Hello,
I was at that Saturday show and it was pretty scary. It had just been pouring down while we were waiting to get in so the grounds were slick. It wasn't 5 minutes into the show, more like 10, they gotten through the 1st little intro segment and he explained about the car looking like it was driving backwards when it really wasn't... we met the drivers... Herbie had come and gone... and then they brought out the market stands, etc. It was during this sequence that the accident happened.
One black car was driving parallel to the water towards stage left, the other car rounding the corner to start the run parallel to the water towards stage right. So you can see what happened next... the two cars collided head on with one another and the crash was pretty loud. T'he cars have gotta be better built than normal cars cause they didn't crunch much.
At first, the driver rounding the corner didn't get out of the car. The announcer guy stalled for a while to see if the drivers would both give "OK to continue" signs. But after a very short while, they cancelled the show and asked everyone to leave. I was impressed that everyone still applauded. The driver in the 1st car was fine and was out and about. The driver in the 2nd car (inside) was still saying in there but was obviously conscious and talking to people so I wasn't sure if he was just pinned or what. They started bringing over the white tent to cover the car, I assume to protect material evidence from the rain. The stadium had nearly cleared out when the 2nd driver did manage to climb out of the car, seemed OK, and waved to the crowd. The crowd applauded. At this point, they brought out more white plastic other than the white tent and the impact point of the cars was no longer visible.
To me, it seemed too wet to start the show and I fully expected it to be cancelled. But then again I had another friend who was there the same week I was and they saw the show in similar conditions and said everything went fine. He really liked the show.
I saw it in Paris and these kinds of things just aren't really my thing. So I didn't leave Disney World broken hearted about it, just what like to know what happened to the guy and whether he's truly OK. Wonder if it shakes them up a little when things like this happen. Gives them pause. It is truly a dangerous job they have.
