Disney Skyliner shutdown and evacuation - October 6 2019

[flynnibus]

Ok, let's go with the idea that the cabins are suspended above the heat of the pavement and that brings some degree of relief.
In an automobile - one can roll all four windows fully down, and open the sunroof all the way - that's
more ventilation than the Gondolas offer.(We'll go with the assumption that the sun is not directly overhead beating down on the vehicle's interior.

Your car is not vented at the floor - The Gondolas are
Did you know the Gondolas have approx 3.5x the amount of open window space a 4 door sedan has? (Estimates done against 2019 Chevy Malibu)

Point is, a vented box up on a wire does not have some miracle cooling effect when it is stopped, particularly if the air is still.

Cooling is a different discussion. The point brought up was about the gondolas heating up, not that they'd cool off.

 

[joelkfla]

It's certainly a valid lesson learned. A simpler solution would be to simply put RFID readers on the towers and tag the cabins. The system can simply track the last tower that 'saw' the cabin thus greatly reducing the search radius immediately. Then the cabin side of the system is completely passive and doesn't require power or refreshes.

Also, put some reflective number stickers on the bottom as well to improve visibility at night. Cheap and effective.

I'm still disappointed that the control software is not capable of identifying each cabin as it enters and/or leaves each station, and then using that data to track the current location of each cabin. As long as it knows the current order of cabins, it would be trivial to count the number of cabins that have left the station and come up with a location.

 

[draybook]

 

[durangojim]

Are there any power outlets on the gondolas so that people could charge their phones or medical devices?

 

[mmascari]

It's certainly a valid lesson learned. A simpler solution would be to simply put RFID readers on the towers and tag the cabins. The system can simply track the last tower that 'saw' the cabin thus greatly reducing the search radius immediately. Then the cabin side of the system is completely passive and doesn't require power or refreshes.

Shouldn't the computer already know where every cabin is? I thought it was mentioned earlier, that the computer control tracked where on the line every cabin was. You only really need sensors at places cabins can enter or exit the system. Once you're in line, all movement is directly correlated to the line moving. It's not like one cabin can pass another to change places in line. Except for the extra loading loop, switching up the order. However, the computer should know that already. Tracking at station entry, exit, and extra loop should be more than enough. Everything between station exit and station entry is easily calculated.

Also, put some reflective number stickers on the bottom as well to improve visibility at night. Cheap and effective.

Something like this addresses the real problem with finding a cabin on the line. The computer knows where it is, and can give its general location, but the team on the ground in the real world is looking up at an object overhead. With a location of "between tower A and B" or "X feet from station", even "X feet from tower A", I can imagine the team looking up and not knowing which of two or three cabins it is.

 

[Tanna Eros]

Penny wise, pound foolish.

As we can safely infer from the post above yours, all it will take during any (*even remotely brief) stoppage is that first single, fatigued 911 caller among 300 gondolas to cause the system to go into a cascading mayhem.

And it didn't even take a sweltering July afternoon.

We've all heard the stories about the tragic results of even brief heat waves upon those more susceptible who cannot escape them.

I expect warning cards such as those handed out at Mission: Space to shortly make an appearance at all Skyliner entrances.

I'll bet there's some guy in a warehouse getting the number decals ready to put on the bottom of those gondolas.

 

[monothingie]

Who's real concern? I have yet to see anything that states 3 hours for evac is anything outside of what they planned for anticipated.

In reality they never fully manually evacuated the line. It sounds like the majority of the guest were removed because they restarted the system. To do a manual evac of the TIG line would be a tremendous endeavor. While we will never see a copy of the emergency response plan for the Skyliner, I think a full manual evacuation is probably the absolute last and worse case response scenario.

 

[flynnibus]

Its amazing how people get so conditioned.. they forget alternatives even existed previously. It's like all the design choices that went into houses before there was AC to maximize airflow, layouts, elevations vs the sun path, etc. Just because something isn't high tech doesn't mean it's not functional or purposeful.

So someone creates an account today... to post.. an exact copy paste of my post from earlier in the thread?

Its amazing how people get so conditioned.. they forget alternatives even existed previously. It's like all the design choices that went into houses before there was AC to maximize airflow, layouts, elevations vs the sun path, etc. Just because something isn't high tech doesn't mean it's not functional or purposeful.

 

[flyerjab]

Fascinating incident occurred with our merch bag we were carrying on this trip. One of our bags dropped, and the only piece of merch that broke was the Skyliner coffee mug. Everything else escaped unscathed.

 

[WheelsUpRN]

Once again, your car is designed for mechanical cooling, not passive cooling. It is not the same.

Please explain how passive “cooling” works when stationary in stagnant air conditions.

 

[flynnibus]

If any part of the fan is reachable/touchable by a guest, this creates various issues, including breakage by guest (and even possible injury) - and thus more maintenance required by Disney...

Well that's why man created these

Or any number of tamper proof designs they can choose from. Air is a fluid... it likes moving around things

 

[flynnibus]

Of course, I would expect that to be the default for safety - but I have seen people poke and prod at a fan behind mesh with a pen or pin or something else thinking that the fan should be moving when it is not, doing more harm than good. I've even seen people remove the mesh cover.

Note... this hasn't stopped Disney from putting fans in restrooms... thank god.

 

[mitchiavelli]

oh wow... thank you so much for all the entertaining posts in here. hilarious! keep it coming!

 

[EdnaMode]

But to the passengers, they are TOTALLY out of their element and now have get in a bucket high off the ground. Instant recipe for panic attacks. I don't know what RCFD protocols were, but for the sake of expediting the evacuations., I can't imagine they were making the passengers harness up before getting in the bucket. This increases the reliance that the passengers can self extricate, which quite frankly, can be abysmal. Just getting people to take that first step out and into that bucket can be borderline impossible. Or it rocks a tiny bit and they break into a full fledged panic that can put the first responder and others in danger. Then add in hyperventilating, panic attacks, etc.

This was honestly a little hard for me to read, but I'm super appreciative that you posted it. I'm seeing this through a whole new set of eyes.

I would never voluntarily get in an open gondola (again), nor in an open Ferris wheel car, an open ski lift, a hot air balloon bucket. etc. Basically if I'm dangling out in the open, I'll be noping out. I don't have that fear in a closed car, and I don't have a great deal of fear with heights, so Skyliner . But, thinking beyond the ride itself, though, to an emergency evacuation, wow, that would be rough for those of us (I'm not alone right?) who don't do dangling or open rides.

Seriously, thank you so much for being a firefighter, and thanks to all of those who do this job, and in the process manage the most exquisitely frightening human conditions.

 

[ThatMouse]

Fascinating incident occurred with our merch bag we were carrying on this trip. One of our bags dropped, and the only piece of merch that broke was the Skyliner coffee mug. Everything else escaped unscathed.

If you take the coffee mug to a store before you leave Disney they may replace it for you.

 

[joelkfla]

I've been seized by an idea:

If the problem was that the cabin numbers were not visible because of their location and poor lighting, they don't need to put numbers on the bottom. All they need is a small drone that can fly up beside the cabins and send a live video stream.

 

[flynnibus]

Please explain how passive “cooling” works when stationary in stagnant air conditions.

Convection - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Homes were designed to welcome breezes, induce airflows and avoid the highest sun exposures

Just like... ventilation in a gondola is designed to allow cooler air to enter at the bottom, and leave at the top... and how energy blocking glass is used to block the sun exposure

 

[flynnibus]

I've been seized by an idea:

If the problem was that the cabin numbers were not visible because of their location and poor lighting, they don't need to put numbers on the bottom. All they need is a small drone that can fly up beside the cabins and send a live video stream.

Drones at night near wires, structures, etc... unnecessary risks when a sticker can do the job

 

[mitchiavelli]

The report states that nobody was seriously injured during the event, but “it may have been a different story if that thing broke out down at noon,” O’Reilly said.

Disney Skyliner Evacuations Strained Already Understaffed Emergency Services

Walt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyond

blogmickey.com

a disney employee calling their new transportation system 'that thing'! lol

 

[WheelsUpRN]

That's kind of the thing - evac of these things is ALWAYS going to be a spectacle. It doesn't matter how much they "streamline" the process, they still are going to be a crane going up to bring down people who are hanging on a wire 100 feet in the air. All outside, for everyone to see and record.

To be honest, the part that I find most worrying about this is the fact that there isn't some safety mechanism to keep the cars from coming into contact with each other. They are very lucky that there weren't more people in these and that no one was in the trajectory of the broken plexi-glass.

There were people in the gondolas. The news reports are false... fake news.