Disney Skyliner Accident

[Tall Todd]

Agreed. The difference is with the number of scooters and strollers.

Children, elderly, blind, people with missing limbs, those in wheel chairs ALL ski/snowboard.

 

[MeridaAnn]

Lots of reasons you're not getting more "first hand reports". Because those of us stuck on board were up until past midnight Saturday night and we're exhausted and spent yesterday either travelling or continuing vacations. Because we prioritized updating our families and close friends rather than the internet at large. Because those discussing it online are going at a whirlwind pace and we doubt our actual experiences will even be seen by more than a few people before the crush of uninvolved commenters drown us out, so we're not sure it's worth the effort to wade through everything. Because the "I told you so" mindset from so many makes us feel like they think we shouldn't have boarded in the first place. Because some people are more private than others. Because we're still trying to understand what happened ourselves. Because we're dealing with other normal life issues (I'm getting my car battery replaced right now because it was dead when I got back to my car yesterday, for example). Almost 50 pages in less than 36 hours with only a handful of posts from people who were actually there is just a lot to manage, and that's just this one thread on this one site. There doesn't have to be some big conspiracy just because we haven't all posted our entire first-hand account for people to pick apart.

 

[Cynner]

I work for a business with whom reputation is gold; Disney has the same deal. Folks have to feel safe and secure, if they don't, it directly impacts sales. Sure, they're concerned as humans about the suffering of other humans due to the event - but from a company view point, they're more concerned about the future impact of sales. That doesn't make them evil - it's a business, that's what it's for. It's not a non-profit. In the world of social media, the impact is even broader and faster as the word gets out.
Could there have been more testing done? Sure, at some point, you test vs everything you know could go wrong, but there's always something you don't know about that does go wrong. That's the world, especially with computers and software involved. From my understanding of the cause that I've read, it was the inserting of an ADA car that caused the timing to get off. In all likelihood, Disney has way more ADA cars being used than anywhere else these gondolas are used. So their chance of encountering an error there that no one else ever had was very high. I'd also assume the traffic on the WDW gondolas is higher than anywhere else in the world as well. Again, higher use is going to equal higher chance of problems. I do trust that Disney tested against everything they could think of. The hard part is to think of the unlikely events.
On their reimbursement - Disney has always been very smart about this. They make sure that they're giving enough to not just 'pay back' the inconvience, but to also buy goodwill. Plus - the true value to them is much less than the retail value of the buy outs. $100 Disney gift card means the real cost is just the outlay for whatever it is you bought, assuming at least a 100% profit on retail items (I do not know their profit to cost ratio, but it seems it would be at least that high), that gift card really only 'costs' Disney $50. Park tickets I find very wise on their part - that means you will come back, or stay longer, and then they're going to recoup more money out of you that you maybe weren't even going to spend there in hotels, food and more incidetals like souvenirs. They've definitely thought out their pay outs.

 

[NWOhiogal]

It’s funny that if you read through Gondola evacuations on ski lifts that maybe were done by helicopter with a night spent bivouacked at a remote location the evacuees compliment the company as job well done. At Disney with a three hour evac with no injuries on a new system many people not even on the Gondola rant about evil Disney. Quite a contrast in attitudes.

It's a pretty fair bet that skiiers are more adventurous as a group than vacationing families in Disney World, and thus wouldn't mind "toughing it out" nearly as much.

When you're a super-fit 30 year old who loves cold weather and challenges, chances are you look at a helicopter rescue and bivuoac as "Wow, exciting new life experience!" When you're a 65-year-old grandmother with health problems trapped with two preschool grandchildren in a small box for 3 hours and then told to climb down a 100-foot ladder, not so much.

 

[*DisneyDreamer]

It's almost like most people are happy this happened. The "I told you so" community both here and on the blogosphere is astounding. I genuinely hope I'm never on an airplane with these people just in case they start rooting for the plane to go down.
As to those who say this is nothing like a ski resort system because it has multiple load points or turns or whatnot; Killington's gondola has a midpoint station where guests can enter or leave.

I 100% agree! Everyone is turning this into a joke and a “I knew this was a bad idea” and wanting Disney to fail. I admit to being skeptical of the Skyliner when it was first announced and started construction, but as it got closer to opening I got used to the idea and actually was starting to look forward to it. I’m visiting in less than 2 weeks and even though I’m not staying at a gondola resort, I wanted to give it a ride. I’m bummed that it seems likely it will still be shut down then. I hope Disney gets it figured out because I never would wish for the system to fail.

 

[MlWinans]

I will be the oddball here and say that I fully believe Disney will get this system clean up and extremely productive/efficient. This is not 'breakthrough' technology, the exact same style of gondolas are used elsewhere and have been for a while. The problem Disney has, and it is a good problem, is guest expectations while engaging in anything Disney especially while at the Disney parks, is crazy high (there can NEVER be any issue, NEVER any problem or else EVIL DISNEY stories comes out). Some times crap happens, and it can happen ANYWHERE!

With a system like this, these mechanical problems are bound to arise. The Monorails have issues, the buses have issues and accidents. There was so much negativity surrounding the Skyline system before it even opened and so many Trolls just waiting for the "I told you so" moment that the overarching feel of this thread is not surprising.

But again, I personally say, Disney will figure this out and I look forward to riding the Skyliner when I get there. Albeit with much lower crowd volume I would expect.

 

[pahoben]

It's a pretty fair bet that skiiers are more adventurous as a group than vacationing families in Disney World, and thus wouldn't mind "toughing it out" nearly as much.

When you're a super-fit 30 year old who loves cold weather and challenges, chances are you look at a helicopter rescue and bivuoac as "Wow, exciting new life experience!" When you're a 65-year-old grandmother with health problems trapped with two preschool grandchildren in a small box for 3 hours and then told to climb down a 100-foot ladder, not so much.

Her attitude well could be-thank you so very much for rescuing me and my grandchildren without injury. Job well done.

 

[Lewisc]

Children, elderly, blind, people with missing limbs, those in wheel chairs ALL ski/snowboard.

Your point? Do you agree Disney has more guests with scooters then ski resorts? How many skiers take an ecv to the top of the mountain. Do you think children...who ski and snowboard are more mobile then many Disney guests?

 

[TLinden16]

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.

You can't really compare the money they spent to buy 21st Century Fox to building a monorail. Fox is a profitable entertainment to building a monorail. First, it is two completely different divisions in the company. Second, the purchase of 21st Century fox actually makes money for Disney. The monorail will not make money for Disney.

This is an old article, but if gives you a sense of the cost per mile to build a monorail based on the cost for monorails that have actually been built. https://yesterland.com/monoraillegends3.html I don't know exactly how many miles it would be to build a monorail loop that connects DHS, Pop/AoA, CBR, Riviera, and Epcot, but I would have to guess it would be at least 8 or 10 miles to do the complete route. So maybe a $8-10 billion dollar project with no return real return on the investment.

It was an accident, and people were trapped for a while, but there are no reports of serious injuries (we don't know the status of the people who were taken out on stretchers--we don't know if they were ever taken to a hospital, or if they were just checked out by EMTs and brought back to their hotels for rest). We know from a poster here that the people in the cabins that crashed were not injured. And we know that Disney has been compensating those who were trapped.

And we know that Disney has shut down the system, and they will not let it run again until they are 100% sure it is safe. And I would guess that they are reviewing their emergency policy so that if they need to evacuate again, they will be more prepared for it.

 

[mshanson3121]

It's a pretty fair bet that skiiers are more adventurous as a group than vacationing families in Disney World, and thus wouldn't mind "toughing it out" nearly as much.

When you're a super-fit 30 year old who loves cold weather and challenges, chances are you look at a helicopter rescue and bivuoac as "Wow, exciting new life experience!" When you're a 65-year-old grandmother with health problems stuck with two preschool grandchildren in a small box for 3 hours and then told to climb down a 100-foot ladder, not so much.

This. The amount of people trying to compare the two is ridiculous. Likewise, many are trying to rightly point out that one reason it's silly to compare is because Disney serves a different demographic. But of course you have to have the oddballs that try to argue back with, "Oh but amputees (insert whatever here) ski!" And they say the millennials don't have common sense, lol.

Obviously there are people with health and physical challenges skiing/snowboarding. But anyone who has actually spend a significant amount of time on a mountain and time in Disney, knows the demographic IS different. On a ski hill, those with disability/less than ideal health are exceptions. At Disney they're commonplace.

 

[mshanson3121]

I 100% agree! Everyone is turning this into a joke and a “I knew this was a bad idea” and wanting Disney to fail. I admit to being skeptical of the Skyliner when it was first announced and started construction, but as it got closer to opening I got used to the idea and actually was starting to look forward to it. I’m visiting in less than 2 weeks and even though I’m not staying at a gondola resort, I wanted to give it a ride. I’m bummed that it seems likely it will still be shut down then. I hope Disney gets it figured out because I never would wish for the system to fail.

Count me in the "I don't think this is a good idea" group. However, I am not in the "Glad this happened" group. I don't think Disney investing millions (billions?) into a system that is potentially going to be at worst a fail, or at best, probably not what they hoped, benefits anyone. I also would never be happy to see anyone have to go through this experience just for an "I told you so" moment.

 

[pahoben]

This. The amount of people trying to compare the two is ridiculous. Likewise, many are trying to rightly point out that one reason it's silly to compare is because Disney serves a different demographic. But of course you have to have the oddballs that try to argue back with, "Oh but amputees (insert whatever here) ski!"....is nauseating. Omg. And they say the millennials don't have common sense, lol.

Obviously there are people with health and physical challenges skiing/snowboarding. But anyone who has actually spend a significant amount of time on a mountain and time in Disney, knows the demographic IS different. On a ski hill, those with disability/less than ideal health are exceptions. At Disney they're commonplace.

There was a start up problem. Everyone was evacuated and so far no injuries reported. There are two opposite ways to view that. One way is to thank people for a successful injury free rescue. The other is to rant against Disney since given an opportunity and blame them for something that happens in spite of the best intentions. I guess one is just a positive outlook on the problems of life while the other is a negative blame based approach to the problems of life.

 

[pahoben]

Count me in the "I don't think this is a good idea" group. However, I am not in the "Glad this happened" group. I don't think Disney investing millions (billions?) into a system that is potentially going to be at worst a fail, or at best, probably not what they hoped, benefits anyone. I also would never be happy to see anyone have to go through this experience just for an "I told you so" moment.

I wish there was some way we could wager on this because I think the Gondola system will carry millions of happy passengers through its life.

 

[mshanson3121]

There was a start up problem. Everyone was evacuated and so far no injuries reported. There are two opposite ways to view that. One way is to thank people for a successful injury free rescue. The other is to rant against Disney since given an opportunity and blame them for something that happens in spite of the best intentions. I guess one is just a positive outlook on the problems of life while the other is a negative blame based approach to the problems of life.

I love how your comment has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I said.

 

[Poor Gail]

All over the internet Disneyverse I've seen comments of "Why don't they just build more monorail lines?" Leaving the massive cost out of it, the honest truth is they just can't. When you look at a map of the Disney World property, it looks big enough to hold any amount of track. What most people don't realize is that huge swaths of that land are too unstable to support the weight. It's too swampy or too sandy and soft to create the firm base that is needed. And it is very hard to be sure that the land selected will do the job.

I live here in Florida, and for years a story has circulated that while building the track for the Epcot line, the construction workers came back one morning to discover that some of the supports had vanished. They had literally sunk completely into the ground, causing an emergency plan to route the track through a different area. I always assumed it was an apocryphal story until nearly the same thing happened in Tampa in 2004. While they were building an elevated highway, a support sank into the ground. Here is an article I found if anyone is interested. https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/sinkhole-swallows-section-of-tampa-elevated-roadway/4490

To be frank, they are lucky to have the tracks that they have now. If you think the gondola situation was bad, imagine a monorail full of guests plunging into the ground because a sinkhole opened up underneath it. Unless environmental laws change to let Disney pour concrete 50 feet deep to replace swamp land, more monorail lines are just not happening.

 

[firefly_ris]

I want the Skyliner to be successful because I think it can be a really efficient way to transport people... And also I hate the busses a bunch. I've been following the Skyliner thread excitedly for the past year. I'm very bummed this happened.

All I want is Disney to be transparent, apologetic, let everyone know what they're doing to improve, and I want them to listen when Reedy Creek says they are understaffed. I also want them to have a better PR team. And don't put out statements when they don't have all of the information (and then double down on it on top of it). I don't think those are insane criticisms.

I don't want Disney to fail, I want them to be the ones everyone else aspires to, like they used to be. If I'm critical, it's usually because I give a crap about the product. Of course that's not just applicable to the Skyliner, but the Corp as a whole. I do not like current leadership even though I like Disney. There's still a lot that Dis does right , but imo nothing wrong with pointing out what needs improvement. They have no motivation to change things otherwise.

Ultimately I think they will make sure this is right before re opening. And if I ever have the opportunity I'll ride it.

 

[TaraWasHere]

This thread is a fun read! My personal reaction when I heard about the accident was just...Really? Already? These things happen. They happen all over the world everyday. The only difference is where it happened, and when. Disney has been under quite a bit of fire recently for various reasons, added to the emotions attached to a place like Disney (as this thread proves) and it's pretty much assured to get way more press than it deserves. It's unfortunate, I feel for the cast members and visitors involved. I'm sure it has been a long weekend for all of them.

I'm not wanting or trying to discredit anyone's feelings about what happened. Regardless if they are based in speculation or fact. I'm usually pretty calm about things like this, but I don't know how I would have reacted with a preschooler who has to pee every 30 minutes and a 19 year old who is terrified of heights in tow. It would be different I'm sure. I mean I expect to spend a lot of time sitting/standing around and waiting at Disney...but this is ridiculous!

 

[EmJ]

All I want is Disney to be transparent, apologetic, let everyone know what they're doing to improve, and I want them to listen when Reedy Creek says they are understaffed. I also want them to have a better PR team. And don't put out statements when they don't have all of the information (and then double down on it on top of it). I don't think those are insane criticisms.

All of this. Gold star

 

[pahoben]

I love how your comment has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I said.

Regardless of the physical demographic in this incident after injury free evacuation you can have a positive attitude or a negative attitude. Disney for some reason attracts a mental demographic that has many that vilified and assigns blame given any opportunity. No one is forcing anyone to ride the Gondola.

Another plus of this injury free event is to clearly display for those with some medical condition that would preclude delays or evacuations from the Gondola that they arrange different transportation. Same as elsewhere in the park. Not everyone can ride ToT or other rides and they choose not to or they do ride and assume the risk of a problem through personal choice.

There will be millions of happy passengers on the Gondola including me and my family. If there is a problem when we are riding and we are evacuated safely then I will sincerely be thankful to all involved.

 

[hertamaniac]

Our local WDW news reported this AM that Disney is in contact with all those guests involved in the Skyliner incident and are working with them individually.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/d...investigation-into-pile-up-incident-continues