Large Piece Falls off Monorail - Being Evacuated

[WEDwaydatamover]

I can only speak for myself 21stamps, sure things happen but there was something very seriously wrong with the doom buggy I was in. It was being pushed and pulled along but was clearly off track or scraping track in some way. The entire ride was on gravel. It wasn't scary for me but I felt afraid for a family that didn't think it was cool to have a breakdown in the Haunted Mansion.

 

[natatomic]

This guy's videos are so annoying. His

Unfortunately now I don't think they are. I was staying at Disneyland Hotel in February and one of the mouse keeping women right in front of me was talking about how Disney was giving her no slack while she was pregnant. I think it's because of upper management mainly that is not run well, and doesn't treat cast right.

Not to get off track, but speaking as a cast member who has been pregnant twice, if she was unable to do her job due to pregnancy, she needed to go on light duty. Many pregnant CMs do and there's no shame in that. But Disney cannot give special treatment to anyone, without risking a grievance from another CM; and plus, due to certain laws (man, I'm not a lawyer, and I can't remember what the law is called, but I just learned about this in a class I took here), pregnancy falls under one of 16 "protected classes," and Disney is not allowed to assume she CAN'T do her job just because she was pregnant. I don't think this was a case of her not "being treated right;" it's a case of her expecting to stay at her exact same job and do less work when she actually should have just gone on light duty if she couldn't handle the job load anymore. She'd still get her hours, she'd still get her pay, and she'd have an easier job.

 

[WEDwaydatamover]

These monorails are quintessential WDW!

They are over their limits and on borrowed time which TDO has little intent on paying back.

If these exact monorails were reintroduced in brand new condition tomorrow I have no doubt that Bob Gurr's/ Bombardier design would remain timeless yet futuristic 30 years from now.

Bring back the seating for everyone! Including the standing and herded.

Fresh carpet, original colors, front cab seating, color appropriate "D" logos, working ac, pressure wash the tracks, maintain normal operating hours and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Up, up and away we go in a perfect WDW.

 

[mousehockey37]

These monorails are quintessential WDW!

They are over their limits and on borrowed time which TDO has little intent on paying back.

If these exact monorails were reintroduced in brand new condition tomorrow I have no doubt that Bob Gurr's/ Bombardier design would remain timeless yet futuristic 30 years from now.

Bring back the seating for everyone! Including the standing and herded.

Fresh carpet, original colors, front cab seating, color appropriate "D" logos, working ac, pressure wash the tracks, maintain normal operating hours and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Up, up and away we go in a perfect WDW.

 

[danlb_2000]

Right on. It does sound like there's quite a few monorail engineers here.. so hopefully one of them gives an answer.

Second question- how do we know that they don't get maintenance?

3rd question (repeat of my earlier statement)-
Why the heck would anyone call 911?

If you see a piece fall off a monorail and there isn't a CM near by, you have no way of knowing if it might compromise the safety of the monorail or not, so calling 911 seams sensible to me.

 

[mousehockey37]

If you see a piece fall off a monorail and there isn't a CM near by, you have no way of knowing if it might compromise the safety of the monorail or not, so calling 911 seams sensible to me.

Just like you don't touch the piece that fell off, right? I got blasted earlier in the thread when I said it probably wasn't smart to pick the piece up. I mean, if Disney really wanted to, they could've sent a CM or even team out to do a sort of incident re-creation. Most places people work have that. Something happens, they want to know where the monorail was, where the piece started to fall, where it landed, etc.

I don't think 911 was completely necessary step. If the whole thing came apart and fell, then yes. For this, alerting CM's/management and letting them handle it further should've been all that was needed.

 

[21stamps]

If you see a piece fall off a monorail and there isn't a CM near by, you have no way of knowing if it might compromise the safety of the monorail or not, so calling 911 seams sensible to me.

I would rather leave 911, and the resources they would send, available for actual emergencies. Unless someone is in a potentially life threatening scenario, I think something that happens inside of a Disney park can probably be handled by Disney employees, and I'd think that a monorail getting stuck would trigger some kind of alarm or notification. 911 shouldn't be a catch all knee jerk reaction.

A ride/monorail getting stuck, or the small part that came from the monorail, doesn't sound life threatening.

 

[Kamikaze]

Would not be needed as a gondola tower is already a grounded metal object that would act as its own lightning rod.

Right, but I would think it would still need something to make sure the electricity travels down the structure and not down the cables. I know it wants to take the shortest route to ground, but I'm not sure if they design them to make sure that happens.

 

[danlb_2000]

Just like you don't touch the piece that fell off, right? I got blasted earlier in the thread when I said it probably wasn't smart to pick the piece up. I mean, if Disney really wanted to, they could've sent a CM or even team out to do a sort of incident re-creation. Most places people work have that. Something happens, they want to know where the monorail was, where the piece started to fall, where it landed, etc.

I don't think 911 was completely necessary step. If the whole thing came apart and fell, then yes. For this, alerting CM's/management and letting them handle it further should've been all that was needed.

If it was just a piece of fiberglass, it probably would not have been a big deal, but even a layman can tell this had some more functional purpose so I think calling 911 would be justified.

 

[danlb_2000]

I would rather leave 911, and the resources they would send, available for actual emergencies. Unless someone is in a potentially life threatening scenario, I think something that happens inside of a Disney park can probably be handled by Disney employees, and I'd think that a monorail getting stuck would trigger some kind of alarm or notification. 911 shouldn't be a catch all knee jerk reaction.

But how would the average guest know this was not a life threatening situation? What if this part being torn from the monorail started a fire under the car? Also remember that this person wouldn't have even known that the monorail stopped since it traveled some distance before it did. In hind sight It's easy to say calling 911 would be unnecessary because we know now that nothing serious happened, but in the moment it would have been a different story.

 

[natatomic]

Anyone know the status of the epcot beam? I heard it was back up yesterday afternoon, but I heard today that it's not up at all.

 

[Figment2005]

Anyone know the status of the epcot beam? I heard it was back up yesterday afternoon, but I heard today that it's not up at all.

It has been shut down since the incident. Never re-opened yesterday.

 

[21stamps]

But how would the average guest know this was not a life threatening situation? What if this part being torn from the monorail started a fire under the car? Also remember that this person wouldn't have even known that the monorail stopped since it traveled some distance before it did.

Instead of taking a selfie and tweeting.. then run to the nearest cast member.

Again, I have no inside knowledge, but common sense would lead me to believe that the monorails have some kind monitoring.

 

[Nubs70]

I have no inside knowledge of Disney World.. but I think the overdramatic posts on this thread are probably unwarranted.

Our local amusement park has so many safety steps.. each night, and each morning before the rides open.

I would think that if a Cedar Fair park would do this, then it's probably safe to assume that a place like WDW would as well. Especially with the very limited amount of incidents that have ever happened at Disney World.

Safety checks are not maintenance. Reliability is a measure of maintenance effectivity.

Finally, the safety record of DuPont UK has absolutely zero to do with Union Caribe India.

 

[21stamps]

Safety checks are not maintenance. Reliability is a measure of maintenance effectivity.

Finally, the safety record of DuPont UK has absolutely zero to do with Union Caribe India.

The maintenance is done off season, or when needed and periodic closures, sometimes stretching into open season. Disney doesn't have that luxury, but I can't believe, with the lack of common issues, that they don't perform maintenance.

 

[danlb_2000]

Instead of taking a selfie and tweeting.. then run to the nearest cast member.

Again, I have no inside knowledge, but common sense would lead me to believe that the monorails have some kind monitoring.

Monorail were well know to have an anti-collision system, and yet we still have a fatal collision a while back. Someone watching that situation may have also concluded "they have safety systems, they can't collide."

 

[peter11435]

I've encountered cast members who couldn't care less in a serious safety situation.

I was on the Haunted Mansion about 15 years ago and something was horribly wrong with our doom buggy. The audio was off (nothing new) but the vehicle was scraping the track or ground and the ride was nonstop thumping and vibration and squeeling.

Immediately I clocked the vehicle number and reported it at the exit. We hung around to see if it was going to be taken seriously as we had good reason to believe not. They kept the Mansion operating as is. We lined up again hoping for a walk off experience at some point. Never happened. Scary when cast doesn't care. I hope these cast members are few and far between.

Did they continue loading the vehicle you had ridden in?

 

[davis_unoxx]

Not to get off track, but as a cast member who has been pregnant twice, if she was unable to do her job due to pregnancy, she needed to go on light duty. Many pregnant CMs do and there's no shame in that. But Disney cannot give special treatment to anyone, without risking a grievance from another CM; and plus, due to certain laws (man, I'm not a lawyer, but I just learned about this in a class I took here), pregnancy falls under one of 16 "protected classes," and Disney is not allowed to assume she CAN'T do her job just because she was pregnant. I don't think this was a case of her not "being treated right," it's a case of her expecting to stay at her exact same job and do less work when she actually should have just gone on light duty if she couldn't handle the job load anymore. She'd still get her hours, she'd still get her pay, and she'd have an easier job.

Thanks for your input, good to know.

 

[mousehockey37]

If it was just a piece of fiberglass, it probably would not have been a big deal, but even a layman can tell this had some more functional purpose so I think calling 911 would be justified.

If I see a string of debris from the monorail, sure, I'll call 911... hell, the people on the monorail could make that call if it's bad enough.

Alerting CM's/management is enough. Alerting the news was completely unnecessary, but hey, 15 minutes of fame on vacation...

 

[Figment2005]

Monorail were well know to have an anti-collision system, and yet we still have a fatal collision a while back. Someone watching that situation may have also concluded "they have safety systems, they can't collide."

That incident was much more complicated. From what I understand 100% human error.