.

 

[flynnibus]

Not sure I've mentioned looking up at the sky at all. It's all still predictive until a storm forms. Your statement indicates that lightning already exists in the area. That's not always true, as a storm has to have a point of origin somewhere. The analysis of weather as it moves and forms is still predictive. Storms that may be predicted to produce lightning don't always produce lightning. Conversely, storms that may not be predicted to produce lightning sometimes do.

I'll repeat "And this is where probability and other things kick in.. "

 

[RustySpork]

I'll repeat "And this is where probability and other things kick in.. "

It seems we're in agreement.

 

[flynnibus]

It seems we're in agreement.

Or you don't understand the difference

 

[RustySpork]

Or you don't understand the difference

I'm not sure why you always assume everyone else is less intelligent than you are. Your arrogance and condescending comments may help when you argue with other people, but they don't work on me. They just make you look foolish.

 

[Phil12]

As a guest, maybe. As a working CM they keep track of how far out storms are before they roll in. This is how they know when to cease operations on Everest and Test Track when it seems like there's no reason to quite yet.

Just because you didn’t know it was coming doesn’t mean nobody did.

[


The cast in general would not have that information. But there are people monitoring the weather and those that need to be aware are. This includes those that make decisions regarding delaying canceling entertainment or cycling our attractions or something like the skyliner

Several years ago I made a visit during the month of July to Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina. At an altitude of 6,684 feet, it's the highest point east of the Mississippi river in the USA. During my visit it began to snow and there was an accumulation of about an inch on the ground and cars. I made a call the to the National Weather Service in Asheville, N.C. to report the event. I spoke to a meteorologist and reported my observation and he replied, "That's unofficial snow". I said, "What?" and he again said, "That's unofficial snow". I asked him, "What is unofficial snow?" He replied saying, "Unofficial snow is any accumulation of snow that we did not predict."

The weather service is good, but they are not infallible and squalls can pop up that they don't even see on the radar. And on some occasions the storms form very quickly, do their damage and subside before the weather service even has an opportunity to issue a warning. Weather is dynamic and ever changing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...when-radar-gaps-and-down-time-turn-dangerous/

 

[Phil12]

Again, it requires clouds to build. They build quickly but not that quickly. And decent meteorologist can tell you if conditions are building for a storm long beforehand.

Have you ever heard of "bolts from the blue"?

When Lightning Strikes Out of a Blue Sky

Britney Wehrle was walking with a friend on a sunny, warm day when she was suddenly struck by lightning, even though the sky above her was clear and blue.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[larryz]

It’s completely in Disney’s best interest to ensure guest safety.

Well, I didn't feel very safe when I found out after the fact that I put my family in jeopardy by deciding to leave right then. Had I known of the weather watches/warnings, I would have delayed our departure until the weather had passed.

 

[Incomudro]

That's the problem... you're talking about PREDICTIONS vs TRACKING. Doing real-time monitoring of weather conditions on a small 50mile area is not the same thing as trying to predict tomorrows weather.

What if severe thunderstorm was tracked for an hour out, so the line was run with the intention of bringing all the cabins in within say a half hour?
Then the incident we had occurred, and the line stopped for three hours - and passengers were left out there on the line during a severe Florida thunderstorm because the line wasn't brought in.
That was my "what if" and it lies well within the parameters of a plausible scenario in Central Florida's climate - unless Disney's changes to how they are going to deal with such an incident in the future are effective.
Hopefully they've made changes that will ensure such a thing doesn't happen.

 

[larryz]

What if severe thunderstorm was tracked for an hour out, so the line was run with the intention of bringing all the cabins in within say a half hour?
Then the incident we had occurred, and the line stopped for three hours - and passengers were left out there on the line during a severe Florida thunderstorm because the line wasn't brought in.
That was my "what if" and it lies well within the parameters of a plausible scenario in Central Florida's climate - unless Disney's changes to how they are going to deal with such an incident in the future are effective.
Hopefully they've made changes that will ensure such a thing doesn't happen.

But don't discount the potential income of Disney's Rockin' 'n' Rollin' Skyliner Experience... that's got to be worth at least $25 per person.

 

[flynnibus]

What if severe thunderstorm was tracked for an hour out, so the line was run with the intention of bringing all the cabins in within say a half hour?

Obviously the answer is

Or.. people sit on a bench in a perfectly fine cabin.

 

[RustySpork]

But don't discount the potential income of Disney's Rockin' 'n' Rollin' Skyliner Experience... that's got to be worth at least $25 per person.

I think you're underselling the potential here. This is worth at least $99 per guest.

 

[Jon81uk]

What if severe thunderstorm was tracked for an hour out, so the line was run with the intention of bringing all the cabins in within say a half hour?
Then the incident we had occurred, and the line stopped for three hours - and passengers were left out there on the line during a severe Florida thunderstorm because the line wasn't brought in.
That was my "what if" and it lies well within the parameters of a plausible scenario in Central Florida's climate - unless Disney's changes to how they are going to deal with such an incident in the future are effective.
Hopefully they've made changes that will ensure such a thing doesn't happen.

The cabins should have been able to be brought in quite quickly once the issue was resolved in the station. But RCFD got a 911 call and went ahead with an evacuation which slowed the whole process down. If there was a thunderstorm at the time then it’s possible they would have tried to get the ropes moving quicker and not gone ahead with the evac, but it’s strongly possible that RCFD would override the Skyliner ops team again and decide to evacuate the affected cabin with the medical issue even in a thunderstorm.

 

[Incomudro]

Obviously the answer is
View attachment 419973

Or.. people sit on a bench in a perfectly fine cabin.

Yeah, perfectly fine.

 

[flynnibus]

Yeah, perfectly fine.

since you keep bringing it up... what do you suggest the outcome would be?

 

[Incomudro]

The cabins should have been able to be brought in quite quickly once the issue was resolved in the station. But RCFD got a 911 call and went ahead with an evacuation which slowed the whole process down. If there was a thunderstorm at the time then it’s possible they would have tried to get the ropes moving quicker and not gone ahead with the evac, but it’s strongly possible that RCFD would override the Skyliner ops team again and decide to evacuate the affected cabin with the medical issue even in a thunderstorm.

Yeah, that's the crux of the whole thing.
The cabins need to be brought - the line needs to move in the event of future medical emergencies, (or imaginary medical emergencies) in the event of 911 calls etc.

 

[RustySpork]

What if severe thunderstorm was tracked for an hour out, so the line was run with the intention of bringing all the cabins in within say a half hour?
Then the incident we had occurred, and the line stopped for three hours - and passengers were left out there on the line during a severe Florida thunderstorm because the line wasn't brought in.
That was my "what if" and it lies well within the parameters of a plausible scenario in Central Florida's climate - unless Disney's changes to how they are going to deal with such an incident in the future are effective.
Hopefully they've made changes that will ensure such a thing doesn't happen.

If lightning strikes the gondola line somewhere, you're actually better off in the gondola than you would be if you were stepping out of it as it struck. The shortest path to ground would be either of the towers beside you and being in a faraday cage the electricity wouldn't reach you. Even with a direct strike to a gondola, the electricity would follow the cable as that's the shortest path to ground.

I'd be more concerned with the wind that often occurs with these storms than the lightning.

 

[Incomudro]

since you keep bringing it up... what do you suggest the outcome would be?

LOL what do I think the outcome would be if passengers were left on the line for a couple of hours during a severe tropical thunderstorm?
Well, they'd "live" as many of you are fond of saying.

 

[flynnibus]

LOL what do I think the outcome would be if passengers were left on the line for a couple of hours during a severe tropical thunderstorm?
Well, they'd "live" as many of you are fond of saying.

Again what is the alternative you keep hoping would happen?

Just no skyliner at all?

 

[Incomudro]

If lightning strikes the gondola line somewhere, you're actually better off in the gondola than you would be if you were stepping out of it as it struck. The shortest path to ground would be either of the towers beside you and being in a faraday cage the electricity wouldn't reach you. Even with a direct strike to a gondola, the electricity would follow the cable as that's the shortest path to ground.

I'd be more concerned with the wind that often occurs with these storms than the lightning.

I'm not talking about death from electrocution.
I'm talking about riding out a severe tropical thunderstorm in a gondola cabin.