Monorail may be inspected by DOT if new bill gets passed

[Dcgc28]

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

When I made the remark about the periodic evaluations being a bit nerve wracking that's what I was alluding to. If it's all done properly I think state certification can only help Disney. That's not to say their current certifications aren't good enough or up to par with what the state would require. This could go on and on in an infinite circle though at the end of the day it helps Disney if Florida is saying their stuff is good. It hurts Disney if Florida is combative with the certs.

 

[DavidNYC]

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

No issue with inspections.

Big issue if government power is misused.

Anyone who knows anything about Disney knows they're already going far far above any level of inspections by the state anywhere else. Things break - Disney fixes them. Just like everywhere else. There is no question that any state inspections would be duplicative (and less than) what Disney already does on their own accord. And I'm fairly certain by people probably less qualified to understand what they're actually inspecting.

Everyone knows the whole inspection getup is yet just another element of the retaliation complaint to threaten Disney with things that will inconvenience and cost guests. You cannot take what would normally sound like a reasonable proposal and look at it in a vacuum. It's part of an overall campaign directly targeted at one entity. Based on the level of abuse of power we've seen already (not to mention clear cut constitutional violations) there is little doubt the goal here is not safety.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If it's all done properly I think state certification can only help Disney.

That's what I was more coming from. It goes without saying you want them to be in good faith who wouldn't want them to be in good faith but you also can't come at it like you don't want inspections either for fear of what they find because if they find something at any point in time it's a good thing, so long as they are not asinine ones which is a quite valid concern.

 

[dreamer17555]

I don’t really have a problem with the inspections.

I have a problem with why they decided they needed the inspections now.

 

[BrianL]

Anyone who knows anything about Disney knows they're already going far far above any level of inspections by the state anywhere else. Things break - Disney fixes them. Just like everywhere else. There is no question that any state inspections would be duplicative (and less than) what Disney already does on their own accord. And I'm fairly certain by people probably less qualified to understand what they're actually inspecting.

That's the thing - if I thought for a seocnd that FDOT inspections would actually improve the safety of monorail operations, then that would be fine. I really don't believe that this would be the case though and considering the impetus, find this problematic.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Anyone who knows anything about Disney knows they're already going far far above any level of inspections by the state anywhere else. Things break - Disney fixes them. Just like everywhere else. There is no question that any state inspections would be duplicative (and less than) what Disney already does on their own accord. And I'm fairly certain by people probably less qualified to understand what they're actually inspecting.

Everyone knows the whole inspection getup is yet just another element of the retaliation complaint to threaten Disney with things that will inconvenience and cost guests. You cannot take what would normally sound like a reasonable proposal and look at it in a vacuum. It's part of an overall campaign directly targeted at one entity. Based on the level of abuse of power we've seen already (not to mention clear cut constitutional violations) there is little doubt the goal here is not safety.

IDK I think you're assuming stuff you don't have the knowledge to assume. Why would you assume that they would be less qualified?

You exemplify my undercurrent of a point here. Just because it's Disney does not mean they are perfect, employ the best of the best of the best (because we also know from years of talk how they pay their employees), and always do maintenance on a perfect schedule never miss anything (we know that's not accurate). I can't say I've been overly concerned about my safety while at Disney but I'm also not sitting here saying because it's Disney as a brand means xyz.

In terms of safety in the most basic way duplication should never be viewed negatively. I suppose that's the OSHA type stuff I learned from my husband lol.

Again I have tried to not stray into the political part too much because of Board rules but I feel I have made it clear several times already I am very aware of why DeSantis is doing what he is doing. I just can't talk about it the way I would IRL because Board rules. I have stayed talking about the idea inspections in the basic way.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don’t really have a problem with the inspections.

I have a problem with why they decided they needed the inspections now.

That one I assume is a mixture of "just how far can we go" and how the structure with Disney and Reedy Creek has changed. I think if people were to pay attention to how their own areas are they would see similar such things that pop up.

 

[jerry557]

It’s not just the monorails either. Disney obviously does have maintenance issues with many attractions. Countless people even here on the forum as well as the bloggers have commented on the higher incidence of ride closures in the past year, especially. I imagine if they do inspections of the rides, they likely will find some legit stuff that is wrong or needs work. You can claim the hassle is about retaliation, but if something is wrong, then it needs to be fixed regardless.

No matter what, Disney simply have invest more money on maintenance and engineering. I know they got behind with COVID. But it’s time to catch up.

 

[sheilafri]

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.

This is classic victim-blaming. As an individual, one has every right to object to something said by another person. You can dislike Chapek’s stance and speak out or boycott. The Constitution does not allow government that same right. DeSantis, the person, didn’t have to like Disney’s stance but DeSantis the governor, has no right to use his government’s powers to punish Disney for their views (speech). A politician as an individual can say a lot against someone they disagree with, but they cannot use government action against that person. Chapek’s lack of tact doesn’t excuse DeSantis using the power of the State of Florida against Disney.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It’s not just the monorails either. Disney obviously does have maintenance issues with many attractions. Countless people even here on the forum as well as the bloggers have commented on the higher incidence of ride closures in the past year, especially. I imagine if they do inspections of the rides, they likely will find some legit stuff that is wrong or needs work. You can claim the hassle is about retaliation, but if something is wrong, then it needs to be fixed regardless.

No matter what, Disney simply have invest more money on maintenance and engineering. I know they got behind with COVID. But it’s time to catch up.

I think DL got the biggest rap for ride breakdowns for quite a while. I haven't heard as much rumbling about that lately so I wonder if things improved some?? It was very well documented though with people advising to just not go because of so many ride breakdowns.

At WDW they have that issue a lot as well although with 4 parks it probably doesn't have the same angst as DL with just 2 parks but it's still noticeable enough when you have enough rides broken down in a short time period.

 

[dreamer17555]

It’s not just the monorails either. Disney obviously does have maintenance issues with many attractions. Countless people even here on the forum as well as the bloggers have commented on the higher incidence of ride closures in the past year, especially. I imagine if they do inspections of the rides, they likely will find some legit stuff that is wrong or needs work. You can claim the hassle is about retaliation, but if something is wrong, then it needs to be fixed regardless.

No matter what, Disney simply have invest more money on maintenance and engineering. I know they got behind with COVID. But it’s time to catch up.

I don’t actually think most (or actually any) of the attractions wouldn’t pass safety standards by any stretch of the imagination.

Disney rides being down I think has more to do with how the systems are so double safety set that any small thing can trigger a full system stop and then reset that can take quite awhile.

And I will admit, some of them are aging, but nothing that would fail an actual safety inspection. I cannot tell you in strong enough words how important safety is to disney. My daughter was a lifeguard there. Trust me safety is everything.

In fact, the only attraction that I think I really would have been at any sort of risk for not passing a safety inspection would’ve actually been splash Mountain with some of the boats but considering it’s already getting upgraded that’s no longer an issue.

Rise of the resistance is still probably going to go down from time to time due to the number of animatronics and computer systems running on it- but that is not a safety concern.

I want you to consider this- fairs regularly pass safety ride inspections in the state of Florida… Clearly Disney is operating a much safer park.

 

[dreamer17555]

I think DL got the biggest rap for ride breakdowns for quite a while. I haven't heard as much rumbling about that lately so I wonder if things improved some?? It was very well documented though with people advising to just not go because of so many ride breakdowns.

At WDW they have that issue a lot as well although with 4 parks it probably doesn't have the same angst as DL with just 2 parks but it's still noticeable enough when you have enough rides broken down in a short time period.

I heard this a lot before our two trips to Disneyland… and guess what? Sure a few things went down, but no more than they go down at Walt Disney World or Cedar point or Carowinds or Busch Gardens.

I really think people tend to over exaggerate or they don’t take into consideration things being down for weather, or they point out every time a ride is down even if it’s only for 30 minutes. Honestly, it gets to be a little much sometimes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Clearly Disney is operating a much safer park.

Is that the threshold for comparison or a good faith discussion? That some other place that has something you can ride does less so on the basis of that Disney is impervious to issues?

There's a good bit of information that we are just not privy to when it comes to ride breakdowns. Def. sensors due to guests is one that happens but we don't always know if a ride stoppage is due to something that would legit be a safety concern or not. You can guess though that something is probably big enough if a ride is down for the whole day or multiple days. Resets of sensors can take time so a few hours downtime not necessarily what I'm talking about.

PeopleMover (a beloved attraction of mine) has had a history of the cars bumping/running into each other with considerable force at times for example.

 

[dreamer17555]

Is that the threshold for comparison or a good faith discussion? That some other place that has something you can ride does less so on the basis of that Disney is impervious to issues?

There's a good bit of information that we are just not privy to when it comes to ride breakdowns. Def. sensors due to guests is one that happens but we don't always know if a ride stoppage is due to something that would legit be a safety concern or not. You can guess though that something is probably big enough if a ride is down for the whole day or multiple days. Resets of sensors can take time so a few hours downtime not necessarily what I'm talking about.

PeopleMover (a beloved attraction of mine) has had a history of the cars bumping/running into each other with considerable force at times for example.

I’m not saying disney is perfect, but if they are going to start having rides inspected by the state of Florida, I assume that they’re going to be held to the same safety standard by the state as they hold current amusement rides that they do for fairs as they fall in the same category.

And if they’re being held to that same standard, why would disney need to massively overhaul any of their systems?

As they would clearly pass any state inspection?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I heard this a lot before our two trips to Disneyland… and guess what? Sure a few things went down, but no more than they go down at Walt Disney World or Cedar point or Carowinds or Busch Gardens.

I really think people tend to over exaggerate or they don’t take into consideration things being down for weather, or they point out every time a ride is down even if it’s only for 30 minutes. Honestly, it gets to be a little much sometimes.

I don't think screenshots are an exaggerations nor am I calling posters liars when they disclose just how many attractions are down.

Your trip in no way negates someone else's trip where they had a good amount of breakdowns and there were quite a lot of threads on that topic it was not an isolated issue. It does mean you probably had a better trip in timing which that is really nice

FWIW a ride being down for 30mins is still a ride being down. And it's one less attraction available, and nowadays potentially an attraction you paid specifically to go on. Reliability of attractions is a fair point to discuss. Sometimes reliability is due to the complex nature of it like Rise but other times it could be due to the aging of it, the attention towards it in terms of regular enough upkeep of parts replacements, etc.

 

[starlite_]

I don't think screenshots are an exaggerations nor am I calling posters liars when they disclose just how many attractions are down.

Your trip in no way negates someone else's trip where they had a good amount of breakdowns and there were quite a lot of threads on that topic it was not an isolated issue. It does mean you probably had a better trip in timing which that is really nice

FWIW a ride being down for 30mins is still a ride being down. And it's one less attraction available, and nowadays potentially an attraction you paid specifically to go on. Reliability of attractions is a fair point to discuss. Sometimes reliability is due to the complex nature of it like Rise but other times it could be due to the aging of it, the attention towards it in terms of regular enough upkeep of parts replacements, etc.

Reliability is not the same as safety.

You are also kinda contradicting yourself. I 100% prefer a ride goes down out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the guests even if it inconveniences me than Disney not taking a red flag seriously and it turning out to be an actual problem that can end up with someone hurt.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m not saying disney is perfect, but if they are going to start having rides inspected by the state of Florida, I assume that they’re going to be held to the same safety standard by the state as they hold current amusement rides that they do for fairs as they fall in the same category.

And if they’re being held to that same standard, why would disney need to massively overhaul any of their systems?

As they would clearly pass any state inspection?

Hmm okay so you're going at it from standards? I'm going at it from a voluntary disclosure standpoint. I have confidence Disney isn't the worst of the worst slackers on ride safety but as of right now Disney doesn't have to provide anyone with forms reflecting what they inspect.

From the forms I could find about Fair Rides


Bungy rides:


Go Karts:


Water Parks:


I can understand that for some people's points they are saying that Disney is employing above these standards for daily inspections. But due to the prior unique way of handling it much of that stuff above was just unknown to anyone outside of Disney. And FWIW Universal also is exempted and does their own inspections from what I understand. Removing the political stuff I wouldn't be objecting to knowing just what the inspection results were for Universal and wouldn't, in this case, be against a level of redundancy.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Reliability is not the same as safety.

You are also kinda contradicting yourself. I 100% prefer a ride goes down out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the guests even if it inconveniences me than Disney not taking a red flag seriously and it turning out to be an actual problem that can end up with someone hurt.

Reliability goes hand in hand with safety depending on the reason it goes down. No one knows why a ride went down for 30 mins. It could be a simple sensor because a guest put their hand out of the vehicle or it could be a critical sensor on a track. Being down for a short time does not mean it wasn't safety related. And safety related is such an umbrella term some may be catastrophic some more minor in the safety area.

As far as a ride down taking a monorail out of service then shouldn't be a problem either if an inspection found something valid.

 

[bcla]

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.

Yeah. I remember having that double IPA running through my veins as I hit a golf ball for the first time in 15 years with people sitting on sofas behind the tee. But I was thinking more the possibility that someone lets go of a club on the backswing or someone drunk approaches the tee and gets hit by a swing.

The info screen was pretty cool too. But I'm sure it's like a lot of technology that can be fickle.

This was in Vegas at a private event. Our group even skipped dinner because we knew there would be food. And beverages. We managed to find one of my coworkers (who was based in Vegas) to bring his wife to be the designated driver and to partake in the food.

 

[Kwami]

I don't know why we're arguing about whether Disney's inspections are sufficient or whether Disney's standards are high enough. That's not really relevant to what's happening. The state could change policy so that all private transportation systems are inspected by FDOT and then I don't think that anyone would really object. Instead, they're specifically targeting Disney's transportation systems. That suggests that they aren't operating in good faith and that these inspections are likely to cause additional, unnecessary downtime and expenses without improving safety at all. That's the problem here.