Monorail may be inspected by DOT if new bill gets passed

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Monorails are subject to inspections already. You may think they are "old" and neglected, but they are not unsafe. Inspections look at safety issues.

I think we can all agree a monorail actively running with a door open, which has happened multiple times, is a safety issue.

 

[OKW Lover]

I think we can all agree a monorail actively running with a door open, which has happened multiple times, is a safety issue.

I could agree with that if it was a regular occurrence. Since it happened quite a while ago and the condition has been fixed I think Disney did the right thing without having the threat of inspections hanging over it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I could agree with that if it was a regular occurrence. Since it happened quite a while ago and the condition has been fixed I think Disney did the right thing without having the threat of inspections hanging over it.

Well I wasn't arguing anything of the sort just speaking towards your it's old and been neglected but is not unsafe. It does not in any world make something safe just because it wasn't a regular occurrence.

Of course we all know it's retaliatory but Disney has not shown to be all that caring either about the status of their transportation. It doesn't mean they should have action done out of pettiness but no one should actually downplay what you're actually downplaying or I guess it's more like memories fade quick. Being neglected is what causes these issues to occur no matter that it hasn't occurred in the immediate past.

A company shouldn't fear inspections, it's do the results of the inspections have merit that is what is on their mind.

 

[Mr. Drauer]

I already made this declaration in a deleted thread. The vindictiveness of the Florida government has definitely made me decide we're no longer going to the state of Florida until they back off. We just got back from Universal Hollywood to do Super Nintendo Land and got us interested in going back to UO again. But honestly, I'm keeping my travel money in California with Disneyland and UH until Florida comes to its senses.

Yay! Lower crowds for us! I hope more people take that stance

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Yay! Lower crowds for us! I hope more people take that stance

Back in early March of 2020 I posted on this board about how I was cancelling a late March trip due to concerns about Covid. At the time, a lot of other posters also posted that they were cancelling. I remember a particular poster jumping on and posting something to the effect of “Yay, this is great, lower crowds for my April trip!.”

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[BrianL]

Back in early March of 2020 I posted on this board about how I was cancelling a late March trip due to concerns about Covid. At the time, a lot of other posters also posted that they were cancelling. I remember a particular poster jumping on and posting something to the effect of “Yay, this is great, lower crowds for my April trip!.”

Be careful what you wish for.

Well, crowds were indeed low in April, 2020!

 

[bbeagle]

A company shouldn't fear inspections, it's do the results of the inspections have merit that is what is on their mind.

But that's not anywhere close to what this is about.

It's about retribution, it's about pain and suffering. DeSantis would, for example, close the monorails after 6:00pm every evening and the entire day on weekends to 'inspect' the monorails. Effectively, then, making them useless, and hurting Disney's business.

Nobody thinks DeSantis is honestly just going to stop at limited-interruption inspections, he will make it a MAJOR inconvenience in the parks. And it won't just stop at the monorail... it will be the bus systems, the skyliner, the rides, the security gates, walkways, buildings, fireworks, shows.... All of which Universal, Sea World, etc. would not have to deal with.

 

[jerry557]

I agree and it's also worth noting that the State of Florida has over 1800 special districts with varying responsibilities. These are formed for that mutual benefit between the organization and the State of Florida. To accomplish "being fair" ALL special districts would have to be dissolved or ALL of them would have to be subject to the same rules and they are not because they have different purposes and fill different needs but again, all are intended to be mutually beneficial.

It's also worth noting practically none of those other 1800 districts are run by major multi-national corporations. Many of them are HOAs, residential development projects, or for business or industrial development. The Florida legislature has discussed changing or dissolving Reedy Creek several times since the 80s, especially when it was clear Disney was no longer interested in pursuing Walt's visions of developing futuristic communities. Walt had some very big ideas what he wanted to do with this land. After he died, the company didn’t share some of those visions and went a different direction. But they wanted to keep their mini-government.

Once people understand the history a bit more, most realize it’s probably not the best idea for Disney to continue to have this kind of control for going on more than 50 years now. Disney basically even had control of their own fire department. And according to the union, Disney was doing a very bad job managing it.

But I think it should also be clear that the first punch in this whole current mess was thrown by Chapek, not DeSantis. Regardless what you think of DeSantis, a business shouldn’t open itself up to a fight like that to politicians that could use the situation for their agendas. A CEO of a company like this should be diplomatic and sensitive enough to get your point across and to not rock the boat too much. Even Bob Iger admits that Chapek botched this.

 

[tom1944]

It's also worth noting practically none of those other 1800 districts are run by major multi-national corporations. Many of them are HOAs, residential development projects, or for business or industrial development. The Florida legislature has discussed changing or dissolving Reedy Creek several times since the 80s, especially when it was clear Disney was no longer interested in pursuing Walt's visions of developing futuristic communities. Walt had some very big ideas what he wanted to do with this land. After he died, the company didn’t share some of those visions and went a different direction. But they wanted to keep their mini-government.

Once people understand the history a bit more, most realize it’s probably not the best idea for Disney to continue to have this kind of control for going on more than 50 years now. Disney basically even had control of their own fire department. And according to the union, Disney was doing a very bad job managing it.

But I think it should also be clear that the first punch in this whole current mess was thrown by Chapek, not DeSantis. Regardless what you think of DeSantis, a business shouldn’t open itself up to a fight like that to politicians that could use the situation for their agendas. A CEO of a company like this should be diplomatic and sensitive enough to get your point across and to not rock the boat too much. Even Bob Iger admits that Chapek botched this.

So end Reedy Creek but don’t try to punish or control Disney by taking over the board.

And who cares if he botched it the reaction by the governor is wrong

 

[BrianL]

So end Reedy Creek but don’t try to punish or control Disney by taking over the board.

And who cares if he botched it the reaction by the governor is wrong

Right. It would be one thing if they did just dissolve the special district which would have put them on a level playing field. That's NOT what happened at all. The state government just assumed control and intended to use that control to exert pressure on Dinsey's operations in other areas. That is just blatantly wrong. Also, the state did benefit from the special district too, so it's not really so clear cut.

 

[HokieRaven5]

But I think it should also be clear that the first punch in this whole current mess was thrown by Chapek, not DeSantis. Regardless what you think of DeSantis, a business shouldn’t open itself up to a fight like that to politicians that could use the situation for their agendas. A CEO of a company like this should be diplomatic and sensitive enough to get your point across and to not rock the boat too much. Even Bob Iger admits that Chapek botched this.

You’d have less of an argument from those supporting Disney, and even now some of those who supported DeSantis if the dissolution of RCID wasn’t botched.

The Dissolution plan was rushed, without proper knowledge of what RCID is and its functions and without a solution for how to handle its preexisting debt (they admitted as much in the Analysis that they didn’t know the financial impact at the time of passing). Dissolve the district appropriately instead and make it effective upon completion of repayment of all existing bonds, any future bonds or infrastructure work shall be coordinated through Orange/Osceola County.

It didn’t stop at dissolution though. Instead of putting Disney on “equal” footing as other companies it’s now an attempt at exerting control over a company.

 

[bcla]

Right. It would be one thing if they did just dissolve the special district which would have put them on a level playing field. That's NOT what happened at all. The state government just assumed control and intended to use that control to exert pressure on Dinsey's operations in other areas. That is just blatantly wrong. Also, the state did benefit from the special district too, so it's not really so clear cut.

As far as I can tell, this is the only special district in Florida where the board isn’t elected and thus accountable to the residents (not terribly applicable here) or to the property owners (which previously gave Disney the ability to hand pick the board). And some of the principals have made it clear that they were hoping to exert some control over Disney’s creative decisions.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

But that's not anywhere close to what this is about.

It's about retribution, it's about pain and suffering. DeSantis would, for example, close the monorails after 6:00pm every evening and the entire day on weekends to 'inspect' the monorails. Effectively, then, making them useless, and hurting Disney's business.

Nobody thinks DeSantis is honestly just going to stop at limited-interruption inspections, he will make it a MAJOR inconvenience in the parks. And it won't just stop at the monorail... it will be the bus systems, the skyliner, the rides, the security gates, walkways, buildings, fireworks, shows.... All of which Universal, Sea World, etc. would not have to deal with.

I already mentioned retribution. Please don't insult my intelligence here although I know you aren't trying to. Anyone can understand exactly what this is and unfortunately because that's what it is people are ignoring or scoffing or downplaying something that which under normal circumstances they would not. I remember the outrage and blaming on Disney when the monorail had doors open, or when the monorail breaks down. Just about everyone under normal conversation can say Disney over the years has not put much effort into maintaining the monorail so much so that pre-pandemic it was highly talked about Disney scrapping it entirely even as the rumor (which didn't pan out) of Disney ordering new monorails.

What I'm speaking to is people worried about inspections because they are inspection. What I'm talking about is saying the monorails are merely old and not maintained but they are safe. Safe and not maintained generally do not go hand in hand. And they def. don't when you have a door that is open while people are inside with it going.

It's just a weird conversation where people are actually hoping and wishing there aren't inspections because they might find something. That part is only an issue IF the inspections are done in a petty way, which is absolutely a chance here, but you shouldn't have an issue with the inspections in the first place nor should Disney, to do so is quite interesting.

For some context with my husband's work as a mechanical engineer he's discussed OSHA quite a lot, I remember when our house was being built and the first inspection they failed because the crabby inspectors wanted the house numbers to be more visible and we were taken aback by that but then another inspection later down the road reflected they needed to beef up the firewall projection in between our kitchen and dining room, I can tell you as much as I thought the house numbers were a dumb reason to fail a company on an inspection I was grateful for them catching the firewall. And learning from our head contractor a lot of times for city inspectors it was if you had a good working relationship with them you could help grease the wheels even if you get an inspector who is determined to do asinine stuff.

 

[Kwami]

What I'm speaking to is people worried about inspections because they are inspection. What I'm talking about is saying the monorails are merely old and not maintained but they are safe. Safe and not maintained generally do not go hand in hand. And they def. don't when you have a door that is open while people are inside with it going.

The idea that the monorails aren't maintained is bogus. Of course, they're maintained. Nothing is ever going to run perfectly and there will always be anomalous behaviors. The door opened once and was fixed. Someone noticed a hole in the concrete and it was fixed. Overall, the monorails have a terrific safety record, even if they do smell bad and don't always run on time.

EDIT: The visible house numbers are for 911 and other emergency responders. You'll fail inspection pretty much anywhere if the numbers aren't visible enough.

 

[Dcgc28]

The idea that the monorails aren't maintained is bogus. Of course, they're maintained. Nothing is ever going to run perfectly and there will always be anomalous behaviors. The door opened once and was fixed. Someone noticed a hole in the concrete and it was fixed. Overall, the monorails have a terrific safety record, even if they do smell bad and don't always run on time.

EDIT: The visible house numbers are for 911 and other emergency responders. You'll fail inspection pretty much anywhere if the numbers aren't visible enough.

As someone who works in preventative maintenance for a similar company I cringe at some of these responses. One of our biggest metrics is run time vs down time (or problem time) 90% is our goal at TopGolf, I'd assume Disney is similar and also graciously exceeds that number on most every mechanical thing on their property. Barring obvious ones like the Yeti and things like that.

 

[bcla]

As someone who works in preventative maintenance for a similar company I cringe at some of these responses. One of our biggest metrics is run time vs down time (or problem time) 90% is our goal at TopGolf, I'd assume Disney is similar and also graciously exceeds that number on most every mechanical thing on their property. Barring obvious ones like the Yeti and things like that.

Golf clubs and large amounts of alcohol. What could go wrong? At least there’s netting.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The idea that the monorails aren't maintained is bogus.

I'll clarify, the exact wording by the PP who brought it up was "neglected" and pre-DeSantis issue everyone agreed on that. There was a ton of talk about that pre-pandemic. It was the general consensus that Disney did the bare minimum with the monorails, they stunk, their seats and floors gross, broke down, etc. Of course Disney does their stuff, they function do they not (well mostly lol)? But I'm speaking towards the idea that people are upset that inspections would happen. You as a guest traveling should want inspections, especially if the purpose isn't to find a hole in the concrete by a passenger.

To bring back about the door from the more well known incident in 2018 from what we know the door wouldn't latch while standing still, maintenance came over and got it to latch but never tested it opening and closing. On the journey it popped open, the sensor never alerted the pilot that a door was open, none of the passengers in that exact portion knew there was an emergency phone (can't say that I've noticed that either but that is something on me to also be aware of for my own safety).

EDIT: The visible house numbers are for 911 and other emergency responders. You'll fail inspection pretty much anywhere if the numbers aren't visible enough.

We all know that. The issue wasn't the numbers not there but rather they were not big enough even though they were HUGE already. We came back to the house number spray painted in the largest possible way onto the concrete garage walls (our assumption it was a passive aggressive way by the building crew). That inspector, from our head contractor's words who had a working relationship with him and had worked in inspections for many years prior, explained to us that it was just the inspection being an inspector with a slight power trip going on. I totally understand being worried you'll just get vindictive inspectors because that can really happen and would have no comments on that, but I would object to people worried

"so far calls for a yearly plan and a 3 year onsite inspection. But the part that's a little nerve wracking is "other periodic evaluations". as if the inspection part is the worrisome part. The part that people would be worried about is the small nitpicky things like a house number being very large but not large enough for 1 particular inspector on a power trip. That is totally fair to be concerned about IMO (and why I shared my story). I can imagine the complete opposite reactions here should an inspection actually find something no matter the inconvenience.

 

[Dcgc28]

Golf clubs and large amounts of alcohol. What could go wrong? At least there’s netting.

Wrapped around it all is a bevy of technological based issues as well. It's a nightmare from a maintenance standpoint. Can only imagine what the technicians at Disney are doing/seeing though.

 

[tom1944]

I already mentioned retribution. Please don't insult my intelligence here although I know you aren't trying to. Anyone can understand exactly what this is and unfortunately because that's what it is people are ignoring or scoffing or downplaying something that which under normal circumstances they would not. I remember the outrage and blaming on Disney when the monorail had doors open, or when the monorail breaks down. Just about everyone under normal conversation can say Disney over the years has not put much effort into maintaining the monorail so much so that pre-pandemic it was highly talked about Disney scrapping it entirely even as the rumor (which didn't pan out) of Disney ordering new monorails.

What I'm speaking to is people worried about inspections because they are inspection. What I'm talking about is saying the monorails are merely old and not maintained but they are safe. Safe and not maintained generally do not go hand in hand. And they def. don't when you have a door that is open while people are inside with it going.

It's just a weird conversation where people are actually hoping and wishing there aren't inspections because they might find something. That part is only an issue IF the inspections are done in a petty way, which is absolutely a chance here, but you shouldn't have an issue with the inspections in the first place nor should Disney, to do so is quite interesting.

For some context with my husband's work as a mechanical engineer he's discussed OSHA quite a lot, I remember when our house was being built and the first inspection they failed because the crabby inspectors wanted the house numbers to be more visible and we were taken aback by that but then another inspection later down the road reflected they needed to beef up the firewall projection in between our kitchen and dining room, I can tell you as much as I thought the house numbers were a dumb reason to fail a company on an inspection I was grateful for them catching the firewall. And learning from our head contractor a lot of times for city inspectors it was if you had a good working relationship with them you could help grease the wheels even if you get an inspector who is determined to do asinine stuff.

No issue with inspections.

Big issue if government power is misused.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No issue with inspections.

Big issue if government power is misused.

Def. agree and agree when that is the actual concern rather than what the inspections would dig up