Disney Skyliner (Gondola Transportation System) Read Post 1 Now Open!

[UmmGooD]

The third does not have an easy solution. People suck and they are going to steal stuff.

I think you had great ideas. The way to fix number 3 is to have tamper electronics on the kit. If a kit is moved or taken then it lights up a light on the car. When the car gets into the station they remove the car from service until the kit is put back in place. The person in the car can be identified before they are even let out.

 

[NotUrsula]

Based on what happened, it looks like some simple strategies will help to mitigate any further incidents, among them might be ...

Getting numbers onto the bottom of the cars is job one. Simple job, too. All they need is weatherproof reflective stickers. I'm betting they are probably being printed in a factory somewhere right now, and will be on trucks headed for WDW by tomorrow.

Almost all guests will have phones. Disney should create an emergency automated text info line. Post the number in the gondolas, so that in the event of a widespread outage, you can dial the number to sign up for the texts. Above all, do NOT attempt to obfuscate what is happening and what the plan is. Guests WILL get info off Twitter, and it may be nonsense or not, so stay ahead of that. It's not that hard. The regular audio should switch to soft music during any extended stoppage.

A manually-operated pallet jack type device should be stored in every station, that can be used to quickly move a disabled car off the line. If you have to tumble the thing into the grass temporarily, then do that -- one damaged car is better than the PR value of a major stoppage. Maintenance should not have to bring this in when needed, so that traffic issues don't impede access. (Doesn't matter if it will never be used; having belt AND suspenders clearly in place will help guest confidence.. Put it all in a shed prominantly marked "Safety equipment".) Personnel can walk in cross-country if need be, but equipment is slower to move, so just store it on site to save time.

Also, for a while at least, parties should be given their own cabin and not have to share. A big part of what upset people in this situation was being "trapped with strangers", so eliminating that as a factor should also help restore guest confidence. (I know it would lower the load factor, but right now that is a minor issue.)

 

[BaymaxFan78]

The gondolas are hooked around the cable so it is very unlikely one will fall. Also the doors are mechanically operated but if they fail to close in the station there is a bar that will close them manually before they take off.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Reedy Creek has confirmed that 3 guests were hospitalized after the incident.

 

[Heelish]

The gondolas are hooked around the cable so it is very unlikely one will fall. Also the doors are mechanically operated but if they fail to close in the station there is a bar that will close them manually before they take off.

The way the cable is created and spliced, they do not just break, even if it splintered the counterweight and other strands would provide enough.

 

[Spridell]

Based on what happened, it looks like some simple strategies will help to mitigate any further incidents, among them might be ...

Getting numbers onto the bottom of the cars is job one. Simple job, too. All they need is weatherproof reflective stickers. I'm betting they are probably being printed in a factory somewhere right now, and will be on trucks headed for WDW by tomorrow.

Almost all guests will have phones. Disney should create an emergency automated text info line. Post the number in the gondolas, so that in the event of a widespread outage, you can dial the number to sign up for the texts. Above all, do NOT attempt to obfuscate what is happening and what the plan is. Guests WILL get info off Twitter, and it may be nonsense or not, so stay ahead of that. It's not that hard. The regular audio should switch to soft music during any extended stoppage.

A manually-operated pallet jack type device should be stored in every station, that can be used to quickly move a disabled car off the line. If you have to tumble the thing into the grass temporarily, then do that -- one damaged car is better than the PR value of a major stoppage. Maintenance should not have to bring this in when needed, so that traffic issues don't impede access. (Doesn't matter if it will never be used; having belt AND suspenders clearly in place will help guest confidence.. Put it all in a shed prominantly marked "Safety equipment".) Personnel can walk in cross-country if need be, but equipment is slower to move, so just store it on site to save time.

Also, for a while at least, parties should be given their own cabin and not have to share. A big part of what upset people in this situation was being "trapped with strangers", so eliminating that as a factor should also help restore guest confidence. (I know it would lower the load factor, but right now that is a minor issue.)

I agree with all your points. Especially the one with parties being given their own cabin when it reopens at least temporarily.

I would imagine people will actually be requesting that for a little while going forward.

Yes we are entering the busiest time of the year and yes it will cause longer lines but in the long run will be more beneficial.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

A manually-operated pallet jack type device should be stored in every station, that can be used to quickly move a disabled car off the line.

Pop/AoA, DHS, and EPCOT all have ECV loading areas that a damaged gondola could have been pulled off to. The main station at CBR has gondola storage and each line has a pull off that leads to the storage area. the Riviera station doesn't have an ECV loading area but it does have a pull off that leads to nowhere.

 

[Spridell]

Pop/AoA, DHS, and EPCOT all have ECV loading areas that a damaged gondola could have been pulled off to. The main station at CBR has gondola storage and each line has a pull off that leads to the storage area. the Riviera station doesn't have an ECV loading area but it does have a pull off that leads to nowhere.

How will they load the ECV'S at the Riviera? They going to convert that pull off to nowhere?

 

[Spartan86]

I think Lift “aficionados” call it a stub. It is off line, but must go back on line to get anywhere. Stubs exist at the BWV turn station as well.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

How will they load the ECV'S at the Riviera? They going to convert that pull off to nowhere?

They can't. They will either have to stop the entire line to load them or tell them to board at CBR

 

[Spartan86]

Dupe

 

[Pyotr]

Will the cable support my weight after I leave Boma?

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Will the cable support my weight after I leave Boma?

I'm afraid I can't answer that

 

[Spridell]

They can't. They will either have to stop the entire line to load them or tell them to board at CBR

Wait so you are saying ECV's have no way at all to board at Riveria?

I find that EXTREMELY EXTREMELY hard to believe considering Rivera is a DVC resort that will have tons of ECV'S

 

[Sweettears]

Disney is so very lucky no one was in the cars that hit each other. Also, thank God it didn’t happen during the day. It’s been so hot lately, people would’ve been sick from the heat. I doubt one lone bottle of water would’ve stopped people from getting heat stroke.
I’m a bit curious what’s in their emergency kits. Anyone know?

I’m a bit behind in the thread but I read another that had a post from the folks in the yellow gondola that hit the blue one. No one was hurt but upsetting nonetheless. I apologize if someone brought this up prior.

 

[seashoreCM]

Up in Vancouver where someone vandalized the system and cut the cable, the gondolas that fell remained attached to the cable as the cable fell.

At Riviera gondolas can be stopped briefly while the cable keeps going. Depending on the sophistication of the system, the maximum length of time a gondola can be stopped without stopping the cable and all of the other cars may vary.

In the case of the Skyliner crash, the system should have shut down one component at a time finally stopping the cable if needed, so as to prevent the crash. The blue gondola that did not engage the cable and was hit was not the cause of the crash.

Will the cable support my weight after I leave Boma?

Depends on how much you ate

 

[NotUrsula]

Pop/AoA, DHS, and EPCOT all have ECV loading areas that a damaged gondola could have been pulled off to. The main station at CBR has gondola storage and each line has a pull off that leads to the storage area. the Riviera station doesn't have an ECV loading area but it does have a pull off that leads to nowhere.

Yes, but that didn't help much on Saturday, did it? Sliding a car forward or backward into a pull-off slot works fine as long as there is nothing blocking the hanger arm, but as we saw Saturday, blocking a hanger arm, or having something on the arm not function properly, is an Achilles Heel on this system. Creating a rolling cradle device that lets the cabin be partly disassembled as necessary and removed laterally will solve that issue. I think that a decent engineer could modify the machinery of one or two heavy forklifts to do that job.

(Edited to clarify that as cabins that are airborne are not using moving parts of the arm assembly (they are clamped on in a stationary position while the rope moves), being able to completely remove a cabin from the airborne part of the line shouldn't be necessary. The moving parts are only an issue when it is traversing a station.)

 

[TheMick424]

Reedy Creek has confirmed that 3 guests were hospitalized after the incident.

Hospitalized or taken to the hospital?

 

[midaroco]

They arent going to look into something that doesnt make sense. They arent going to fall. The place where accidents will occur is in the stations. If you fall into that lake, you dont want the door to open, do you know how many gators live in Florida waters?

one can’t make a declarative statement like “they aren’t going to fall” since it isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. If one were to fall in the lake...absolutely just about everyone would want them to open to give the 10 -12 people a fighting chance at survival instead of waiting to drown.

 

[Spridell]

one can’t make a declarative statement like “they aren’t going to fall” since it isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. If one were to fall in the lake...absolutely just about everyone would want them to open to give the 10 -12 people a fighting chance at survival instead of waiting to drown.

Like I said in my other post I am sure this has been discussed internally. They would be foolish not to have discussed this possibility.

If I am Disney I am hiring people just to think up of scenarios that will most likely never happen but to have solutions to those scenarios.

Touring helicopter or small plane goes out of control flies into Disney airspace into the woods and right into the cable taking the entire line down. God please let that never happen, but a plan for something like that has to be in place.

We just dont know and probably will never know what the solution is for those type of scenarios.