Disney Skyliner Accident

[Disneylover99]

I was in one of the stuck gondolas last night. I’ve been skimming through and there are a couple points that were brought up that I can address.



The only thing we were being told in the gondolas through the speakers was that there was a “temporary delay” And “thank you for your patience. We had access to social media. We had seen the pictures of the collided cars. I would have much preferred to hear something like “There is a blocked line at the Riviera station that has halted the gondola system for the time being. We are working to clear the line and we will keep you updated.” Additionally, the speaker in our cabin was very staticky and cut out a couple times, so the few times they did give a new message, like when they told us we could open the emergency kits, it was difficult to make out what was said.



We pressed the emergency button in our cabin about halfway through because one person was having a panic attack - shaking, breathing too fast, feeling numb in her fingers, etc. We told them this, and they just made a generic comment that they were working on resolving the situation and then the speaker cut-off mid-sentence and they never spoke directly to us again. They did not connect us with any medical personnel for advice. They did not check back with us through the speaker at any point. We never even saw anyone on the ground looking up at our gondola to try to figure out how to evacuate us or anything like that. (We were over water, so we would have needed a special evacuation method.) Thankfully, another person in our cabin had experienced panic attacks before and was able to help - I don’t know what would have happened if no one in our car had known how to best help her slow down her breathing and try to get through the panic attack.


I don't know how it was at other locations, but my car was close to the Epcot station and there was someone at the platform handing out the gift cards and tickets as we got onto the platform. We did not have to ask. They also took the information for a point of contact for our group. They also provided my group with a hotel room and sleepwear because we had driven in for a day trip from a couple hours away - the gondola ride had been the last thing we had planned to do before heading home.

It sounds like they treated you well on the ground, but they didn’t treat you very well in the air. That is a huge problem.

Glad you’re okay.
I hope the person who had the panic attack is doing well also.

 

[OSUZorba]

The only thing we were being told in the gondolas through the speakers was that there was a “temporary delay” And “thank you for your patience. We had access to social media. We had seen the pictures of the collided cars. I would have much preferred to hear something like “There is a blocked line at the Riviera station that has halted the gondola system for the time being. We are working to clear the line and we will keep you updated.” Additionally, the speaker in our cabin was very staticky and cut out a couple times, so the few times they did give a new message, like when they told us we could open the emergency kits, it was difficult to make out what was said.

We pressed the emergency button in our cabin about halfway through because one person was having a panic attack - shaking, breathing too fast, feeling numb in her fingers, etc. We told them this, and they just made a generic comment that they were working on resolving the situation and then the speaker cut-off mid-sentence and they never spoke directly to us again. They did not connect us with any medical personnel for advice. They did not check back with us through the speaker at any point. We never even saw anyone on the ground looking up at our gondola to try to figure out how to evacuate us or anything like that. (We were over water, so we would have needed a special evacuation method.) Thankfully, another person in our cabin had experienced panic attacks before and was able to help - I don’t know what would have happened if no one in our car had known how to best help her slow down her breathing and try to get through the panic attack.

What's the point of even having the speakers and two-way communication if they don't actually use them to communicate?

I think the compensation seems more than fair for most people, but people who called in that they were having a real medical event and were ignored probably have a real case against Disney on this.

 

[EmJ]

Please no one needs to second guess what went wrong. Basically the system had a major failure. It's gonna take weeks to figure out the root cause. The recovery plan should have been in a hazard assessment like any ride system. If not, shame on disney and the real designers, Imagineering. A mess yes.

Heads are going to roll and this isn't looking good for their leader. 1st SHDL, then tower of terror conversion, then SWGE, then this. We're looking at billions spent in the cap projects and this adds to the result (iger and the board will be asking: what did I get for my $$).

What does SHDL stand for?

 

[dclpluto]

- I don’t know what would have happened if no one in our car had known how to best help her slow down her breathing and try to get through the panic attack.

Internet, google

 

[MeridaAnn]

Also, we were fine temperature-wise. It was 80 degrees according to my weather app while we were up there and it never felt noticeably hot and the air never felt still or stifled - it felt like we had decent airflow through the vents the whole time, thankfully. There were 5 people in my car, so it's possible those with more people and less personal space available could have had different experiences, but heat was not a concern in my cabin.

Glad you’re okay.
I hope the person who had the panic attack is doing well also.

Thank you. She is doing better today, although definitely worn out. There was a medic that worked with her for quite a bit on the platform after we got off.

 

[wareagle57]

Just curious, has there been any confirmation one way or the other if passengers were in fact on the cars that crashed and if Disney backed off their statement that originally said there were not? I know a poster on here says they were in the car involved and I believe them, but I was wondering if that has been corroborated in any way.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Isn't the RCFD part of the Disney owned/controlled municipal corporation?

Edit- I googled it. Not "technically" owned by disney, but the area has like less than 50 residents and they are Disney employees lol

It's a bit hard to explain but I'll try to sum it up.

Bay lake & Lake Beuna Vista are two legal cities that are owned by Disney. Both are inside disney property. Bay Lake takes the majority of it all.

Reedy Creek is a sort of government system that is owned by Disney, and in turn owns the two cities. Reedy Creek is kinda like the county that holds the cities. Reedy creek is who takes care of power, water, waste management etc. RCFD is just the fire department owned by RCID (Reedy Creek Improvement District). Reedy Creek is also the name most permits are filed under.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

What does SHDL stand for?

Shanghai Disneyland

 

[1911]

[QUOTE

Just curious, has there been any confirmation one way or the other if passengers were in fact on the cars that crashed and if Disney backed off their statement that originally said there were not? I know a poster on here says they were in the car involved and I believe them, but I was wondering if that has been corroborated in any way.

Yes there were passengers,a poster here was in the yellow car that got smashed.don’t know if Disney has changed the narrative.

 

[racefanof88]

That station picture brought me right back to the night of the monorail crash. Gives me chills.

Hope they can get everyone off safely and without too much discomfort too. I feel so bad for those stranded in the air.

We were there the night of the monorail crash. The MK was so packed with people that night for the 4th of July. It was also the same night that Steve McNair was murdered(not Disney related, but notable).

 

[SarahD112]

I think because its not an end station, there is no where to put it

So does that mean ECVs, wheelchairs, etc can’t load or unload there?

 

[UOAP]

I’m sure they would of called other fire departments if needed.

If Disney thinks it is an acceptable safety plan to understaff the local FD and just call in other counties whenever people start to drop dead of heat stroke, I think we should all be worried. That is not making safety a priority.

 

[UOAP]

If you can’t handle hours in the heat don’t take these and don’t visits the parks in the summer.

I'm sure that will be Disney's next tag line in upcoming commercials.
"If you don't want to cook in a metal box 60 feet in the air, DON'T COME TO DISNEY!"

 

[dclpluto]

If Disney thinks it is an acceptable safety plan to understaff the local FD and just call in other counties whenever people start to drop dead of heat stroke, I think we should all be worried. That is not making safety a priority.

Most places get help from other fire companies even the big cities.

 

[Krandor]

This was a major incident and unfortunate on a system that just opened but a lot of the hyperbole in this thread is crazy.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Am I misunderstanding, or could they only get a small number of people evacuated in 3.5 hours? That’s concerning, no? What if they couldn’t get it restarted?

 

[rteetz]

Am I misunderstanding, or could they only get a small number of people evacuated in 3.5 hours? That’s concerning, no? What if they couldn’t get it restarted?

Which like I’ve mentioned earlier leads me to believe they knew they could start it back up and instead of evacuating they just ran everyone out of the cabins at stations instead of evacuating.

 

[MichelinMan]

I can't imagine any company coming forth with a message involving the words "crash" or "injury" while other people were still trapped in that situation. That's asking for panic, in my mind. And from a legal standpoint for sure they'd not say those things. They probably would shy away from "stress" and from saying they could "verify" anything.




I haven't heard of any actual injuries yet. I've heard of panic attacks and heat related medical issues mentioned, but I would not classify either of those as technically an "injury". Have there been other things mentioned? I don't know how the word is used from a legal stand point, but I think of injuries as broken bones, head injuries, sprains, strains, cuts, abrasions, etc., etc.

Not sure whether it is the same in the States, but definitely in the UK heat stress would be classified as an injury. Panic attacks probably wouldn't.

 

[pahoben]

Which like I’ve mentioned earlier leads me to believe they knew they could start it back up and instead of evacuating they just ran everyone out of the cabins at stations instead of evacuating.

When I read through this thread I notice that there are many people that have no facts nor experience nor reason to base their opinions on but are very happy to engage in an anti Disney Corp rant. For some reason they have animosity for Disney Corp. i am not sure what their point is. They want Disney Corp to fail and for Disney properties to shut down? They want Disney Corp to become a philanthropic non profit and hand out gifts for a short period of time until they have no money and then the parks close? They want the American Medical Association to run the parks or the US Government?

Most injuries and fatalities to guests are from the busses and the monorails. Transportation is not risk free. The Gondola will be a reliable ride. It has a start up problem which is typical for a start up of this kind.

A previous poster included very good information from a Gondola message board about how this type of problem often arises. There was an emergency shut down and a cast member may have restarted the system twice without investigating the cause of the shutdown. This caused the cars to collide at the station but still did not allow a car to be crushed nor an injury to a rider. The automation even with human error protected the riders if this was the cause.

It is impossible to design out all human error from a system unless you completely eliminate humans from the system. With all the training in the world humans still make mistakes. Apollo astronauts with incredibly lengthy detailed training made mistakes. Veteran airline pilots make mistakes. It happens and will happen.

Sea world San Diego had a similar incident a few months ago and it took 3.5 hours to evacuate 16 guests. This is not an overly long evacuation period for a Gondola system.

Why do they conclude that evil Disney is lying. When an incident happens there is often incomplete information. This is especially the case when the person operating the system is the one on location and is very stressed that a mistake was made. They say they are conducting the investigation and will better know the facts as the investigation proceeds.

It is so disappointing to see people ranting against Disney given any small opportunity. They have no facts and use no reason they just want to rant against Disney Corp. My goodness no one forces them to go to WDW and no one forces them to ride the Gondola. For the rest of us we will enjoy WDWand enjoy the Gondola and appreciate that Disney Corp has done as well as it has.

 

[Jorjabelle]

Wow.

Keeping up with this thread takes a while.

I’m even more glad after reading the first hand accounts here that this happened at night. I do hope that the accounts by people stuck in the gondolas are getting to accident investigators first and foremost.

Hearing about power issues while stuck, lack of response to potential medical issues in air maybe due to confusion/inexperience of CM, slowness of FD evac, general disorganization during evac are all troubling.

The last ones should have all been handled with a proper, comprehensive, detailed emergency plan. This is literally what Safety Risk Assessment Agencies do for work. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provides samples of Safety Risk Assessment Matrices on their website. I imagine Disney will be under scrutiny for the procedures and training - both SOP and emergency- that they have in place for the Skyliner.

The Skyliner is a transportation system open to the public with enough daily capacity to be considered city sized.

Besides the gaps in the emergency response, these reports of system power issues - first potentially in the blue gondola that started the crushing event, and then the gondola speakers/power issues in 3hr+ stopped gondolas - are troubling.

If the power issues are potentially why there was a 3hr+ delay in evac, meaning the emergency evac procedure in the books for this type of incident listed a swift evac of the line by running all gondolas quickly back to another operating hub, and this didn’t occur - that’s a big problem.

Disney execs should be grateful this didn’t occur at noon during 90/100 degree temps. This incident replayed during the daytime is a mind boggling, dangerous scenario.

I would expect a long down time until there is assurance that better procedures are in place and potential power issues have been corrected and tested before re opening to the public.