Large Piece Falls off Monorail - Being Evacuated

[Nubs70]

I'm not talking about low end amusement parks.. I'm talking about major parks, and would assume Universal follows similar procedures as well.
That said, I'm sure even small/lower end parks still have rigid procedures.

Check lists are relied on, because they're very important.

Here's my main question- how do "we" know that Disney is making cuts in the safety department?

Check lists are the foundation of reactive maintenance. I.E. maintenance occurs after a failure occurs.

Preventative maintenance occurs on a timed basis even if maintenance is not needed.

Predictive maintenance occurs based on performance history or measurement. This type of maintenance occurs before failure and is needed.

From empirical evidence, we know maintenance budget is being squeezed which is evident by the lack of reliability in the monorail system.

 

[Figment2005]

On Saturday, Monorail Yellow was making a sound I sure had never heard before. It sounded like a glass box on a muffler. I tried to record it, but it may be a little hard to hear.

Did you tell a cast member about it? That sounds like a wheel bearing at the end of its life, and would be reason for them to remove it from the system for replacement.

 

[RustySpork]

Did you tell a cast member about it? That sounds like a wheel bearing at the end of its life, and would be reason for them to remove it from the system for replacement.

More importantly, OP; did you dial 911 and report the event or did you go right to a local forum and post about it? YOU'RE JUST IN IT FOR THE LIKES!

Spoiler

 

[Sonconato]

Did you tell a cast member about it? That sounds like a wheel bearing at the end of its life, and would be reason for them to remove it from the system for replacement.

Sorry, I didn't think it was dangerous enough to report it. The monorail before was moved from the express track to the Epcot track.

 

[s8film40]

Sorry, I didn't think it was dangerous enough to report it. The monorail before was moved from the express track to the Epcot track.

It's hard to tell from the sound but the high pitch sound sounds more like it's coming from the AC. Had it just been raining? Sometimes when the tires are wet they make more noise.

 

[21stamps]

Revenue is up and attendance is down, they're saving and/or making more money somehow.

I think Disney is relatively safe, but of course like any place could be better. There's always a risk that something could go wrong, it's a matter of weighing that risk against the entertainment value of the park for me it works out. Yes I ride the monorail and bring my family along. I probably feel more comfortable on the monorail since I know most of the things that could go wrong and how emergencies are handled on it. I do not however walk underneath the monorail, I started that practice around 10 years ago for a few reasons. There's always potential that something could fall off the train and first of all I'm just not in that big of a hurry that I mind waiting 30 seconds for a train to pass and second of all I noticed after working around them that I would get spots on my clothes and they tend to stay there even when you wash them. I feel relatively comfortable on most rides. I do look for signs of issues or cast members not paying attention and operating the rides correctly. I also check and double check my own restraints and my child's and ensure I'm comfortable with how I and my child are fitting in the ride and everything looks secure. In short I take reasonable responsibility for my own safety as much as possible, I don't blindly assume that everything is taken care of.

The restraints wouldn't do much for you if the ride itself was unsafe.

I'm glad to hear the you feel safe and feel your child is safe. I think that means you believe Disney is in fact mindful of safety, and not cutting corners to improve profit margins at the risk of the guest's lives.
I wouldn't frequent a place that I believed to put profit over my safety, no matter where it was.

 

[Disone]

Monorail blue was in normal operation today on the resort line. Appearently the damage really was minimal and the repair was very quick.

 

[Sonconato]

It's hard to tell from the sound but the high pitch sound sounds more like it's coming from the AC. Had it just been raining? Sometimes when the tires are wet they make more noise.

We didn’t think it was the A/C. The sound was coming from the floor area. My husband thought it was a wheel bearing and thought for sure that once they pulled it in for the evening and/or it was pulled out in the morning, the driver would definitely hear it. We were in the last cab of the car right where the driver would be if going the opposite direction. It vibrated but it wasn’t a rough ride. The beams were dry so it probably wasn’t due to rain either.

 

[s8film40]

The restraints wouldn't do much for you if the ride itself was unsafe.

I'm glad to hear the you feel safe and feel your child is safe. I think that means you believe Disney is in fact mindful of safety, and not cutting corners to improve profit margins at the risk of the guest's lives.
I wouldn't frequent a place that I believed to put profit over my safety, no matter where it was.

I used the restraints as an example, there are many factors to safety. A ride with a loose restraint would be considered an unsafe ride.

Everything is a balance. I do believe Disney is cutting corners with safety. Disney of course started from a very high level, just because they're letting things decline doesn't mean they've yet reached a point where I wouldn't ride their attractions or transportation. After all the most dangerous part of visiting even the most unsafe ride is probably the car ride there. You can't live your life with zero risk.

 

[RustySpork]

I used the restraints as an example, there are many factors to safety. I ride with a loose restraint would be considered an unsafe ride.

Everything is a balance. I do believe Disney is cutting corners with safety. Disney of course started from a very high level, just because they're letting things decline doesn't mean they've yet reached a point where I wouldn't ride their attractions or transportation. After all the most dangerous part of visiting even the most unsafe ride is probably the car ride there. You can't live your life with zero risk.

Sometimes paying the fine is the lesser cost of doing business.

 

[King Racoon 77]

More importantly, OP; did you dial 911 and report the event or did you go right to a local forum and post about it? YOU'RE JUST IN IT FOR THE LIKES!

Spoiler

But the question i have is
Did they film this or was it filmed on an ipad held by a child on their shoulders ?

 

[RustySpork]

But the question i have is
Did they film this or was it filmed on an ipad held by a child on their shoulders ?

Filmed by a drone flown by a child on stilts with said parent on their shoulders.

 

[s8film40]

We didn’t think it was the A/C. The sound was coming from the floor area. My husband thought it was a wheel bearing and thought for sure that once they pulled it in for the evening and/or it was pulled out in the morning, the driver would definitely hear it. We were in the last cab of the car right where the driver would be if going the opposite direction. It vibrated but it wasn’t a rough ride. The beams were dry so it probably wasn’t due to rain either.

Yeah if it was coming from the floor I can't imagine it would be anything other than a wheel. Something like that wouldn't be noticeable in the cab, but it's probably something minor that will be caught sooner or later.

 

[Figment2005]

We didn’t think it was the A/C. The sound was coming from the floor area. My husband thought it was a wheel bearing and thought for sure that once they pulled it in for the evening and/or it was pulled out in the morning, the driver would definitely hear it. We were in the last cab of the car right where the driver would be if going the opposite direction. It vibrated but it wasn’t a rough ride. The beams were dry so it probably wasn’t due to rain either.

Problem is those trains are over 200 feet long. The only way the driver can hear something like that is if the wheel in question is right below them. Don't be afraid to tell someone as a noise being reported could prevent something becoming a much larger problem.

 

[Figment2005]

Yeah if it was coming from the floor I can't imagine it would be anything other than a wheel. Something like that wouldn't be noticeable in the cab, but it's probably something minor that will be caught sooner or later.

The maintenance guy would probably ride around in the car and determine whether it is a problem or not.

 

[Scuttle]

Sometimes paying the fine is the lesser cost of doing business.

Especially if they got away with it for multiple years.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Especially if they got away with it for multiple years.

First you say out right they never do preventive maintenance.

And now you're proposing they purposely don't do the preventive maintenance since its cheaper to just pay the fines. Throwing the "if" in there doesn't excuse the whispering campaign.

You just don't know what you're talking about. You just want to trash Disney. If there ever was proof of a 'hater', here it is.

 

[Scuttle]

So you're saying WDW has never ever done any sort of preventive maintenance ever? Considering how the whole place isn't crashing down constantly over the decades, then WDW must be the luckiest corporation in the world. It truly is magical!

I'm just being realistic. ESPN is falling by the wayside and they really don't know what to do about it. The stock has been stagnant ever since that was first learned about a year ago. Is that far fetched to see a huge public company cut certain sectors of safety maintenance at the parks to cover their a**?

I don't hate on Disney. My main complaint is their maintenance, overall not just safety, has been atrocious this decade+.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I'm just being realistic. ESPN is falling by the wayside and they really don't know what to do about it. The stock has been stagnant ever since that was first learned about a year ago. Is that far fetched to see a huge public company cut certain sectors of safety maintenance at the parks to cover their a**?

So you're saying what, they didn't do preventive maintenance at ESPN? Totally different divisions. ESPN is caught in long term contracts while the media field is rapidly changing. That has nothing to do with maintenance of a monorail car. Bringing it up is just absurd and doesn't excuse the wild and baseless accusations you make.

"He must be a murderer... just look how dirty his kitchen is!"

 

[natatomic]

I'm just being realistic. ESPN is falling by the wayside and they really don't know what to do about it. The stock has been stagnant ever since that was first learned about a year ago. Is that far fetched to see a huge public company cut certain sectors of safety maintenance at the parks to cover their a**?

To cut safety? Yeah. A little far fetched. Increase ticket prices, preferred parking costs, make food sizes smaller and prices higher, increase room rates, etc....? Not as far fetched.