This week's episode - comments disabled, no discussion?

My ds and I finally watched the dis unplugged last PM that has been discussed here. At no time did we feel that anyone was "shilling for Disney".So if you were looking for a rant it didn't happen. It was a discussion . Everyone is entitled to their own opinion whether we agree or not. What happened was definitely frightening for the people on the skyliner. Would I have wanted to have been stuck up there no. And yes and thankfully it happened at night instead of mid day in the summer heat and humidity . Our teenage ds was stuck at night on BTRR at night in August in the heat and humidity 2 yrs ago and he's asthmatic . It took close to 45 minutes to walk everyone safely down and off the ride . Was I freaking a bit you bet. But other than being a ball of sweat he was good and safe. And yes he received 3 anytime fp's. I was ready for an adult beverage!!! We all have ridden that ride multiple times since. Could Disney have communicated better with the guests on the gondolas? Definitely. Yes it took sometime to get everyone off the skyliner but it was done safely and sometimes it takes longer than most of us would like and that is frustrating and scary for the people actually on the skyliner. And that is something Disney is going to have to reevaluate along with other issues. I believe that Disney will do what it needs to do to make corrections to the Skyliner for the safety of all of us to ride and enjoy.
 
I was thinking about taking a trip on it on my upcoming visit just to try it out. This makes me think I should wait until my next trip there. I don't necessarily think it's unsafe. I just don't want to risk my precious park time XD
 
After reading this thread, and taking everything under serious consideration, here's my two cents....

I wish Duffy would get stuck up in the sky in a gondola forever, never to be rescued.

Duffy still exists while Illuminations and The Fountain of Nations are gone.

This is the worst of all possible worlds.
 
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Well then. Can we revisit this thread in a few years when Craig has two kids under the age of four who are already cranky after they’ve been in a theme park all day and are just trying to get back to go to sleep but instead get stuck in box for three hours and have to get rescued by a cherry picker? Let’s see how much empathy he has then. What a thing to say.
I also am interested in hearing Pete’s take still. I would have two questions for him now that the dust has settled. (I know he reacted initially on Twitter, but maybe has had more time to reflect.)
Will you go on it?

Will you put your mom on it?
 


Because if and when comments get out of hand we reserve the right to turn comments off and I made the call that they were going off on this video based on what I was seeing and dealing with. I don’t control the boards so if the discussion happens here then that’s up to the moderators. We don’t turn off comments often, but it’s happened once or twice before and the last time before this Pete even thought about wanting all comments off all the time.

Craig - I completely agree with you! While I primarily lurk on the forums and the live show chat - I can say that at times the comments made by folks are completely off-base and sometimes out of hand/down-right personal. Everyone is allowed their own opinions, it is common decency... but to force someone to align with your thinking is just nonsensical. Keep doing what you are doing! :disrocks:
 
I also am interested in hearing Pete’s take still. I would have two questions for him now that the dust has settled. (I know he reacted initially on Twitter, but maybe has had more time to reflect.)
Will you go on it?

Will you put your mom on it?
Somehow I don’t think Craig would be saying he had no empathy for those stuck on the gondolas for three hours if Pete's mom was one of them 🤔
 
Somehow I don’t think Craig would be saying he had no empathy for those stuck on the gondolas for three hours if Pete's mom was one of them 🤔
When listening this week, all I could think about was what it would’ve been like if Pete’s mom had been on a gondola when it was stuck. What a different show it would be...

I also only listen via podcast, and have never watched a show, so maybe I lost some body language cues, but I was kind of aghast at how the hosts just laughed the entire incident off. Craig’s open admission that he has no empathy for people who were stuck is probably going to make me not listen to shows when Pete isn’t there.

People getting on a new mode of transportation do not have a reasonable expectation of being stuck for three hours with terrible communication from Disney. Gondolas are generally safe, and I wasn’t concerned about riding them on my trip over Thanksgiving. I’m still not worried about them falling out of the sky or anything. I am rethinking them, as I’ll be 6 months pregnant and have a two year old. We can’t go 3+ hours without a bathroom break.

Sitting there would have been miserable, and having a podcast host heckle the riders, saying he has no empathy and implying they should have expected it, is just a bit too much for me.
 
I really wish there was detailed information and facts about what actually happened. I keep seeing a lot of hyperbole about "thousands" trapped and the 3 hours that make it sound like absolutely everyone was trapped for the entire time. (and every one of them was elderly AND under the age of 2 AND had a medical condition!)

I believe the entire system has 300 cars with a maximum of 10 people per car so theoretically, there could be "thousands" on the system at one time - but the issue was only 1 of the lines. It's the longest piece, so probably has more cars than the other 2 lines, but does anyone know how many? Were all the cars filled to capacity? If there were say 150 cars on the Epcot line, were they all completely full so there were 1500 people effected. Doubtful.

I have now seen a couple of articles that have said that only 1 gondola was actually evacuated by cherry-picker. After that was complete, the rest of the cars were pulled to the station and people got out there. The reports say that there were 6 people in the gondola that was evacuated. One of those requested medical attention (it is implied that this is why they used the cherry-picker) and was transported to the hospital. Is this information true? It's hard to know when so many articles want to take the "Oh My God, Something Happened at Disney!!!" approach. :(

IF there were 150 cars (a guess) and averaged 6 people per car (no idea!), that would be 900 people involved. That is a lot - but not "THOUSANDS".

Pretty much every report I've read said that people were stuck for "up to 3 hours" - I really would like to know what that means. How long before the first people were able to get out? Were the majority stuck for 1 hour? 2 hours? more? Did everyone hang there for 2.5 hours and then all were pulled to the stations and able to get out in 30 minutes? Did they start pulling cars in at 1 hour and it took 2 hours to complete the job?

I totally agree that Disney really failed on communication with guests. They should have been providing regular updates and DEFINITELY should have turned off the canned track after a while. I've been stuck on rides and usually after it goes on long enough, they turn off the ride sounds and just occasionally issue the "please stay seated" warning.
 
First Theresa calling us capitalist pigs for going to Victoria and Alberts.

Now Craig not being outraged for the gondolas breaking down!

The podcast has become propaganda for the Mouse!

I’m totally offended by the DIS. My next visit to Disney May be my last!
 
Somehow I don’t think Craig would be saying he had no empathy for those stuck on the gondolas for three hours if Pete's mom was one of them 🤔
I don’t believe Pete would’ve ever put his mother on the gondola. He tries to keep her out of parks if it ever gets too hot and her being in a scooter when they are out and about is something he doesn’t budge on. I could be wrong, but I believe Pete wouldn’t put her on the gondola to begin with knowing what could possibly happen and not wanting to put her in harms way the same way that when he feels like she can no longer drive herself then he won’t let her.
 
I don’t believe Pete would’ve ever put his mother on the gondola. He tries to keep her out of parks if it ever gets too hot and her being in a scooter when they are out and about is something he doesn’t budge on. I could be wrong, but I believe Pete wouldn’t put her on the gondola to begin with knowing what could possibly happen and not wanting to put her in harms way the same way that when he feels like she can no longer drive herself then he won’t let her.

So here’s my question - so in this case you would say that riding the gondola is putting someone in harm’s way? You are pretty much confirming that people should have concerns about riding after this incident.

I think the argument that people should be prepared/expect this kind of downtime is a tough one. People on their once in a lifetime trip who just spent thousands of dollars aren’t thinking “hey, this gondola could get stuck for 3 hours, I might have to pee in a bag in front of complete strangers, I could get heat stroke up there,” etc. They see it as a neat way to get from here to there. They haven’t been studying the logistics of gondolas like people in the Disney blogger/vlogger/social communities have. Many probably don’t even know there isn’t AC.

It seems like a lot of locals are downplaying it. Sure, when you have an AP and go to WDW whenever you want, maybe getting stuck in there for 3 hours is less of an issue? What if you were on your way to your only evening at Epcot ... ever?

With 2 little kids, yes, I am now hesitant to ride given how the situation was handled (very little & poor communication), how hot the gondolas can get etc. I was hesitant in the first place, and this situation confirmed my concerns.

I feel awful for everyone who was stuck up there.
 
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I don’t believe Pete would’ve ever put his mother on the gondola. He tries to keep her out of parks if it ever gets too hot and her being in a scooter when they are out and about is something he doesn’t budge on. I could be wrong, but I believe Pete wouldn’t put her on the gondola to begin with knowing what could possibly happen and not wanting to put her in harms way the same way that when he feels like she can no longer drive herself then he won’t let her.

I’m sure he wouldn’t let her. But that’s not my point. If she had been on there (or your wife, or your grandmother, or another member of the team, etc) you wouldn’t be on here and on twitter saying you have no empathy for those stuck on there.
 
As for AC, it’s very uncommon and not reliable in gondola systems. You also have to think about power with AC. It’s probably not likely that if there was a 3 hour stoppage that they would last those three hours. Most often in these systems they receive power charges when going in the stations. So without going into the stations they wouldn’t get that charge.

Can I comment about this technically here or would you prefer over, somewhere, on the transportation forum? Your statements are generally true, but there are some energy storage designs that even Disney/Dopplymeyer may have not known or investigated.
 
Can I comment about this technically here or would you prefer over, somewhere, on the transportation forum? Your statements are generally true, but there are some energy storage designs that even Disney/Dopplymeyer may have not known or investigated.
You can say whatever you want here. Doppelmayr is a world leader in gondola systems. I’d imagine they know a lot about energy storage systems or at least what is compatible with their systems.
 

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