Were you in WDW on 9/11/01?

[Thorpyness]

Security/safety is something that I had to learn. I learned it by working with nuclear weapons.

What would have made more sense, and I did mention it to the manager, is to compare my id to a list. What is interesting is when we first arrived at the resort (4 days earlier), they actually did compare my id to a list. That list said I was supposed to be there.

After pointing that out, I thru this monkey wrench into the mix for the manager. The terrorists that took over the aircraft that day had to show their id to the check-in person. The check-in person compared it to a list, that said yes they (aka unknown terrorist) was to go on a plane. Those check-in procedures where supposed to stop high jackings, but it did not.

Mr Terrorist was organised enough to do what he did, but wouldn't have checked in 4 days before the event, and then been on the same list as you ?

Now I will throw this one out. What do terrorists want to do? Answer, kill large groups of people and thus cause chaos. So what did the U.S. government do? They made TSA checkpoints in airports that stack up large groups of people. All a terrorist needs to do now is have an incendiary (aka gasoline) bomb in there carryon luggage. When they get into the middle of this large stacked up group of people, they detonate it. Many people will be burned and dead. This will cause the U.S. government to shut down and evacuate every airport in the U.S.
What did Disney do? They also made these stack groups. All a terrorist has to do is cause destruction and death at the checkpoint.

These stack areas are sometimes refered to as kill zones, like stairwells are sometimes refered to as funnels of death.

I know, most have never thought of this, but please be aware of your surroundings, as only you can really keep you safe.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think there is any such thing as safe, it's all a case of relative risks and not just the risk of an attack. Natural disasters, health risks, you can even fall over funny and kill yourself.

When you compare the Disney security checks to a determined terrorist, they wouldn't stop everything, but nothing can. What they will do is make another industry the easier target, and therefore protect the guests that way. Suggesting that people should be walking round worrying about being in kill zones is doing far more damage to their (mental) health that any gaps in security checks do. There are almost certainly many people that have suffered silently as a consequence of being excessively worried about a miniscule risk, than suffered by direct attacks.

What would your response have been ?

The biggest risk in Disney is a guest going loco due to the heat and crowds. If the checks help everyone feel relaxed, then this can only help prevent that, also preventing potential weapons entering the parks if that were to be the case can also only help.

As somebody that has worked in an industry that might make your knowledge potentially valuable to hostile governments you personally may be subject to extra risk and maybe this has warped your view. An average person is almost not at any extra risk, except for the miniscule chance of being very unlucky and in the wrong place at the wrong time. How many potential "kill zones" are there ? How many millions of people pass through any of your "kill zones" in any given day, month or year? You have to beat these pretty substantial odds to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day. Personally I'm happy to run these odds, ignore the risk and concentrate on enjoying myself in the apparent safety of various governments, or the Disney company. I haven't tried the "paranoid" way, but I'm pretty certain my way is better for my mental health and life overall.

As I asked, what should they have done or be doing ?

 

[Super Stitch]

My DH & I were actually booking our Disney World honeymoon at the exact time the first plane hit. We went to lunch afterwards and thought our server was just teasing us when she told us what was happening.

 

[Theme Parkitect]

I was not at any of the Parks on 9/11. I was actually only 5 when they happened. However, we had just gone during April 2001 for my birthday. Because of the attacks, we were one of the risk-takers that decided to schedule a flight since they were so cheap for Christmas season the same year. :lol: I don't remember it being completly dead, but it sure wasn't crowded. Except for Christmas Day in the MK, that was a fairly good size crowd.