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

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I guess I just don’t quite understand what people think is going to happen to it? It wouldn’t be my first choice of place to be but unless there is a terrible thunder storm I’d just plan to wait it out. To me it’s more spacious than when I’m stuck in my car in awful traffic. Ideal? No. But, if I were that concerned about them stopping for an extended period of time, personally I’d choose another form of transportation. Disney offers many!

There has not yet been an extended breakdown in the summer months. We haven't even hit the summer months yet really since this thing opened. The one extended breakdown we did showed us how woefully inadequate Disney's response to a real breakdown requiring evacuation would be. They took 3+ hours and evacuated a couple of cars before getting it restarted again. Disney's system is unlike any other in the world because of it's combination of being in a hot climate and catering to a a clientele that includes large numbers of elderly, infirm, disabled, and infants and toddlers.

Yes, I understand that these systems exist in other hot climates, but they don't serve the same types of people. I'm sorry, they just don't, every third person in disney these days seems to be riding an ECV. I don't care what kind of magical non-greenhouse effect glass they have on these things, if you take a non-moving stationary box and stick it in the sun, even if I grant you that this is made out of magical glass that causes no greenhouse effect whatsoever, eventually the temperature inside that box is going to be at least the same as the temperature outside the box. If this thing breaks down in the summer when the temperature outside is 95 degrees (and it will eventually), and if it takes hours to restart or evacuate, then you are going to have significant problems with the population that disney serves that rides this thing (again, infants, toddlers, old people, and infirm people). Heat stroke is a real thing that can kill. An emergency kit that *might* have some bottles of water if it hasn't been tampered with and a paper and pencils is not going to cut it on board one of these things with 80 year old grandma and her six month old grandson. But don't take my word for it, take the word of the Reedy Creek Fire Department, who after that 3 hour breakdown indicated that they are not adequately staffed for this kind of event, and that if a breakdown like that had happened in the summer the consequences could have been dire.

 

[Mome Rath]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't heard a bad report on the new dedicated number provided in the cab, have we?

 

[MeridaAnn]

They took 3+ hours and evacuated a couple of cars before getting it restarted again.

Just to clarify, we were *on* the gondolas about 3 hours, but that does *not* mean it was a 3-hour evacuation. They didn't just call for the fire department the instant that it stopped - we had already been in place for quite a long time before they sent the fire department to try to evacuate the one car because of a medical concern.

Additionally, you can't just multiply the evacuation time for one vehicle with a medical emergency and apply that to a mass evacuation. If something catastrophic happened and they truly had to get everyone off without moving the line, they wouldn't just be relying on the Reedy Creek fire department - they would call in other departments from the surrounding area, maybe even National Guard help or something like that.

Some things could have been handled better, but there's no need to make it sound worse than it was either.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Just to clarify, we were *on* the gondolas about 3 hours, but that does *not* mean it was a 3-hour evacuation. They didn't just call for the fire department the instant that it stopped - we had already been in place for quite a long time before they sent the fire department to try to evacuate the one car because of a medical concern.

Additionally, you can't just multiply the evacuation time for one vehicle with a medical emergency and apply that to a mass evacuation. If something catastrophic happened and they truly had to get everyone off without moving the line, they wouldn't just be relying on the Reedy Creek fire department - they would call in other departments from the surrounding area, maybe even National Guard help or something like that.

Some things could have been handled better, but there's no need to make it sound worse than it was either.

I'm just going by quotes from RCFD in the media. They were fully mobilized for that stoppage/evacuation/whatever you want to call it. It's also not like Disney can snap it's fingers and get the National Guard there in a timely fashion to help with an evacuation of this sort. Before that three hour stoppage we were only having theoretical arguments about how long it would take Disney to resolve a major issue. Now we have real world data. A minor "fender-bender" between two cars in a station took more than 3 hours to resolve with guests hanging in the air. Everything else is just speculation. It also seems incredibly unlikely to me that having guests stuck in the air for 3 hours is the actual "worst case scenario" when that "worst case scenario" for a transportation system designed to last decades was reached in (checks notes) 14 days.

 

[Orionreplay]

Just to clarify, we were *on* the gondolas about 3 hours, but that does *not* mean it was a 3-hour evacuation. They didn't just call for the fire department the instant that it stopped - we had already been in place for quite a long time before they sent the fire department to try to evacuate the one car because of a medical concern.

Additionally, you can't just multiply the evacuation time for one vehicle with a medical emergency and apply that to a mass evacuation. If something catastrophic happened and they truly had to get everyone off without moving the line, they wouldn't just be relying on the Reedy Creek fire department - they would call in other departments from the surrounding area, maybe even National Guard help or something like that.

Some things could have been handled better, but there's no need to make it sound worse than it was either.

Merida, I understand the whole delay began because of the two cars crunching. I then understand that while that was being investigated and everything was on hold, the medical emergency later happened. Is this how it went that day with you there? Was it the cars crunching that made you delayed 3 hours or was it the medical emergency being the reason?

 

[Searc]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't heard a bad report on the new dedicated number provided in the cab, have we?

I haven't heard a report from anyone that has tried to use it.

 

[MeridaAnn]

Merida, I understand the whole delay began because of the two cars crunching. I then understand that while that was being investigated and everything was on hold, the medical emergency later happened. Is this how it went that day with you there? Was it the cars crunching that made you delayed 3 hours or was it the medical emergency being the reason?

I'm not 100% positive on everything, and I've heard a couple variations on causes, but my understanding is that there were sort of three different causes for the delays. First, there was some sort of electrical or other technical issue that caused a short delay, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, if I recall. I'm pretty sure my group had already gotten past the Riviera station at that point (we boarded at CBR). We moved forward a little bit at that point, stopped for a couple more minutes, moved forward another few yards, and then stopped where we were stuck for the rest of the time (for my group, that was over the Friendship Boat canal right before the Epcot station). So I think it was after/during that second short move that the collision happened - the main line stopped moving, but the other cars going through the Riviera station didn't stop coming around the corner, so they squished into each other at the end of the Riviera station. Then, after being stuck a while longer (I don't know exactly at what time the call happened), someone in another car called 911 and the decision was made to evacuate that car with the ladder truck. Once that evacuation was completed and the Riviera station was cleared (I don't know which part was completed first), the line started moving again and we were brought in to the Epcot station. My group boarded just before 8pm and we got off right at 11pm.

When we got off, Disney was handing out gift cards and park tickets to everyone as we stepped onto the station and my group was provided with a hotel room and a change of clothes to sleep in, since we had driven in from 2 hours away and hadn't intended to stay overnight (we had originally been planning to just grab some food from Epcot as we walked through to head home after the gondola). We were also offered a taxi voucher to get to our cars, but they told us a lot of roads were blocked and we might not be able to get back to the hotel if we went to the cars, so we didn't actually use the taxi voucher (they assured us no cars would be towed from the parking lots that night).

Again, I may be off on the details of the causes, so definitely don't quote me on those, but my general understanding is that the sequence was 1)short pause for technical issue, 2)slow-speed collision at Riviera, 3)medical evacuation.

 

[hertamaniac]

I guess I just don’t quite understand what people think is going to happen to it? It wouldn’t be my first choice of place to be but unless there is a terrible thunder storm I’d just plan to wait it out. To me it’s more spacious than when I’m stuck in my car in awful traffic. Ideal? No. But, if I were that concerned about them stopping for an extended period of time, personally I’d choose another form of transportation. Disney offers many!

And that's part of the issue right?; you don't know what is going to happen to it; Are you saying that every deemed competent engineer has provided a 100% guarantee that you will be safe in a suspended gondola for every occurrence? Is it in writing?

I don't care how many other forms of transportation Disney offers (like many!). I expect a SAFE ride with communications that are effective if something goes awry. Period.

 

[hertamaniac]

Some people on board might have had a different perspective than I did, and I understand that, but the reality was that we were in a structurally safe place and, while we were inconvenienced, we were not any more at risk than we are on any other park ride (and we were in far, far less danger than we were during our drive on the interstate to get to the park).

And you know this, 100%, how? Do you have supporting data that every cable/gondola was tested to maximum limits and that QC has never failed? I would say any other park ride (for example, the train ride) is far more safe than a hanging gondola. Do you think it isn't per your statement of "any" other?

I think it could easily be horrific for others that have less "confidence" than you.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I also think that the people who had to relieve themselves in bags in front of strangers might have a different perspective.

 

[hertamaniac]

I also think that the people who had to relieve themselves in bags in front of strangers might have a different perspective.

Bingo....that qualifies to me as horrific.

 

[hertamaniac]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't heard a bad report on the new dedicated number provided in the cab, have we?

So it's going to take a bad report to institute a rock solid risk averse policy?

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I also think that the people who had to relieve themselves in bags in front of strangers might have a different perspective.

The only problem I will have is if someone has to take a dump in one of those bags is who is gonna clean up all the puke? I can assure you I will be throwing up everything I ate in the last day if I have to witness that!

 

[Mome Rath]

So it's going to take a bad report to institute a rock solid risk averse policy?

If you've read, one of the issues was communication during an emergency, Disney has now instituted a change in their previous policy. People are still responding as though Disney hasn't fixed the original issue we all discussed. Thus far, I've not seen a report anywhere that states that their call was ignored when they called the number. Until someone calls the number and reports we aren't going to know if they've adequately addressed the issue, are we?

 

[hertamaniac]

If you've read, one of the issues was communication during an emergency, Disney has now instituted a change in their previous policy. People are still responding as though Disney hasn't fixed the original issue we all discussed. Thus far, I've not seen a report anywhere that states that their call was ignored when they called the number. Until someone calls the number and reports we aren't going to know if they've adequately addressed the issue, are we?

Is Disney going to reveal that someone has called and at a given timestamp? Do we know the period of time between a call and response as we all discussed?

 

[Mome Rath]

Is Disney going to reveal that someone has called and at a given timestamp? Do we know the period of time between a call and response as we all discussed?

That's my point; we're gonna need more data. We do know, from reports, that the call boxes weren't cutting it, so I'm sure we'll get data one way or another. At this point it's obvious Disney is aware of issues, and is taking steps to change some things, we also know that when there are issues they are working with Doppel' to fix them. It's not as though Disney wants the Gondolas to have issues.

 

[hertamaniac]

That's my point; we're gonna need more data. We do know, from reports, that the call boxes weren't cutting it, so I'm sure we'll get data one way or another. At this point it's obvious Disney is aware of issues, and is taking steps to change some things, we also know that when there are issues they are working with Doppel' to fix them. It's not as though Disney wants the Gondolas to have issues.

The issue is that "we" won't get visibility to the data. We'll get excerpts and truncated/empirical observations, but hard data is behind the Disney firewall. My issue is that Disney should have been more proactive and took, not taking, the steps to have the communication protocols already established before deploying the gondolas. But, that would likely have impacted release deadlines.

 

[Mome Rath]

The issue is that "we" won't get visibility to the data. We'll get excerpts and truncated/empirical observations, but hard data is behind the Disney firewall. My issue is that Disney should have been more proactive and took, not taking, the steps to have the communication protocols already established before deploying the gondolas. But, that would likely have impacted release deadlines.

Disney is working with Doppel' and they have to be the one to tweak and make changes. I'm sure Disney is holding Doppel's feet to the fire when there is an issue, and in turn, Disney is ironing out issues that can only be spotted with more run time (there was a proactive communication system in place, but it didn't work to either Disney or their consumers' satisfaction, so they are changing it). There are some tech issues that you can't spot until there is a wider user base than what can be put through the system with a "test."

I don't expect Disney to share data, that would be odd given the size and scope of their corporation. I do expect them to respond to issues, and that's what I see them doing. I just never expect perfection from any form of travel, especially when tech is in play and it's a system installed in a new environ serving people that aren't familiar with it.

In short, if people don't choose to ride, that's fine. If people like me do, that's fine (love the system and can't wait to ride again; and I've said before, my caution is with time, and if I had a hard time I had to be back at my hotel by, I would take a bus just in case but that isn't perfect either). Disney and Doppel' seem intent on finding and fixing issues, so I'm good with that. If others aren't they can and should let Disney know.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

The issue is that "we" won't get visibility to the data. We'll get excerpts and truncated/empirical observations, but hard data is behind the Disney firewall. My issue is that Disney should have been more proactive and took, not taking, the steps to have the communication protocols already established before deploying the gondolas. But, that would likely have impacted release deadlines.

The communication issue is certainly an issue, but it’s still not the issue. The real issue is how long it took them to respond to a relatively minor incident while deploying the entirety of the RCFD resources they had at the time. Again, if there was a more serious incident than the minor fender-bender and it happenned in July at 3 PM instead of in the evening in the fall the outcome could have been a lot worse. They are clearly not set up with the infrastructure they need to manage a transportation system like this, where it is simply not acceptable to have the possibility of children, the elderly, and the infirm stranded for hours in dangerous heat.

 

[Itsnotmykitchen]

Clearly everyone here complaining about communication doesn’t frequently utilize the NYC subway system.