Disney Skyliner shutdown and evacuation - October 6 2019

[truecoat]

So I read somewhere a belt broke that drove a tire or two and that's why one of the gondolas didn't move forward causing the backup. I wish I would have saved this as I can't remember where I read it last night.

On another note, although gondolas aren't represented in this chart, it should give you an idea of how much we take car travel for granted considering how it's number 2 but look at number 3. I think there might be a couple of these used on the Disney Property for people up in arms about the gondola.

 

[flynnibus]

So I read somewhere a belt broke that drove a tire or two and that's why one of the gondolas didn't move forward causing the backup. I wish I would have saved this as I can't remember where I read it last night.

On another note, although gondolas aren't represented in this chart, it should give you an idea of how much we take car travel for granted considering how it's number 2 but look at number 3. I think there might be a couple of these used on the Disney Property for people up in arms about the gondola.

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So what you're saying is.. Disney should give everyone mopeds but no helmets... and that should solve our crowding issues?

 

[MisterPenguin]

No one said anything about the difference between life and death. But even a few minutes in the Danger Zone can be uncomfortable and a few hours can lead to health problems. Your exaggerations of death are insipid.

You know nothing.

 

[truecoat]

So what you're saying is.. Disney should give everyone mopeds but no helmets... and that should solve our crowding issues?

Thanos would have had more of an impact than snapping his fingers.

 

[Patcheslee]

Just curious...

Does it bother anyone else that a person who knew they have issues with claustrophobia and seizures chose to ride the Skyliner anyway? We've seen pictures of at least one sign cautioning against riding with fear of heights, etc...

Claustrophobia and Cleithrophobia are actually two different things. I'm fine with enclosed spaces including crawling army style in caves. So in that sense Skyliner would be okay to me because I would be able to get out at the end of the line in a reasonable time. But dangling for 3 hours in the gondola with no communication of how long until I can get out cleithrophobia would kick in.

 

[Calmdownnow]

Nobody likes not knowing what's going on when something unexpected happens. It definitely adds to the anxiety because people tend to imagine the worst.

There is no excuse when there is a live communication channel for not giving live-time, real information, up-dates (every 10-15 minutes) to people trapped in an emergency. It can reduce fear, panic and mitigate physical symptoms that threaten well-being of those caught up in the emergency situation. I hope Disney learns from this and integrates the comms people operating the channel in their incident response.

 

[mergatroid]

Claustrophobia and Cleithrophobia are actually two different things. I'm fine with enclosed spaces including crawling army style in caves. So in that sense Skyliner would be okay to me because I would be able to get out at the end of the line in a reasonable time. But dangling for 3 hours in the gondola with no communication of how long until I can get out cleithrophobia would kick in.

Not being insensitive (which probably really means I am), but wouldn't you avoid using the skyliner knowing that could happen and take a bus instead?

 

[rickdrat]

Sweat.

It's why you're supposed to hydrate. Without sweating, sitting in the sun waiting for the MK parade in 88 degree weather would literally kill you. Literally. You'd overheat and die.

Most other mammals pant, but humans and a few other animals sweat in order to be active even when it's hot.

If the sun is beating down on a gondola and raises the temperature, the air in the gondola is now warmer than the outside air. That causes it to rise and exhaust out the top vents while being replaced by air coming in from the bottom vents.

That's why those who measured it with a thermometer, and not 'by feel', report only a one degree rise in cabin temperature when it stops. This isn't a car with rolled up windows and no floor vents. It's more like a covered bus stop.

Yes, I've *felt* it get noticeably warmer when the gondola stops. I also feel it getting noticeably warmer at a covered bus stop when the breeze stops. That doesn't mean the temperature shot up or that I'm now in an oven death trap. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that a breeze feels cooler than no breeze. But even without a breeze, sweating cools one down.

If one doesn't ever want to rely on sweating to survive... I don't know how you make it from your air conditioned car and into the park while walking through ninety degree heat with high humidity and the sun beating down on you and the heat of the cement walkways rise up around you. Apparently, that's a death wish. Well, it is, if you don't hydrate and sweat.

Sweating, per se, is not what cools you off. It is a part of the body's cooling process, but what makes it all work is evaporation. Surface moisture carries away body heat into the drier, surrounding air. Good luck getting that to work efficiently in the warm soup that passes for Central Florida's air mass 11 months out of the year. I'm blessed with the sweat glands of at least 6 grown men and suffer in the humidity here in New Orleans.

 

[Patcheslee]

Not being insensitive (which probably really means I am), but wouldn't you avoid using the skyliner knowing that could happen and take a bus instead?

With this weekends results, I wouldn't unless they improve their communication with breakdowns and ETAs to fixing. It's no different than I am able to fly because I have an estimated time of being in the plane, how long to get out, and delays on the tarmac are communicated. Luckily I have 2 years of them improving before I even get a chance to ride.

 

[erasure fan1]

Do they drive or ride in cars? If so, their chance of injury is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>This skyliner….

Not relevant in the absolute slightest. If at any time their car breaks down, they can open the door and get out. It isn't about being injured. Most people who won't fly know that they are more likely to die in a car wreck than a plane crash. But the anxiety of being stuck at 30 thousand feet with no place to go is too much. Disney got caught with their pants down on this one. If it was 20/30 min, you get some jokes and its a blip on the radar. 3hrs, and it's a headline because it does bring up some valid concerns.

 

[Hawg G]

Nobody was unaware that prolonged stoppages can happen. They have happened and only someone who doesn’t know anything about such a system would think otherwise.


Von Roll 101s haven’t been a standard in decades.


This was a collision. It is not something that can just have the line restart because you don’t know if it is going to just keep happening. It also requires approval of Reedy Creek to resume any operations. Nobody who does the sort of work you claim would suggest to immediate resume operations after an apparent mechanical failure.


If you weren’t just ignorantly spouting off you would know the answer.

Nice selective quoting to try and make yourself look smart.

If they were aware and felt it was probable to have prolonged stoppages like this, they did a horrid job in preparing for them. Especially had it happened in normal Summer day temperatures.

The collision was OFF the cable. Again, the system should be able to handle an off cable issue without bringing the whole system down for hours.

If the rumors now being posted are true, that they were ready to start back up, but were delayed by 911 calls, and panicking riders, that is a whole different issue. And the exact one I've alluded to when people point to other gondola systems worldwide. Disney guests are in a whole other world, expectation wise, lack of patience wise, and lack of being able to not just be controlled by their emotions, not logic wise

Those rumors would explain a lot to me. There is simply no way this system should be brought down for 3 hours for an ultra low speed "collision" and glass breaking in the station. First hand accounts say it was only a collision in the most rudimentary sense that two gondolas hit each other. It was more of a light bump, followed by ongoing forces.

 

[truecoat]

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.

 

[WheelsUpRN]

Random conspiracy theory here, but wasn't the Reedy Creek Fire Marshal just complaining a few months back about not having a big enough budget to handle any issues that would arise on the property? Is it possible that there was a small slowdown from the FD to push for a larger future budget to handle problems like this one causing the wait times to stretch to 3 hours? Again, just a random conspiracy theory.

That would be very bad and criminal. I doubt very much they would stoop to this level. It would also open themselves up to liability if someone had a true medical emergency and the evac was delayed for bargaining.

 

[Hawg G]

I have read that the London A/C system doesn't work very well. Also, A/C would likely not be of any help in an extended outage since they are powered by ultra-capacitors which charge quickly, but also discharge quickly so would not have enough capacity to power the A/C for an extended period of time without recharging.

Well, of course, no onboard A/C system would have made it through this stoppage. It's simply an example of cost cutting on this system.

 

[bubbles1812]

Well, of course, no onboard A/C system would have made it through this stoppage. It's simply an example of cost cutting on this system.

Ehh... is it really? I have never encountered an A/C system that works well on this type of system. Nor on most public transport. The Disney buses don’t often feel that cool, especially if there are lots of bodies on board.

I know we give Disney grief (rightly at times) for being cheap, but A/C seems overall impractical to me in regards to the gondolas.

Yeah, this happened. Fine. But overall, I don’t exactly expect this to be a common thing. Risk/benefit and cost analysis suggests to me that Disney likely made the right call for the long run.

I’ll still ride them either way. This doesn’t scare me off them at all. *shrug*

 

[ImperfectPixie]

There is no excuse when there is a live communication channel for not giving live-time, real information, up-dates (every 10-15 minutes) to people trapped in an emergency. It can reduce fear, panic and mitigate physical symptoms that threaten well-being of those caught up in the emergency situation. I hope Disney learns from this and integrates the comms people operating the channel in their incident response.

From what I read earlier in the thread, the amount of people trying to use the call-boxes at the same time caused problems with them.

 

[Disneyfanman]

If you chose the skyliner over a deluxe, just because of the skyliner, I think you may be better off changing to a deluxe. I mean if you are ok with the extra cost for a deluxe or are used to them, I don't know if a totally working incident free skyliner would have made you feel better about having less amenities and room. Plus some of those Deluxes have some pretty nifty transportation options as well.

This. If it were me I would switch. I am going to remain very nervous about the system until they are up and running without a serious incident for awhile. This is a complete turnaround for me because I was very excited about the project.

 

[Hawg G]

Before AC things were built to maximize airflow, but that didn't negate the requirement for air to move.


I hadn't said anything about it at all actually, was my first mention of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Our ancestors, and those that still live in Africa and such, can drink water from a stream without ill effects too. While we can too, to some degree, our bodies are no longer good at dealing with those bacteria, and have a lower tolerance.

Sorta the same as us with A/C now. Someone who has lived outside their whole life will require MUCH higher temperatures to suffer heat stress or stroke. MOst Disney goers are massive wimps when it comes to their heat resistance.

 

[Calmdownnow]

From what I read earlier in the thread, the amount of people trying to use the call-boxes at the same time caused problems with them.

Which is why most emergency response services have learned by now that proactive communication with real and meaningful information (not platitudes) not only reduces panic, but also reduces the traffic on the comms systems. Comms channels can then be used to calm the response from those caught upon in the incident. If you don't use them proactively for this purpose, the emergency services have learned that they get swamped by the panic calls.

 

[AEfx]

Sorta the same as us with A/C now. Someone who has lived outside their whole life will require MUCH higher temperatures to suffer heat stress or stroke. MOst Disney goers are massive wimps when it comes to their heat resistance.

The reverse is also true. I laugh my butt off when it’s like 58 at Disney and I’m in shorts and a T-Shirt and people shuffle by in hats, coats, and freaking mittens LOL...