Disney Skyliner Accident

[rteetz]

Disney did have options to pick from. Doppelmayr/Garaventa offers A/C as well as LED lights and sliding and louvered windows among other options.

But like I said there is a reliability there. And those cabins need power for the AC. In the event of a 3+ hour delay that power supply may not have lasted.

 

[rteetz]

I'm sure they did...and I'm sure they heard about it from the response team...and that got promptly ignored b/c Disney didn't want to spend the money and figured this would never happen, at least for a long time...

And now those 1st responders also get the ultimate told you so...

And that could be the case. Often it takes a bad situation to get something done. I would hope if that’s the case they would work to hire more staff promptly.

 

[Brianstl]

Oh my mistake. Here I thought Disney was going to run these on July afternoons when it's 100+, and when stopped for hours, and there's no breeze, the temperatures inside these things could go even higher, to life threatening levels. Which was my original comment, questioning the general safety of these, not specific to last night.

But hey, AWESOME! If they're only going to run these on balmy nights, then by all means.

the temperatures don’t skyrocket in these. They are coated to prevent that. You don’t get the oven effect you get in the car. What happens is the equivalent of sitting in the shade at the park at the same time. If you can’t handle hours in the heat don’t take these and don’t visits the parks in the summer.

Like I said earlier, my biggest fear if stuck in one of these for an hour plus would be a thunderstorm and not the heat. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in high winds and lightning.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I’m not sure what to believe from these reports right now. You would think in testing the evacuations they would’ve seen the response needed.

I agree the reports are all over the place. However at this point Disney PR has repeatedly been caught in lies (It was just a power outage. Ok, no it was a collision but the cars were empty. There were no injuries). I'm inclined to believe the firefighter whose department was at the scene at this point until he's shown to be not credible for some reason. Do you disagree with that?

 

[rteetz]

How they didn’t outfit these with A/C that is solar powered is beyond me. Tesla has the tech and the batter(ies) could live under the benches. The units they have that can power a whole house aren’t very large.

I even think Toyota has a solar AC in the Prius for when you are parked, but sitting in the car.

Solar would be even less reliable than a powered system. At night you’re not getting the solar energy taken and you would have even more increased weight to the cabin with the AC, panel and a battery to store the power. If AC was simple I don’t see why it wouldn’t have been done but frankly it’s not simple in these systems.

 

[hertamaniac]

How they didn’t outfit these with A/C that is solar powered is beyond me. Tesla has the tech and the batter(ies) could live under the benches. The units they have that can power a whole house aren’t very large.

I even think Toyota has a solar AC in the Prius for when you are parked, but sitting in the car.

Knowing what I know about batteries, I'm not sure I'd be sitting on Tesla's (or anyone's) Li-ion batteries in a closed box. And Tesla's Powerwalls are not subjected to constant jostling.

 

[rteetz]

I agree the reports are all over the place. However at this point Disney PR has repeatedly been caught in lies (It was just a power outage. Ok, no it was a collision but the cars were empty. There were no injuries). I'm inclined to believe the firefighter whose department was at the scene at this point until he's shown to be not credible for some reason. Do you disagree with that?

I am indifferent at this point. I don’t want to think the worst but maybe play devil’s advocate a bit and the fire fighter on record could have used this as a sort of public message to promote that they need more resources. Again all speculation.

 

[rteetz]

It might be in our best interest to close this thread and stop myself and others from continuing to speculate until we have anymore details.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Here's my prediction, for what it's worth. Those of us from the Northeast probably remember "Action Park," a water park from the 80's. They built this ridiculous upside down waterslide. Here's a picture:



Anyway, it was a ridiculous and dangerous design that they built without thinking about it or testing it properly. It never worked properly. They'd try to open it for a few days and then someone would get hurt and they'd close it again. They tried this a few times before they finally gave up. This gondola system is a ridiculous design for what it's trying to be. It's a transportation system with no active cooling in a subtropical climate that serves primarily a very vulnerable population (children), without apparently an effective evacuation system. Disney has sunk a ton of money into it. I predict they will continually try to get it working, it will continue to have issues and break down, and eventually they will give up on it. Hopefully that doesn't happen after someone gets seriously injured or killed.

 

[Brianstl]

I am indifferent at this point. I don’t want to think the worst but maybe play devil’s advocate a bit and the fire fighter on record could have used this as a sort of public message to promote that they need more resources. Again all speculation.

Disney definitely screwed up. There is no other way to label this happening seven days in. I think there is a definite problem with the Riviera station. The fire department needs more resources. None of that means lack of air conditioning is a major issue.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Anyone else think Disney shouldn’t have cheaped out and shelled out for a monorail expansion? And before i hear any of those “too expensive” comments just remember how many billions they spent on fox. I was a big fan of this while they were being built but now I wont take my family on these until disney proves they are safe. The cutting corners is catching up.

 

[mshanson3121]

the temperatures don’t skyrocket in these. They are coated to prevent that. You don’t get the oven effect you get in the car. What happens is the equivalent of sitting in the shade at the park at the same time. If you can’t handle hours in the heat don’t take these and don’t visits the parks in the summer.

Like I said earlier, my biggest fear if stuck in one of these for an hour plus would be a thunderstorm and not the heat. I wouldn’t want to be stuck in high winds and lightning.

The reflective coatings help, but do not eliminate, as evidenced by the many reports from this week, when they were stopping, that they *did* get noticeably warmer.

I agree they won't get as hot as a car, but when you're starting with temps in the 90s and 100s, then after a few hours.... you could still have a dangerous situation.

As for the "don't visit in summer" comment - I have a medical condition that makes me struggle in heat. I definitely can't handle hours in the heat. I am however, still perfectly capable of visiting in the summer, because there are several ways to manage. Further, it's very rare you're in the heat for hours straight at Disney, because most of the rides and many of the queues, are air conditioned. However, no, I will never step foot in one of these, because of what just happened. I saw that one coming a mile away.

 

[mousemagic00]

Knowing what I know about batteries, I'm not sure I'd be sitting on Tesla's (or anyone's) Li-ion batteries in a closed box. And Tesla's Powerwalls are not subjected to constant jostling.

Eh.... admitted I’m arm-chairing this... but electric cars get jostled plenty. I live in New England where we have Teslas aplenty running in our blizzards and our ugly humid summers. Over all sorts of road surfaces and varied city traffic conditions. Just try getting into Boston on a Monday morning. Jostled doesn’t begin to describe it. Or heat from the engine, plus tarmac, on a 90+ degree day.

Location of the battery could be engineered appropriately. And the entire unit has the ability to charge in real-time if solar was used (see Tesla’s roof technology), battery size can be minimal.

I don’t doubt the concept is not simple. It’s certainly expensive. I looked into the Tesla tech for my summer cottage roof, couldn’t justify it, even with our current A/C costs.

And really, I’m thinking more the one repeating factor on all the Skyliner threads on DIS -

What if it stopped in mid July at 2pm?

So even as an emergency cooling system, there is no way something like this in today’s world couldn’t exist.

 

[StacyStrong]

Lots of internet doctors, engineers, and lawyers in here.

 

[The Pho]

It might be in our best interest to close this thread and stop myself and others from continuing to speculate until we have anymore details.

Best to keep the continuous conversation contained in this thread rather than spreading to others. People want to discuss this, it’s a major recent event for Disney.

 

[EmJ]

But like I said there is a reliability there. And those cabins need power for the AC. In the event of a 3+ hour delay that power supply may not have lasted.

That’s the point. If there was no reliable way to provide air conditioning to the gondola cabins for the duration of an emergency evacuation response, then they should not have built the gondola.

 

[Moliphino]

The reflective coatings help, but do not eliminate, as evidenced by the many reports from this week, when they were stopping, that they *did* get noticeably warmer.

Warmer than when they are in motion, not noticeably warmer than the outside temp. At least in my experience.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Lots of internet doctors, engineers, and lawyers in here.

Probably because a lot of us are, in fact, doctors, engineers, and lawyers? This forum is a population that can afford Disney after all... I'm an attorney.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Probably because a lot of us are, in fact, doctors, engineers, and lawyers? This forum is a population that can afford Disney after all... I'm an attorney.

I'm just some dude with a magic band

 

[rteetz]

Anyone else think Disney shouldn’t have cheaped out and shelled out for a monorail expansion? And before i hear any of those “too expensive” comments just remember how many billions they spent on fox. I was a big fan of this while they were being built but now I wont take my family on these until disney proves they are safe. The cutting corners is catching up.

Not sure any company would look at monorail expansion right now. It’s so crazy expensive to build it.