Disney Skyliner Crash?

[bcla]

Have any of you ever done these types of rides very high up in the mountains? Yikes!

Been on any number of cable-car trams and gondolas. Over the years I've been on gondolas at Huangshan Park and the new one at the Oakland Zoo. Also ski resort trams (I don't ski) at Heavenly (Lake Tahoe), Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, and Grouse Mountain north of Vancouver, BC. Definitely not for anyone scared of heights. There have been the occasional incidents such as a US Marine Corp plane taking out a cable, although that was just out and out negligence.

 

[ronandannette]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-skyliner-accident.3773008/page-19#post-61145482

I guess to be a little more specific, where are the occupants of the blue car? They are the ones that would have been subject to the most serious impact. Has anyone come forward saying they were in the blue car? Again, it just seems so bizarre Disney would claim no one was in it if people were obviously in it. How they justify saying no guests were involved at all is impossible to understand.

 

[bcla]

Looked it up. This is the latest gondola model from Doppelmayr/Garaventa. I've been on several of their gondolas - the ones I mentioned before in China and at the Oakland Zoo. Those rides were always without incident. They also made the BART connector to Oakland Airport, which is really a cable pulled rail system.

 

[DisneyOma]

Nobody was in the gondolas that crashed, and mechanical failures do happen.
We are not 100% guaranteed that anything we ride will never break down while we are on it. If we aren't willing to accept that risk, then that poster is right- stay off the ride.

I'd like to see better pictures of the actual damage. An actual crash hard enough to shatter plexiglass would have caused some sort of injury - no? Nobody has claimed any sort of injury other than being startled and uncomfortable during the wait. The dots are not fully connected. If you have a link to more explicit photos, I'd appreciate it.

Not to mention that if people were in those cars, wouldn't they be speaking up? Have we heard from anybody who says they were in them? This is very odd on Disney's part.

I guess to be a little more specific, where are the occupants of the blue car? They are the ones that would have been subject to the most serious impact. Has anyone come forward saying they were in the blue car? Again, it just seems so bizarre Disney would claim no one was in it if people were obviously in it. How they justify saying no guests were involved at all is impossible to understand.

Time for you all to do a google search - all the info is out there.

 

[Hikergirl]

Time for you all to do a google search - all the info is out there.

No need thanks to some DISers here on this thread.

 

[ronandannette]

No need thanks to some DISers here on this thread.

Have I missed something where guests reported having been in the blue car?? Seriously - I don't understand what's gone on here. I've read several accounts from passengers (maybe both from the same guests) in the yellow car behind the blue car. Even they do not say there were or weren't guests in the blue car. The video makes it look like there were at a certain point (you can see shapes in the windows) but I've yet to see any communication directly from them.

@Disney Oma - maybe you could be a pal and suggest the google search terms that will turn up this information?

 

[Hikergirl]

Have I missed something where guests reported having been in the blue car?? Seriously - I don't understand what's gone on here. I've read several accounts from passengers (maybe both from the same guests) in the yellow car behind the blue car. Even they do not say there were or weren't guests in the blue car. The video makes it look like there were at a certain point (you can see shapes in the windows) but I've yet to see any communication directly from them.

I don't know about the blue car, I just read the link to the thread where a DISer was on one of the ones who got knocked into. I don't know what color it was.
I was under the impression based on a link to an article that no people were in any of the gondolas but it appears that isn't true.

ETA it looks like they were in the yellow one that was next to the blue one.

 

[ronandannette]

I don't know about the blue car, I just read the link to the thread where a DISer was on one of the ones who got knocked into. I don't know what color it was.
I was under the impression based on a link to an article that no people were in any of the gondolas but it appears that isn't true.

ETA it looks like they were in the yellow one that was next to the blue one.

When Disney pronounced it "unexpected downtime" with "no guests involved", well, that clearly wasn't true. The reports I've read were all from people in the yellow cars though. Was there or wasn't there anybody in the blue car? The blue car is clearly the one that sustained the most serious damage and would therefor have put any occupants at real risk for injury. Do they or don't they exist?

 

[DisneyOma]

Have I missed something where guests reported having been in the blue car?? Seriously - I don't understand what's gone on here. I've read several accounts from passengers (maybe both from the same guests) in the yellow car behind the blue car. Even they do not say there were or weren't guests in the blue car. The video makes it look like there were at a certain point (you can see shapes in the windows) but I've yet to see any communication directly from them.

@Disney Oma - maybe you could be a pal and suggest the google search terms that will turn up this information?

You've gone from there was no accident, to there was a little one but it wasn't a big deal as no one was on board any of the gondolas involved, to it wasn't a big deal because no one was on the blue gondola... Isn't it enough that there were guests involved, gondolas were damaged, and people had to wait hours to be evacuated down ladder trucks? Everyone was all "this is so safe" before, except for a few of us who were extremely skeptical. Now it's been running for about a week and it's shut down because of a pretty serious issue. Whether anyone was in the blue one or not, there was enough contact to break at least one window panel. My guess is that anyone in any of the gondolas involved would be lucky to not have at least a few bumps and bruises.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I'm surprised there were no tweets (yet) from some panic stricken passengers left in the air for three hours. "OMG!!! It was SO scary!!! I thought we were going to DIE!!!"

 

[Hikergirl]

When Disney pronounced it "unexpected downtime" with "no guests involved", well, that clearly wasn't true. The reports I've read were all from people in the yellow cars though. Was there or wasn't there anybody in the blue car? The blue car is clearly the one that sustained the most serious damage and would therefor have put any occupants at real risk for injury. Do they or don't they exist?

I don't know if anyone has come out stating they were in the blue car.
I admit that I don't know anything about how the gondolas function or how fast they go but I think that anyone in any of the cars that crashed in to another or were crashed in to were at some risk too.

 

[ronandannette]

You've gone from there was no accident, to there was a little one but it wasn't a big deal as no one was on board any of the gondolas involved, to it wasn't a big deal because no one was on the blue gondola... Isn't it enough that there were guests involved, gondolas were damaged, and people had to wait hours to be evacuated down ladder trucks? Everyone was all "this is so safe" before, except for a few of us who were extremely skeptical. Now it's been running for about a week and it's shut down because of a pretty serious issue. Whether anyone was in the blue one or not, there was enough contact to break at least one window panel. My guess is that anyone in any of the gondolas involved would be lucky to not have at least a few bumps and bruises.

In general, I'm still of the mind that this was really NBD for almost everybody involved. I also still stand by the idea of a "crash" meaning something very different. Absolutely no injuries have been reported, nor does it seem like any could have been incurred EXCEPT MAYBE BY OCCUPANTS OF THE BLUE CAR. The occupants of the car directly behind it have already self-reported having no injuries. You seem to want to insist this is an extremely egregious event and I simply disagree. Your aggressive, nasty tone is uncalled for.

 

[ronandannette]

I'm surprised there were no tweets (yet) from some panic stricken passengers left in the air for three hours. "OMG!!! It was SO scary!!! I thought we were going to DIE!!!"

Where are those? I don't often think of stuff like that but you're right, it would be expected. I can only assume most of the people affected dealt with it like they would any other ride break-down and likely had no idea what was causing the hold up.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't know if anyone has come out stating they were in the blue car.
I admit that I don't know anything about how the gondolas function or how fast they go but I think that anyone in any of the cars that crashed in to another or were crashed in to were at some risk too.

Post 456 says people were in the blue Gondola.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-skyliner-accident.3773008/page-23#post-61145765

 

[Disneylover99]

Where are those? I don't often think of stuff like that but you're right, it would be expected. I can only assume most of the people affected dealt with it like they would any other ride break-down and likely had no idea what was causing the hold up.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dis...IuDksG0UagIK7isX2TIYIFswTzAg5EVW1WXc4Y558giUk

 

[Disneylover99]

In general, I'm still of the mind that this was really NBD for almost everybody involved. I also still stand by the idea of a "crash" meaning something very different. Absolutely no injuries have been reported, nor does it seem like any could have been incurred EXCEPT MAYBE BY OCCUPANTS OF THE BLUE CAR. The occupants of the car directly behind it have already self-reported having no injuries. You seem to want to insist this is an extremely egregious event and I simply disagree. Your aggressive, nasty tone is uncalled for.

It seems like it was less of a big deal for the people involved in the Gondolas that hit one another. They were seemingly evacuated quickly and safely and went on their way.

For anyone up in the air for 3+ hours, and/or was evacuated by fire truck or on a stretcher, I’d say it was a big deal. I have no idea how many people that would include, but I’d say it was probably a big deal for many people involved.

 

[bcla]

I don't know if anyone has come out stating they were in the blue car.
I admit that I don't know anything about how the gondolas function or how fast they go but I think that anyone in any of the cars that crashed in to another or were crashed in to were at some risk too.

Most of these Doppelmayr gondolas disengage from the cable at the loading stations and ride on a rail. Then they'll clamp onto the cable before leaving the station. They're supposed to automatically keep separation in the station.

This video also shows a separate section of the station where cars can load disabled passengers who might take longer to load or unload before sending the cars back into the normal flow. Not sure if those cars are any different.

Here's a similar system going across the Thames in London:

 

[kaytieeldr]

They’re also going to ban Netflix ads for some bizarre reason. As if everyone doesn’t already

"Some reason"? No. Competition. It was on my local (New England) news last week.

 

[Park Pirate]

I know speculation is bad. But if I had to, I am guessing that there was some kind of power failure, which Disney reported. Then, in the process of trying to start removing people at the station, there was some kind of miscommunication or failure of the cast members involved to execute the proper protocol which led to the cars crushing up against each other at that particular station. Probably a car was held fixed, while the others were allowed to move. So, it probably was not a violent impact, but the crushing looks to have been enough to deflect the window and other parts enough to buckle (which caused the glass to break). I know nothing about the designs of these vehicles, but am guessing/hoping that there are crumble (or at least less supported) zones around a fairly sturdy passenger area (like a car). Luckily, the immediate passenger areas do not seem to be compromised and they were able to stop the crushing before something more serious happened.

I will say that being locked into something that is getting crushed is probably pretty unnerving. But, I am also guessing that as soon as it started happening, someone hit an E-Stop of some sort and it ceased.

Regardless, I would not be surprised if it comes out that the passenger recovery protocol was not properly used or trained. Hopefully, they will learn from this to avoid the same mistakes or for them to put in additional safety measures.

 

[DebbieB]

I read there was a faulty sensor on the first car, it was stopped and didn't move when the ones behind did.