Reprocussions from BTMRR accident...

[josh_e_washie]

Now that a lot of the facts are known and we have had a good amount of time on this site to digest it all, what do you think is going to happen in reaction to this incident? Do you think there will be new theme park laws established? Will Disney be looked at differently? Let's discuss this in a board where we AREN'T bickering about what other people say...just express your opinions please...


Personally, I think that the idea of theme park laws aren't too far off...especially after the accident on the Columbia Ship in DL...I think these incidents may be too closely related in time...but of course this would stretch to ALL theme parks, not just disney.

 

[The_CEO]

New maintenace checks will take place every morning.
More detailed atleast. New laws. Maybe.

 

[figmentmom]

I don't think new laws will result, but I do believe that all amusement parks will institute even more stringent safety inspections. No one wants an accident, least of all the theme park owners and operators.

 

[Al]

Will anyone want to ride this again?

 

[Clemster]

I'd go on it now if it were open.

It's still to early to conclude repercussions of the accident as investigators need to do what they do best and fully investigate what happened, then when a full report comes out then then conclusions can be drawn.

I don't see why Disney should be seen differently, it operates a safe theme park, how often in Disney's history has accidents like these happened? I don't see why new laws should need to be bought out because of this.

 

[HennieBogan1966]

Repercussions from Accident

Well if you were to evaluate how many guests each of Disneys' parks have had since their openings, versus how many "incidents" or accidents have occured, I would think that the
number would be heavily in favor of a very safe environment at each park.

No one is perfect and there will be accidents from time to time. Such is life. This is not to diminish the loss of a life on any ride at any time, but to realize that these things will happen from time to time.

Take for example Airlines. To this day Airline travel is considered the safest form of travel in the world, based purely on safety records, number of passengers/accident ratios. Yet any time you hear about an incident with an airplane, people avoid flying like the plague. So, I don't really see where this situation should have any detrimental effect on the parks whatsoever. Do the inspection guidelines need to be reviewed? YES!!! Should we all be more aware when we are on the rides? YES again.

But don't let this diminish what is still the GREATEST place on earth to vacation.

 

[MouseMadness]

I am curious what laws are in place now? Surely there are some! I think we can count on some money going to victims, perhaps some lawsuits unfortunately. But that is to be expected. I think there will be some really in depth maintenance checks of other rides as well as the BTMRR's in all the disney parks. It seems to me that the focus is being put on BTMRR, but this could've been such a fluke. I am so anxious to hear what truly happened, when that does come out. And of course I would ride it. Like I said in the other "ugly" thread, lol, actually going out and living your life is an inherent risk. If I refused to do everything that had caused something bad to happen at some point, I'd never get out of bed!

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Clemster
I don't see why Disney should be seen differently, it operates a safe theme park, how often in Disney's history has accidents like these happened?

To answer your question, much more often than you might think. I was up late last night doing some research and according to several credible web sites (including the Consumer Product Safety Commission's site), Disney's (specifically DisneyLAND's) safety record is not that great compared to other major theme parks like Six Flags. This is particularly so in the past few years. I've included more details and links in another thread on this topic so I won't go into too much detail here. But not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of theme park accidents are the result of a guest doing something they shouldn't be doing (i.e. standing up on ride, etc). However, of the incidents where the fault was due to mechanical or operator error, Disneyland had considerably more of those than did other parks. Another interesting fact I discovered was that in the cases of ride malfunctions, when these occur at Six Flags and other parks, the malfunction is usually something involving a safety mechanism kicking in unnecessarily and causing an inconvenience to riders. Whereas in the case of Disneyland, there was a higher percentage of incidents where ride malfunctions were more serious and caused injuries to the guests, such as trains becoming detached and/or derailed.

I personally think the publicity of this will tarnish Disneyland's reputation for safety and in addition to actually improving their safety methods they'll have to have some sort of campaign to let the public know Disneyland is a safe place to go again.

 

[Lee]

Whatever is shown to be the cause of BTMR's crash will be addressed, if necessary, at all the parks. For instance, if the pins in the hitch were faulty, all the pins at all the parks will be looked at. If it was breakage due to metal fatigue, all the connections will be looked at closely.
Maintenence will probably be stepped up (particularly at DL).

I don't see this as a law-changing event.

 

[Goofster]

Miceage seemed to have the best information about what happened and why, and it seemed as though they pointed the main cause for the accident at the fact that there have been many cuts in the maintenance department, and currently the entire Disneyland Resort Maintenance Department is smaller than it was when it was only servicing one park, but now it has to take care of DCA, too. However, these cuts have not been implimented at Disney World, where the maintenance staff seems to be a little bit better off. Now why is it that Disney World is gaining new attractions left and right, the attention to detail and huge E-Tickets seem to be coming back, while over in California the park is left to age and rot? Not to mention the fact that they'll probably be spending more money on Disneyland's 50th down in Florida then they will be in California.

 

[Michael72688]

Originally posted by josh_e_washie
Now that a lot of the facts are known and we have had a good amount of time on this site to digest it all, what do you think is going to happen in reaction to this incident? Do you think there will be new theme park laws established? Will Disney be looked at differently? Let's discuss this in a board where we AREN'T bickering about what other people say...just express your opinions please...


Personally, I think that the idea of theme park laws aren't too far off...especially after the accident on the Columbia Ship in DL...I think these incidents may be too closely related in time...but of course this would stretch to ALL theme parks, not just disney.

What happened on the Columbia Ship?

 

[BRER STITCH]

I think it will cause a lot of people to stop and think twice before going on an attraction that they maybe were not that keen on going on in the first place.

It's only human to feel some apprehension like this when the knowledge that "gee, maybe Disney isn't as infailable as I once thought" is bouncing around in the back of one's head.

Law changes? I don't think so. There are plenty of regulations in effect right now. They will just be followed a bit more closely by the entire industry.

For the short term, Disney will most definitely be looked at differently. By the general public, by die-hard fans, by critics, and by the competition. Each time this is brought up in the media as the legal settlements are handled will be another opportunity for Disney to be scrutinized by all.

The biggest question will be how they handle the investigation and remedy the problem for the future.

I agree with MERLIN....safety will now have to be addressed along with the "magic" and "family" aspects of Disney's short-term public relations agenda.

 

[jmarc63]

Personally I don't think new laws are need just maybe some tweeking and better enforcement of existing ones, But I think most of the changes will be driven by the Insurance carriers to Amusement Parks. Without Insurance companies You would loose everything after the first incedent.. Anyways the Liability carriers will demand more stringent inspections or higher premimums or both, to keep coverage otherwise it may not reopen.

 

[tj229er]

Originally posted by Goofster
However, these cuts have not been implimented at Disney World, where the maintenance staff seems to be a little bit better off.

Wrong cut's are taking place at WDW in the maintenance department.

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Goofster
Now why is it that Disney World is gaining new attractions left and right, the attention to detail and huge E-Tickets seem to be coming back, while over in California the park is left to age and rot?

Two words: Cynthia Harriss

 

[Lee]

Originally posted by Merlin
Two words: Cynthia Harriss

Wrong two words.

It's Paul Pressler.

His changes in maintenence and budgeting while President of DL have been continued by Ms. Harris and T. Irby, but it goes back to good ol' Paul. He did somewhat the same thing to all the parks as Pres. of Parks and Resorts, just not as heavy.
However, despite what Al says on Miceage, we don't know that the maintenence (or lack thereof) is responsible for this incident. Just as many signs point elsewhere.

 

[Woody13]

Re: Re: Reprocussions from BTMRR accident...

Originally posted by Michael72688
What happened on the Columbia Ship?

Take a look here;
http://www.themeparkinsider.com/parks/accident.cfm?Attraction=24

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Lee
Wrong two words.

It's Paul Pressler.

His changes in maintenence and budgeting while President of DL have been continued by Ms. Harris and T. Irby, but it goes back to good ol' Paul. He did somewhat the same thing to all the parks as Pres. of Parks and Resorts, just not as heavy.
However, despite what Al says on Miceage, we don't know that the maintenence (or lack thereof) is responsible for this incident. Just as many signs point elsewhere.

I personally worked for both Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss when they were with The Disney Stores. I worked closely with Cynthia in particular and can tell you that her mentality is about cutting costs wherever possible in order to make the bottom line look as though she is MAKING money. When they both transferred to Disneyland it was Cynthia who hired T. He was a West Point graduate who came in thinking his sole purpose was to change the status quo in the Maintenance Division. WDW does not have Cynthia and T, but they did have Paul and they never experienced the problems Disneyland has. I'm speaking from personal knowledge of the woman as well as letting the record speak for itself. I'll admit I should have made it FOUR words by adding T. Irby. And I also am no Pressler fan by any stretch of the imagination. But even though the maintenance slashing began while the entire DL resort was technically under his leadership, he was not the one driving them.

 

[Bagheera]

Originally posted by MouseMadness Like I said in the other "ugly" thread, lol, actually going out and living your life is an inherent risk. If I refused to do everything that had caused something bad to happen at some point, I'd never get out of bed!

Life [n] An invariably fatal disease spread by sexual contact.

 

[Bagheera]

Originally posted by Merlin
I personally worked for both Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss when they were with The Disney Stores. I worked closely with Cynthia in particular and can tell you that her mentality is about cutting costs wherever possible in order to make the bottom line look as though she is MAKING money. When they both transferred to Disneyland it was Cynthia who hired T. He was a West Point graduate who came in thinking his sole purpose was to change the status quo in the Maintenance Division. WDW does not have Cynthia and T, but they did have Paul and they never experienced the problems Disneyland has. I'm speaking from personal knowledge of the woman as well as letting the record speak for itself. I'll admit I should have made it FOUR words by adding T. Irby. And I also am no Pressler fan by any stretch of the imagination. But even though the maintenance slashing began while the entire DL resort was technically under his leadership, he was not the one driving them.

How about this angle?

Two words: Michael Eisner

As much as Michael wants to leave his legacy as head of the Walt Disney Company, and as much as he did originally with Disneyland, it was still referred to as "Walt's Park." Yet, at Walt Disney World, there was plenty of land ripe for development, a place where he could make his mark.

So Michael spend lots and lots and lots of money to build the place up, while simultaneously cutting back at Disneyland, so that "Walt's Park" would no longer have the cachet that it once had. In this way, Michael could ensure that his legacy would be greater than Walt's and that his ego could start to be satisfied.

(Please note: I am not stating this as my opinion, though I have seen it put forward on other web sites, and thought that it could provide additional input to this discussion. Also, I would not rule it out as inconceivable.)